Full Court Press

I was going to fill you in on the topic of the suspensions in the Suns/Spurs series, but then I saw you listed David Stern as a "miss" in the Sunday Drive today for "unjustly" rewarding the Spurs. While you might not agree with the Tomjanovich rule, it's still a rule and as commissioner of the NBA, it is Stern's job to uphold the rules, right? I saw Stern on PTI after the suspensions were handed down, and I thought he spoke so intelligently on the subject. Regardless of their intentions, Diaw and Stoudemire left the bench during an altercation. You can't do that. The Spurs bench didn't move. Stern called it a "red-letter rule" and he's open to changing it, if that's what the owners want. But he can't just interpret the rules in the middle of the playoffs becuase because one team had a higher quantity of players suspended, or that those players were of a certain pedigree and not scrubs. Horry got 2 games for the hip-check. Diaw and Stoudamire left the bench and got the mandatory one-game suspension. Stern acted appropriately based on thorough review of each players actions. How is that unjust?

Roman responds: I love my Sunday Drive fans, but those were not my hits and misses. I admit I did watch the bottom of the ninth of the Cubs' collapse in Shea, and I did see the fourth quarter of Game 6, but I did not send in hits and misses.

well Roman as you said not ALL of us wrote the Bulls off too early, in fact I will admit I didn't write them off til about 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter of game 6 but they did make a series out of it and had the Pistons scrambling but it looked like they just ran out of gas. one of the positives that came out of all this was the emergence of Tyrus Thomas and with a little more work he may be the low post threat the Bulls have been missing.

Julie B. I enjoyed your short comment about the attention you've gotten and the question "what is a blog wife?" cause that one had me wondering also. As I mentioned before I just enjoy reading a females view because it reminds me of many an evening watching the Bulls with my late wife who never watched a game until the night MJ made his return from his short baseball career. at that time dhe didn't know a jump ball from a jumping bean but by the start of the next season she could hold her own with anyone. she thought Jerry Krause should have been fired so the dynasty could add one more banner to the rafters. she also believed Phil Jackson got a little too much credit and Dennis Rodman didn't get enough. and believe me there was not a more rabid fan when it came to critisizing officials during the post season especially. sometimes I was as much if not more entertained by her outburts (most of which could not be printed here) as I was by the game itself. by the way Julie you wouldn't have to cook for me, the only one I know that is a better cook then me is my mother and I have to say that or she won't cook anything for me again LOL.

Welcome back Roman.

I am not sure you would find many who live in Chicago for the weather, Italian Beef sandwiches? Maybe. Baseball? Definitely.

The debacle at Shea took more out of me than any Cub game in a while. I have not launched something across the room over a sporting event in a very long time. However, the 2 out of 3 wins against the Sox were more than enough to make me forget about the Shea thing.

All in all I think the Cubs and Sox provided some very exciting baseball this weekend. A couple of grannys, one that I thought would bring down the rafters at Wrigley another that turned the place into a morgue.

The Sox pen? I thought it was clutch hitting by the Cubs killer lineup. ;)

Tank? I don't know what to say. I can only hope for the best. I can also get you in a pool to predict how many hours he stays out if you want.

It was fun to watch the Bulls play this post season. I have to admit I jumped on the bandwagon for them this year. I haven't watched them closely since the Jordan era so you might have to go to someone else for the details on them. They seem to be a year or two away from greatness but it is in the future for them and they are young.

You need to get TIVO if you plan to vacation during the Sopranos dude.

I hope you had a relaxing vacation. I am playing hooky this weekend myself to attend the Cub games at Dodgers Stadium. Love them Dodger Dogs!! Now that I think about it.... Petco has great fish tacos hmmm.

GO CUBS!

Good to have you back! I thought Tony Soprano caught up with you, lol! Bulls gone (sniff sniff), but at least they got Detroit's heart rate above that of a sleeping person and earned some respect. Paxson is talking the right talk, will be interesting. Cubs up, Sox down, and it may have been exactly what both sides needed. Both needed to look out the window and see where they are competing at. Cubs - you are a real force to be reckoned with. Sox - you must play with the pride you displayed Sunday or get swept. I really want to see if the Sox can open a can on Oakland.

