Report: Del Negro Firing Imminent

By Sean Mackey

ESPN is reporting that Chicago Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro will be fired. However, the front office has not decided on a replacement at this time and Del Negro will continue to coach for the team until a suitable replacement is agreed upon. Reports have indicated that John Paxson has considered coaching the team but decided against it. Former Bulls coach Doug Collins was also contacted but reportedly turned down the offer. Chicago has also done some background work on former Nets coach Lawrence Frank.

With all this being said, I feel kind of bad for Vinny Del Negro. He was a temporary fix from the beginning and everyone knew it. The coach that the team hires is going to be the guy who leads the team into the 2010-11 season in which the Bulls are banking on getting a big name free agent. I think Reinsdorf needs shell out some cash and get someone like Avery Johnson or John Paxson needs to come down from his office and coach the mess he's made.

Hopefully more on this later.

The Bulls blow 35 point lead, lose to Kings.

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls did the impossible last night. They blew a 35 point lead only to go on to lose 102-98 to the Sacramento Kings....The KINGS!

Words can't describe how frustrated and confused Alex and I were with this one. We joked that even though the Bulls had 80+ points at the start of the 4th quarter, the Bulls wouldn't break 100 and they'd lose. I can't believe it really happened though. I just can't believe it.

Chicago looked phenomenal the first half. Deng, Rose, Salmons & Hinrich were hitting all their shots making the Kings look terrible defensively. Then after the start of the 3rd quarter, Sacramento started to chip away at the deficit until the final minute in the 4th when they took the lead.

I fully blame Vinny Del Negro for this one. At the beginning of the 2nd half, Vinny should have ran his starters for a few more minutes and then turned the game over to Aaron Gray, James Johnson and Pargo. Those guys would have given the starters some well deserved rest. Usually when a team is up by that much, it's hypes the bench up and they come out with a ton of energy. Not last night, VDN ran the same 7 man lineup the entire game....THE ENTIRE GAME. That was poor rotation lead to the starters getting tired and well, by the end of the 3rd, they didn't care if they won or lost.

Christmas Eve is Thursday. If the Bulls lose to the Knicks tonight, it's safe to say that VDN will be joining the likes of Scott Skiles & Tim Floyd as the 3rd Bulls coach in the last 10 years to be fired on that day. Merry Christmas Vinny Del Negro!

The Bulls suck. Is it too early to be thinking about the 2010 NBA Draft?

By Sean Mackey

They suck, they really, really suck. How bad? Losing to the New Jersey Nets at home by two points after a 31 point fourth quarter kinda bad. Andrew Wamboldt of Dabullz.com said it best last night on twitter:

"Vinny will probably be fired soon, but I think he would have a winning record if the Bulls had just kept BG. Management is the failure here."

I agree.

The Bulls should have done whatever in their power to re-sign their star player. You know, the guy who put the points on the board every night. The guy who led the Bulls in scoring for 4 years. The guy who passed Scottie freakin' Pippen on the all-time three points made by a Bulls player....yeah, that guy. Dude would have had his jersey retired by the team too had he played another 5 years, he was that good.

I think Reinsdorf and Paxson have put all their eggs in the 2010 free agency basket but who in their right mind would want to come here to play? It's pretty safe to say that Chris Bosh is going to Miami, I don't blame him either. Wade, Beasley and him will dominate the Eastern Conference for the next 5 years. Sun, beautiful women and championship runs? Hell, I'd go there in a second. Why would I go to an organization who everyone in the league knows is a joke and cares more about selling Michael Jordan throwback memorabilia than it does spending money to be title contenders?

I don't blame Vinny Del Negro at all though. The Bulls are a mess and they'll still be a mess after he's fired this season and the Bernie & Pete show takes center stage. Vinny's done a decent job for a guy who hasn't coached, the organization is at a total fault but they're going to need a scapegoat and Vinny is going to be that guy.

Salmons will probably not opt out (because he's not going to get a good deal at his age and how he's been playing) and we'll have to trade him during the off season so we can try like Hell to sign Bosh or Stoudemire. If they don't bite, I'm sure Joe Johnson will which means the Bulls will look to draft another big guy. Whether it's Kentucky's Patrick Patterson, Kansas' Cole Aldrich or if we really luck out in the lottery, Georga Tech's Derrick Favors, it'll be a big if we decide to go the Joe Johnson route.

Patrick Patterson has been solid the last three seasons for KY, he's currently averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game. This would probably be more inflated if that John Wall guy wasn't playing. Cole Aldrich is a solid center from Kansas. He's also averaging a double double but he's not super athletic and has kind of a funny release although not as funny as Noah's. In all honesty, Aldrich would probably be more of a project center than anything. Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors is talented and athletic yet he screams Tyrus Thomas 2.0 to me. I could be wrong about that one but he's definitely a guy who could benefit from another year in college.

Bulls play the Hawks tonight, oh joy.

Rumor: Bulls and Knicks Talking Trade For Tyrus Thomas

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls are reportedly shopping injured power forward Tyrus Thomas. According to Yahoo Sports, Chicago is currently talking to New York regarding a trade that would ship Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James to the Knicks for power forward Al Harrington. Thomas, James and Harrington are all in the last year of their contracts. The Bulls and Thomas ended any sort of contract extension talks earlier this summer and are now apparently looking to move Thomas sooner rather than later.

Al Harrington is currently leading the Knicks in scoring averaging 19 points and 6 rebounds coming off the bench. Pairing Harrington with a defensive minded Joakim Noah could help the Bulls get through the rest of the 09-10 season before concentrating on luring a big name free agent this summer. Tyrus Thomas would provide an energetic spark off the bench for the Knicks and seamlessly fit in with Mike D'Antoni's run and fun offense.

I like the idea of this trade and it would be a temporary but very helpful solution to get some much needed scoring out on the board for the rest of the season. I'm hoping something actually materializes from these talks.

Finally....the Bulls win a freakin' game!

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls ended a 5 game losing streak by notching a win over a depleted Detroit Pistons team and their former leading scorer Ben Gordon. John Salmons led the Bulls with 22 points on 7-12 shooting. Derrick Rose looked decent coming up with 19 points and 6 assists and Joakim Noah continued his best impression of Dennis Rodman by racking up 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Ben Gordon led the Pistons with 18 points shooting a poor 6-16 from the field.

This was a must win game, especially with Ben Gordon coming back to the United Center. Of course, the win kind of has an asterisk by it though since Villanueva, Hamilton and Prince were all absent but we'll take it. The win bumps up the Bulls to the 7th seed in the Conference and 2 wins below 500.

After watching the game, I came to the conclusion that neither Ben Gordon or the Bulls are better without each other. It's a shame that we couldn't just give up Kirk Hinrich and re-sign our best player. It's also a shame that he's playing for a team that makes absolutely no sense for him to be on. He had a starting spot on the Bulls and if he was re-signed, I'm sure John Salmons would be coming off the bench. Instead, he's coming off the bench behind Rodney Stuckey and Chucky Atkins. I'm assuming Hamilton and Prince will be moved at the deadline for big post up player which would be great for them (cough Chris Kaman). I'm sure they're not going to play Rip and BG simultaneously for very long when he does come back from his injury. It wouldn't make much sense keeping him when Will Bynum is coming off the bench and doing such a great job.

I would personally love to know what's going on with James Johnson. I wish VDN would start him a few games so we could see what this guy can do. Taj Gibson has a decent mid range jumper and fights for rebounds but the guy drops so many passes that it's ridiculous. Is Chicago going to just use him as a trade piece? Is he going to be unleashed mid-season they can take teams by surprise with his dynamic skill set? I'm so confused why he was drafted at this point.

Thinking ahead to the summer of 2010, with Chris Bosh probably going to Miami, the Bulls options for a post up player are going to be limited to Amare Stoudemire (who will probably re-sign with the Suns or go to the Knicks), Carlos Boozer or in a worse case scenario there's always David Lee. Signing another shooting guard like Joe Johnson just puts us in the same place we were with Ben Gordon last season. The Bulls can scrounge around and find a semi-decent shooting guard or re-sign Johnny Salmons and we'll still have Hinrich who can shoot decently from the perimeter. I just think having a big guy draw a double team down low would create more opportunities for Rose and Deng.

The Bulls play another nationally televised game Friday night against the Cavs. Check it out on ESPN at 8 p.m.

Dreaded Circus Trip Starts Tonight With Sacramento

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls start their annual west coast road trip tonight as the circus takes over the United Center. The Bulls have a combined record of 9-24 record over the past five seasons on this particular road trip. Chicago will face off against Sacramento, followed by a nationally televised game against the defending champions, the LA Lakers, then Denver, Portland, Utah & Milwaukee.

This year, it appears that 3 of these games are fairly winable. A 3-3 record would be more than acceptable. The win against the Sixers the other night was another unconvincing ugly win. The offense is terrible but the defense is winning the games....barely. John Salmons isn't scoring well and Rose is slowly starting to drive to the basket. If both of those guys were more efficicent the team would be winning by more than 5 points every night.

