[MichaelOFAZ]

Here are some of my thoughts on what the Bulls should do to prepare themselves for a championship run.

I think we can all agree that the Bulls are set (as far as starters go) at PG (JC/JWill), PF (Chandler), C (Curry), and either SG or SF (whichever Jalen will ultimately play). Over the course of the next season, Krause and the Bulls will need to determine how far along Tyson and Eddy are in their development. My suspicion is that they'll probably be still 2-3 years from playing at their peak. Which means that soon-to-be free agents Duncan, O'Neal, and Brand are not out of the question. All three are relatively young PFs with significant experience who can play C in a pinch. All three will ask for the max too. Duncan is clearly worth it. A strong argument could be made for Brand. And O'Neal has an outside chance that he'll secure a contract at or near the max.

If the Bulls decide to go after a young veteran PF/C with the bulk of their cap dollars, Tim Duncan would be the logical choice. However I haven't heard of read anything that would indicate that Duncan would consider coming to Chicago. It wouldn't make much sense for the Bulls to pay Brand the max as they clearly didn't think that he was worth it when they had him, otherwise they wouldn't have traded him in the first place (as they could have signed him to a contract extension under the Larry Bird provision and would have stayed within the parameters of the CBA and salary cap). Unless, Krause intentionally let Brand go thinking that there was a chance to get him back at a later date (knowing Clipper's relunctance to spend).

O'Neal would be a someone to consider, but the guy tends to be a headcase at times. Talentwise he's a star-in-the-making, but attitudewise he's a cancer. I don't think Krause or Cartright wants to go down that path. Certainly not at the dollars that O'Neal will be seeking.

Mourning is another PF/C to think about, but his medical history and age would be counterproductive to the rebuilding process.

Some journalists have suggested a reunion of Rose and Howard. Personally, I think that picking up Howard for anything more than the mid-level exception for one year would be plain dumb. And even then, I question it. Howard wasn't motivated to perform when he was making $20M a year, what possibly would motivate him to play for $4.5M? Playing with an old buddy in his hometown? Not likely.

If the Bulls decide to prolong the development of Chandler and/or Curry, Tim Duncan would be best and most logical choice. Hopefully Rose has been secretly campaigning to Dunc.

Assuming that the Bulls stick with their orginal plan to throw Eddy and Tyson into the fire (which is the smartest thing to do IMO), the Bulls will need to spend their cap space on either a SG or SF. Ideally someone who is interchangable between those two positions as Jalen is. The best of of the list are Stackhouse, Odom, Maggette, Lewis (although playing SG is not likely), and Wells. Conventional wisdom would suggest that if the Bulls were interested in Lewis or Wells, they would have made a play for him this season. It's also very possible that I don't know the nuiances of the CBA well enough and that there is some financial advantage for the Bulls to wait until these guys become unrestricted free agents. But logically, it would make more sense for the Bulls to go after one of those two now while the competition (other teams with cap space) is so few.

Personally, I think that Bulls should make a play for Bonzi. He's guy who plays hard, is very well rounded, can play SF or SG, has a ton of playing experience, is still relatively young, and has had to share the load with several other strong players for past few years. But what do I know?

That leaves Stackhouse, Odom, and Maggette. I will be amazed if Detriot doesn't sign a multi-year extension to keep Stack. Next up, Lamar Odom. Odom is a gifted player who tends to hit the chronic a little too often. Not that it's a deal breaker or anything, because I'm sure that Rose lites it up from time to time too. The problem with Odom is that he doesn't know how to be discrete about it. That's too risky for a team to invest a lot of money in. The Bulls may decide to work out an agreement with Odom where his salary is contigent upon him not getting busted for smoking weed. A heavily incentive-laced deal may prove to be helpful to both Odom and the Bulls. Still there's a risk. The best of the three for the Bulls is Maggette. He's young, athletic, versatile, a Chicago native, low key off the court, his stats aren't overwelming which means that he's affordable, and he's a star on the rise. Not to mention that he'll be one of five players that the Clippers will be looking to re-sign (Kandi, Brand, Odom, and Miller).

The Clippers have been trying to unload Odom all summer, but to no avail. It's not likely that they'll try to re-sign him. I believe that Melvin Ely is the heir appearent to Odom/Maggette's position. The bulk of Clipper dollars will be used to sign Brand, Miller, and Kandi ... in that order.

