I believe it is

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Hot take

Yep. Book it!

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Does the play in tourney count?

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Nope.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Anyone listen to Bernstein today? I swore him off a couple months ago but I’m curious if he’s as orgasmic about Derozen as he was about Vuc.

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Pre-woke Bernstien would ask: How does this make you closer to a championship?

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Yes.

Yes they are clearly a playoff team now.... are they more than a first round exit though? Not sure about that we will have to see how the gel. They are no more than a second round team at best though, unless the playoffs are injury ridden again and they stay healthy.

They're not "clearly a playoff team". There's only 6 playoff teams now, 7-10 go to the play in. The east is stacked....

Milwaukee
Brooklyn
Atlanta
Philly
Miami
Boston
Indiana
Charlotte

That's 8 good teams right there. I think the first 5 listed are clearly better than the Bulls. That leaves only 1 remaining playoff spot and they'll be fighting with Boston, Indy and Charlotte, all good teams.

Are they clearly a play in team at least? Yes I would say that.

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You know I have the Bulls to be better than "your Atlanta Hawks" Shakes. There is no way they aren't in the top 6.
Clearly a playoff team.

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oh I know you do. I don't want to root against the Bulls, but I don't think they're gonna be close to the Hawks so I'm not too worried about it.

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Funny I feel the same way about the Hawks A.K.A. this year's Miami Heat.

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Lotta moving pieces here. Does Donovan have what it takes to figure out a way to optimize everyone's skillsets? There are too many guys here who see themselves as no 1 and/or in need of the ball:

Vucevic
LaVine
DeRozan
Markennen

Ball is a distributor so I am not concerned about him as much.

Then there's White who also needs the ball when he gets back.

Then there's Williams whom you have to give the ball to for his development.

If this is going to work there either has to be another major trade OR Donovan has to give the coaching performance of his lifetime. Not sure if either of those two scenarios are going to happen. So, with that, I'm thinking 35 wins.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Yes, because this is the first time I have been excited for the season to start since early D.Rose years.

Playoffs or bust, Take that!

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They need to get players and not draft picks for Markannen. They should be able to secure a couple of bench guys for him at least. Apparently AK prefers picks to players though on this one.

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The only thing White and Markannen need is to be traded. Neither is part of the team's future.

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I think Vegas has them at 39 and the Bulls haven't hit the over in a long time. That being said I think this year they will, but if you believe in that 35 you should make that bet. Their defense is atrocious this year but they have enough players this year that I think they will sit around .500 in the regular season. While I am not a big DDR fan what he became in SA fits this goulash AK has put together very well. It won't look like anything we have seen in Chicago before... all offense no defense. It is kinda what the Hoiberg era promised but couldn't come through with. We will see if Billy can, he is equipped with better tools to make it happen.

Yes and no. They need some future assets be it in players or picks, because this team is built to win now and is not contender level. Depending on Lauri taking the QO they don't have an actual PF on the team. That would now be Williams and DDR (who played a lot of PF last year ughh) It is going to be a small ball team and Billy likes his 3 guard lineups. Defense is going to be UGLY as sin. Still to build this team you gave 3 FRP's up and may lose another one for tampering... Getting a pick for Lauri isn't a worst case scenario but yes capable players would be better.

So basically they get in the playoffs, they are the 7 or 8th seed and getting swept? What's the point? Keep it.

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They will be better than that but making the playoffs is a lot better than being out of the playoffs by Christmas every season.

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I mean, you aren't wrong, but shouldn't we expect more than that?

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I look at it as first being able to crawl before you walk. They may not be championship contenders as currently constructed but they will be much more competitive.

AK improved the team and really didn't give up much as he did it. He had to cut bait with all of the shitty draft picks that were made by Paxson and he has.
Williams is a keeper and I believe a future star. Vuk and Derozen have a couple of more years of playing at a high level.
The key is Lavine. I like Lavine but I don't think he is a max guy. I don't know if they think he is but I do think they want to find out.
You have to surround him with better players in order to see how good he is. If he is good then the team should be a 47-50 win team given the talent around him. If they win 35 games then he isn't and they have to move on.
He will be a free agent after this season and they have to know how good he is before paying him.

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I’m just hopeful they’re more watchable this year. I thought that would happen last year after the trade; never really panned out.

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It's on Donovan

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Not yet. Honestly. You can't change the culture of a team that was rotten from Jerry on down in a year or two. They have to get into a healthy environment first. 2 years ago when AD was demanding a trade Chicago wasn't an option because of the makeup. If that happened today, they would be on the list... you need to be a baseline of a playoff team to attract other talent. No one wants to go into a losing situation. BKN got Durant and Kyrie because BKN had come from the dumps to a respectable team before they got those guys. Chicago can do the same, but they need to be a destination first and then wait for a star to demand for a trade (because that is how the NBA operates these days) It doesn't gaurentee success but it is a better odds move to getting it.

You still work down by me? If so we should meet up again some day I mean once every 6 or 7 years isn't too much of being a stalker right?

Was surprised to hear that the lines are indeed around 39-41 depending on the site. Seems like we gotta pound the over...if they don't finish over .500, Donovan (at a minimum) is toast.

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I think that the lines have set Brooklyn as the favorite to be a #1 seed with their win total being 54. The East will be better but they also expect load management to keep win totals down. If true it will be one big cluster in the East. Bulls at 44-45 wins will not be bad if that's the case.

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The east is also a lot deeper and more competitive this year. Orlando and Detriot are obviously in developmental years, The Cavs I think are going to try to compete at least out of the gate, Washington is going to try to. If the Raps keep Siakim, they will be trying for the playoffs too. The rest of the east is definitely going to push for a run and the talent pool is better so 45 wins is pretty good in a year like this.