We need a scorer and a post up guy soon.

Miller's Miracle Shot Doesn't Count, Bulls Lose 90-89

By Sean Mackey

The Nuggets won, then the Bulls won, then the Nugget won again Tuesday night 90-89. Confusing? Yes. The Bulls initially lost the game 90-89 then the refs put 0.3 back on the clock. With 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock, Brad Miller threw up a prayer that went in near the 3 point line. The score then changed to 91-90, the crowd went crazy, the Bulls went crazy, VDN was smiling, it was great. Then after about 5 whole minutes of the refs reviewing the shot, they decided that the ball didn't leave Miller's fingertips before the buzzer went off. Nuggets win 90-89. The refs said it was just too close to call giving the Nuggets the benefit of the doubt.

The general reaction was that the shot was good. When you change the score, have a home crowd going crazy and it's too close to call, you should leave the call be. Had I been there, I would have been throwing my coke cup onto hardwood. Hell, I was on the floor pounding my fist into the rug watching the game on my laptop via a very poor, pixelated p2p site (once again, thanks Bulls and Nuggets fans for making the Bulls/Nuggets your fan night game so it would be blacked out to us paying LP Broadband customers).

Regardless, it was a great game, the Bulls offense sucks but their defense is ridiculously good this season. Deng held Carmelo to just 20 points and scored 21 points himself. Derrick Rose heated up in the 4th quarter and finished with 22 points and 5 assists. Noah had another monster game with 12 points, 21 rebounds and 2 blocks. Why his name was left off the all-star ballot has left many Bulls fans puzzled and outraged. Feel free to write his name in as I did, it couldn't hurt.

The Bulls play the Raptors tonight, a team they were 1-3 against last season. Maybe the Bulls will be mad enough to win.

Bulls Squeak by Cavs 86-85

By Sean Mackey

Savor this moment and say hello to your Central Division leading Chicago Bulls! The guys in the red jerseys were able to win another ridiculously close game Thursday night when they beat the Cleveland LeBrons 86-85. Luol Deng posted a solid 15 points and 7 rebounds and Derrick Rose had a solid double-double with 14 points and 11 assists.

It was another low scoring affair, but I was happy to see the win. LeBron James was denied a call in the last second claiming he was fouled going up for a layup. The refs amazingly didn't give him his usual star call and the Bulls won by just 1 point.

The Bulls defense has been fantastic and while a lot of columnists and bloggers will be quick to discredit Vinny Del Negro, I believe he actually is coaching the team now and the players are buying into his system. While their brand of basketball is a little on the boring side, they're winning and keeping opposing teams scoring WAY down. The Bulls still are lacking a scorer and a player to score in the post but until then, maybe their scrappy ways will get them the 49 wins it got a very similar 2006 squad. Derrick Rose is obviously going to have to take over much like he did late in last nights game if they want any chance of making it to the playoffs and passed the 1st round. It would also be nice to show that this group can get 50 wins without having a star player, making it an attractive option for a high profile free agent next season. Wade or Bosh would make this team a high profile contender.

Although, it's a little off topic, I've came to the conclusion that LeBron James is playing on a terrible team right now. The addition of Shaq has done nothing but help sell a few more Adidas jerseys. There is no rhyme or reason to their offense, just give the ball to LeBron and let him create. If this continues, Mike Brown's job is going to be in serious jeopardy come the holidays. LeBron and Shaq looked completely uninterested the entire game and so did the rest of their sad cast of jackass's. LeBron has taken this team as far as he can, they need to get him a Scottie Pippen or I could seriously see him leaving for New Jersey or Miami.

Bulls play the Bobcats tommorrow night on WGN America, hopefully they can continue their winning ways. Go Bulls!

Bulls vs. Bucks....TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

Sorry for the lack of updates, the last two losses took a lot of the wind out of my sails. Fridays masacre in Boston was almost unwatchable and Sunday's game against the Heat was a complete bust. I would really like to see Derrick Rose become the superstar the whole NBA is making him out to be very soon but he's obviously still hurting. Deng, Noah and Miller have played solid throughout the first 3 games. The Bulls are setting up perfect wide open shots for John Salmons, the only problem is that he's not Ben Gordon and can't knock down the open looks on a consistant basis.

Oh well, we're 1-2 and tonight the Bulls play a depleted Bucks team at home without their leading scorer, Michael Redd. Brandon Jennings has looked fantastic so I'm not looking this as a no brainer win......although it should be.

2009-10 Chicago Bulls Season Starts Tonight! Season Predictions!

By Sean Mackey

Finally, after a 4 month hiatus, the Bulls are back! Tonight Chicago will open up the season at home and in front of a nationally televised audience against the new look San Antonio Spurs.

Derrick Rose will be starting after playing only one preseason game way back on Oct 2nd. Tony Parker was injured late in the 3rd quarter and never returned during last nights 17 point victory over the New Orleans Hornets last night. He is however expected to start tonight.

Tonights game is going to be tough after watching how San Antonio played last night. They have a very deep bench now that includes Antonio McDyess and rookie sleeper Dejuan Blair. Blair had 14 points and 11 rebounds last night coming off the bench. Thomas and Gibson are going to have to out hustle him if they want the ball or 2nd chance opportunities.

Anyways, I'm SUPER excited for this tonight's game and tomorrow's rematch with the Celtics. Tonight's game will be on TNT and tomorrow's on ESPN. Here are my predictons for the 2009-10 season.

Final Standings for the East:
1. Orlando Magic
2. Boston Celtics
3. Cleveland Cavs
4. Atlanta Hawks
5. Chicago Bulls.
6. Washington Wizards
7. Toronto Raptors
8. Miami Heat
----------------------
9. Philly 76ers
10. Detroit Pistons
11. New York Knicks
12. New Jersey Nets
13. Milwaukee Bucks
14. Charlotte Bobcats
15. Indiana Pacers

Final Standings for the West
1. LA Lakers
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Denver Nuggets
4. Portland Trailblazers
5. Utah Jazz
6. New Orleans Hornets
7. Dallas Mavericks
8. Minnesota Timberwolves
-----------------------------
9. Phoenix Suns
10. Golden State Warriors
11. Memphis Grizzlies
12. OKC Thunder
13. LA Clippers
14. Houston Rockets
15. Sacramento Kings

Finals Prediction: Lakers over Magic (4-2)

MVP: Lebron James
Defensive Player of the Year: Lebron James
Coach of the Year: Stan Van Gundy
Sixth Man of the Year: DeJuan Blair
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin
Most Improved Player of the Year: Brook Lopez

Bulls Fall To Magic 101-98, Free Money is Upset

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls preseason record fell to 5-2 with a loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose (Achilles injury) and Lindsay Hunter (flu-like symptoms).

During the first quarter, Chicago was matching Orlando shot for shot. Noah got 2 fouls early on and was taken out and thankfully, so was Dwight Howard. With Rashard Lewis out, Michael Pietrus played a lot of unnecessary time at the 3 spot and was taking some horrible shots. This alone kept the Bulls into the game throughout the entire 1st half. At one point the Bulls were up by 9. Chicago stayed in the game until the final seconds when Vince Carter made two free throws to put the game away.

I was only able to watch the first half on one of those poor quality peer to peer sites that wouldn't enlarge to full screen until I passed out at half time. The Bulls defense was fantastic and I couldn't have been happier to see them stay in a game with the defending Eastern Conference Champions. Noah and Miller did their best against the NBA's best center but there's not much you can do with a guy who's that quick. Miller even took Dwight Howard off the dribble showing how deceiving his quickness is when he decides to use it.

The story of the night was how Taj Gibson started over Tyrus Thomas after putting up that monster double-double against Minnesota the other night. After the game, Thomas voiced his disgust to the press about not starting. "I don't think it should even be questionable from what I contributed to this team last season and what I did throughout camp, but like I said, he (Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro)is the guy that makes the decisions. Whatever decision he makes I still I have to go out and play,".

In Tyrus' defense, he is the starting PF for the Bulls and can only be consistant if he's starting and given the minutes. He was noticeably sour after coming off the bench and what VDN has against him is beyond me. Then again, in VDN's defense, it's only the preseason and he needs to see what his best option is at the PF spot to help win more games and keep his job.

Overall, the Bulls put in a great effort against one of the best teams in the league and almost won without their star player. The Bulls have one last preseason game left against the Washington Wizards on Friday before the nationally televised season opener against the San Antonio Spurs next week. Derrick Rose is unfortunately questionable for both games.

Preseason Win Over Indiana , Rose, Salmons & Thomas Out for Today's Game and NBA 2K10!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls were able to pull out a win in their first preseason contest against the Indiana Pacers, 104-95. Rookie Taj Gibson led the way with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Derrick Rose had a solid game with 17 points and 3 assists and Luol Deng returned to the starting lineup with 15 points, going 9-9 at the free throw line. Salmons also chipped in a decent 15 points, going 6-8 on shooting.