So, let's suppose the Bulls get Maggette. Let's also suppose that the Bulls cannot unload ERob. That will leave the Bulls with a mid-level exception. Would Brad Miller consider taking the MLE to play back up to Eddy Curry? Hmmm ..something to ponder. If the pieces fall into place as I have suggested, the Bulls roster would be quite competitive.

PG: JC, JWill
SG: Rose, Maggette/Wells, Hassell
SF: Maggette/Wells, Rose, ERob
PF: Chandler, Fizer, Baxtor
C: Curry, Miller, Blount


Lemme know what you think.

 

[Chops]

Excellent Post! Keep it up.....

Anyways, I agree with you, but I highly doubt we can get Bonzi Wells or even Maggette for that matter. What do we have that they could possibly want? Maggette might come back home, but then we have a massive clog at the swing positions. We literally become the L.A. Clippers East. I like your plan, but Krause needs to move E-Rob before any of it could actually happen.

 

[MichaelOFAZ]

Excellent Post! Keep it up.....

Anyways, I agree with you, but I highly doubt we can get Bonzi Wells or even Maggette for that matter. What do we have that they could possibly want? Maggette might come back home, but then we have a massive clog at the swing positions. We literally become the L.A. Clippers East. I like your plan, but Krause needs to move E-Rob before any of it could actually happen.

KC, thanks, but I'm not sure that I follow you completely. You asked, "What do we have that they could possibly want?". I don't follow. Portland is faced with a sign-him-or-lose-him situation. After this season, Bonzi becomes an unrestricted free agent which means that he can sign with whatever team he wants. Therefore, the Bulls wouldn't have to give up anyone. As far as this year goes, the Bulls have the rights to Best, Oakley, and they also have future draft picks to barter with. If Portland was hellbent on keeping Bonzi, then why haven't they signed him yet? Obviously cap space and the luxury tax is an issue for Portland. Re-signing Wells would only add feul to the fire. I get the sense that Paul Allen (the Blazers owner) is sick and tired of spending buttloads of money only to never make it to the finals. That's just a sesne. The Bulls could sign and trade Best and a offer a protected 1st Round pick for the Bonzi. This way, the Blazer will get a little something for their investment.

Bringing Maggette into the mix does not create a clog at SF, in my opinion. Sure Rose can play SF if needed, but aside from Rose our only other SF is ERob. Bringing Maggette in as a starter would allow us to move Rose to SG and let ERob play as a backup. Until we can trade him. 2 players at a position doesn't create a massive clog, in my opinion.

Under my plan, the Bulls would be a well-rounded team with a sizable front court and a dynamic backcourt and all of the key players would be locked up for the next few years at least. The Clippers are loaded at every position, the only problem is that the window of opportunity for the Clippers is this season. After this season, every one of their starters is a free agent.

 

[Chops]

I understand your point, but I don't know why Bonzi would come here on his own. That's all I'm saying. Maybe we can offer a package for a sign and trade, but there are going to be other teams that can offer more than we can. Maggette causes some rotation problems unless E-Rob or Hassell is gone. One of those guys will get very limited minutes. Not a bad plan though....

 

[MichaelOFAZ]

Thanks for explaining ... I see your points.

 

[JOHNNY_BRAVisimO]

with miles gone, the clippers arent shopping odom anymore and i see a very good chance of us being able to get magette next year, if not magette, then Q the next year

i dont want bonzi, he's been hanging out with sheed too much and has picked up the habit of blowing up in crucial games, magette sounds like a better choice

how about artest? when does he become a free agent? i wouldnt mind getting him back with in a reduced role

 

[faust]

Artest should be available same time as Brand. Artest would be a better fit.

 

[MichaelOFAZ]

Artest does not interest me in the least. Krause was lucky enough to pawn him off on the Pacers. Krause had to give up two respectable players (Miller and Ollie) just to be able to unlead Artest and Mercer. Artest started talking nonsense about wanting the max. The guy is a liability on offense and he's not a good of a defender as everyone makes him out to be. When he focuses on D and doesn't think that he can shoot, he's an excellent defender. His rookie season, he was great. Because he stuck to his specialty, D. Once he started thinking that he had game on the other end of the court, his D slipped. Statisically, he has a lot of steals. But steals don't measure how many times he was abused by the opposition. Artest is highly overrated and I don't think there's any way Krause would ever bring him back.