Hi Roman, Welcome back!
Let's see...You missed the Bulls lose their series to the Pistons. They gave it a valiant effort, but in the end the superior rebounding/defending team won. Game 6 typified the series as the Billups/Hamilton combo pretty much shut down Heinrich and Gordon. You also missed the Mike North-Ozzie Guillen Swearing fiasco. Basically Ozzie was upset that Mike North and AJ Pierzynski were talking about why he wasn’t playing in game 1 of the Cubs/Sox series, and that the white Sox were going to platoon A.J. Ozzie calls back, furious that they were insinuating a platoon situation, and started cussing up a storm on the radio. Mike North started yelling back saying this was live and to try to control Ozzie’s language. It was typical Ozzie letting his emotions get the better of him and Mike North making a bigger deal out of the situation.

Julie B...

Stern and the NBA "interpretted" rules throughout that series. They interpretted that Bowen wasn't trying to hurt Stoudamire when he kicked the back of his calf. They interpretted that Bowen was not trying to hurt Nash when he kneed him in the groin. They interpretted that Duncan left the bench for "non-incident".
The reality is had they punished Bowen, Horry would not have body checked Nash. Stern's logic and reasoning has holes all over.
In the good old days, after Bowen's first cheap shot, they would have run Tony Parker through a few picks and had someone come out and hammer him illegally...PAYBACK...and it would have been over. I still remember the Bull's infamous closeout game where they took turns taking shots and Isiah and Rodman. The Suns are too soft to do that.

The old adage, "if it's not broke, don't fix it", was the main character in game six of the Bulls series. But of course Mr. Scott Skiles had to bring out his toolbag and tinker anyway. Was it just me or did P.J. at the free throw area on offense look like the Golden Road once again? Twenty points. Total momentum. Shove it down their throats til' they figure a way to stop it. But noooooooooooooo! Scotty decides to cut the cord himself, and the lifeline to the Bulls possibly winning game six. Don't assume they're going to make the adjustment at halftime Mr. Skiles. Let it actually happen, then deploy what you and the assistant coaches planned to counter with during your halftime brain session, BUT DON'T DO IT FOR THEM. Major blunder Scott. Where have all the Phil Jacksons gone? Probably disappeared like the BIRDS in the AIR and all the rest of the old N.B.A. MAGIC.

Truth be told, the Bulls played their hearts out, played tremendous basketball, and lost to the one determining factor that separates two very good teams; shooting percentage. Detroit put the ball in the hoop at a better rate than the Bulls. Weigh all the plusses and minusses you want, but that's it in a nutshell. And just like the 89'-90' Bulls, next year we leap this obstacle to our favor and jump to the elite company that eluded us in the slightest of ways in 2007, and that's no Bull.

Welcome back Roman, I was getting kind of antsy for a while there, I was wondering why there were no blogs on the Bulls and why you didn't talk about the Cubs and the Sox series coming up. Only logical explanation was that you'd been on vacation.

And although the climate really sucks, I miss living in Chicago.

Romo

What are you hearing about Duhon and his "tardiness"? How can the 3rd or 4th guard on the team be so non-chalent about getting to a game on time or sleeping through a practice. This sounds like a smokescreen for a different problem than being sleepy or late all the time.
Does he also get the munchies often?

Roman responds: I don't know what you mean. But now that you mention it, I'm kind of hungry.

Hey.....wait a minute, Tim.....I thought I was blog-married to William R-D. You'd think blog relationships would be less confusing, but I do love the competition! He never even proposed officially.......

Roman, if your picture is next to a bunch of words that aren't attributed to anyone else, I assume they are yours. You should tell whomever wrote hits and misses this week that if they were going to include P.J. Brown and his 20 first-half points in the hits, then P.J. and his 0 second-half points should have been a miss.

Roman responds: Yes ma'am, but some would say Skiles would get the miss cuz he stopped going to P.J. in the second half.

