Well, the NBA and its players finally reached an agreement and are expected to begin their abbreviated 66-game regular season on Christmas Day.

As expected, the owners pretty much routed the players in these negotiations though it would be inaccurate to say that the owners got everything they wanted...they only got most of what they wanted.

I won't bore you with all the details of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NBA players and owners. Rather, I want to focus on the highlights and on some of things casual fans might want to know.

The Economics

In the old CBA, the players were guaranteed 57% of "Basketball-Related Income," aka BRI (BRI includes just about anything you can think of from TV/Radio, ticket sales, concessions, parking...you name it). Both sides knew that 57% was too high given the current economy so the players quickly moved to 54%. Though the owners initially were looking for a BRI split that would eventually end up with the owners getting something like 61%, this was pretty much silly negotiating posturing. The owners hardcore number was 53% (47% for the players). While this is what the owners wanted, it was only relevant if the 2011-12 season had to be cancelled. As things played out, it became clear that the owners would accept a 50-50 split if the season could be saved.

The ultimate agreement was a BRI split within a band of 49%-51%. The percentage the players receive depends on whether the league's revenue projection is met (50-50), exceeded (51% for players) or falls short (49% for players).

The agreement on the BRI split doesn't actually change any player's salary, so all players will have a 10% deduction from their paychecks which will be deposited into an escrow account. To the extent that players salaries exceed the prescribed level, the owners will be able to get the money from the escrow account. If the total escrow account isn't enough to cover the owners' shortfall, the escrow deduction % will be increased the following year. In the unlikely event that the players' salaries fall below the prescribed level, the owners must immediately cut a check to the players.

As long as the economy doesn't get any worse, the agreed-upon BRI split should put the league, as a whole, on a profitable footing. It will then be up to the owners to put an expanded "revenue sharing" program in place that moves sufficient money from the big-market teams to the smaller-market teams to ensure that the league continues to have a financially-viable 30-team league.

In purely financial terms, the new CBA ought to work.

The New Competitive Model

This is where it gets interesting...at least to me.

The old CBA had a "Luxury Tax" (LT) provision that required teams whose payrolls were over a certain level ($70mil in 2011) to pay a dollar-for dollar tax on their excess salary. The intent was to discourage big-market teams from attempting to gain a competitive advantage simply by grossly outspending the smaller-market teams. What the league learned was that a dollar-for-dollar tax was little more than a speed bump to teams like the Knicks and the Lakers one bit. For the 2006-7 season, the Knicks willingly paid $45.1mil in luxury tax alone...nearly as much as some of the smaller-market teams were paying in total salary.

In the new CBA, the owners initially proposed a hard salary cap. A hard cap is foolproof. Each team can spend only a set amount on players and that's that. They moved off the hard cap proposal fairly early in the negotiations and eventually settled for a LT that starts at a higher penalty rate ($1.50 tax for each dollar over the tax limit) with the tax rate going higher for each additional $5mil a team exceeds the tax threshold. As an example, if a team exceeded the tax level by $45mil like the Knicks did 5 years ago, they'd be forced to come up with a total tax payment of about $147.5mil. As a late concession to the players the owners agreed to delay this new, more punitive LT system until the 3rd year of the new agreement, so the LT remains only dollar-for dollar for this season and next.

While the season 3 graduated tax system is not a hard cap, the NBA hopes that their graduated financial penalties will effectively "even the playing field" in terms of spending on players. However, keeping in mind that the reason big-spending teams spend big is to gain a competitive advantage, they've also targeted new "competitive penalties" to LT-paying teams.

One of the key new competitive penalties involves what is called the Mid-Level Exception (MLE). In the old CBA, any team over the salary cap was allowed to sign one or more free agents so long as the total first-year salaries of these players didn't exceed the average NBA player's salary ($5.8mil last season). Using this exception, even teams at the top of the spending list could add very solid players to their rosters each season, and since these high-paying teams were among the most attractive franchises to play for, they usually had first choice among the MLE-type free agents.

In the new CBA, the MLE has been reset to a flat $5mil first-year salary with contracts of up to 4 years in length. However, for LT-paying teams, the MLE is only $3mil and the contract length can't exceed 3 years. LT-paying teams will no longer be the destination of choice among MLE free agents.