Alex and I were in attendance for the first preseason game and I came to the conclusion that I feel really bad for Indiana fans. Literally, 1/3 of the arena was full and they have even less to be excited about than we do. I understand they're in a rebuilding stage but they need some lotto luck to get John Wall or something so they can start going in the right direction. Danny Granger is fantastic but he's really the only scorer they have. Then again, the Bulls don't really have a designated scorer either but I at least think we're going somewhat in the right direction. Taj Gibson looked decent. He's a hustler and seems like he really puts in an effort on every play. James Johnson looked lost and he couldn't get decent look the entire game.

Anyways, today the Bulls are playing the Utah Jazz, a team they were 4-0 against last season. The game is part of the NBA Europe Live Tour and they'll be playing in Luol Deng's hometown, London. The Bulls will be without John Salmons, Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas . Salmons is with his wife welcoming their second child, Rose is out with a sore right Achilles and ankle and Thomas is out with right hip contusion. Who in the hell VDN will start is completely up in the air, here's my projected starters of the game:

PG: Kirk Hinrich

SG: Derrick Byars

SF: Luol Deng

PF: Taj Gibson

C: Joakim Noah

PG: Deron Williams

SG: Ronnie Brewer

SF: Paul Millsap

PF: Carlos Boozer

C: Mehmet Okur

I'll be posting a web feed of the game via our Twitter account if one becomes available through Justin TV later today.

Also, in other news, NBA 2K10 comes out today! This is the 11th installment in the NBA 2K series. My Xbox 360 unfortunately crapped out with the "Red Ring of Death" about a week ago so it won't be until next week that I'm able to play it....sad face. This year's game boasts the inclusion of the D-League and the NBA Draft Combine (purchased separately through Xbox Live or the Playstation Network). If they could just include All-Star Weekend (3 point contest, dunk contest, skills challenge) like NBA Live does and actually change where the all-star game is every year in Association mode, the game would be perfect. I can't stand how you can go 7 seasons into association mode and still play the all-star game in the same location with the same coaches (even though the coaches have retired in the game). Talk about a continuity error. Regardless, you should pick up the game! It's hands down the best one out on the market and the one Alex and I would endorse....if we endorsed things. NBA Live hasn't been great since 2003 and this year's version is even more arcade-like than in year's past. They do however have a great NBA All-Star Weekend feature though.

Preseason Starts Tomorrow in Indiana!

By Sean Mackey

Finally, after a 5 month wait, the Chicago Bulls are back! The boys in red will be taking on the Indiana Pacers at the Conseco Fieldhouse tomorrow night at 7pm in the first of 8 preseason exhibitions. I didn't think I would be this excited with Ben Gordon leaving us for the dirty Pistons, but I have some faith that Chicago can make it to the playoffs this year. With a new emphasis on defense, the Bulls will look to shut teams down then run the ball. I like that idea but can the Bulls actually play defense? Well, we'll get our first glance at the team tomorrow night and see how well they do against a team they "should" be blowing out by 20 on a regular basis. Here's a look at the projected starters:

PG: Derrick Rose
SG: John Salmons
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Tyrus Thomas
C: Joakim Noah

PG: TJ Ford
SG: Brandon Rush
SF: Danny Granger
PF: Troy Murphy
C: Roy Hibbert

Chicago's A-Gray is going to be out for 6-8 weeks with an injury and Indiana will be without rookie Tyler Hansbrough and SG Mike Dunleavy. Overall, the Pacers starting five is terrible. Granger's a great player but he can't shoulder that kind of load.

Things to Watch For:

1. James Johnson - The biggest question mark in the 2009 NBA Draft, will he succeed?

2. Joakim Noah - Worked on post moves and put on 5 lbs of muscle. The man is ready to bang.

3. Luol Deng - Out for most of last season, will he return in top form?

4. John Salmons - Can he compensate for the loss of Ben Gordon?

5. Derrick Rose - All-star material? You bet.

Alex and I will be in attendance towards the nosebleeds for this colossal battle of crappiness sporting our ridiculous 1990's Champion jerseys and heckling Pacers fans.

2009-10 Bulls National TV Broadcast Schedule Released!

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls 2009-10 National TV Broadcast Schedule was finally released yesterday afternoon. This year, the Bulls have 27 national television appearances between TNT, ESPN and WGN America. This is two more appearances than last season yet it still doesn't top the 2006-07 season's 36 nationally televised games. I once again chose not to include the NBA TV games on this listing since us Northern Kentuckians do not get NBA TV unless we have a subscription to Direct TV or Dish Network (which I don't). This will also be the first time since the infamous Miami Heat ring night massacre, that the Bulls first game of the season will be nationally televised. With that being said, I'm hoping for a 50 point win over the Spurs.

Here's the listing:

Thursday October 29th vs. San Antonio Spurs, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Friday October 30th at Boston Celtics, 8:00 p.m. ESPN
Thursday November 5th at Cleveland Cavaliers, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Saturday November 7th vs. Charlotte Bobcats, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday November 19th at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:30 p.m. TNT
Thursday November 26th at Utah Jazz, 10:30 p.m. TNT
Friday December 4th at Cleveland Cavaliers, 8:00 p.m. ESPN
Tuesday December 15th vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday December 19th vs. Atlanta Hawks, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday December 26th vs. New Orleans Hornets, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday January 2nd vs. Orlando Magic, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday January 9th vs. Minnesota T-Wolves, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday January 14th at Boston Celtics, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Friday January 22nd at Phoenix Suns, 10:30 p.m. ESPN
Saturday January 23rd at Houston Rockets, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Friday February 5th at Atlanta Hawks, 8:00 p.m. ESPN
Saturday February 6th vs. Miami Heat, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Tuesday February 16th vs. New York Knicks, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday February 20th vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Monday March 1st vs. Atlanta Hawks, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday March 11th at Orlando Magic, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday March 20th at Philadelphia 76ers, 7:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday March 25th vs. Miami Heat, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Saturday March 27th vs. New Jersey Nets, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday April 3rd vs. Charlotte Bobcats, 8:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday April 8th vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Tuesday April 13th vs. Boston Celtics, 8:00 p.m. TNT

Chicago Bulls 2009-10 Schedule Released!

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls 2009-10 schedule was leaked today onto the Real GM forums. The Bulls open up their season on Thursday, October 29th against the San Antonio Spurs. The following night we get our playoff rematch against the Celtics on their home turf. Since it's on Friday, it seems like everyone assuming this one will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN. The schedule also features a disgusting set of 22 back to back games and a circus trip that will probably end with a 2-4 record (at best). February is going to be our one (semi)easy month with a ton of games against sub par teams.

Not to say I don't have faith that the Bulls can't win 45 games this next year, because they can but I'm just not that optimistic yet. I'm still very sceptical on how James Johnson will fit into the system and how well Deng is going to play at the 4 spot. However, a full season with a better Derrick Rose, John Salmons and a healthy Deng just might be enough to be as good, if not better than last year's team. Below you will see the schedule along with the link of the forum post on Real GM so you can talk back with the nerdiest of Bulls fans.

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=934842&p=20449755#p20449755

October:

29th - vs San Antonio Spurs
30th - @ Boston Celtics

November:

1st - @ Miami Heat
3rd - vs Milwaukee Bucks
5th - @ Cleveland Cavaliers
7th - vs Charlotte Bobcats
10th - vs. Denver Nuggets
11 th - @ Toronto Raptors
14th - vs Philadelphia 76'ers
17th - @ Sacramento Kings
19th - @ Los Angeles Lakers
21st - @ Denver Nuggets
23rd - @ Portland Trail Blazers
26th - @ Utah Jazz
30th - @ Milwaukee Bucks

December:

2nd - vs Detroit Pistons
4th - @ Cleveland Cavaliers
5th - vs Toronto Raptors
8th - vs New Jersey Nets
9th - @ Atlanta Hawks
11th - vs Golden State Warriors
12th - vs Boston Celtics
15th - vs Los Angeles Lakers
17th - vs New York Knicks
19th - vs Atlanta Hawks
21st - vs Sacramento Kings
22nd - @ New York Knicks
26th - vs New Orleans Hornets
29th - vs Indiana Pacers
31st - @ Detroit Pistons

January:

2nd - vs Orlando Magic
4th - vs Oklahoma City Thunder
5th - @ Charlotte Bobcats
8th - @ Milwaukee Bucks
9th - vs Minnesota Timberwolves
11th - vs Detroit Pistons
14th - @ Boston Celtics
15th - vs Washington Wizards
18th - @ Golden State Warriors
20th - @ Los Angeles Clippers
22nd - @ Phoenix Suns
23rd - @ Houston Rockets
25th - @ San Antonio Spurs
27th - @ Oklahoma City Thunder
29th - @ New Orleans Hornets

February:

2nd - vs Los Angeles Clippers
3rd - @ Philadelphia 76'ers
5th - @ Atlanta Hawks
6th - vs Miami Heat
9th - @ Indiana Pacers
10th - vs Orlando Magic
-- ALL-STAR BREAK --
16th - vs New York Knicks
17th - @ New York Knicks
19th - @ Minnesota Timberwolves
20th - vs Philadelphia 76'ers
22nd - @ Washington Wizards
24th - vs Indiana Pacers
26th - vs Portland Trail Blazers
27th - @ Indiana Pacers

March:

1st - vs Atlanta Hawks
4th - vs Memphis Grizzlies
6th - vs Dallas Mavericks
9th - vs Utah Jazz
11th - @ Orlando Magic
12th - @ Miami Heat
16th - @ Memphis Grizzlies
17th - @ Dallas Mavericks
19th - vs Cleveland Cavaliers
20th - @ Philadelphia 76'ers
22nd - vs Houston Rockets
25th - vs Miami Heat
27th - vs New Jersey Nets
28th - @ Detroit Pistons
30th - vs Phoenix Suns

April:

2nd - @ Washington Wizards
3rd - vs Charlotte Bobcats
6th - vs Milwaukee Bucks
8th - vs Cleveland Cavaliers
9th - @ New Jersey Nets
11th - @ Toronto Raptors
13th - vs Boston Celtics
14th - @ Charlotte Bobcats

Bulls Waive Linton Johnson and Demarcus Nelson...Odom Re-signs with Lakers!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls finally decided to cut ties with Linton Johnson and Demarcus Nelson yesterday. Johnson was here on his 2nd stint as a Bulls player and after being signed to a 10 day contact, was kept for the remainder of last season. I don't think Demarcus Nelson even saw a minute of playing time last season. This now puts the 2009-10 Bulls roster at 13.

You can tell it's a pretty slow news day when I'm even mentioning something as pointless as that.

The somewhat notable NBA news of the day comes from LA. Lamar Odom is re-signing with the Lakers!

Why am I excited you ask? Because Pat Riley couldn't lure him to Miami therefore not improving his rather mediocre team. I think Riley is gonna have a hard time trying to bring in a high quality player to South Beach this year by the trade deadline. If he does land someone, it's gonna be Amare, Boozer or Bosh. This would be disastrous for the Bulls who are expected to make a push for Mr. Dwayne Wade next summer. So, lets keep our fingers crossed that Riley is tradeblocked (yep, new term i made up) from making any moves that are going to improve his squad and satisfy his star player.

ESPN NBA analyst, Ric Bucher tweeted last night that the Odom's supposed meeting with Riley and Wade never even happened. Who the hell is making this shit up and who's telling the truth?

The Lakers are my favorite team in the west so I'm glad they got their 6th man locked down for the next few years. I also can't wait to see how Ron Ron is gonna work out. I hope he beats up Celtics fans this year instead of white trash from Detroit. "Boston Brawl"....gotta nice ring to it right? I think so.

Also, Ricky Rubio is said to have a 50/50 chance of playing for the T-Wolves this season. I don't really particularly care for how he or his family have handled this whole debacle but I'd like to see him play this year. It'd be good for the league and for Minnesota who are building a decent club. However, I'd rather see Bill Laimbeer be the coach as opposed to Mark Jackson but if it gets Mark out of the broadcast booth, than so be it. I hate that guy. Why he was selected to call the NBA Finals is beyond me. I would have rather had Isiah Thomas back behind the desk.

That is all for this week, have a great weekend!

I Hate This Time of Year

By Sean Mackey

By this time every summer, the draft, summer league play and free agency have ended and it leaves me very bored. The Bulls seem to be set with their 2009-10 lineup which has left just about everyone wanting more. This organization seems to pull this shit every year. We're teased all summer by trade rumors but nothing ever comes of it, then we draft 2 guys that we're all scratching our heads about. I love the Bulls but living in Northern, KY and liking a very average (at best) NBA team makes me want to start following another sport or team. Yeah, I like the Magic and the Lakers but unfortunately I'm an emotionally tied down Bulls fan.

I'm also gonna go out out and say this......I'm getting really tired of Twitter. Everyday, some analyst or 2 bit sports talk show host sends out a tweet that says the Bulls were/or are involved in trade talk. Of course, any rumor is denied by the organization and sources are never given leading us fans to ask who's telling the truth and who's pretending their Sam Smith.

Today's rumor came from a feed that I follow called "Sports Unplugged". The update said that the Bulls were in Vegas last week discussing a three way deal involving Tyrus Thomas, JR Smith and Carlos Boozer with the Nuggets and Jazz. I believe they might have talked about it but it probably wasn't a conversation that got very far. This is just an instance of someone saying something because there's nothing remotely going on in the NBA right now. When the biggest news is who Lamar Odom is gonna sign with or whether David Lee/Nate Robinson will re-sign with the Knicks, you know the offseason has cooled down.

Late next month or early September we'll finally get to see what the TV schedule looks like. I'm hoping that my cable company will start offering League Pass so I can watch the games on the big screen as opposed to my 22 inch computer monitor. I'm not complaining that I had to watch games on my computer last year through NBA League Pass Broadband though. Before that, all we got in Northern, KY was about 30 televised games a year spread out between WGN America, TNT and ESPN. Yuck!

I don't know about you, but I'm starving for some Bulls games. This offseason has already been too long.

Johnson and Gibson Make Their Pro Debuts....And They Actually Do Well!

By Sean Mackey

The 1st Bulls game of the Vegas Summer League was last night. The Bulls unfortunately fell to the Golden State Warriors 95-83 with Anthony Randolph lighting up the boys in red for 43 points and 3 blocks.

I caught most of the game on a p2p site. The stream wasn't the best but it beats paying $15 to watch a bunch of scrubs run up and down the court. The game time was also changed at the last minute from 6pm to 8pm which threw me off but I still had an opportunity to watch most of the contest.

The story of the night wasn't that the Bulls lost, but it was how well both of the two draft picks did. James Johnson came out to play and had 21 points and 8 rebounds. Taj Gibson also had a decent game with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Johnson showed excellent ball handling along with a few sweet moves down low. For being a big guy, I was suprised at how fast he is. The announcers who were joined by VDN were saying that they thought he could stand to lose about 10 lbs but the Bulls need a meaty guy. A lot of guys have made various comparisons but who he reminds me the most of is former Hornets star Larry Johnson. He's a big guy who's gonna be able to play 3 different positions. I can actually see this dude working his way into the starting lineup eventually if Tyrus doesn't have a good start to his season.

Taj hustled the entire game but had 9 fouls in the end. He's so ridiculously long that he barely had to jump to get rebounds. Once this guy can control his fouling, he's going to be very good defensively.

Regardless of the score at the end, I was pretty excited to see the two rooks perform so well. The Bulls take on Brandon Jennings and Jodie Meeks of the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at 6pm EST. Be sure to check the game out for free at
http://www.myp2pforum.eu/nba-basketball/40250-nba-summer-league-10th-19th-july.html

Bulls Summer League Starts Tonight in Vegas!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls decided to buy out Mr. Tim Thomas' contract yesterday to make room to re-sign Pargo and L. Hunter. Lets hope that this will be the last stint with Chicago that Thomas ever has. Now lets get to the fun stuff....

The Chicago Bulls Summer League kicks off tonight against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. This is one of the only things us truly nerdy Bulls fans have to look forward to during the offseason.

I guess the league decided that they would cash in this year on the summer league games by charging $15 to stream the games live on your computer. In the past, the coverage for these games has been pretty crappy to say the least. I can remember in 2007, watching the games on my computer that had no commentating or score box on the screen. The camera would occasionally pan up at the scoreboard in the gym yet you wouldn't know which team was which since they were just marked home and visitor. During halftime they would just leave the camera pointed at the scoreboard. Last season they decided to add some announcers who weren't very good but at least they told you the score and distinguished players who made decent plays. Needless to say, these games were streamed free on the Orlando Magic's website.

This year the Bulls made the switch from Orlando to the Vegas and these games will not be filmed with public cable access cameras, instead these will look like real games with real announcers and a score box on the screen. I suppose their new setup is the reason for their $15 fee this year. Since I don't feel like shelling out the cash like I did for NBA League Pass this last season, I'm going to be heading over to the seedy but rather useful myp2p.com. Below is a link to their site and all the summer league games so you won't have to waste your money to watch some bench guys and rookies play. You might have to search through the pages but their should be a link up just before 5pm when the Bulls play. Below you will also find the Bulls summer league roster and game schedule. Be sure to check out James Johnson and Taj Gibson tonight as they make their debut as Bulls players tonight at 5pm EST!

