Jimmy Butler is the man.....let Rose be a free agent and be a detriment to another franchise. I thought a coup[e of reasons that Thibs was he played guys to many minutes and didn't play rookies well Jimmy Butler is 2nd in the league and Portis has only been in 3 of the 19 games? Nikola has taken a step back ,not only with his jumper but his over all play.No more college coaches here the Mayor is making me yearn for VDN having Nikola,McDermott,and Pau on the floor at the same time is a defensive nightmare

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

taj, pau, rose, snell, mirotic all 2017 fa. 43 mill free in ann alary. of course mirotic gets resigned...i guess Snell,

plus noah expires this year for 12 mill

all the money they need to sign whoever they want....we all know that usually works well.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

A few thoughts with punctuation:

- Tom Thibodeau clearly got more defensively out of his teams than the talent he had. The thing that's shocking is that he may very well have gotten more offensively out of the talent he had (which he's not known for and was deeply criticized for by many). Fred "Run 'n Gun" Hoiberg is at the helm of a team who is 25th in the league in offensive efficiency, and he has - for the most part - the same level of offensive talent that Thibs had. For God sake, there were times during Thibs' tenure that Joakim Noah was running point-center. The brass may not have liked Thibs personally, but it's clear he was a pretty damn good coach. The Bulls look like they have no talent some nights, but even last year, there were people saying they were far and away the most talented and deepest team in the Eastern Conference (that was a mirage). Maybe this gets better under Hoiberg, but right now, they look poorly coached.

- From afar, Jimmy Butler seems like a turd. He's one of the best all-around 2's in the league, and his improvement is to be commended, but he seems better suited riding shotgun. I think many see him wearing the "white hat" because he's the foil to DRose, who most have grown to dislike. However, he is always making comments about the team lacking leadership in the past (and basically implying that he's now the savior), he becomes a black hole in crunch time, and after losses, he's usually going over to give a big hug to his buddies on the other team. He doesn't seem to take winning as personally as your top dog should. I think he also needs a coach with a big personality to knock his **** in the dirt now and then. Maybe that sounds meatballish, but it's just how I feel.

- Gasol plays no defense and seems disinterested at times despite all the big talk.

- Rose is a bottom third offensive point guard and is also a turd.

- Nikdougola Mcdermotic is a pair that are bad together defensively but also don't provide any real playmaking ability on the wings. And Mirotic is a streak shooter, not a pure shooter.

The talent they have doesn't appear to be championship caliber, and it seems like Thibs was probably getting more out of most of them than most coaches would. The sum of the parts was better in past years than it is now, and that's not good because they don't have as much talent as we thought.

_________________

_________________
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

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

This team sucks, and will fail.

You can't be an offensive focused team like Hoiberg is dreaming they will be when you have no shooters on your roster,

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Yeah I don't know why Thibs didn't get more credit at times for offense. It's clear that Thibs can get a team at this point in the season to something like 16-5 or whatever in his sleep. 11-8 is disappointing for Hoiberg but we'll see. It doesn't look good though when you already have guys complaining about lacking fire or passion or whatever they said earlier this year. That's the intangible thing Thibs obviously brought but has yet to be seen from Hoiberg. Not an auspicious start to say the least, and Foreman may be feeling the heat if this keeps up.

_________________
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

Feeling what heat? The last guy who had the job was given a promotion after failing.

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I assume you're talking about Paxson? I think he built up good will with the Skiles hire, which helped change the culture created during the Floyd and Cartwright eras. Foreman's guy is Hoiberg, and if Hoiberg oversees wide scale regression then Foreman should be responsible. The standards are higher than they were when VDN failed under Paxson.

_________________
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

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

- Gasol plays no defense and seems disinterested at times despite all the big talk.

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Massive sample size. I think you shut leash up for good.

_________________
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

He's in the top ten in blocks.....sample this you jag

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Shawn Bradley once led the league in blocks.

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I love you though, Walt.

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This team is being dictated by contracts and not talent until the end of the 2017.!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I thought they would be better but it is still early. 11-8 is not bad. I still have them to check in at 55-27.

