It’s hard to bash two guys who have been as great to the Bulls organization as Jerry Reinsdorf and John Paxson have been over the course of their careers. Six titles, championship-clinching shots, and rebuilding from the Floyd-Cartwright mess is great. Those two guys deserve a lot of credit for all that. But since this mini Bulls resurgence started a few years ago, the two have had all the chances in the world to make the Bulls a legit title contender during a period when their conference has never been weaker. Of course, they failed to do so, and now the Bulls will be stuck in this funk for a very, very long time. Simply put, Paxson fucked up. He fucked up bad. It’s that simple.
Forget about the KG and Gasol rumors that lasted seemingly forever. Consider this: in the course of nine months, the Bulls had the best player and the best coach without a title in the league practically begging to come. That should have been it. It should have been a done deal. With Kobe and D’Antoni, the Bulls are the NBA’s most exciting team. They’re good for 150 points a night, and are probably just as good if not better than the Celtics and Pistons. After putting up with loads of shit since MJ retired, this would have been the Bulls reintroduction to the NBA’s elite. With any sort of competent management, it would have happened.
But no, because Reinsdorf and Paxson are pussies, too scared to stray away from their safe and moderately successful past. They wouldn’t act fast enough to get Kobe, when a deal could have surely been made. As I wrote at the time, give them Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Ben Wallace, and Kirk Hinrich. They all suck anyways. But Pax didn’t do it, hoping that Kobe would put so much pressure on the Lakers that they’d be forced to trade their superstar for a fraction of the return. This, of course, never happened. Andrew Bynum emerged into one of the NBA’s best young big men, and then the whole Gasol ordeal poured more salt on the existing wound.
All because Pax wouldn’t trade Luol Deng. Think about that for a second. Deng is a nice player and great guy, but we’re talking about Kobe Bryant here. And he’s not in Chicago because the Bulls wouldn’t trade a young small forward who can’t shoot threes and isn’t particularly athletic. Love 18-foot jumpers? Luol is your guy. But he’s never going to blow by anyone and his ceiling is far lower than anyone in the organization will ever believe. Luol Deng will never be a star. He’ll be fortunate to ever even emerge as one of the NBA’s best 40 players. But the Bulls are stuck with him and his upcoming $60 million contract, instead of having the league’s best player since MJ. Let’s not forget that Kobe had his heart set on coming here. It could have happened. It should have happened. All for Luol fucking Deng.
You would think the Bulls brass would have learned. But no. They did it again, this time with former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni. It’d be one thing if Pax felt Coach D wasn’t a good fit with the organization. I’d disagree, but could see his point. Then, after D’Antoni signs with the Knicks, you read this:
"Unfortunately, we were never given an opportunity to make an offer of any kind, which is the most disappointing thing in all of this. I thought it would have been fair to listen to what we had to say. But at the end of the day we simply weren't given the opportunity to do so. I now will continue to search for the proper fit for our current roster."
Oh, you were never given the chance to make an offer? Well no fucking shit. This guy was begging you to make one for a whole week. And you didn’t. Cause you wanted to think about it. So don’t give Pax any sympathy. This was an easy decision. D’Antoni is The Man, and he wanted to coach the Bulls. It should have been a done deal from day one. But Pax acted too slow, making sure that this is what the organization really needed. What happens? Before the Bulls are about to match the Knicks offer, D’Antoni doesn’t give them the chance. And why should he? This should have been over right away. As it dragged out, the Knicks and their endless funds only became more of a threat.
So get ready for Tom Thibodeau, who will probably be solid. But he’s not D’Antoni. Just like Deng isn’t Kobe. Everything could have been so great. It should have been. Everyone bashes White Sox general manager Kenny Williams all the time but I’d rather have my favorite team’s GM have balls than be a complete pussy. Paxson is a pussy. And the Bulls paid for it.
I've got finals this week, so I'll be back on Thursday Bulls post tomorrow. This D'Antoni stuff is just bothering me too much. Stompy may throw up a post or two here (though he has finals too), but you can check out Top Ten for daily updates. Today's list: places Pacman Jones will enjoy in Dallas.
I kind of don’t want to do this and I’m sure it’s not a very popular stance, but we really have to hold off a second before we crucify Cedric Benson. I’m sure Benson was a little drunk on that boat (since he did refused the breathalyser), but as long as he wasn’t belligerent, there is no reason he should have been pepper sprayed, beaten, and nearly downed. One chick on the boat was so worried about him that she called her dad to say “my black friend is getting beaten up by police”. Can you imagine if Benson is relatively innocent in all this, and a few loser cops took down a rich and famous athlete just because they could? The cops knew Benson would be toast if he ever hit them, so those cops really could have done whatever they wanted to him. It’s at least possible that Benson got screwed here, right?