BULLS SUMMER-CAMP ROSTER:

No. Player Pos Ht Wt DOB College/Country Exp.
2 Bryan Mullins G 6-2 190 01/13/87 Southern Illinois R
3 Josh Shipp G 6-5 215 02/14/86 UCLA 1
5 Anthony Roberson G 6-2 180 02/14/83 Florida 4
6 Chris Davis G 6-1 185 01/26/86 Southern R
11 Taurean Green G 6-0 185 11/28/85 Florida 3
14 Lorenzo Mata-Real C/F 6-8 230 02/27/86 UCLA R
16 James Johnson F 6-8 245 02/20/87 Wake Forest R
21 DeMarcus Nelson G 6-4 200 11/02/85 Duke 1
22 Taj Gibson F 6-9 225 06/24/85 USC R
25 Julius Hodge F/G 6-7 210 11/18/83 North Carolina State 4
32 Brandon Costner F 6-9 230 07/21/87 North Carolina State R
35 Tyrell Biggs F 6-8 235 08/07/86 Pittsburgh R
40 James Augustine F/C 6-10 240 02/27/84 Illinois 2
42 Nick Lewis F/C 6-11 240 04/20/83 San Diego R
44 AD Vassallo F/G 6-6 215 04/21/86 Virginia Tech R
50 Luke Zeller C 6-11 240 04/07/87 Notre Dame R
54 Linton Johnson III F 6-8 205 06/13/80 Tulane 6

HEAD COACH: Vinny Del Negro
SUMMER LEAGUE HEAD COACH/ASSISTANT COACH: Bob Ociepka
ASSISTANT COACHES: Bernie Bickerstaff, Pete Myers, Mike Wilhelm, Nick Nurse (Iowa Energy)
ASSISTANT COACH/PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: Dave Severns
ADVANCE SCOUT: Chris Thomas
HEAD ATHLETIC TRAINER: Fred Tedeschi
ASSISTANT ATHLETIC TRAINER: Jeff Tanaka
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH: Erik Helland
ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH: Joshua Bonhotal
EQUIPMENT MANAGER: John Ligmanowski
VIDEO COORDINATOR: Adam Tatalovich

2009 CHICAGO BULLS NBA SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE
Date Time Opponent Location

July 14 5:00 p.m. Golden State Cox Pavilion
July 15 3:00 p.m. Milwaukee Cox Pavilion
July 17 5:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thomas & Mack Center
July 18 3:00 p.m. New York Cox Pavilion
July 19 3:00 p.m. Minnesota Cox Pavilion

WATCH THE BULLS SUMMER LEAGUE GAMES HERE FOR FREE!
http://www.myp2pforum.eu/nba-basketball/40250-nba-summer-league-10th-19th-july.html

Boozer to Bulls? Not Likely.

By Sean Mackey

Well, here we are, one week into free agency and we've lost our best player and ridiculous trade rumors are swirling left and right.

So far, the Chicago Bulls summer is off to a very rough start. From drafting James Johnson & Taj Gibson to letting BG walk away to re-signing Pargo, this is quickly turning into a disaster of 2009. No one really knows what the intentions of the Bulls front office are at this point. We're all left scratching our heads wondering whether or not they're intentionally trying to piss off fans and players alike. If they are, Reinsdork and Gar Forehead are doing a fantastic job!

The Bulls are a 9th seed at best this season. Every team in the east is getting better except for us all while making JR look like the biggest cheapskate in the NBA.

Late yesterday, a report surfaced from a Utah radio station that the Jazz, Blazers and Bulls were discussing a 3 team deal that would send Carlos Boozer and Steve Blake to Chicago. The report was then confirmed by ESPN but later shot down via Yahoo Sports twitter that the Bulls hadn't had ONE conversation regarding the Boozer trade.

If ESPN is just running with rumors started by local FM radio stations, their credibility is really going down the toilet. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo has broke most of the big trade stories of the summer so far with ESPN scrambling to follow them up on their network's Sports Center program. It's getting pretty sad when the "world wide leader in sports" is being beat to the big stories and having rumors rightfully shot down on a daily basis by the more and more respected Wojnarowski. ESPN needs to get their shit together or pick up Wojnarowski so they'll stop looking idiots reporting on a story that was shot down an hour before by a more reliable source.

Boozer to the Bulls would be nice but only if Ben Gordon hadn't bailed for Detroit one day into free agency. It's the kind of move that would have made Chicago a contender but not having a main scoring option leaves us with a big hole at the 2 spot. I'm not sure trading Kirk Hinrich at this point would be the best thing to do since it would leave the team incredibly shallow at the 1 & 2 positions. Boozer would also want $12 million for an extension. This is something I doubt Reindorf would be okay with therefore making his time here useless other than giving fans false hope that we're building a contender.

From what I've read, the recent re-signing of Jannero Pargo puts the team just at or over the luxury tax meaning that some sort of money saving deal is imminent. Whether its trading Tyrus for a future pick so they don't have to offer an extension or packaging him and Kirk for an expiring contract. And for what? To pretend that the team has ANY chance at signing Chris Bosh or Dwayne Wade on July 1st 2010. I love how the only goals are to get one of those two superstars. So I ask this......what's the back up plan guys?

An Open Letter to Joe Dumars, the Bulls Front Office & Ben Gordon

By Alex Derickson

I would like to start by saying that I'm glad this three summer long fiasco has come to a close. While I'm not happy with the result, this is not about how I feel, this is about what I've taken from all of this. This is about why I hate being a sports fan.

To Mr. Dumars:

Congratulations. You've exacted your revenge. The Bulls took a Ben from you and you took a Ben from us. The significance however is alarming. They took your best defender. Your anchor. However, they also stole from you an aging player on the decline of his career. They got the last good year our of Ben Wallace but at the same time overpaid for what would end up being a tumultuous tenure with the Chicago Bulls.

You have managed to lure away their best player coming off of his best season. With Ben Gordon you are getting an absolute monster on offense. A man who can score against anyone and is perhaps one of the best one-on-one players in the league. You are getting their best player since Michael. A favorite amongst the fans, the team, and the city of Chicago. I ask you this though, at what price?

Yes we've heard the report of the five year deal at around 11 million annually, but what does this do to the core of your team. A core you already began to dismantle earlier by trading away Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. A trade that on paper, made you a force in the Eastern Conference, but it didn't pan out exactly as planned.

Only a few days ago you relieved Michael Curry of his coaching position, a move rumored to have been done to appease your veteran shooting guard, Richard Hamilton. Hamilton was said to have been upset about former coach Curry moving him to the bench to start Iverson, who as noted earlier, turned out to only be a rental for roughly half the season due to injury and the decision for him not to return this upcoming season. What does this say to Richard and where does this put Ben in your plans? Both players are scorers, neither of which are great on defense. Both do not like coming off the bench and have been public about it. You've replaced an undersized shooting guard with a me first attitude on offense and wants to start (Iverson) with an undersized shooting guard with a me first attitude on offense who wants to start (Gordon). This leaves Hamilton, one of the best at scoring without the ball and one of the best team players in the league, and who was probably pleased with the dismissal of Curry to wonder where he stands. Will the new coach put him on the bench? Is he getting traded?

The most logical explanation is running Ben at the point because of his size. As stated earlier though, Ben wants the ball in his hands, he wants to be the one taking the shots, not the one finding his teammates for scores. Plus, it's well known that you believe in Rodney Stuckey and his ability to run your offense, not to mention the emergence of Will Bynum during the playoffs. The rest of the summer will be interesting to see how you deal with the guard glut you have created for yourself and how the rest of the team gets situated for this season.

Finally, I want to thank you for rejuvenating the Bulls-Pistons rivalry that has lacked for the past two seasons. It may never reach the same heights as it was during the Bad Boys era, but the bar has certainly been raised from the past few years.

To the Bulls Front Office (Jerry Reinsdorf, Jon Paxson, Gar Forman) review what has transpired with the Ben Gordon contract situation..

2007 Offseason: Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are offered contract extensions. Both decline your offers.

2008 Offseason: Luol Deng aggrees to an extension of six years and 71 million dollars guaranteed. Ben Gordon is offered an extension which is initially declined and then accepted only to be told it was no longer available to him. He settles for the one year qualifying offer.

2008-2009 Season: Luol Deng suffers two major injuries, one being season ending. Ben Gordon leads the team in scoring for the fourth straight year, and has his best season since 2006 in which the team won 49 games.

2009 Offseason: Ben Gordon signs five year 55 million dollar deal with division rival Detroit Pistons on the first day of free agency.

Naturally, a lot of people are going to call you out. A lot of people are going to tell you about all the mistakes you made. A lot of people are going to want your jobs for this. I think you guys deserve some slack. Here is why:

You initially offered him an extension two years ago that he turned down. That season statistically he dropped in every category with the rest of the year that year.

You locked up Luol Deng to a long term deal the following year and then continually drug your feet with Gordon. Once you offered him a deal, he felt it wasn't enough money and turned it down. He eventually caved and agreed to your offer and you told him it was no longer available. Essentially, you low balled your best player and he caved and said he would take it only it was your turn to turn him away.