The Bulls have victories against 3 of the top teams in the league and have already taken the best team down to the wire without Rose. It was also a road game. Hoiberg is still trying to figure his rotations out but it is clear to me that Noah and Gasol should be starting and playing 30 plus minutes per game. No more of Niko and Taj starting.

Rose is also extremely bad at this point. He is at a point where he customarily gets outplayed by 3rd and 4th tier guards. He is not even a top 20 pg at this stage of the game.

Pau has taken a step back but he is not the problem. That 4 position on the Bulls is absolutely killing them. There were a lot Taj Gibson defenders and advocates on this board a yr ago. He stinks too. Just like I thought. The best thing to happen to his career was the existence of Carlos Boozer.

Snell hasn't progressed either. I don't really have a problem with McDermott. If people thought He was going to be the second coming of Larry Bird then that's their problem. He is about what I thought he would be.

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It's clear Hoiberg wasn't ready for the NBA. He looks lost a lot and the offense is at the bottom of the league. I'm willing to give him more time but by late February we should see some major improvements with rotations and strategy. He puts out lineups that a kid would use on 2K16.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Hoiberg went to every players house to introduce himself. Who the fuck does that. Hes like a star struck kid

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I don't like Butler calling him out publicly though.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

What did butty say?

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Read that. Butler complaining about 45 seconds on the bench. Boo hoo non issue

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

You're good, Jimmy, but you're not as good as you think. I really don't like Butler.

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Cut the guy some slack, man! He's the best WE got, therefore he's entitled.

i like pau, but the only problem with him is that he's getting older and i think his statistical attrition can be attributed to that. my gut would say to bring him back, but only at some sort of a low price.... if he's going to command significant money/years then i think it's best to let him go, esp if he wants to play those years for a proper contender.

taj can go... noah's done, snell never started (and he'll always be remembered for those anachronistic/antiquated cornrows and bernstein's calls for someone to pull him aside and "tell him to get a damn haircut!") and obviously despite the overall regression in his game i'd still roll the dice on mirotic because there comes a point where you're going to need bodies, and if the softie-european guy realizes that his future isn't being a niche 3pt chucking big-man then things will only get better.

derrick? yeah you can put him in the "done" category too unless he pulls a MJ and basically moves into a gym and spends 8hrs/day working on his jump shot. the only way that he can be any kind of a star even in the same zipcode as he was when he won the MVP would be to kill those mid-range pull up jumpers, and at least as of right now derrick hasn't figured out that making jumpshots = the path to more $$$, so if that doesnt change in another year / year and a half then by all means let him see the door.

and i agree with the sentiments here that jimmy fancies himself to be a better player / bigger star than he is, but you can still do a lot worse than him. that said seeing as he's the one core guy you're going to build around (bobby portis era notwithstanding) you have to go out and find a #1 star for this team, cuz it's not jimmy and it sure as hell ant post-op derrick.

of course, all that said the bulls are shoulder deep in what bernstein used to call NBA hell, and i think the hoibulls as constructed are likely going to be right there smack dab in the middle of NBA hell (low playoff seeds / mid-late first picks in the draft) so if you can't get really clever and nab some sort of established super/star or burgeoning super/star in FA in the next year then you're going to have to hit the lottery and let the NBA rig you another nice pick or two. fortunately for the bulls they always draw well through thick and thin and the NBA values their international brand from the MJ days, so if the league has any say in it (which they do via the lottery) they wont let the bulls languish for too long before they can start creeping on the come up.

last time the bulls hit the lottery was during the jim boylan era, and even then it took everything jim boylan had and thensome (i.e. ben wallace suspending joakim noah for a couple'a games) to barely miss the 8th seed by like 2 games, and then with a 1.7% chance to get the #1 pick and a hometown kid going #1 the league saw $$$$ in using this rare opportunity to hook the bulls up with a potential franchise player and they did just that. if/when they get back into the lottery you know that the NBA is gonna want the bulls to be on the path to making them $$$ ASAP so they'll get hooked up.... we just have to deal with some "lean years" to set that up, and while nobody wants to be the sixers and all.... man that's better than half-assing it like you're the 2003 pistons or something because the derrick rose championship window officially closed last year (even tho it realistically was left on the court in philadelphia, and that's if it even truly existed at all)