To anyone commenting on blogs or calling in on sports radio shows saying “Benson is wrong just for putting himself in that situation,” you are all morons. What do you expect a 25-year old millionaire to do in the offseason? Can he really be lifting weights and studying his playbook all day, every day?
The cops tale sounds a little fishy, too. The assertion that they did this because Benson was “cocky, insulting, and profane” is an insane reason to pepper spray someone. If that was the case, I’d get to pepper spray all my friends on a regular basis. Sure, if Benson was threatening the cops, go do it. But when someone hits a cop, they are going to prison, so I doubt the situation ever escalated that far. It's not like Benson has ever been proven to be a terrible guy either. Terrible football player? Sure. Generally salty to his teammates? Yeah. But no ever thought he was a monster before. This sounds more to me like a cop who always got stuffed in lockers by football players in high school and wanted some revenge.
I’m not sure if anyone (literally, anyone) thinks this, but this incident won’t somehow turn around Benson’s career, no matter how it turns out. The surgery to his ankle will take away a lot of his speed and ability to cut up field, and since he sucked at both these things in the first place, I think it’s fair to drop the bust label on CedBen officially. My biggest worry with Benson was that he’s just a pussy, and can’t handle playing in the NFL. This incident only confirms those suspicions. Begging your mom to make the cops stop? Lame. I'd almost be more comfortable if Ced would have just beat ass, no matter the punishment.
Bulls, don’t do this to me. Don’t blow getting the coolest coach in the league because you are too cheap to pay him. I know you still have to pay Skiles, but coaches don’t count against the salary cap. D’Antoni wants to come here, so make it happen.
So Gavin Floyd. I really don’t even know what to say. The guy has been incredible this year, but as Sox Machine points out, he’s also been lucky. All I know is that if Floyd keeps this up, the Sox are going to be good. These bats will come around (yep, we also said this last year), it’s just a matter if Floyd, Danks, and Contreras can keep the team in games once they do.
Pink goatees are ridiculously uncool. Make this stop immediately.
So it looks like Mike D’Antoni is going to be next coach of the Bulls, huh? Sweet. But now comes the biggest hurdle: Paxson has to turn this roster into something D’Antoni can use.
Like we said on Friday, this team is built more for Avery Johnson than D’Antoni. Paxson has focused on bringing in defensive-minded players since he got here. That all has to change now. Outside of Tyrus Thomas, who I think can do a dead-on Shawn Marion impersonation, and maybe Noah and Thabo, Pax has a lot of work to do if D’Antoni is going to be successful.
While Phoenix’s offense was awesome, it never seemed all that complicated: Nash and Amare would run a pick and roll at the top of the key, Marion would sprint up and down the court to push the tempo, and the other two guys would stand out behind the three point line to space the floor.
Right now, it is Hinrich and Noah doing the Nash-Amare thing, and that doesn’t bode well. Also, who are your shooters? Gordon is the best shooter on the team by far, but he can’t be worth $60 mil in that role. I suggested moving him to point and dealing Kirk, but Gordon is far from the creator that Nash is. Hell, Gordon is far from the creator that Kirk is, and that’s downright embarrassing.
So we got Tyrus in the Marion role, but where do the Bulls go for everyone else? Let’s take a look.
Point guard: Jose Calderon would be ideal, but Toronto would be crazy to let him sign elsewhere this summer, and if they do, every team in the league will be all over him. Monte Ellis would be great too, but, again, a lot of teams will be throwing money at him as well. Do the Bulls give Hinrich another chance? I was a big Kirk supporter before last season, but he was just so bad that I’m not sure if they can do that. If they do and Kirk sucks again, now you’ve just wasted one year of the D’Antoni Era.
Assuming the Bulls stick with the ninth pick in the draft, I’d use it on UCLA’s Russell Westbrook. Nash’s decision making is what made him so special, and no one could expect that from Westbrook right away. But he played at a big program (which we know Pax loves), can be a top notch defender, and is extremely athletic. With some tutoring from D’Antoni, he could be the guy to run the show.
Big man: I love Noah, but you can’t have him as the top option in that whole pick and roll thing. He’s just too awkward offensively to pull it off. Drew Gooden likely isn’t graceful enough either; he’s simply more of a bruiser. Texas A&M’s DeAndre Jordan could make sense in the first round, but he has a ways to go. I’m not sure the Bulls would want to wait for another young big man to develop.
This is going to be a little dicey because there isn’t a whole lot in free agency either. Jermaine O’Neal would be nice, but I’m not sure if that’s feasible. If the Bulls can get Gordon to sign the one-year tender, maybe there is enough room to sneak O’Neal in under the cap.