Although Maggette is my first choice, I'd take my chances with Bonzi if I couldn't get Bonzi. If you separate Bonzi from Sheed, Bonzi would be fine.

 

[pduh02]

You know we could get Maggete last year draft when we trade Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler.


I was wondering that Krause really did ask for Maggette to be included for the trade that year with Brand to the Clippers for Chandler/Maggette/and or maybe cap reason or filler??

But if we did get Maggette last year then Hassel, JC, Or Jay will either out of the rosters, or get limited mintues or one of them get limited mintues unless Maggette play SF behind Rose.

But now this year doubtful we can't get Maggette which there is nobody that Clippers want in our Bulls roster.

 

[JOHNNY_BRAVisimO]

Originally posted by MichaelOFAZ
Artest does not interest me in the least. Krause was lucky enough to pawn him off on the Pacers. Krause had to give up two respectable players (Miller and Ollie) just to be able to unlead Artest and Mercer. Artest started talking nonsense about wanting the max. The guy is a liability on offense and he's not a good of a defender as everyone makes him out to be. When he focuses on D and doesn't think that he can shoot, he's an excellent defender. His rookie season, he was great. Because he stuck to his specialty, D. Once he started thinking that he had game on the other end of the court, his D slipped. Statisically, he has a lot of steals. But steals don't measure how many times he was abused by the opposition. Artest is highly overrated and I don't think there's any way Krause would ever bring him back.

Although Maggette is my first choice, I'd take my chances with Bonzi if I couldn't get Bonzi. If you separate Bonzi from Sheed, Bonzi would be fine.

who do you seriously think should have taken our shots if not artest then? mercer took enough for himself, erob? no way, greg anthony? no...... oh! fizer!!...

artest was shooting pretty good when he first got back from injury, and we started winning in february when we learned how to play together but then the big trade happened and we had to develope a whole new chemistry all over again

is it wrong that artest tried to take the leadership role that knowbody embraced on the pathetic bulls? is it wrong that he constantly blamed himself for our losing? what did he REALLY do wrong besides the wacky stuff?

 

[TripleDouble]

I think that Mourning would be a great signing for the Bulls, though I don't see him coming here. Last year he put up 15/8/2 and was coming of a major injury. He is a bigtime defender and is is just the presence we need. He is still in is prime, but by the time TC and EC are ready for bigtime, Alonzo might be ready for reduced minutes. Just practicing against him every day would improve the kids, because he is such a physical, aggressive player.

A 4/5 rotation of Chandler, Curry, and Mourning would break down minutes wise like this next year: TC 30, EC 30, AM 36 and withen a few years when Mourning is like 35-36, the minutes would be something like TC 35, EC 35, AM 26.

 

[TripleDouble]

Add Artest and Mourning next year and we have just the right combo of frenzied psycho D and smooth, deadly O.

 

[MichaelOFAZ]

I ran across an article on ESPNInsider talking about Bonzi Wells. An excerpt from the article is pasted below.

"He is one of the more dynamic two guards in the NBA, but Bonzi Wells, like most free agents, has quickly fallen on hard times. The Blazers are balking at his contract demands and Wells is having a hard time finding another team willing to commit its full mid-level exception to him.

It's not because Wells doesn't have value, it's just that teams are convinced that the Blazers will match any offer up to the mid-level exception. That's probably true, but word around the league is that the Blazers don't really want Wells back. The team has a stacked backcourt and is hoping that Wells could bring back a point guard or a decent center in return. The Blazers have entertained sign-and-trade offers for Wells all month, but so far nothing has been to their liking."

Is it possible that Krause could be working out a deal with Blazers to sign and trade Travis Best? Perhaps he's waiting until Lewis is completely out of the picture, before inking anything with Wells. Based on the past, Krause has always kept his cards very close to the vest (along with a bucket of chicken) when it comes to potential trades. Did anyone know anything about the trade for Rose prior to it being announced? I know I didn't. So maybe, Krause has something up his sleeve.

Now, I would be a hypocrite if I took this article as anything more that pure speculation. But I thought it was interesting and appropriate since I had recently posted that Bulls should go after Bonzi.

