Official NBA Draft Entry from MSG

Welcome to the much anticipated, never duplicated "Live from the Wamu Theater" draft entry. As a newcomer to TYI, I attempted to take scrupulous notes from my 5AM wake-up call until pick number 60 but I have to admit that they got somewhat sloppy around the Alando Tucker - Bull's first 2nd round pick. Either way, I'll try to give you my impressions from NYC. It's probably going to read somewhat like a "Sports Guy" running diary, but he owes us, so fuck it.

5:38am - Showered and ready. I decided to don the "He's Back, 45" T-shirt to the morning session, leaving the HF/normal Bulls shirt combo for the night cap. Audre Lorde in hand, I begin my journey.

6:02am - As I enter the waiting area at MSG, I look to my left and see 45' Jamal Crawford and Eddy Curry smiling down at me. Thank You Isiah...I knew I had arrived.


















6:06am - As I'm one of 10 people dumb enough to be waiting before 6:30, I get to talking to Chice, the young Hawks fan in front of me. Why would a Hawks fan show his or her face near the NBA Draft, you might ask? Chice grew up in Little Rock and his older brother is friends with Joe Johnson. Outside of Nolan Richardson, he had no one else to root for. Chice was hoping for an Amare trade, believing it would make them a playoff team in the East. While Amare might not be coming to the ATL, Chice will have to settle with Horford and Acie. 13 hours and 1 minute later, i saw my new friend cheering for big Al. It felt good.

9:34am - While I could probably write a whole other post about these 2 jersey-chasin' sorority girls from Gainsville sitting ahead of me, I'll leave you with this nugget. While minding my own business, reading some Audre Lorde, I overhear "Oh, Tyrus Thomas sucks. We owned him in the tournament last year!" If tickets to the Draft weren't on the line, these girls might have caught an earful. I know that Ty Ty will have my back come October anyway.

9:37am - Maybe the best part about enjoying the draft in NYC was the consistent discussion, by frustrated Knicks fans, of the 9th pick. Examples include "Man, we could get a solid scorer at 9" or "I didn't know we had a pick in the top 10! Oh, right. We don't anymore." Priceless.

I was the 12th person in line that reached about 3 city blocks by 11am. I bought three tickets, one for me and two for friends in NY, and returned home to nap. I had succeeded.

**************

6:30ish - The theater's gates open at 6:45pm, so I jumped on the F-train at 6. The butterflies were there. My experience at the draft truly opened my eyes to the "NBA Lifestyle," and proved to me, first hand, how a 19-year old kid could get caught up in it without trying very hard. Crazy suits, people everywhere, money, sleazy agents, the draft was crazier than I could have imagined. Instead of blaming players for bankruptcy or "poor choices," it appears to me we must really look at the culture surrounding professional sports and the economics driving these cultures. That, to me, is why having Noah on the Bulls is so refreshing. More on Noah later.

7:03pm - Upon telling Nathaniel and Brian (my two comrades) of this lame kid from Sacramento and his dad who waited in line with me (he was one of the dad's that tries too hard to be the "cool dad"...we all know these guys), I realized that they were standing DIRECTLY behind me. Well played, Basden. Well played.

7:07pm - I'm in my seat. 5th from the back, dead center. Really exciting. Unfortunately, we were unable to hear any commentary/sound outside of Stern until post-Knicks draft pick when the joint cleared out.

7:20pm - First Noah sighting, bow-tie and all. Classic.

7:25pm - Jerseys around me include: Marbury, Crawford, Houston, Lee, LJ/Grandmama (which are the greatest sports commercials ever, bar none), Kidd, VC, Gasol, Yao, and Pierce. A few Jordan's around and one Hinrich representing up front.

7:30pm - The commish's introduction, claiming this upcoming season will be one of the "best seasons ever." Knicks fans boo. Obviously they don't think Jamal can lead them to the best season in franchise history.