Another competitive penalty for LT-paying teams is that they can no longer use the "Bi-Annual Exception," which, every other year, allows teams to sign a free agent to a 2-year contract starting at $1.9mil.

LT-paying teams also have more restrictive rules with regard to trades than non-taxpaying teams.

Net, in the new CBA, the NBA learned from their past LT mistakes and is aiming for greater parity by attacking the big spenders on both the financial and competitive fronts.

Is all of this good for the (NBA) game?

Yeah, I think it is. Each of the past 5 NBA champions were LT-paying teams. Fans of smaller-market teams stopped believing that their teams could become legitimate contenders and lost interest. The changes in the new CBA should, over time, give these disaffected fans new hope.

This said, the new CBA isn't very "Bulls-friendly." After years of mediocrity, the Bulls finally have an elite team again. With center Joakim Noah getting his salary bumped from $2.3mil to $11.3mil this season and reigning MVP Derrick Rose set to be extended for a contract starting at over $17mil next season, they'll have an elite payroll to match. Just when the full penalties of the LT kick in, the Bulls team payroll figures to be at its zenith.

A lot has been made of the fact that the Bulls have never paid so much as one penny of LT. This fact has been used to support the position that the Bulls (i.e., Jerry Reinsdorf) will never pay any LT. Don't believe it. Reinsdorf never paid the LT because until now, he didn't have a team that warranted it.

In the end, if you're a Bulls' fan, I wouldn't worry. The team will pay what it takes to remain an elite team and ideally to become a champion.

As an NBA and die-hard Bulls fan, it'll be great to have the games back.

Generally, I write to an audience that doesn’t closely follow the NBA. They’re Bulls’ fans mind you, it’s just that most wouldn’t dream of spending a couple precious weekend hours during the regular season watching a Raptors-Twolves game (come to think of it, neither would I). With them in mind, I did playoff write-ups on the Pacers and Hawks to explain things like the late-season emergence of the Pacers’ Tyler Hansbrough and to sing the praises of the wondrously-erratic Hawk Josh Smith.

The Bulls now face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. You don’t need to be an NBA fan to know about the Heat. In fact, you don’t even need to be a sports fan. Ask some little old lady on the street who plays on the Heat and she’ll get at least 2 correct answers.

The Heat Dynasty – Year 1

When Lebron James announced that he was “taking his talents to South Beach” to join forces with superstar guard Dwayne Wade and brought All Star power forward Chris Bosh along for the ride, the national media quickly declared a dynasty. Never in the history of the league had 3 in-their-prime players of this magnitude played on the same team. Many predicted that the Heat would shatter the ’95-’96 Bulls regular season record of 72 wins.

When the Heat got off to a disappointing 9-8 start to the season (making the record-breaking 73-9 somewhat unlikely), the national media wrote it off as a normal adjustment phase. This looked like a good call as the Heat promptly ran off a 12-game winning streak and won 21 of their next 22 to tie them with the Boston Celtics atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings at 30-9. It took a little time, but the Heat were where they were supposed to be and the rest of the league would soon be mere specks in their rearview mirror.

Didn’t happen. The Heat played well, going 58-24, but struggled against the top teams (2-9 vs the Celtics, Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks).


The national story line

Despite the fact that the Bulls won more games than any other team this season, beat the Heat all three times they played them and have home court advantage, the Heat are the betting favorites in this game. Why? A couple reasons.

First, it’s generally believed that the Heat have looked like the better team through the first 2 rounds of these playoffs. Both the Bulls and the Heat dispatched their first-round opponent in 5 games, but the Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers who were considered a significantly better team than the Pacers. In the second-round, the Bulls often struggled to get past the lightly-regarded Hawks, while it only took the Heat 5 games to take out the Celtics, considered by some to be a legitimate championship contender. James and Wade have been brilliant in these playoffs, each averaging 26 points and 5 assists per game. Lebron has stepped up his rebounding, grabbing 9.4 per game and Wade pulled down nearly 8 boards per game...eye-popping for a guard. Bosh has provided solid support, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The second reason the Heat are favored is that many believe that the regular season was nothing more than a long and tedious pre-requisite to what this team was built for…winning championships. This is why James left Cleveland and Bosh left Toronto. It’s why all 3 of the Heat’s stars took less than the max money each would have received if financial considerations were put at the forefront. The Heat trio is superbly-talented and highly-motivated. The playoffs are where the stars truly shine and it remains unarguable that the Heat lead the NBA in star power. They simply will not be denied…it’s their destiny.