Okay, you know how you have a person at work that you get along with from the opposite sex and people refer to them as your "work husband/wife"? A person of the opposite sex on your blog who you get along with is a blog wife/husband. No real interest but the sports guys. It's meant as a compliment not as a means to hit on anyone. Remember: I'm still a newlywed with a new baby.

Julie I am about dying laughing here....you obviously have a great sense of humor( I would say personality but that seems to be a kiss of death phrase when describing a female) besides a competent knowledge of sports. and you're right none of us know what you look like or even how old you are or if you are married, I just couldn't resist commenting on your "as long as I don't have to cook for you" post.

as far as game 6 is concerned there was also 2 other large factors that contributed to the Bulls loss 27.8% shooting from beyond the arc and 68.6% free throw shooting. probably the one that cost the most was the missed 3 pointers that lead to long rebounds and fast break points and several of the missed 3 pointers were taken too early in the shot clock with no one in position to rebound which is probably my biggest criticism of Ben Gordon

Okay, great - I'm glad we got that all straightened out. I just was unfamiliar with the term blog wife. Actually, I've never heard of an office husband/wife either, but that's probably because I've been home with my kids for the last 7 and a half years. Don't worry William, I know what it's like to be hit on, and this isn't it. We're just having a little blog-fun. And oh - my real husband wants to know if I can give you guys some [stuff] for a change.

P.S. I wish I could come up with a witty remark about Chris Duhon, but I'm just too lazy.

Tim, that is a major flaw of Ben Gordon's game, but for him its an opportunity to shoot before the defense gets set. I also wondered WHY no one was back to rebound considering we have the younger quicker legs? Thats coaching and executing. WE ALL KNOW THAT GORDON LIKES TO DO THAT. He has to either learn to wait, or they have to be taught to be there to rebound.

I thought that game would come down to rebounding, and I was right. Bulls did well the first half and it just got away in the second. We all were fooled - like I said in my other post. PJ Brown was allowed to shoot because Detroit wisely took away our other options. They gambled correctly as Skiles overthought himself in the 2nd half and left PJ on the bench. Flip Saunders just outcoached him. They had us dancing to their music, we were not imposing our wills. Sometimes a player looks open, just like Donyell Marshall was last night in the Eastern Conference opener. Instead of imposing his will, LeBron reacted to what the Pistons gave him. LeBron hasn't learned to be GREAT in the moment yet, but he is learning fast. He has great teachers in the Pistons. I believe the Bulls don't even know HOW they really lost yet. Phil Jackson came in and showed them right away. That is what good coaching does.

Roman responds: Keith, Phil had Michael and Scottie when he took over. Those two would make any coach look much smarter than a coach without those two.

Romo - any chance the NBA can rig the lottery again, this time in favor of the Bulls?
Speaking of which, who was really a worse judge of college talent...Rod Thorn who actually would have taken Sam Bowie over Jordan if Bowie and Jordan were both available (you can look it up) or Jerry Krause?

Roman responds: Well, I was going to say the Chandler-Brand trade made Krause a lesser judge of talent, but you said college talent. I'll stay with Krause.

What did you miss? While I am not a Cycling fan, I do believe that the Floyd Landis Court Case is one of the most intriguing and or important stories that has somewhat flown under the radar. Whether or not Landis is cleared or not is irrelevant at this point as he has come off as one of the disgusting individuals especially in regards to the events surrounding Greg LeMond. How anyone can have any compassion for Landis right now is beyond me.

Roman responds: Yes, it is intriguing. You're right. He's blaming his manager, who was fired, but it was such a sickening episode that no one comes off clean from Landis' camp.

Roman my man, Doug Collins also had Mike and Scottie. I am suggesting to you that two men can approach the same problem quite differently. Phil, Michael and Scottie were on the road in LA their first finals with Michael Jordan being overpowered and backed down by Magic - Phil Jackson makes an adjustment, one spectacular move later the rest is history. Many teams have had great players -like Utah and Phoenix, but who has gotten the MOST out of them? Its more than luck. I am not suggesting that it was Phil alone, but it takes a great coach to help a player find himself, and put him in the position to be great. Phil is one of 2 coaches who successfully coached Dennis Rodman, who just left a team with Tim Duncan and David Robinson on it. Look very closely at his credentials, but mostly at what FORMER players have to say about him. ANYONE can trade berate and bench players.