7:35pm - The first selection is Oden. It's the first of an insane amount of moves by the Blazers, completely restructuring their roster. Brian, Nathaniel, and I salivate over a nucleus of Oden, Frye, Aldridge, and Roy. Yikes. On a side, I cannot be beat in Tecmo Basketball for Nintendo with the Blazers. Porter, Drexler, Kersey, Abdelnaby, and Duckworth. Untouchable.

7:38pm - Between Oden and Durant, the we discussed the Starter Jackets and the ubiquity of Hornets jackets back in, say, '93. Was it LJ or the Turquoise?

7:39am - The funniest addition to the draft for those sitting in Section 300, row L were the 4 children to my right. Kids straight out of the Cosby Show (think Rudy and Kenny with the fat white kid and the young Asian girl), these 4 boys should have been on TV. The best part was that they were trying, taping everything they did with a handheld camcorder, seemingly unsupervised. More about the children later.

7:42pm - Sonics go Durant. Chalk.

7:47pm - Horford to the Hawks. Chice is lovin' it, the jersey chasers are lovin' it, as well as the two pockets of folks waving Dominican flags. I think the Hawks made the correct pick here; Al runs the floor well, has great hands, rebounds, and plays pretty well facing the basket and on the block. He's one of those players that fill up the box score, night in and night out. Passing on a PG pays off with pick 11.

7:51pm - Conley to Memphis, followed by Section 300's first "Fuck the Buckeyes" chant. Unfortunately, its only a two man operation. No further comments. DWil argues Conley will play like Mighty Mouse in the NBA. Maybe, but he sure does seem to control a game better than Damon ever could.

7:57pm - It's moments like these where I was ultra-upset about the lack of sound. Jeff Green's mother, sobbing. Remember the '03 Carmelo's mom melt-down? Maybe the funniest draft moment in recent memory. Stu Scott had no idea what to do.

7:58pm - With the anticipation mounting, I can't help but wonder how it would feel to wait until pick 23 to select a big man. Ha.

8:02pm - During the commercial breaks, the jumbo trons show "Top 10" Dunks of the year. Two Thomas dunks: # 2 and # 6. The loud clapping from Section 300 has begun.

8:04pm - Milwaukee takes Yi. My Bucks friend from school wanted Brewer, as did the rest of MSG. I'm still not quite sure I understand the selection here either. They are sold on Mo Williams, so why not take a Brewer or Wright here to play the 3, along with Redd, Charlie and Bogut? Of course Torico throws it up to Fran for the analysis.

8:10pm - Wolves go for Brewer. TWO MORE PICKS. On an aside, the Gators travel well. Easily the loudest contingent outside of the New York/New Jersey crowd. Bizarre.

8:14pm - Before Bickerstaff and MJ take Brandon Wright, white Cosby kid turns to black Cosby kid, camcorder and all, and asks who the pick is going to be. Response? "I don't know, I can't read people's minds." Get these kids on TV, NOW.

8:19pm - I just can't wait any longer. We decide, amongst the three of us, that Noah is the pick. I'm happy about it. A few guys down by Bilas raise the "In Pax We Trust" sign. I'm on my feet. Spike starts talking about Bamboozled or something on TV, but I'm not listening.

8:24pm - The Bulls grab Joakim. I think TYI has done a great job analyzing both his play and his role for the club, so I'm not going to beat a dead horse. I will add that I'm also excited about his politics. Bengo mentioned his lack of interest in corporate sponsorship, but I'm glad to see another athlete speak out against the war. I saw Dave Zirin speak last Friday here in NYC and he mentioned Noah among his list of activist-athletes who continue to speak out against the war. A few quotes from Noah:

“I don’t like to compare myself to one of the greatest,’’ Noah began. “Off the court, I share [Bill Walton's] views in the way that he was against the war.’" Walton’s war was the United States in Viet Nam. Noah’s war is the United States in Iraq. “Yeah, I’m against the war,’’ Noah said. “I don’t understand it and I’m not scared to speak about how I feel about things.’’