This was your biggest fault right here. Yes, everyone on the team had a terrible 2007-2008 season. At the same time, that gives you no reason to jerk around a player, your best player, they way you did. I understand your faith in Luol Deng, he posted a stat line of 18.8 points and 7 rebounds the previous year. I also understand that his poor follow up season could have been contributed to an injury that caused him to miss 13 games. At the same time though, Gordon also missed 10 games that year due to an injury. You had an opportunity to keep your entire core of players that you worked so long to build for the long term, stay under the dreaded luxury tax, AND add the number one pick in the draft on top of it. You made a huge, glaring, and downright unprofessional error gentleman.

As I said however you deserve some slack. You are human, you do make mistakes, and naturally some players do get overvalued. Teams generally will side with the small forward with a very reliable mid range game who can take it to the hole and also pile up rebounds in the process over the undersized guard who, yes, can score in bunches on whoever he wants whenever he wants but overall has a one dimensional offensive minded game. How were you to know that Deng was going to actually be injury prone? How were you to know that Gordon's low numbers the season prior would only be a fluke. How were you to know that Derrick Rose was going to blossom into the player he became and play so well alongside Gordon and not as well around Deng? This is all intangible, you can't foresee these occurrences.

Gar Forman made it clear when he was introduced as the new General Manager, that bringing back Gordon was the team's top priority. Even during the draft they didn't pick up any guards, or anyone to fill in a void that potentially would be left by Gordon on offense. It was almost as if they expected him to resign with the team, or at least let them get him an offer (I will address this in the next section). As I said earlier though, both parties had their chance to get a long term deal hammered out and both jerked the other around.

Unfortunately, Paxson and Forman work for the biggest penny pinching owner in the league. A man who is known to care more about the money than the legacy of the team in which he owns. Jerry Reinsdorf is a baseball man. He loves his White Sox, the other team he owns. The Bulls are his other team. He doesn't care if the Bulls win as long as they stay amongst the leagues most profitable teams. This has created problems in the past seeing as how all trades, contracts, really anything financially has to go through him before any deals get finalized. I don't blame Paxson. I don't blame Gar Forman. Jerry Reinsdorf is the culprit for being notoriously stingy when it comes to this team.

And finally to you, Mr Gordon:

For four years you've been the team's best player. For four years you have been their offensive spark. For four years you've been the cornerstone of this team, one of the major pieces that were going to lead this team back in the title hunt. You've said that you want to retire a Chicago Bulls. You've said that your dream is to play 15 years in Chicago, to win a few titles with the team. You've been involved in the community and you've given the fans reason to believe that behind you, that one day they'll be back in the finals.

At the same time, you've always said, "it's a business." Little did any of us know exactly how to take that statement. Sure there was always the idea that you would walk to another team this offseason, but at the same time you sounded like you wanted to stay which begs the question, why jet to another team the first day of free agency before they could even give you an offer? It just shows that you never intended to stay and almost as if this entire season was a mutual lie between you and the Bulls management.

You've reminded me that regardless of how you view a situation, that there are always two sides to it. A lot of times you don't hear the whole story and I'm sure that there are a lot of pieces to this situation that we don't know about. Operating under what we do know, what we've heard, and what we've seen, you never had the intention to stay with the team that you said you wanted to retire with. You cared more about the money and took the first deal given to you, even after you said that there was no secret agreement between you and Detroit about going there for a five year 55 million dollar deal which oddly enough, was exactly what you signed for on the first day you could.

You may have wanted to stay in seasons past, but this for you was all about the money. This was all about Ben Gordon.

Free Agency Starts at 12:00 a.m. TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

The 2009 free agency frenzy begins tonight at 12 a.m. Granted, a year from today will be FAR more interesting than tonight will be, Bulls fans beg to differ.

Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons will be delievering his pitch to our beloved star Ben Gordon probably as soon as the clock strikes 12. He's gonna tell him about his 2 championships with a backcourt of two small guards and how he wants BG to do the same.

We all know that secretly Dumars wants his revenge for us stealing his 3 time defensive player of the year Ben Wallace from him 3 years ago. Ben Wallace was the glue that held that team together and after he left, the Pistons were unable to advance out of the Eastern Conference Finals. Of course, Ben Wallace played one decent season for the Bulls before becoming a distraction and being shipped off to Cleveland for crap. Ben Gordon is in the prime of his career and him signing with a division rival would be a disaster for Chicago.

There's also talks about BG going to his hometown New York Knicks along with the OKC Thunder. The Pistons however remain the biggest threat with the money they can throw at him. There have been rumors that Ben Gordon has an under the table agreement with Dumars already in place and by the end of the week, the Bulls high scorer for the past 4 seasons will be gone.

No one really knows what Ben Gordon is going to do but Bulls fans have to be a little scared. I'm sure he's gotta be a little angry that the Bulls obviously value Deng as the better player (which he clearly isn't). BG found the $50 million offer insulting after Deng was given $80 million. While he's publicly said he loves Chicago, the fans, the organization and wants to retire here, his intentions will probably not be clear until later this weekend, if not before that.

Losing Ben Gordon would be 10 steps backwards for young team trying to advance out of the first round of the Eastern Conference. We need BG.

James Johnson? Taj Gibson? Really?

By Sean Mackey

Well, it's over. We can all blink now.

The 2009 NBA Draft came and went Thursday evening with the Bulls settling on Wake Forest Forward James Johnson with the 16th pick and USC Forward Taj Gibson at the 26th.

Like most Bulls fans, I'm a little confused. Is this what we wanted? To me, it feels like the whole 2007 NBA draft all over again. Why the team passed on DeJuan Blair TWICE is mystery. We've heard his knees are bad blah, blah, but really? The man has been projected as a top 16 pick since March. I'm sure Greg Popovich is laughing his ass off someplace because he was the only one with the balls to actually draft him and he'll do well there in their system. You know....the one where the Spurs are the most fundamentally sound team in the NBA? Well now they have a fantastic rebounder. Since he's now playing for my 2nd least favorite team, I hope he ends up like Clarence Weatherspoon.

I'll have to admit, I was a little heartbroken when the Indiana Pacers selected Tyler Hansbrough with the 13th pick. According to Chad Ford, the Bulls were also heartbroken. I would have been totally cool if they moved up to get him but now it's over and Larry Bird has the only starting lineup in the NBA with 3 white dudes. Where does he think he is? Indiana?

The only thing I am glad about is that whole BJ Mullens guarantee was all BS. I'm sooo glad we didn't invest time in another project like him. Plus, having another strikingly ugly dude tread up and down the United Center is something I just can't bare.

I'm honestly hoping we trade Johnson and Gibson and get a decent post up player because these guys aren't going to do anything for us. Nothing.

Hopefully, when December rolls around and Johnson is averaging a double-double, I'll be eating my words, but I doubt it.

NBA Draft 2009.....TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

The time has finally arrived, the one day of the NBA offseason that actually excites people. The 2009 NBA Draft is expected to be unpredictable and filled with cost cutting trades. What the Bulls will do is still completely unknown. There have been rumors of Chicago taking Gerald Henderson, DeJuan Blair and James Johnson. None of these scenarios really seem that appealing since I'm hopping on the Tyler Hansbrough bandwagon. Blair, Henderson, Mullens & Johnson were all called back for a 2nd workout, Hansbrough wasn't on the list of callbacks so I'm assuming any shot of him coming to Chicago is slim to none at this point..

There's also a bunch of trade rumors floating around. Since Shaq was traded to Cleveland last night and it appears the Suns may be cleaning house, and Amare may be on the block. If the Bulls have any shot of landing him, give Kerr what he wants. Give him a combo of Tyrus, Deng, Salmons, Miller....whatever (just not Noah, I'm a fan). The Kirk Hinrich to Portland rumors started back up the other day with a "source" saying that Kirk has been telling his friends he thinks he'll be in a Portland uniform soon. The rumor was then shot down.....but how do even shoot down a rumor like that? I don't believe any of the speculation but you've got to wonder who started it and why.

Regardless, after tonight, the Bulls roster will probably look at least a little bit different. I just hope that Gar and Pax don't make any boneheaded moves that steer the franchise in the wrong direction.

Chad Ford's Mock Draft 6.0

By Sean Mackey

We're 3 days away from the 2009 NBA Draft! The suspense is killing me! Bulls fans and analysts alike are stumped on what Gar and Pax are planning on doing. There's been talk of the Bulls moving up to steal the 11th pick in the draft from New Jersey but nothing is for certain. Over the last few weeks we've seen DeJuan Blair and Tyler Hansbrough's draft stock rise and fall. The one man I (semi)trust when it comes to mock drafts is ESPN's Chad Ford. This guy has a great feel on what's usually going on behind the scenes so here's what he had to say today with his new Mock Draft 6.0 ESPN Insider column:

Analysis: The Bulls have been working the phones this week trying to move up in
the draft.

They've talked to the Nets, Bobcats and Pacers about swapping
the 16th and 26th picks to move up a few spots.

