I'm pretty sure I predicted before the season the Bulls were going to make the NBA Finals. Still a possibility, but so is one-and-done. Still look a player short, don't they?
Of course, that void never seemed so obvious as yesterday, when Elton Brand looked unstoppable in leading the Clips to victory.
I still remember the day Brand was traded. I'll never forget the look on Tim Floyd's face. I saw him alone in a hallway, and he looked at me and said, "What do you think?" Two words: "Not good."
I still like the Bulls in most of their first-round scenarios, unless they get Miami.
Adam Archuleta is nothing to brag about, but at least it's not an embarrassing headline for the Bears. Does this mean the end of Mike Brown?
I'll save you the "God, how the Hawks have fallen off the face of the Earth" line. But Columbus?
Bulls will be alright. What is hurting them the most right now is the fact that Ben Gordon is struggling. But I know he works as hard as anyone on his game and will be ready for the playoffs.
The Bulls would beat a Wade-less Heat team in the playoffs...A Injured Wade at 80 percent, not so sure.
The Elton Brand trade was bad, but lets wait until a Brand led team wins more then a first round playoff series before we start putting him in the hall of fame. He lit up P J Brown last night, alot of players lite P J Brown up.
Adam Archuletta is a Lovie guy, that's the only reason the Bears traded for him. He's slow, over the hill, and not even close to a pro bowl player. Best thing the Bears can do is make sure they have Mike Brown starting.
He doesn't seem like a problem child. Seems to be a good football player. It’s up to coaches to utilize players effectively. The Redskins failed to do so. If our coaches repeat that mistake it will not be Archuleta's fault.
Archuleta brings a run-stopping ability the Bears were sorely lacking with Todd Johnson, Chris Harris, and Danieal Manning. Whether or not he can make up for the possible absence of Lance Briggs is questionable; however, I think it's possible. In any case, he has history with Lovie, so hopefully his lack of bad attitude will work out in the team's favor. I don't, however, think it's the end of Mike Brown; at least, it had damn well better not be. Between Manning, Harris, Brown, and Archuleta, the Bears now have four Safeties that can start for almost anyone in the league (and I know Harris has his problems in coverage, but his mistakes are ultimately correctable--plus, he hits like a linebacker).
Knowing full well I'll get eviscerated for this--now that Schaub's headed to Houston, what does anyone think of the Bears trading for David Carr? Griese'd be a good fit for Houston, and Carr's got tremendous upside if you can keep him off his back. I mean, this is purely hypothetical, as Angelo seems to have no interest in upgrading the (*cough*only weak part of the team*cough*) offense this year, but yay? Nay?
I'd pick the Bulls over Miami in the first round. Man, the Heat could sure use Eddie Jones back...Oh, wait, never mind--Miami in five.
I would have included the Ron Guenther debacle. As a UofI grad, and having the unfortunate experience of hearing him, what a total clown.
The best thing was that he was more put off by the reporter telling what happened as opposed to him coming off as a complete clown in press row at a NCAA tournament game.
But the best part is that Jamar Smith, who left someone to die in a car, should be kept in the family and nurtured. Warren Carter...idiot.
David Carr would be a great upgrade for the Bears... as a back up. I'd love to see a Carr for Griese trade. Then let him compete for the job with Grossman. We would make out like bandits if that happened.
As for Quarterback position being the weak link on offense, at times yes, most of the time no. For most season I've seen the best play from a Bears Quarterback ever.
I don't like Harris at all. Archuleta creates great depth at a position I thought was the weakest position on Defense. If Manning improves this season Safety will be one of our strong points. Good trade JA.
Archuleta is the new steal of free agency. Kidding. I wondered when this would happen. Getting him for a 6 round pick was good but he was so far down the depth chart that you'd think that they were eventually going to release him. Good ball player,don't get me wrong. It's good to get him started on the offseason program to get him up to speed after he was mired on a bad team who was too busy to splurge on free agency last year than to get a player who actually fit with what your team does. I'm glad the BEARS aren't sitting on their hands like it seemed. Mike Brown needs to accept a pay cut because even though getting hurt isn't his fault he's been getting paid to start and he hasn't. Having 4 solid to good safetys is something this team has never had.
Bulls are hurting in the middle. That reflects on the guys we have there - Ben Wallace and PJ Brown. They should be getting it done, but they are outplayed by younger and older counterparts - too often. Hope they are saving it for the playoffs. This is compounded by Paxson's inability to sign someone else to help. Miami and Detroit made moves that ignited their teams. But this may be glaringly reflective of Scott Skiles who could not get anything from Eddie Curry and Tyson Chandler who are both having great years or Wallace and Brown who are underacheiving. That Tyson Chandler trade was a good gamble, but not the right one for the Bulls because we needed a Center like Brand and a project like Curry, but not two projects and NO developed Center. Bulls play too many games with their talent - playing them sparingly. It makes NO sense to lose games because we don't have a true center and then let a talent like Tyrus Thomas sit. If we are going to lose the Grizzlies, just let him play. I don't like Skiles. I don't like his busch-league coaching, or his constipated demeanor. Who said looking tough had anything to do with success. It would ruin all of our movies if Clint Eastwood frowned and got killed! Tough guy supposed to win! I'm a Whitesox Fan - we don't like mediocre - and we don't like that next year stuff! Time to drop lil sour face!