Shooters: JR Smith would be the ultimate here. But can D’Antoni turn him into a disciplined player? George Karl sure couldn’t. We don’t need Smith if he’s going to come in here and start chucking threes at will; it only works if he does it in the flow of the offense. I suppose Kirk could just be made into a shooter, but at 6-3, he’s too short for a two guard. I think Noce, even though I kind of hate him, could maybe pull off the role as well.
Guys like Pat Garrity and Brent Barry could be options in free agency, and maybe Kevin Love is one in the draft.
So I just wrote 650 words on the Bulls without mentioning their best player: Luol Deng. I’m not sure if D’Antoni’s offense fits Deng all that well, but we certainly can’t expect Pax to do something crazy and deal his best player at 23.
The offense will have to be amended some to make up for some deficiencies in the talent and to best incorporate Deng. He’s at his best as a slasher and mid rage jump shooter, and those are two useful skills in any offense.
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I'm ridiculously busy the next two weeks so we'll leave you with this for a few days. I couldn't possibly let Oral be on top of this website for more than 24 hours.
and you should probably read it because it tells the greatest story of all-time. Just to refresh your memory..
I left out so much good stuff too. Let's run down a quick checklist
- Beau's friend told us he knew someone at this exclusive bar, so, somehow, he got us in. When we get, he proceeds to dance in the corner by himself for three hours. And he said he knew people there!
- "Hey Canada, I thought this was the American League"
- Me and Beau are walking back to the hotel, and Beau spots an open hot dog vendor, an opportunity he was not going to let slip past him. So we get some hot dogs, and on the way back, this was our entire conversation:
Beau: Man, these hot dogs are fucking awesome. I mean, they're just great. Me: .... Beau: Oh Jesus, they are amazing Me: Yeah, bu.... Beau: I want another one. It's just so good. I could, like, ten right now.
I guess Beau liked the hot dog or something.
- Since there was like ten people crammed in one hotel room, a lot of us had to sleep on the floor. Well Stephens got a bed, but pissed himself at about 7am. So he gets up to go to the bathroom...
Mike: "Yes, free bed!"
...jumps directly in Stephens' urine.
******
- Mariotti gets his chance at Deadspin's Media Approval Ratings. Could he go under 5%? That's the real intrigue here. The lowest score so far was Tiki Barber with 9%, I think Jay's got that covered.
Marc Stein better not be yankin’ my chain with this one. Mike D’Antoni looks like he’s on his way out of Phoenix and is reportedly targeting Chicago. If you would have asked me at any point since Skiles was fired who I wanted to coach the Bulls if I could pick any coach in the league, D’Antoni always would have been the answer. It’s the perfect hire for John Paxson, and would finally get the Bulls away from the no-nonsense, self-accountability, defense-first style that a lot of today’s NBA players hate dealing with.
Let’s start this off by saying I’m not totally sure D’Antoni will leave Phoenix. That team has taken on his personality 100% over the last few years, and with one more good year of Shaq (if you can call it good), and about two more great ones left from Nash, I wouldn’t be surprised if he stuck it out.
But, if D’Antoni is on the open market, Pax should throw the kitchen sink at him. You know the Knicks and Raps and maybe even the Mavs will come after him hard, so Pax can’t fool around.
I’d first wonder if D’Antoni would even be interested because the Bulls don’t really have an ideal roster for the type of game he plays. They were built for the Skiles-Avery Johnson approach, but things could work out here with a little tweaking. Two players would become vital: Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon.
When Tyrus was coming out in the 06 draft, the player he most often drew comparisons to was Shawn Marion. “The Shawn Marion position” is the one that makes the D’Antoni offense go. Tyrus could play that role. Sure, Marion was a far more established player than Tyrus currently is when D’Antoni first took over in Phoenix. Marion is also a lot better shooter and ball handler. But you know what? Shawn Marion is terrible shooter. Jacking up all those threes did nothing but hurt the Suns’ offense. All you need the player in that role to do is run and jump. Tyrus Thomas, yeah, he’s good at that stuff.
That brings us to Gordon whom I despise. But in D’Antoni’s offense, I think he could be great. First thing you do: move BG to point and ship out Kirk for whatever. Pair Gordon with Thabo and have Hughes come off the bench. Another guard will need to be added, hopefully someone like OJ Mayo but I doubt he’ll be available, but those three are a good start. With Deng at small forward, Tyrus at power forward, Noah at center, and Gooden and Noce off the bench, that’s a decent crew right there. There’s obviously still no superstar, but whatever. I think you can win without one with D’Antoni’s system. Will it run as fluidly as a team with Nash, Amare, and Marion? Of course not, but it can still be effective.
The ideal situation would be to resign Deng to roughly the same offer as he turned down in the summer and let Gordon do the one-year tender thing. If D’Antoni isn’t the coach, the Bulls have to make a lot more changes. Say Rick Carlisle comes in. The first call Pax should make then is to Houston to offer Deng and Gordon for T-Mac.