Who are they after? I've
heard everything from Johnson to Blair to Hansbrough to Williams to Mullens
here. To be honest, I can't get a terrific handle on which way they are leaning.
In this scenario, Williams and Blair are gone, which leaves Johnson, Mullens and
Hansbrough.

Hansbrough is the most NBA ready. Mullens has the most
upside. Johnson is somewhere in between. I'm not sure exactly how Johnson fits
in Chicago with Luol Deng on one side and Tyrus Thomas on the other, but there's
no question about his upside.

James Johnson? Really?

Give me Hansbrough.

Rumor: Pistons Offering BG $11 Million Annually

By Sean Mackey

According to a Real GM wiretap, Ben Gordon's agent, Raymond Brothers is telling people that his client has a $11 million annual guarantee from the Detroit Pistons.

Considering that the Pistons are also rumored to be shopping Rip Hamilton, there's probably a lot of truth to this. The Bulls offered $9 and $10 mill to BG last season and this is obviously going to be his best offer on the table this offseason. However, I'm not convinced that a team devised of Rodney Stuckey, Tashawn Prince (who will probably be dealt), BG and possibly Carlos Boozer is a team that's going anywhere. I'm very curious as to what Joe Dumars' other plans are.

With all this being said, the Bulls probably aren't going to offer Gordon the same number. Reinsdorf is a well known cheapskate and well, there aren't a whole lot of takers for Kirk Hinrich with Minnesota out of the picture now.

Ben Gordon is detrimental to this Bulls team succeeding, losing him would be a huge step backwards. John Salmons is great and all, but he's 30 years old this year and has had one breakout season. There's no guarantee that he's going to come back and make the kind of impact BG has. Luol Deng is also a big question mark. He played decently in the games he actually played and showed improvement in his rebounding but is he gonna live up to that $80 mill contact....you know the one we PROBABLY should have offered Gordon? Most likely not but I'm willing to give him one more chance.

The Phoenix Suns were reported to be interested in Deng but according to sources close to the Bulls, he's still for some reason untouchable. Deng/Thomas/Other Player for Shaq? I'd do it in a heartbeat. Sam Smith with Bulls.com has argued that Shaq doesn't play any defense and that Chicago wouldn't be interested but isn't that what we have Noah for? It would just be for one season, then we could use all the money we saved to throw at Bosh, Wade or....Lebron (yeah, I said it) next summer.

The other big rumor of the week was a twitter post by Ohio State draftee BJ Mullens that stated that he had a guarantee from MJ town. His agent also shut down a workout with New Jersey and stated they had a promise from a top 16 team in the draft.

Since Tyler Hansbrough (the guy who I want) and DeJuan Blair will probably be off the board by the time #16 rolls around, this is probably the Bulls best option. He's a guy who's athletic and quick on the throw downs but has problems defending and has low level post skills. In other words, a total project. However, his size and quickness might work well in VDN's fast paced offense. Frankly, to me he looks like a high flying version of A-Gray. If the Bulls draft Mullens, it also probably means that T-Time is over in Chicago.

In other NBA news, Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves leaked via twitter that Kevin McHale is out as coach. Bill Laimbeer randomly resigned as the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock's coach two days ago. Coincidence? I think not.

The 2009 NBA Draft Is Only 3 Weeks Away, Plus Other Meaningless Rumors

By Sean Mackey

The NBA Draft is three weeks from today. Who the Chicago Bulls will be picking at #16 and #26 is still completely up in the air. Every mock draft that I've been keeping track of including NBAdraft.net's and Chad Ford's has had the Bulls picking different guys almost every week. The only real no brainer in this draft is that Blake Griffin is going to be a Clipper, anything can happen after that. Unlike last year's rather uneventful draft, I suspect that this one is going to be very heavy on trades. Teams are trying to cut corners every way possible to make room for the 2010 free agent sweepstakes and are willing to do anything just to be able to make a pitch to Wade or LeBron.

Nobody with the exception of possibly DeJuan Blair is going to make a decent enough impact for the Bulls at the PF spot. Mock drafts over the last few weeks have had the Bulls picking Ty Lawson, Earl Clark, Tyler Hansbrough, James Johnson, Tyler Smith and the dreadful BJ Mullins.

It's been made pretty clear over the last few weeks that Kirk Hinrich will be traded no matter what. It's a sad truth but his contract is just way too ridiculous for the Bulls if they want a shot at re-signing Ben Gordon. Maybe Chicago will revisit the Hinrich to Wolves trade by possibly getting the #6 pick out of it, that way we could get Blair and make a decent offer to BG.

I personally wouldn't mind seeing the Bulls pick up Tyler Hansbrough with the 16th pick. He did very well at the NBA Draft combine in Chicago last weekend. He's a guy (although goofy like Noah) who's going to give you everything he has out on the floor and will be hellbent with forever improving his game. A Noah/Hansbrough combo would give us possibly the most hated front court in the NBA. They could also compare infamous offseason pictures too! Noah's bar pics with topless women vs. Hansbrough's insane jumping from a balcony into a pool at a frat party pic. Putting all this aside, Psycho T also fits the classic John Paxson mold of picking a proven college winner. The guy can rebound and steal balls but he's not much of a post up guy. If Noah can put on say 30lbs of muscle this summer, the Bulls should leave the posting up to him.

I sincerely doubt that Chicago is giving a whole lot of consideration for BJ Mullins. Yeah, he's worked out with the team and stuff but picking a project center up this late in the game would just be ridiculous. I have a strong feeling that the 26th pick will be traded somewhere with another deal for Kirk Hinrich or possibly Tyrus Thomas. If they are gonna keep it and actually draft someone, they'll probably have to chose from Tyler Smith, Derrick Brown or DeJuan Summers....yuck.

Onto to the rumors that have absolutely no legs (yet).....

On Wednesday, July 1st at 12:00 a.m., you can bet that representitives from the Detroit Pistons and the OKC Thunder will be on the phone trying to get through to Ben Gordon to offer a pitch for the 5 year guard to jump ship. Both teams are not so privately expressing that they want BG so this is something to worry about. Chicago doesn't want to lose this guy for nothing but they're gonna have to pay him a lot to stay. Reinsdorf either needs to sign off on a trade for Hinrich to clear up room or go over the cap and into the luxury tax....it's just for one season and they're gonna be paying teams that don't matter anyway so why not?

The Chris Bosh rumors were just starting to heat up but are temporarily being put to rest by Toronto saying they plan to build around Bosh again. To me, this means nothing and that Bosh does want out of Toronto. He's recently expressed that he'd "love to play with Wade" down in Miami. Plus, I'm sure that he'd like to get out of the cold weather and be near South Beach, who wouldn't? They could trade Beasley, Haslem and James Jones straight up and get him. A Wade, O'Neal & Bosh starting lineup would be pretty hard to cover.

Now with Cavs being unceremoniously elimated by the Magic this last week (congrads to Orlando by the way), it's hard to say what LeBron is going to do next. Does he bail for Brooklyn and join up with Devon Harris and Brook Lopez in 2010? Who knows. The only thing that's for certain is that he won't be signing an extension this summer, Dwayne Wade on the other hand might.

Hopefully by this time next week we'll have possibly a better idea of what Chicago's game plan might be, until then, we'll just have to wait and speculate.

Season Ends....Where Do We Go From Here?

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls season ended Saturday night with a rather average 109-99 loss in Boston. I don't really even know what to say about the loss other than it was very disappointing. I honestly don't even want to talk about it. So there.....they lost in the first round to a rather average team without their star player, we move on.

Chicago's main priority this offseason will obviously be trying to re-sign Ben Gordon. The man has lead the team in scoring for the last 4 seasons, he's hit clutch shot after clutch shot. Give the man his money regardless if you go over cap. Unless you're going to be getting Chris Bosh, I don't think you can put all your chips in one bucket with John Salmons. Yeah, he's awesome, he was a great steal but Ben Gordon is consistently good every night. You just know that Joe Dumars is gonna be picking up that phone the first minute he can on that morning in July and he's gonna try to lure Gordon over to the dirty motor city.

Ben Gordon is our all-star player who's never been an all-star. If we have to get rid of Hinrich, we have to get rid of him. You make sacrifices for your best player. The fans love him, his teammates love him, he's worth going over the cap for if Reinsorf wants to keep Hinrich that bad.

Derrick Rose is gonna be working on his game the entire summer and Noah has already said he's gonna work to put on more muscle instead of traveling the world and smoking pot. This team is headed in the right direction. But we still need that one guy who can play in the post.

Do we get this post guy in the draft? Do we trade away Tyrus Thomas, the draft picks and Hinrich for Bosh if he doesn't re-sign with Toronto...or maybe try for Amare again?

It's going to be very interesting to see the team's lineup come August. The draft is 52 days away, less than two months, the question is what will the Bulls do?

Bulls Blow It....KG Possibly Out For The Playoffs!