So who else plays for the Heat?

It’s a fair question, and since Heat Head Coach Eric Spoelstra is allowed to put 5 players out on the floor, he probably will. The Heat’s supporting cast is pretty much made up of two types of players – big guys who try to set screens, rebound, block shots and not shoot and little guys who hang out at the 3-point line waiting for a wide open shot.

Leading the big guys is 6-9 center Joel Anthony, an undrafted free agent who has been with the Heat since the ’07-’08 season. He’ll pull down some rebounds for them (5.7 per game in the playoffs), but his thing is blocking shots…he leads the Heat with 16 in the 10 Heat playoff games. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 7-3 and was once a heckuva player, making 2 All Star game appearances back in the day. After 12 years in Cleveland, 7 of them playing alongside James, he signed with the Heat on a minimum salary contract (over a $10million pay cut…yes, he’s the prototypical “ring-chaser). He was never fast, but he’s stunningly slow at age 35, but he can still hit the occasional open jumper if you leave him open. At age 38, 6-9 forward/center Juwan Howard certainly has experience on his side. The Heat are Howard’s 8th NBA team, though in truth he’s played for several of those 8 more than once. Look for him to play about 7 minutes/game and set a couple screens…sad, but that’s what it’s come down to for Howard. Lastly, there’s Udonis Haslem. Haslem may be the Heat’s 4th-best player, but has been sidelined with a foot injury since November. He made his return in the Heat’s game 4 win in Boston and played 3 minutes of hideous basketball earning him a DNP-CD (did not play-coach’s decision) in the deciding game 5. Haslem could be a “wild card” in the series with the Bulls.

Of the little guys, Mario Chalmers and recently-acquired veteran Mike Bibby will get most of the point guard minutes, but don’t expect much in the way of playmaking from them…they’re in the lineup to occasionally bring the ball up the court and then wait at the perimeter if needed. Chalmers can defend some. Bibby hardly even tries anymore. If neither Chalmers nor Bibby are hitting their 3s, Spoelstra may send journeyman chucker Eddie House into the game for a heat-check.

One Heat bench player who doesn’t fit either of the 2 categories is 6-8 forward James Jones. Jones is a good 3-point shooter who has been very good in these playoffs. He was on fire in game 1 of the Celtics series, knocking down 5 of 7 treys and scoring 25 points…he actually outscored James by 3. Rounding out the Heat bench is veteran 6-8 small forward Mike Miller. By design, Miller should be the Heat’s #4 player (he’s the 4th-highest paid) and resident 3-point marksman (40% for his career), but has had an injury-plagued season. Jones has pretty much taken over Miller’s role on the team.

Matchups

This figures to be a very non-traditional series matchup-wise. For the Bulls, Luol Deng figures to be on James nearly all the time and Carlos Boozer will likely be assigned to defend the Heat’s non-shooting big man (mostly Anthony and Ilgauskas). Beyond that it’ll probably be a mix and match situation. Wade figures to see mostly Bogans and Brewer, but Derrick Rose may guard him as well, particularly when Kyle Korver is in the game with Rose. Noah figures to have Bosh. This figures to be a much better defensive series for Korver since, as has been mentioned, the Heat almost always have someone in their lineup whose job it is to hang out at the 3-point line…that’s your guy, Kyle.

For the Heat, the obvious key is to stop Rose. Rose will probably start out being defended by Chalmers, with Wade on Bogans. This leaves Wade will be free to provide aggressive weakside help, one of many things at which he excels. Wade will also defend Rose and particularly late in games, James will take his turn in an effort to get Derrick to give up the ball. Boozer could be defended by either Anthony or Bosh, but if Boozer gets hot, it’ll be Anthony (the better defender).

In the interest of full disclosure

I don’t like the Heat, but most of all I don’t like Lebron James. He’s a magnificent basketball player, the most talented on the planet, but first and foremost he’s an actor playing the Lebron role in an effort to increase the market share of the “Lebron brand.” I should point out here that, unlike most James-haters, I didn’t like him in his last few years with the Cavaliers.