One more Noah-related comment. After throwin' on the Bulls Cap, Nathaniel and I discuss the possibilities of a Noah/Chicago/Bozo comparison. I hope sports media never comes to this.

8:50pm - I make my first phone connection with the Thank You Isiah guys, via Big Sweet's phone. After taping the draft, Sweet can't wait any longer, yelling "fuck it, give me the picks" into my earpiece. Happiness abounds.

8:55pm - The 2nd most exciting moment of the night for me, as former classmate Julian Wright goes to the Hornets at 13. I'm glad he didn't fall out of the lottery. I'm a little nervous that he might have to be more of a scorer on the Hornets than he would have had to be on , say, the Bucks, but I think he pans out. At this point, my volume is entirely too high and I begin and HF chant. It's a 1-man operation this time.

Here is where the notes die down, so I'll leave you with a few funny moments:
9:19pm - The Nets grab Sean Williams. Bilas claims he needs to improve his "maturity," while some genius at ESPN throws up the graphic "High Risk, High Reward." I can't make this stuff up.

9:22pm - The first "foreign player out of the crowd" slection goes down, as Golden State grabs Marco Belinelli at 18.

10:40pm - After the 1st round concludes, MSG Staff immediately raises the podium a foot higher. That's something you don't get on TV. Hilarious.

As for Aaron "Paul Bunyan" Gray and JameOn Curry, I'm quite indifferent. I do know, however, that both of them played a lot better in the college ranks than a Matt Bonner or other 2nd round picks we've made in recent memory. For the first half of the season, Gray was the most dominant center in College. Let's hope that translates to the Berto Center.

That's it for now. If I remember something that needs to be said later, I'll throw it up.

To Noah

On Noah

I've already had my say about Joakim Noah, but if you're too lazy to click on the link, yes, I like the pick. I'm not sure what there could possibly be to complain about: There were only two legitimate low-post scoring threats in this draft (not counting Durant, who can score from anywhere, at anytime) and they were gone in the first three picks. So you pick up a guy who should be coming into his own at just about the time Ben Wallace is leaving out of his. If he can come in and play 15-20 minutes a game, that should allow you to rest Wallace and keep him healthy come playoff time. He also runs the court better than Wallace and can play above the rim on the offensive end. (For Big Ben, those days are over, hence all of his dipsy-doo, finger-rolling layup attempts.) Obviously, he's not going to give you the defense or the (possibility of) absolutely dominating rebounding like Big Ben, but he's no slouch in those areas and will certainly be better than Yi and/or Hawes on that count. Finally, when all is said and done, the Bulls needed to trade to get low post scoring coming into this draft. They might still need to trade to get low post scoring coming out of this draft, but now they have one more intriguing piece with which to bargain. That's very important.

UPDATE: Picked up Aaron Gray and JamesOn Curry in the 2nd. Seems like two wasted picks to me, particularly since my man Taurean Green was still out there. I know the Bulls were high on Curry, but I don't know why. Any guesses?

SECOND UPDATE: Seriously, how can you not like Joakim Noah?

Bill Simmons Owes Us Money

From he and Chad Ford's Mock Draft:

You know what else is interesting? Noah would have been the first or second pick in last year's draft ... so basically, the Bulls would end up with two of the top three from the 2006 draft for the right not to pay Eddy Curry way too much money. Thank you, Isiah!

Pre-draft open thread

Will it be Noah, Hawes, Yi, Wright, Conley, Green or a trade? Let 'er rip.

The Sox Fans May Not Like It...

...but I'm seriously thinking of making an executive decision and re-christening this blog Thank You Alfonso.

Does Krause need defending?

Dave Berri takes on an strange straw man in his post today "Defending Jerry Krause."