TLDR = barring some free agency wizardry where you can scoop a super/star (i.e. someone better than jimmy butler) it's pretty much nigh time to wind this "d-rose era" thing down and get into the lottery so the NBA can hook you up with a super/star or two. and they will do that because the NBA has a vested $$$interest$$$ in seeing the bulls succeed, and they will continue to be rewarded for packing the house during the post-MJ "lean years" and continuing to do so during the eras of the "tryhard bulls" (skiles-rose) and the "super tryhard bulls" (rose-present). you need super/stars to win in this league, not a GM who can do clever homages to the 2003 pistons. go get them.

it sucks that derrick rose didn't end up being "the guy" but you can't fault all parties (NBA included) for trying.

also lol @ anyone talking about gar like he's the GM. i know bernstein was handed a revised script telling him to start referring to gar as being in charge ("THIS IS A GAR FORMAN DECISION" and etc) but we all know that paxson is the GM it's just a formality that he got bumped upstairs to make his assistant (gar) the GM so that way he never had to deal with the media again if he didnt want to. everything the bulls have done under "gar forman" has john paxson DNA all over it (and i'll let you guess what fluid/s provided the DNA =)

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How can you refer to the "NBA will award Bulls for MJ" theory while simultaneously referencing an entire decade+ (1999-2015) that proves the theory is bullshit?

_________________
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

what?

how does that decade+ prove that my theory was bullshit? after the "baby bulls" abortion (and we'll include fizer there too... wasn't he #4/5?) and the building of the original "try hard bulls" the bulls had exactly 1 appearance in the NBA lottery where they had a 1.7% chance to land the #1 pick and get a hometown kid who looked like a potential super-star and the bulls got that pick. besides, didnt they have the #2/3 picks in the draft to get curry/chandler? well there ya go.... just draft better.

now if you wanna have an argument on whether or not the NBA rigs its lottery i guess we could have that, but it'd pretty much end up being you saying I BELIEVE EVERYTHING I SEE ON TV! and me going "#comeonson. remember patrick ewing and don't forget that they dont even bother to put on the dog and pony show with envelopes/balls/whatever anymore, they just come out and go "HERE'S THE ORDER! (CERTIFIED BY THE LAW OFFICES OF DUMB&ASS)" and we roll with it." --- but the NBA knows what it's doing. if the bulls can duck NBA hell they'll at the very least get a nice pick relative to where they finish.

maybe i'll be proven wrong if the bulls hit the lottery for 2 years in a row with low %s and they get picks 8-12 or whatever, but i'm just saying i wouldnt be surprised if a #9/10 seed bulls team ended up with a top-5 pick cuz the NBA is better when the bulls are worth watching/paying-for.

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man its easy to forget that the bulls had the #2 pick in 2006 when they drafted lamarcus aldridge.

i mean....seriously, they had the best player in the 2006 draft for a matter of minutes but sometimes you just gotta have viktor khryapa. it's also easy to forget that they had the #2 pick in 2002 for jay-will. i can give you that they had the #7 pick in 2003, where i remember going into it that it seemed like the bulls were going to make a slight reach and take the hometown kid dwayne wade, but then miami took him and we took the grindy coach's kid hinrich and sheeeeeeeeeeeeit.

if things worked out a lil differently you could have had d-wade instead of hinrich and you definitely could have had lamarcus aldridge instead of tyrus thomas (that was one of the magic knicks picks so it didnt matter if the bulls were any better w/wade). call it a hunch if that happened you wouldn't have been able to get the #1 pick for derrick rose and things might have gone down a little bit differently, eh?

2003 lottery = bulls were 7th worst and got the 7th pick. the clippers took kaman @6, and while idk what their shooting/guard situation was at the time (as there was a run of guards/tweeners making up 7 of the next 10 picks) i like to think that if miami didnt take wade the bulls were, and i swear he was seen as a low-teens guy coming into the draft and he was the bulls' guy, but then riley/miami happened and we got kirk and the rest is history.

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