 

[JOHNNY_BRAVisimO]

Originally posted by TripleDouble
I think that Mourning would be a great signing for the Bulls, though I don't see him coming here. Last year he put up 15/8/2 and was coming of a major injury. He is a bigtime defender and is is just the presence we need. He is still in is prime, but by the time TC and EC are ready for bigtime, Alonzo might be ready for reduced minutes. Just practicing against him every day would improve the kids, because he is such a physical, aggressive player.

A 4/5 rotation of Chandler, Curry, and Mourning would break down minutes wise like this next year: TC 30, EC 30, AM 36 and withen a few years when Mourning is like 35-36, the minutes would be something like TC 35, EC 35, AM 26.

yes, i would definately be thirilled if we came out of the offseason next year with alonzo mourning and ron artest, they would instantly bring defense to our team that we sorely need

 

[blkwdw13]

Although I'd love Artest to come back also I'm just not sure he would be willing to take a reduced role but I could be wrong though.

 

[JB]

He said he was glad to be on a contending team so I don't think he wants to come back.He think he's an all star and lead his team to campionships :laugh: what a joke ! ! !

 

[transplant]

When I look at the Bulls roster longer-term (2-3 years), my biggest concern is backup center.

Williams and Crawford have the PG covered. Crawford, Rose and Hassell can hold down SG. IF ERob can come back healthy, he and Rose, with a little help from Hassell and Fizer on occasion, can take care of SF. Chandler and Fizer at PF. All of these players are, or could develop into, good to very good NBA players, and only Rose is over 26 years old.

Center is the only position where we don't appear to have quality (or at least potential quality) long-term depth. I've heard folks say that Chandler will provide that depth at center, but I don't see it. I don't want my starting PF as my backup center...it's too limiting.

I keep wanting Bagaric to be the answer, but even wearing my black and red colored glasses, I have trouble with the concept. Blount is better at PF and besides, when the young players on the Bulls are ready to truly compete consistently at the highest level, Blount will be retired.

Bagaric will be given another year. I'll hope for the best, but objectively, I'm not optimistic.

 

[JB]

Nice post and I agree I don't want my PF at C neither 230 going against 250 and up I just don't see that.But like you said besides that C position the Bulls are pretty much locked at every other position especially gaurd, BUT I would want another sf maybe Lee Nailon or Tyrone Nesby I would love them coming off the bench BANGIN people down below.(especially Nailon).WE NEED SOME INTENSITY get some fire lit up under some of Jerry's Kids...

 

[Louie]

Artest does not interest me in the least. Krause was lucky enough to pawn him off on the Pacers. Krause had to give up two respectable players (Miller and Ollie) just to be able to unlead Artest and Mercer. Artest started talking nonsense about wanting the max. The guy is a liability on offense and he's not a good of a defender as everyone makes him out to be. When he focuses on D and doesn't think that he can shoot, he's an excellent defender. His rookie season, he was great. Because he stuck to his specialty, D. Once he started thinking that he had game on the other end of the court, his D slipped.

I think that the only time this happened was when he first came back from his injury last season and averaged like 22 points a game for a while, but then he did start to concentrate on D again, got back to about 16 points a game, and helped us beat the Lakers twice. He is NOT in any way overrated and is the best defnder in the league easily. I would love to have him back, and I think he'd be perfect for this team. He was the reason the Pacers made the deal. He is the only actual Kobe-stopper in the L- the rest are all Kobe botherers.

 

[MichaelOFAZ]

I think that the only time this happened was when he first came back from his injury last season and averaged like 22 points a game for a while, but then he did start to concentrate on D again, got back to about 16 points a game, and helped us beat the Lakers twice. He is NOT in any way overrated and is the best defnder in the league easily. I would love to have him back, and I think he'd be perfect for this team. He was the reason the Pacers made the deal. He is the only actual Kobe-stopper in the L- the rest are all Kobe botherers.

Ok dude ... step away from the crack pipe. Artest is a good defender, but in no way shape or form is he the best defender. Bruce Bowen, The Glove, Doug Christie, and several others are much better. In fact, Artest wasn't even the best defender on the Bulls team, Hassell was. If you're basing your assessment of Artest's D on steals, then your logic is flawed from the start. There's more to D than steals. Secondly and most importantly, Ron Artest did not guard Kobe solely when the Bulls beat them. It was defense by committee with Hassell carrying most of the load. In the first game, Mercer was forced to guard Kobe quite a bit as well.