"Jordan’s brilliance has caused people to question the contribution of the architect of these championship teams, Jerry Krause. With but one exception, every player on these title teams was chosen by Krause. The one exception was MJ, who just happened to be there when Krause became GM. And again, since anyone could have won with Jordan, why should we credit Krause with doing anything?"

Through an analysis of efficiency differential in the late '80s and wins produced in the mid '90s, Berri comes to the conclusion that without Pippen and Grant (and later Rodman), Jordan is another KG, an unreal player stuck on a team with no chance of a championship. But for a Bulls fan that watched those teams, this doesn't seem like anything new. It seems to me that Krause's contribution is discredited only for his role in dismantling the dynasty. I've had many conversations defending Pippen's selection on the NBA Top 50 (and arguing for his M.V.P. worthy '94 season) or recalling the contributions of every non-center that played on those teams, including Harp, Toni, Horace etc. And we know Krause had a hand in bringing aboard almost all of those guys. Jordan as savior is a prevalent concept in marketing schemes and highlight reels, not really in Bulls fans' heads.

Welcome Aboard

As a long time listener-first time caller of TYI, I'd like to say a few things for the record:

1. I do believe that Eddie Basden should still have a spot on the active roster. A big guard that can defend would have helped the Bullies against this man time and time again.

2. I will be attending the NBA Draft at the Madison Square Garden Theater this Thursday (barring any unforeseen ticket problems) with letterman's jacket and Bulls gear in tow. I hope to sit next to DJ Strawberry in the stands, awaiting his 2nd round selection.

3. Despite the previous promises, the Draft post will be of the running-diary format. I'll be sure to comment on player's attire, Knicks fans, and Carmelo's crying mother.

4. Despite my bloodline, I am not a professional writer by trade. I hope that I can make up for this pitfall by providing a bit of humor and more talk of Scoop. All I'm saying is that you can't ridicule me for missing a comma or splitting an infinitive here or there.

I'm proud to be making my first TYI post at the site of our team's last official "Thank You Isiah." To many more...

This Is Pretty F--kin' Embarassing

Quite frankly, I was really hoping for NC-17. Let's see if the following changes anything: Fuck. Shit. Sex. Vagina. Cock. Breasts. Violence. Murder. Orgasm. Death. Explosions. Marijauna. Heroin. Cocaine. Kill. Misogyny. Corpophilia. Necrophilia. Suicide. George W. Bush.

UPDATE: Success!

A Couple Things

1) Let's all give a warm, TYI welcome to our newest contributor, Eddie Basden. (And no, he's not the real one.) Though he says his posts will be few and far between, his first one should be a doozy. Since the rest of the TYI staffers are going to be engaged in a contest of athletic and moral supremacy on one of the softball diamonds of Humboldt Park next Thursday evening (meaning we'll miss the beginning of the draft, as well as Blog-A-Bull's kick-ass draft-night throwdown), Mr. Basden has offered to live blog it for us. But because TYI always insists on riding with a touch of class, Basden won't be blogging in a bathrobe from an efficiency apartment. No, he'll be doing it live from MSG, while rooting for his hometown boy, Julian Wright. So if you want to learn just which draftee is wearing the most hideous suit, you gotta tune to TYI Thursday night.

2) There's no link for it, but everyone should check out Bill Simmons' new podcast interview with Ric Bucher. I'm not Simmons' biggest fan (nor have I ever had much of an opinion on Bucher), but the whole thing is fascinating, from Bucher's thoughts on Kobe, to the way the lust for profits is making owners timid and tight-fisted, to players' relationship to the media (and vice versa), to the debasement of local beat writers, to Bucher's revelation that it was Reinsdorf (not Paxson) who pushed for the Big Ben signing. In regards to that last point, it makes my conversation with BAB's Matt the other day (and his response to it) a little more intriguing.

UPDATE: As always, I should've checked Blog-A-Bull before posting. Matt put up a link to the podcast (here) and they've got a thread on it here.