But we don’t need to worry about that now because the Bulls just may get themselves the NBA’s coolest coach.
We’re a day late, but that’s not the point. On April 30, 2007, Greg Olsen made this site famous. Actually that’s not true at all, but I’ll be convinced that without this post, the world may never know about the Seventh Floor Crew- at least not right away.
Here’s the story: I believe it was Mike that discovered the song on the internet in about October 06. Obviously, if you listen to it, you can have only two reactions: it’s either hilarious or disgusting. Naturally we thought it was the funniest thing we’ve ever heard and even played it to ring in the new year. I’d go as far to call it the Official Jam of Loomis, which, of course, is about the highest honor any song could ever hold.
So when the Bears drafted G-Reg in the first round of the 07 draft, I knew that this was the perfect time to get my first Deadspin link. You know, try to get the site a little notoriety. So I wrote the post, emailed it to Leitch, and wouldn’t you know, on the next day it was up there. A few other places linked to it including the Fanhouse. Really, it was fairly exciting at the time because I’m (obviously) just some moron who thinks Ben Gordon sucks, so when I knew that people were actually going to read the site, I thought that was kind of awesome.
So I went home that day, and I’m driving around Orland Park looking for a summer job. I’m listening to ESPN radio and they start talking about the Deadspin post. I think Mike may have actually called in to tell them (correct me if I’m wrong), but the fact that Mac, Jurko, and Harry we’re talking about something that was on Deadspin because of me was even more awesome.
The following morning, all hell broke loose. The Sun-Times (this is way before I started working there) had Olsen on the front page of the paper, not just sports section, talking about what a horrible dude he is for recording such a crude song. Carol Slezak (who I don’t know, but I hear she’s actually pretty cool) chimed in with this (unfortunately her column isn’t still available in the archives):
After listening to all 8 minutes and 56 seconds of this unbelievably disgusting rap, I was shaking in anger and shock. How is it possible for these young men to have such little respect -- or is it hatred? -- for women? If Don Imus got fired for the comments he made about the Rutgers women's basketball team, these guys deserve jail time by comparison.
The Trib and Southtown also had stories on it. It was, for whatever reason, a really big deal around Chicago. I’m sure it would have come out eventually, but I don’t think it would have happened right away with the Deadspin post. The outrage wouldn’t be nearly as high either, as this was immediately following the draft. Someone even put our link on his wikipedia page.
So, I’m sure no one cares, but that’s our little claim to fame. The best part was that all the stories in the newspapers credited “the internet”. I guess you can’t send links in print.
*******
Tomorrow, Bulls coaching post. I just want to see first if D’Antoni is really toast.
I'm starting to feel like Shoals now, just linking to all the other stuff I do around the internets instead of cranking out posts here. Really, it kind of makes me feel important.
- Top ten players to watch for the 2009 NFL Draft. I thought this was a brilliant idea when I wrote it Sunday night, but since I didn't post it until today, it seems like everyone beat me to the punch already. About five hours after I finished it I noticed that McShay already had a full 09 Mock out already.
- Your AL home runs leader: Carlos Quentin.
- Here's the thing that I don't think Buzz Bissinger understands: about half of the written posts on sports blogs are just trying to make people laugh, and roughly 99% of the comments do the same thing. If it's a little mean, so what? "They called Sean Salsbury an assfister! The outrage!".
Well, people hate Sean Salsbury. Instead of everyone blandly listing their criticisms of him, commenters on places like Deadspin say things to make everyone else laugh. It's funny. And really, judging by the way Bussinger talked in the segment, is their any doubt that he says this kind of stuff about people (in his case, his peers) all the time? The only difference is he just says it to his friends while the Deadspin commenters post it on the internet under a pseudonym. And if anyone takes that duesch seriously after he tells Leitch he's "full of shit" before Will can even get two words out of his mouth, well, I don't even know what to say. You can see the intro segment at Awful Announcing, but he's the round table video.
The other thing: people that read blogs are in the top 1% of the most knowledgeable sports fans. These guys know their shit so well that reading Peter King columns just get too boring after a while. Almost everyone still reads the newspaper, reads Jack McCallum, and everyone else. But blogs are meant for humor purposes, and to give fans of a team a place to talk about them. How could anyone ever say anything bad about South Side Sox or Blog-a-Bull? It's far more intelligent discussion than what you'll find in the Sunday Trib. The their main writers are way better than Mike Downey. It's not like you only read blogs or only read the newspaper. It's both. I read ESPN.com, the Sun-Times, the Trib, Deadspin, and KSK.
Also, isn't it strange that the blogger rep comes off as far more well reasoned than the old stodgy journalist?
- Finally, check out Brian's alternative names for home runs post. It's worth your time.