Roman responds: Keith, you're changing your argument. I was talking about what Skiles has done with this team vis a vis what Phil did with his first team. I'm saying you can't compare the two because Phil arguably had the greatest player in history. I'm not a Phil hater. But I still think Skiles got as much out of this team as he could.

I'd side with Romo although I do remember Thorn wanting a big man instead of Jordan.

Look at the complete train wreck below of Krause's picks.

85-Oakley - GOOD
86-Brad Sellers BAD
87-Horace Grant, Pippen - Only good draft by Krause...basically earned him another 10 years
88-Will Purdue below AVERAGE
89-Stacey King, BJ Armstrong and Jeff Sanders Sanders was BRUTAL; King was bad, Armstrong was ok
90-none
91-Mark Randall BAD
92-Byron Houston BAD
93-Corie Blount BAD
94-Dickie Simpkins REAL BAD
95-Jason Caffey AVERAGE
96-Travis Knight r u kidding?
97-Keith Booth never mind
98-Corey Benjamin ditto
99-Brand - terrific...too bad Krause didn't realize it
00-Fizer, Crawford - bad and ball hog
01-Chandler, Curry...skinny and fat boy
02-Jay Williams...could have been good; I think Amare Stoudamire would have been better

03-thank God Paxson took over

How can anyone do worse than that?

Roman responds: I could just hear Krause now, and believe me I've heard him say something like this countless times, "When you're winning championships, you don't get high draft picks." That's true, but it certainly doesn't excuse picking Fizer. I liked Marcus a lot. He was one of my favorite guys while I covered the team, but he played the same position as Elton and picking him was stupid. But as I've written countless times, Krause's worst move was offering Jermaine O'Neal no more than a one-year deal when he was a free agent in - I believe - '99. O'Neal told me he wanted a long-term deal, but Krause offered him just one season because he was coming off minor foot surgery. Krause also told me O'Neal wanted to play power forward and he had Brand. Weak argument. Then O'Neal told me he was told the Bulls drafted Fizer to trade to Portland for O'Neal. But the Pacers snuck in and dealt Dale Davis to Portland for O'Neal. The rest is history.

Hey Jason - about picking Sam Bowie over Jordan - in defense of Thorn, only in hindsight does that look like a terrible pick and has become one of the dumbest decisions in the history of sports. But look back at the early '80s - I was in diapers of course but I know the game was completely different then. Championship teams were built around dominant centers, so any forward-thinking GM would be looking for a player that looked to be a dominant center... in other words, Sam Bowie (and Olajuwon, who was no slouch in his own right but nobody disputes that). So that was almost everyone. I doubt if anyone doubted Jordan's ability to be an impact player, but there were no trends or real reasons to believe that a team could be built around a superstar guard like Jordan would be.

So yeah, I'd be inclined to think that a lot of teams back then would've made that mistake if they were picking #2 instead of Portland.

Roman responds: It's ok to judge moves in retrospect. GMs get paid a lot of money to make moves that look good in retrospect. Not everybody would have picked Bowie.

#1. Ben Gordon shoots the ball much better with his shoulders square to the basket and moving forward. Detroit played him tough, and every time he finally did get by someone he SLID into second base (must be the shoes!). He had his most productive time shooting as soon as the opportunity was there. This is one series where I was actually glad to see him fire it up A.S.A.P. It worked to the Bulls advantage to shoot quickly at times in games 4 & 5 and it paid off. The difference in game 6 was the shots weren't falling. TWO shots, that's it, fall for us in the fourth and we're right in it. Never could get over that hump though. Bummer!

#2. It is the little changes in life that can make all the difference, and I believe Phil Jackson pushed all the right buttons. Don't get me wrong. I liked Doug Collins, and I thought it stunk that he lost his spot while improving the team year after year, but results don't lie. Jackson had something the brass thought may be better suited for the Bulls and they were absolutely right. It takes sharp saavy to mold the characters into consistency, and he did one hell of a job for 8 years. My hats off to him and I believe he's one of the best.