Shalom, Marcus

Fizer resurfaces in Tel Aviv. Will the Thrill Bynum played for Maccabi last year and Vonteego Cummings will join the squad as well.

Mike Conley

One of our readers sent me a heads up to Mike Conley's blog, where he writes about his workout for the Bulls and being stuck in traffic with his encyclopedic cousin. Nothing jaw-dropping, but it did remind me that in this mock draft, Conley's not getting picked until Atlanta at 11.

I kinda doubt he's going to stick around that long, but if he did (and Noah was already gone), I'd seriously thinking about scooping him up with our pick. Not because I think we need him (I don't--he's too small), but because I think we might be able to use him as pretty enticing trade bait. If Portland does end up taking Oden, they might be willing to give us Randolph for him and a couple lesser players. If none of the players that we really want are there at nine, I think it makes a lot of sense to take the guy with the most "upside" who other teams covet (Yi also fits in this category) and use him as bait. Really, the last thing we need are more young players.

Talk About It Idiots!

Perceptive readers of TYI will note a new link has been added to our select blogroll. Unlike some blogs, TYI doesn't link to just anyone (nor will we have vaginas bandied about this office) willy-nilly. We maintain a strict, 10-Stage Screening Procedure (the exclusive rights of which belong solely to TYI Inc. and its Cayman-based subsidiaries) so that our beloved readers receive only the cream of the crop. (Or, possibly, it could be just that I'm really, really lazy.)

In any event, the new entry is Talk About It, Idiots!, co-ran by an old friend of mine, Tim Curcio. He used to be--and may still be--a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and is very, very funny. (I particularly like this YouTube clip, but all his stuff is here.) So if you're lookin' for a larf, check it out.

How is any of this Bulls-related, you ask? Good question, and I have an even better answer. Although I'm sure he hopes I've forgotten, this past December, Tim made me a drunken $20 wager that Luol Deng would never average 20 points a game over a full season. (I initially said that he would one day average 25, but Tim was audacious, perhaps magnanimous enough to lower that to 20.) I'm expecting that to happen by the end of the '07-'08 season, so three or four of my drinks at my high school's annual reunion in December 2008 are going to be courtesy of Tim. I'm looking forward to them.

PS I'm happy to expand the blogroll if anyone wants his or her site linked to, just let me know in the Comments. We can offer two, maybe three extra readers a month. Think about it.

F Kobe, I want KG

From the Boston Herald –

Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge acknowledged yesterday that he has talked with the Minnesota Timberwolves about a potential trade for Kevin Garnett. However, Ainge refused to comment about a published report that had the Celts shipping Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and the fifth pick in next week’s NBA draft for the All-Star forward.


Throw in Gomes and Leon Powe, keep Telfair and maybe I’d do that.

But seems like Gordon, Noce, Duhon, Krappy and the #9 is a lot better deal. Obviously you sign Noce and Ben to extensions before the swap. Too much?


So Bulls trot out B. Wallace, KG, Deng, Sefo, Kirk – Ty and Griff off the bench. Hopefully, P.J. comes back and the two second-rounders can contribute. Could Barrett be ready for ten minutes a game next year? He looked great in the pre-season, maybe Pax thinks he can step up and this is further reason to trade Duhon.

Minny trots out -


Foye, Gordon, Noce, Hawes with #9 and Noah with #11

Duhon, Krappy, Ricky Davis, Blount, McCants, Juwan Howard

Could be a deep, running team?

But Minny needs bigs, so in some ways the Bulls are the wrong team to swap with. And they have so many bad contracts – Jaric had 4/$28M left, Hudson 3/$18M, Hassell 3/$12.5M, Blount 3/$23M. They’re going to pay Eddie Griffin and Maddog a combined $5.5 next year to do nothing. McHale should really be fired as GM. If I were Minny I would make a team take at least one of those bad contracts with KG.