Watching him on and off the court, I often wonder how long James rehearses his myriad facial expressions. I particularly enjoy his “determination” and “astonishment” looks…the latter can be seen every time he either misses an inside shot (I was fouled) or is called for a foul (Are U Serious?). I honestly believe that James brushes his teeth as if he’s on camera. Great player and totally self-absorbed, narcissistic douchebag.

I also don’t like Chris Bosh, but again it’s for reasons that are different from many. I really liked his game in Toronto and believed that in his last season there he was on the brink of superstardom (24 points, 11 rebounds and a superstar-level 25.0 Player Efficiency Rating…Wade posted a 25.6 PER this season). Why oh why would a 25-year old kid with that kind of talent turn himself into a “ring-chaser?” What a freakin’ waste.

I actually like Dwayne Wade and believe Chicago fans have treated him harshly. Did he use the Bulls for leverage last summer? Almost certainly. I might have done the same thing in his shoes. I like him because he’s a tough-minded competitor who is a basketball player first and a pitchman only in his spare time.

Oh yeah, I’ve always hated Pat Reilly.

Conclusion

Buckle up, kids…this series is going to be an “E” ticket ride, or as the kids say, “Epic.” I’ve heard many opine that this series will determine the future 5 years of the NBA Eastern Conference, but I wouldn’t go that far. However, the Heat and the Bulls figure to be elite teams for the foreseeable future and one of them is going to walk away from this one with a mental edge.

For each team, the last time they took the court, they were had what could be viewed as “statement victories,” yet some belittled their achievements. The Heat had their emotional home win over the Celtics, but some pointed out that the Celts were handicapped by their one-armed point guard, Rajon Rondo. The Bulls totally dominated the Hawks in Atlanta, but some said that the Hawks lackluster effort in front of their home fans just proved that they remain nothing more but pretenders. As for me, they looked like two elite teams doing what they needed to do when they needed to do it.

I find myself compelled to pick the Bulls in 7. The fact that I’m a Bulls’ fan and also having a genuine dislike for the Heat undoubtedly have entered into my thinking. Also, my coaching bias tells me that a well-coached team can overcome superior talent (y’all saw Hoosiers, didn’t ya?). I’m convinced that Thibodeau is the better coach, or at least the coach who is allowed by his players to do the better coaching job.

I can’t wait for this one to start.

Tom Nossem

Hawks are playing pretty good ball. Nice test on the road. Hope the Bulls are more than fine!

@


Game 58, Road Game 27
Monday, February 28, 2011 – 6:00 PM (CT)
Verizon Center
Comcast SportsNet / ESPN 1000 AM

BULLS VS. WIZARDS ALL-TIME
ALL-TIME ................... Bulls lead 106-90
BULLS CURRENT STREAK ..... 3 Wins
BULLS HOME STREAK ............ 4 Wins
BULLS ROAD STREAK………….2 Wins

BULLS VS. WIZARDS THIS SEASON
Nov. 13 @ Chicago – BULLS WON 103-96
Dec. 22 @ Washington – BULLS WON 87-80
Feb. 28 @ Washington –
March 15 @ Chicago –

Game Notes



Chicago Bulls (40-17)
Home 26-4
Road 14-13
BULLS CURRENT STREAK .. 2 Wins

Bulls Averages:
PPG: 98.3 (Opp: 92.5)
RPG: 44.1 (Opp: 39.2)
APG: 21.7 (Opp: 19.1)
SPG: 7.14 (Opp: 6.97)
BPG: 5.79 (Opp: 5.86)
TO: 14.3(Opp: 14.4)
FG%: .460 (Opp: .430)
FT%: .733 (Opp: .760)
3p%: .360 (Opp: .328)

Probable Bulls starters


Derrick Rose - PG - 24.9 ppg, 8.1 apg, 1.00 spg
Keith Bogans- SG - 3.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg, .42 spg
Luol Deng - SF - 17.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.6 apg
Carlos Boozer - PF - 19.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.3 apg
Joakim Noah - C - 13.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 1.56 bpg


Bulls Stats Leaders
Points: Rose 24.9, Boozer 19.1
Rebounds: Noah 11.9, Boozer 9.7
Assists: Rose 8.1, Deng 2.6
Steals: Brewer 1.42, Noah 1.07
Blocks: Noah 1.53, Gibson 1.56

FG%: Boozer .540, Thomas .524
FT%: Korver .859, Rose .842
3FG%: Korver .419, Watson .391

Injury report
None to report

For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report.