By Sean Mackey

Last night's game was terrible. Chicago fell to the Toronto Raptors 109-98 I don't know who to hate more, the Bulls for not playing hard from the get go or Mike Brown for cowardly benching his starters out in Cleveland.

All I kept thinking about was that playoff changing, last game of the season 2 years ago against the New Jersey Nets where the Bulls fell and ruined their chances of advancing. Instead of a preferred playoff match up against the Orlando Magic, the Bulls now face the defending champion Boston Celtics in the first round.

The only bright speck of light for the Bulls today is the news coming out of Boston . Kevin Garnett was yanked out of practice early this morning by coach Doc Rivers after watching the big guy run down the court a few times. It is now presumed that he will probably miss the entire 2009 NBA playoffs. There has been a lot of speculation from insiders that this injury has been a lot more serious than the Celtics organization has lead on in the recent weeks. There's talk that KG is going to need surgery to repair his knee in the offseason.

If John Salmons can turn it on again, Boston has a reason to be scared.

Game 1 is Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Bulls Beat Heat, Just Like Old Times 106-87

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls continued their winning ways in front of a nationally televised audience blowing out the Miami Heat 106-87.

John Salmons was once again the deciding factor, he had 27 points, 5 assists and 2 steals. Of course the dudes on Blog-a-Bull had to once again demean the win by saying he can't play defense and can't rebound. The man's a shooting guard, he's there to score the ball. We have Thomas, Noah and Miller for defense.

Tyrus Thomas had yet another double double, ending with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Love that man. Noah also played a solid game as well with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Derrick Rose was listed as a game time decision. He ended up coming off the bench which was a smart move by VDN since Hinrich is a better D-Wade defender. Derrick led the run in the 3rd quarter to help put away the Heat for good, he ended the game with a respectable 9 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

Ben Gordon scored a quiet 18 points adding 4 rebounds along the way.

Not a bad game at all. I love VDN's current 7 man rotation. These guys are playing good and looking good. The team's passing has become pretty decent and they're learning to close out games.

With this win and the Pistons loss to the Lakers, Chicago pulled into the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference and 2nd in the Central Division. The Bulls have a well deserved night off this evening but play two matinee games this weekend. They play Saturday afternoon against the dream crushing, nothing to lose Indiana Pacers and a nationally televised WGN Superstation appearance against the Toronto Raptors.

Hopefully the Bulls can continue their stellar play and possibly even move up in the rankings a little more. They've got a lot of people talking and anything is starting to seem possible.

The question on everyone's mind is, if Deng returns, does he start? I'm gonna agree with Reggie Miller and say no. This is working out way too well to try something different.

Bulls Beat Depleted Pistons Team 99-91

By Sean Mackey

Last night, the Bulls somehow pulled out a win against the current Eastern Conference 7th seed, the Detroit Pistons 99-91. This was done all without their star point guard Derrick Rose.

Kirk Hinrich started in Rose's place and lead the way with 24 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. Not too shabby on paper but the other players looked completely lost half the game without Rose running the show.

Tyrus Thomas had an impressive 18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Play by play color commentator, Reggie Miller joked the whole game that Thomas could get 10 blocks if he wanted to considering how ridiculously athletic he is. I agree, but some nights, the looks just aren't there.

Joakim Noah was excellent and very productive with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He got a few 3 points plays in the mix as well. He's starting to finish with a little more muscle than he did last season which is great. He needs to get his ass to the weight room this summer though.

John Salmons once again played decent. He didn't shoot well but still managed to get 16 points and 5 rebounds. He's just a lot more consistant than Deng is. I hope to God we can get rid of him and his outlandish contract somehow this summer.

The Bulls play another nationally televised game tomorrow night on TNT against the Miami Heat. Derrick Rose will probably be out again so I hope somehow the Bulls can pull out a win this time. They lost their first two meetings of the year, they need this one.

Bulls Win 3rd in a Row, Hold Onto 8th Seed in the East!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls followed up their spectacular St. Patrick's Day upset against the Celtics with yet another win on the road against the OKC Thunder last night.

All I have to say is John Salmons.

This guy has been fantastic night in and night out since he was traded here a few weeks back. Luol Deng's future as a Bull could actually be in jeopardy because of how good this dude is playing. I have no idea who would want to take on his ridiculous contract but we might be able to dump him this summer along with Kirk Hinrich someplace.

The Bulls are currently holding on to the 8th and final playoff spot in the east. This would have the Bulls playing the hungry Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

I'd actually rather have them play Cleveland than any other of the elite teams in the east. I fear the Magic and Celtics would both tear the Bulls up in 4 or 5 games. I think they actually have a chance to win a few games against Cleveland so hopefully we don't move up in the rankings.

Saturday evening, the Bulls take on the Lakers at home in a nationally televised WGN Superstation appearance. They have two nights off in between which for some reason is never a good thing for Chicago. I hope they can pull off another shocker just to say they beat the Lakers, Magic, Cavs & Celtics this season.

Bulls Blowout Magic 120-102

By Sean Mackey

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates regarding the last two Bulls games. Both Alex and I were out celebrating his 21st birthday and didn't get to watch the fantastic win against the Nugget last Friday. We did however get to watch the Bulls lose a ridiculous nationally televised game to a depleted Indiana Pacers team who were without Danny Grainger and Mike Dunleavy.

Last night, again I didn't get to watch the game, but the Bulls beat the hell out of the Orlando Magic 120-102 who are currently holding the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon had great games and the bench looked really good with Miller, Tim Thomas (who had 17 points) & Salmons all playing well. Miller had a rare breakaway slam also which brought some laughs to his teammates regarding his landing of of the dunk.

Once again, VDN stuck with his Kirk Hinrich lead 4th quarter, somehow this time theyprevailed. Vinny's been taking a lot of flack from columnists, bloggers, beat writers and the whole NBA in general for taking Rose out in favor of Hinrich for the 4th quarter of the game. No one really knows why he's even doing it at this point but whatever, I'm gonna let it slide until it really hurts us.

The Bulls play again tonight, this time at New Jersey. Last time they met, the Bulls had a 100-87 win back in December. The Bulls have not won consecutive road games against the Nets since 1998. New Jersey is coming off their big win against Philly on Monday night where Devin Harris hit a controversial half court shot at the buzzer. Chicago needs to win this game since the Nets are just a half game behind them fighting for that final 8th playoff seed.

Sefolosha Traded, Pax Not Resigning, Bulls vs. Nuggets TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

One last trade went through at the wire yesterday afternoon. The Bulls decided to part ways with Thabo Sefolosha, trading him to the OKC Thunder for a 2009 or 2010 draft pick. The draft pick will be the least valuable of their draft picks from the Spurs, Suns or Nuggets.

I think this gives them another trade piece or an excellent pick to perhaps draft another bench guy with some energy like Tyler Hansbrough this June (if the pick is for this year's draft). Thabo was going to have zero playing time after aquiring John Salmons and his botched pass attempt that cost the Bulls the game last week against Miami which was still fresh in everyone's mind.

The Bulls were declared big winners of the 2009 trade deadline this year by most NBA analysts regardless if they took on a bunch of crap. Chicago is obviously looking ahead to 2010 which they should, especially with rumors circling around that Chris Bosh would like to play on the Bulls. Jerome James will likely retire and insurance will pay his salary saving the Bulls millions. Roberson will most likely be waived and Tim Thomas will actually see playing time in taking Noc's place.

Pax also reiterated that he is NOT resigning, which is great. Although you can tell this job has aged him terribly, especially over the last 3 years, I'm glad he's staying. I doubt he'll be with the team 2 years from now but he needs to at least finish what he's started.

The Bulls play the Nuggets tonight in Chicago. They lost their first meeting on Nov 23rd but hope to continue their winning ways. They'll be without all of the new guys including Miller, Salmons and Tim Thomas until Sunday's matinee against the Indiana Pacers.

Bulls Ship Out Hughes (Crap) to the Knicks For Tim Thomas (Crap), Anthony Roberson (Crap) & Jerome James (Crap)!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls succeeded in their final trade deadline task of dumping Larry Hughes. Larry Legend (as Alex and I like to call him) was traded to the NY Knicks for former Bulls dumpee Tim Thomas along with PG Anthony Roberson and injured center Jerome James.

This move should free up a little bit of cap space for the offseason. I'm sort of glad to see they kept Captain Kirk on the team for the rest of the year. I'm pretty sure he'll be traded though as soon as July comes around.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to Tim Thomas since he was only played 3 games before a buyout happened last time he was with Chicago. VDN has stated that he liked Tim while he with him in Phoenix, but I'm sure Tim isn't going to want to listen to a rookie coach who was once the director of player personnel. The consensus with Jerome James is that he's done and insurance will probably pay his salary and Anthony Roberson will most likely keep the bench all nice and warm with Lindsey Hunter.

Unfortunately, no other major last minute deals were made around the NBA either so the Larry Hughes trade was the deal of the day. We'll see how this all comes together on Sunday when most of the new Bulls squad will be intact to take on the Indiana Pacers.