So what if the Celtics gave up Big Al, #5, GG, Powe, Ratliff and Wally for KG, McCants and Jaric. Minny could be awesome in three years (a great young core and tons of cap space) and the Celts have a lot more cap flexibility to bring in a mid-level guy this year.

Time Is On Our Side

In his Monday Bullets discussing possible Kobe deals, Henry Abbott dismisses John Jackson's trade idea with this one liner: "Others suggest wasting everyone's time by offering Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, Viktor Khryapa, P.J. Brown, the ninth pick in this draft and a future first-rounder."

I agree that one's not likely to happen, but some of the talk (that Matt ably dismisses here) is as ridiculous in the other direction. The fact is, the Bulls do not need to make this trade. At all. They can stand pat with what they have, see if Kirk, Ben, Luol, Ty and Thabo can continue to improve over the next 2 years or so (and whether Wallace starts to radically deteriorate), pick a decent player in the upcoming draft, and sign a nice bench player with the mid-level and, really, who could bitch?

Meanwhile, the Lakers are facing a star with a no-trade clause who will only allow himself to be traded to a handful of teams, none of which can offer a player in return who's the caliber of Ben Gordon. It's an uncomfortable situation, one that seems to be trending toward intolerable. Patience is a virtue that we can definitely afford.

The Darkhorse

After reading this article by K.C., I did a little research on Jason Smith, a 7-foot PF from Colorado State. I'm intrigued.

For starters, most mock drafts have him going in the mid first round (around 16 or 17), so presumably, if this is the guy they like, the Bulls could trade down and get something in return. More substantially, though, Smith seems like a more skilled mid-range shooter than either Noah or Hawes, which is something we really need at the four. His post game still appears to be a work in progress, but that's certainly true for both Noah and Hawes as well, and by all accounts, he's already made significant improvements in that area of his game. (I don't think you can say the same for Joakim; and there's really no frame of reference available for Hawes.) In any event, I could see this; but is there anyone out there who has actually seen this dude play?

To Add Onto The Post Below...

Sam Smith also has some thoughts on Hawes v. Noah. To which I can only reply: Uh yeah, Sam, Jo Noah is just like Mark Madsen, except that he's two inches taller. And can block shots (Season career high: 2.4 v. 0.9). And pass out of the post for assists (2.3 v. 1.1). And shoot a significantly better percentage from the FT line (73.3 v. 62.9). All while playing less minutes (25.9 v. 29.4). And being the fourth-scoring option on his team, which, incidentally, won two consecutive national championships. (Oh, and he also runs the floor better and finishes stronger at the rim.) But yeah, outside of that, they're a lot alike.

Meanwhile, the same big-man coach Sam quotes thinks that someday, three or four years down the road, Hawes might be the next Chris Kaman. Wow. How can we turn that down?

Hawes v. Noah

The talk of the Berto Center these days is the battle between Joakim and Spence. With not much info leaking out, I thought I'd throw in my two cents if both these guys are around come pick nine.

Hawes has a lot of appealing attributes. Because he grew late, he played a lot of guard early on and can handle the rock more than adequately for a big man. He can run the floor. He's pretty smooth down on the block. He doesn't get into much foul trouble. And he's a decent shooter. But I think Hawes has a few big flaws. One is flat out inconsistency. Besides a string of eight great games in mid-December, his production was all over the place. And these weren't necessarily growing pains. He's a polished guy who made some contributions early but often disappeared, especially down the stretch. The other is his rebounding; the man barely averaged six rebounds a game. Although we need a big man primarily for scoring, he'll need to step in and battle down low. That's the way the NBA works. Some will argue that the Pac 10 was a tough conference for big men, and he certainly played against a few good glass men (The Lopez's and Gison come to mind). But Prince Luc's numbers were way down, Luenen, Ryan Anderson and Radenovic played better facing up, Hardin was hurt most of the year, Pendergraph is kind of a weenie, and Weaver is the only one worth a damn on the Cougs. I'd argue it wasn't all that physical down there, which brings up a red flag for me.