Mike Brown this is your year...don't get hurt! Bears did right, getting a backup. Notice how our OTHER quarterback stayed healthy after we got a decent backup in here.
One thing the Bulls are missing right now is Nocioni and his energy. But it also seems lately that they are playing down to the level of thier opponents. Even with the play of Brand and Magette the Bulls should have won that game but they became complacent and careless with the ball in the second quarter and never got back on track. Tyrus Thomas has come along rather nicely and should be playing more minutes and possibly starting ahead of P.J. which would have put Big Ben on Brand from the get go and Ben contained Brand much better than did P.J. I have always liked P.J.'s play but his age is begining to show a little. If Nocioni comes back healthy and in shape for the play-offs and Thomas gets more playing time I can see the Bulls getting to the eastern conference finals and although I wouldn't bet on them against detroit I wouldn't bet against them either. With a healthy Nocioni, Deng, Big and little Ben and Kirk directing the offense and the spark that Thomas can provide anything is possible.
What is the status of Mike Brown's injury anyway? He must not be completely healthy, otherwise the Sun-Times surely would've been all over that story. And I also think the Bears should try to pull off a Brian Griese for David Carr trade. The QB controversy would be in full swing by May.
Roman - you forgot to congratulate Rex on his Courage Award. I guess it really does pay off to stand up to media pressure!
Thank god someone finally brought up Scott Skiles. I mean as a guy who can "design a play to get one score" he is aces, but I don't think he is good at getting his players to play for him. I don't believe Skiles is a natural leader, he has no charisma and I can see how playing for him is a bore and all work. I can see it on the Bulls faces that they have totally grown tired of his act. You can only beat a dog so long before it turns on a person. Look no further than what EVERY player the Bulls have let go of in the past few years are doing and it's plain to see. Curry and Chandler are coming into their own(Scott Skiles couldn't get them to play). Tim Thomas never even got a chance to play(I still believe that he got into it with Skiles so they sat him) and he has done nothing but be beneficial to the teams he went to. Even that kid JR Smith is working out and he never got a chance to play. Anyone remember Eddie Robinson? Got into Skile's doghouse and never got out.....I honestly believe that if Ben Gordon wasn't as clutch as he is he would be buried too! It's like he doesn't challenge his players in healthy ways. Healthy way: Ben I think you can be a great player and we have to get you to play better defense, let's work on some things. SKILE'S way(in a news conference no less)Well Ben won't start till he gets his act together and brings it on both sides of the court, he has to earn the right to play, just cuz he scores doesn't mean I am handing anything to him. UH WHAT??? Skiles always dresses down people in the media(Curry, Chandler, Gordon, Wallace) etc and it's awful. What does this say about Skiles? What it should say is that Skiles wasn't coaching when they pulled his butt off the scrap heap for a reason......think about that for a bit.
Roman responds: Your argument lost some cred when you brought up Eddie Robinson. Where's he playing now? And Tim Thomas is in a doghouse right now, too. Chandler and Curry were Pax's decisions with Curry's deal based on health. I remember how hard Skiles worked with Curry to get him in shape. He stayed after practice to work Curry's butt off. But as far as guys liking to play for him, I think that's a fair question. In fact, I'll start a thread on that topic right now.
I am so sick of the Hawks management, and of the team's futility on the ice. Not showing home games has to be one of the most stupid ideas of all time in sports mgmt. Why does no one care about the Hawks? B/c Wirtz and friends have traded all the best talent over the past 15 years and therefore put terrible teams on the ice, they've jacked up ticket prices, and don't show home games on tv. How are kids (and adults for that matter) growing up supposed to get excited about a team that they can't watch play? There was a poll about 6 months ago in some other newspaper that asked who our favorite Chicago team was. The Fire had more votes than the Hawks...and what, they're 10 years old, in a relatively new game in the US? The Fire wasn't even an original MLS team, let alone an original 6 hockey team. Clearly the Hawks continue to fall to new lows, with each pathetic season after season.
I like the Archuleta trade for a 6th round pick. It gives us a solid run stopper in the secondary, and some depth. I may change my mind though if this means the end to Mike Brown's tenure in a Bears uniform. I know he's an injury waiting to happen, but if he can be healthy at the end of a season when the playoffs come around our D and team will be much better off for gambling and keeping him. Granted it's a big "if", but I think it's worth it for one more season.
This isn't the Bulls year. They have a lot of very good pieces, but just don't have that down low presense that other teams will exploit in the playoffs. I suppose I could see them getting very hot and getting to the conference finals or nba finals, but I think even those are long shots. Seems to me this team is going to have to make some sort of a move to get big man to play with Wallace in the offseason. Otherwise next season will probably be more of the same.