#3. You don't get good draft picks when you're constantly up there for title contention for 10-11 years, 6 of which you pick last. The "fat guy" did well enough, it was his arrogance that killed me and possibly destroyed an unheard of dynasty for it's time.

Jeffrey - thanks for ruining my day.

I was trying to close out the Krause chapter from my memory - I was so close to forgetting that we had Jeff "sleepy" Sanders and Dickey Simpkins. What you didn't include are the guys he didn't draft in the 2nd round. (to name a few...Trenton Hassel over Arenas; some clown instead of Carlos Boozer).
Krause was quite possibly the worst judge of talent in any sport in sports history.

Roman responds: Fellas, fellas, let's not forget the worst player in Bulls and perhaps NBA history: Dalibor Bagaric. I kinda hate saying that cuz Dalibor was a nice guy. Dragan Tarlac was no prize either.

Roman and Jeffrey - loved your Krause post! Now this is the kind of stuff I simply have to have more of!

Krause was trully a legend in his own mind. He actually believed he was the sole reason the Bulls won 6, even over Jordan. He did bring in great additions to all of the championship teams though. Worm, Kukoc, Cartwright, Kerr, B. Williams, Sally, Edwards, Longley, Bucheler, Hanson, Wennington, Harper and a host of others. He was our best GM until Mr. Paxson came on board. Pax has done enough to replace his banner already.

Roman responds: I try my best to be objective with Krause. We didn't like each other personally, but I recognize he made some good moves. He also made terrible moves like the one I mentioned earlier. My guess is if Paxson had been named GM in '99, the organization wouldn't have sunk to the depths it reached.

I'm real worried about what Paxson is saying. I'm sure some of it is lip service but he needs to over-pay to get a player.
If they can make the money work, why not ship this pick, Gordon, Duhon, Noch and another #1 for Garnett. Wouldn't Minn be crazy not to do that? They'll lose him next year regardless. Who can offer more than that?

Roman responds: You should know by now that GMs will not tip their hands.

Larry Mayer over on Chicagobears.com mentioned a Bears trade rumor--Lance Briggs to Philly for Donovan McNabb? Granted, he kinda debunked it, but who started that rumor?

Roman responds: Muhsin Muhammad? Kidding.

Roman - sure it's ok to judge moves in retrospect, but only to a degree. And sure, not everybody would've picked Bowie, but a lot more would have than our revisionist minds collectively acknowledge. Sam Bowie looked like he was going to be a star in the NBA, there wasn't any real reason to think he wasn't. And it made a lot of sense to draft him anyway, after all they did draft a future Hall of Fame shooting guard in the '83 draft with Clyde Drexler, so picking Jordan would've actually looked kind of dumb.

But the hindsight gets out of control sometimes. I mean, for example you can look back at the 1999 draft where the Bears traded down to draft Cade McNown. The Redskins used that pick to draft Champ Bailey. Looks pretty dumb now doesn't it? We can look back at that pick and go "BWAHAHAHAHA you guys coulda had the best corner in the NFL!" But it didn't look bad at the time. The Bears needed a QB, they had for a while, and after McNown it would STILL be a while, and McNown was supposed to be the QB of the future. (I'm sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little as I wrote that.)

Roman responds: Thanks a lot Keith. I'm eating my pasta dinner at my desk and reading about you throwing up in your mouth. Was kinda funny, though.
Wasn't Bowie hurt at Kentucky? I think he had a pretty serious injury, so I'm not sure how can't miss he looked.
And I can honestly say I was against picking McNown from the get-go.

as long as ya'll are tripping down bad memory lane and putting a thumping on Jerry Krause let's not forget that besides dismantling a championship team and attempting to rebuild with rookies he also began his exercize in futility with rookie coach Tim "pink" Floyd. Now Floyd may well have been a great collegiate coach but he was nowhere near ready to be a head coach in the NBA.
After seeing the Celtics struggle with Patino, who was perhaps one of the best collegiate coaches, Krause's decision to appoint Floyd head coach was nothing more than another show of his arrogance and I was surprised that Riensdorf allowed him to drag the Bulls franchise to such depths.

oh and by the way Jeffery you did leave out one good aquisition Krause made......Tony Kukoc

and Roman regarding the "munchies" comment has it been that long since your college days or are you standing by the Bill Clinton defense.... "I didn't inhale!"?