That's why Noah seems the better option. He's relentless on both ends of the floor (and in transition for that matter), he has crazy amounts of experience, he's probably a BETTER "guard" than Hawes, he can finish around the block, he's a great interior passer and he's a good free throw shooter. I think the main dig on Joakim is his lack of perimeter shooting, which needs to improve. But down low, he's just about as solid as anyone in the draft, which is where he will likely get most of his points. If he can perfect the 15-footer that PJ started hitting late in the year, I think he'll fill the cog better than Hawes would.

You Know What?

Henry Abbott is really fucking awesome.

The fact that he talked to Alex de Waal is even better. Everybody should read this.

Seriously.

Read it.

Randolph on his way?

From Chad Ford, via True Hoop.

"At Chicago's ninth pick, ESPN Insider Chad Ford writes: "This pick could also be a target for the Blazers. They'd love to get their hands on Jeff Green or Julian Wright. The Bulls could trade this pick and P.J. Brown (in a sign-and-trade) for Zach Randolph."

The Bulls, Ford says, are hungry for Yi Jianlian, who might be too high risk for the Celtics, who could probably get him fifth . . . Then the question becomes, what might the Bulls be able to offer Boston for that fifth pick? It would seem like there might be some way for this trade idea to get bigger -- maybe as a three-way with Portland, or maybe with some other teams getting involved."

Everyone is really high on Jianlian and of course we can't know much about him. Boston needs a lot of help both in talent and cap room (Wally for 12 and 13 the next two years, Perkins 4.5 mil through 2010, etc). What do you think we would need to offer to land both Randolph and Yi? Is that even worth it?

TYI's GM challenge

First up - your Chicago Bulls.


We've got too much depth - assuming Kirk gets most of the run at the 1, Gordon at the two, Deng a the three and Big Ben at the 5 - then where are minutes for Sefo, Ty, Noce, Duhon (hate him all you want, then look at the bench guards for most NBA teams) Khryapa (should have some value esp. at $1.9 next year), Griff and the #9.

Rumors have the #9 to Seattle for Collison. Ok, I'd do that, he seems decent.
Or the #9 and P.J. (at one year for like $10M) for Z. Randolph. Now I know Randolph isn't a great club house guy, but, hopefully, one bad guy per team rule applies as Mr. Simmons sez. I'd be a bit worried that Skiles would bench him cause of D, but you have to do that deal if it's there. You don't get a 20/10 guy that often as BenGo07 said last night. Hell, I'd even do the #9 plus Noce. Trade Krappy for Doleac, the Heat should do it for $ reasons and ...


the Bulls trot out

Kirk
BenGo
Deng
Z. Randolph
B.Wallace

bench

Duhon
Griff
Sefo
Ty
Doleac
Marty?
Malik (fuck the PER, he plays smart and they should get him for the vet. min.)

you've still got the two second-rounders, which should be fun. A lot of interesting guys will be there for the Bulls - Chandler from Depaul, Terry from Unc are two that I like. Check out recent drafts, a lot of contributors are there. And maybe Mihm from LA if they can get him for a one-year cheapie - who knows what he's got left in him, but he put up 10/6 and a block before he got hurt.


Thoughts?

Two is better than one

Wild stuff from King James last night. The Bad Boys are a little overwhelmed.

"On his winning bucket in double-OT, he beat Chauncey off the dribble and slid past every single player that dared pretend they'd slow him down. I firmly believe if the Pistons had their entire roster in the paint, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer on the blocks and Chieck Samb standing under the basket with both of his hands poking up through the bottom of the rim that LeBron James still would have scored that bucket!"

Maybe. But after the game one kick to our boy Donny and LJ's ridiculous string of hoops last night, how could you not send out a double team with the game on the line? Just moronic stuff from Flip. Of course, I refuse to believe that Harp had anything to do with that. Makes you even angrier that the Bulls gave away game three.