Chicago Bulls 2011-2012 Thread

Originally posted by Jcool:

KCJHoop K.C Johnson

DRose on losing to Miami: "I was the reason we lost those games. Little mistakes, turnovers, not making the extra pass to the open guy."

KCJHoop K.C Johnson

According to source, #Bulls just pulled Keith Bogans off the practice floor. Story soon at chicagotribune.com.

According to source: Bogans is on non-guaranteed contract above league minimum and #Bulls exploring other options.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Bulls are close to signing Jamal Crawford, which is exactly the kinda guy they need. Especially if he buys into Thibodeau's defense.

Chris_Broussard Chris Broussard

NJ and Indy have shown interest in Jamal Crawford. Potential offers on hold until Nene's situation is settled.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
Please get crawford, and please avoid rip, I bet rip would play like 3 games and get injured.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
Please get crawford, and please avoid rip, I bet rip would play like 3 games and get injured.

You ask around the NBA the old question about which player you'd pick if you were starting a team and the general answer is LeBron James or Dwight Howard. I'd pick Derrick Rose, and I'll explain later why that is not just personal bias.

The irony, of course, is if James and Howard were to start a team they'd look for someone else, which basically LeBron did in joining Dwyane Wade in Miami and that Howard is attempting now in demanding to be traded where there is an All-Star.

This is generally accepted practice in the NBA now, but it really is a symbol of the basketball world creating a society of non-competitors.

Oh sure, they are talented, perhaps more so than any athletes in history. But the basketball system is now producing, though not in all cases, a generation of players who don't know how to compete and generally don't want to because they never had to.

Consider how you get to the NBA: You go to open enrollment high school so that if you don't like it or the coach you transfer. Tyson Chandler attended five high schools. LeBron played at the lowest level high school league in Ohio so his buddies could be on the team. Then you play AAU ball in which you join with your buddies or switch teams on a whim if there are too many demands or you can make more elsewhere. Then it's college for one year in which the coach can barely say a word to you on the hope you might stay a second season.

So then you go to the NBA and things don't work out for you and you demand to leave your team and join your friends elsewhere, or find a team with better players to play there. I've heard this question run by Bird and Magic and Jordan and Russell and they all don't quite understand why you don't just say that you're the best so you'll win anywhere.

Yes, Kobe ranted about leaving, but more as a reaction against management. He ran Shaq out. He always knew he could win. He's a competitor. Rose is too. He never wants someone special. He didn't go chasing after LeBron. Same with Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. They're good, and like the good kid at the playground, just give him four guys and he'll figure it out.

But it's not often that way anymore as Chris Paul is the latest helping turn the NBA into the AAU. It's not completely their fault, but he's another who doesn't know how to compete, whose sense of entitlement transcends the ability to compete. He needs the easy way out because that's always the way it's been and it worked out fine. That's the real problem the NBA faces. Many of its stars have transcendent talent, but they lack the will and desire to stand up for anything but their own comfort. You wish somewhere along the way someone was able to coach and teach them, but they probably never had the desire or inclination. And so they keep searching for the easy way.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
Please get crawford, and please avoid rip, I bet rip would play like 3 games and get injured.

Not only that, Rip's a mid range player, and you already have one of those in Deng. You gotta space the floor, and Crawford does that a lot better than Rip does.

That being said, ya...it looks like it'll be Rip regardless.