Roman responds: No comment. My bosses read this stuff on occasion.

Hey,hey, no bad talk about Dickie he go to my church in North Chicago. He's much shorter in real life. And he's humble. Maybe if he had a angrier personality he would've suceeded. Too nice for the NBA.

Roman responds: Dickey's a great guy. Tell him I said hello. My favorite Dickey story was when Brent Barry - after being traded from the Bulls to Seattle - said the Bulls were chickens---. I wrote a story and quoted Dickey saying something along the lines that Barry better be careful in the lane. Sure enough, Dickey took a hard foul on Barry, backing up his words.

Roman, forgot to say welcome back. I cruised to Ochos Rio for one of my honeymoon stopovers in July. I love Dunes River falls. Just don't buy the T-shirts,because medium is practically a premie shirts. 4 X is a small. I still have a lot of key chains from that whole cruise. Now ,I ran into Tank at the Post Office the day after he got out. He was putting in for a change of address and he had a toke full of mail. I spoke and he lowered his tinted windows just low enough so you could see his eyes. Once he saw I meant him no harm he opened up and said that he was fine and thanks for the support. What else could I do but give him support. I couldn't call him a bum and tell him he didn't deserve to wear the Bears' uniform ever again. I think he deserves a 2nd or whatever chance he's gotten. Sports come and go but you want every person to do well in life. Now, I wouldn't mind that trade: Briggs for McNabb. Might as well get a pro-bowler for a pro-bowler. Hometown talent very seldom do well in Chicago but I like McNabb. Look at who we got that year instead of him. We could afford to back him because with the talent we have overall he'd be worth it. Until T.O. called him out ,unjustly, he was considered a top talent. I think Rex is alright, but honestly who do you think has not only the talent but the experience to get their team to the Superbowl again between those two guys? Both are Superbowl failures but who got dubbed the worth Super bowl QB? I don't think Rex was a complete failure, but who's head didn't hurt waiting for him to implode? I'd like to see a blog where the debate was broached. I might even see MG make a comeback with one of his patented "Rex sucks" to open the debate.

Roman, baby, you haven't read this energetic in months. That vacation did you some good.

Roman I would've thought the mention of McNown's name would've been more likely to make you lose your appetite instead of the actual mention of throwing up.

Bowie was hurt for about 2 years if I remember correctly. And not coincidentally he was hurt for a good part of his career. I'm not saying he was "can't miss" I'm just saying that picking him over Jordan at the time wasn't as bad of an idea as it looks now. After all it's not everyday that some guy that ends up being the greatest ever to play the game drafted after somebody who has an injury-plagued career.

Tim - no doubt about Kukoc but that was a man-love thing Krause had for him for a number of years. Don't forget it was several years after he picked him in the 2nd round that he could finally get out of his euro contract.
I know I shouldn't put Krause and Jerry West in the same sentence but look at the moves West made when the Lakers were great in the 80s. Despite winning every year, West still pulled off some great moves. Some guy named James Worthy in '82 and another named Kobe in '97 I think.
Krause put some good support players around Pippen and Jordan. The reality is that it could have been any number of players playing next to Jordan. When you read comments by guys like Wennington, Kerr, Paxson and others, they make it clear they lucked into their roles and Jordan could have made many other guys champs, and tons of dough.

"I just wonder why people live in this climate."

That's the same thing I always wonder. If all of these vacation spots in Europe and South America are so fine, why do people keep coming back to the US? Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side, or maybe there are one many Americans who happen to be tied to a mortgage.

Hilarious Quote from Richard Roeper:

"A number of readers have asked me what I think of R. Kelly comparing himself to Bob Marley,
Marvin Gaye, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King.
I don't see the problem. I just think he should have added a name to the list.

Roman Polanski.

Allegedly."

Uh-oh! I don't think Ms. Slezak is gonna like this column. Ha!

Congratulatins Richie #2, you've earned yourself some bonafide TOB points!