Washington Wizards (15-43)
Home 14-15
Road 1-28

Probable Wizards starters
John Wall - PG
Nick Young - SG
Josh Howard - SF
Rashard Lewis - PF
Javale McGee - C

Injury report
Al Thornton (Sprained Left Ankle)-Questionable
Andray Blatche (Sprained Right Hip)-Questionable
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Los Angeles Clippers have bought out Rasual Butler, and he plans to sign with the Chicago Bulls, a league source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher.

Butler must clear waivers before he can sign with the Bulls.

Butler had the best scoring season of his career in 2009-10, averaging 11.9 points and 2.9 rebounds. This season he's averaged 5.0 points and 1.9 rebounds.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=6165494

In 1976 at age 34, Chicago Bulls two-time All Star and six-time NBA All-Defensive Team guard Jerry Sloan blew out his knee. Age and circumstances had conspired against him and the handwriting on the wall was clear enough. He had to walk away from the game he loved to play.

Yesterday, Sloan, now 68 and in his 23rd season as Utah Jazz Head Coach, could again read the writing. Hard as it was, it was time for him to move on.

Word is that the end was hastened by increasingly-frequent disputes between Sloan and his superstar point guard Deron Williams. The flashpoint occurred Wednesday night in a game against the Bulls when Williams reportedly ignored the play Sloan signaled for and ran one of his own. A heated exchange between the two occurred at halftime. In a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, a league source said “He (Sloan) decided right there at halftime that he was done. He felt like ownership was listening more to Williams than they were to him anymore. He was done.”

After the game (a loss, dropping his team’s record to 31-23) Sloan met with Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor. Reports are that Sloan resigned during the meeting, but O’Connor asked him “to sleep on it.” Sloan agreed, but his mind was made up. Sloan said he slept very well Tuesday night.

The story of a NBA superstar causing the departure of his head coach is certainly nothing new. Though the head coach is nominally “the boss,” we all know the truth. Superstars generally make 4 times as much as their head coaches…and that gap would be greater if not for the NBA’s maximum salary rules. You do the math. So it’s not surprising that when a head coach locks horns with his team’s superstar, the coach traditionally fairs poorly in the exchange.

The thing is that, for nearly all of Sloan’s tenure in Utah, the Jazz were an exception to the rule. The organization was committed to its head coach and his system. If a player couldn’t or wouldn’t play within Sloan’s system, the player rather than the head coach was shown the door. Sloan was the constant. The result was a record of consistent excellence that was the envy of every other small and mid-market sports franchise. In 23 seasons as the Jazz head coach, the team had only one losing season…one. His record with the Jazz was 1127-682, a remarkable .622 winning percentage.

Truth be told, I don’t know that Sloan was any sort of coaching genius. He was just a gym rat who turned into a basketball-lifer. He understood the beautiful simplicity of the game and stressed the fundamentals of team play. On offense, you move the ball, set screens and work for the open shot. His best teams, the Karl Malone-John Stockton teams, simply ran the pick-and-roll until an opponent showed they could stop it…very few could. On defense, Sloan’s specialty as a player, you got down low, got as physical as the referees would allow and helped your teammates. Most of all, you played your tail off all the time…no exceptions.

Nothing tricky about it…it’s just how you’re supposed to play the game and how Sloan coached it. It’s a credit to the Utah Jazz organization that for so many years, they allowed Sloan to be what a head coach should be, namely, the undisputed boss. Unfortunately, Sloan saw this unwavering commitment to him and his system changing. Their superstar Williams would become a free agent in 2012 and Williams wasn’t happy. Sloan was asked to be reasonable, to appease his young star. While in the NBA this seems like a reasonable enough request, Sloan knew only too well that what he was being asked to do had nothing to do with playing winning basketball. He understood more keenly than his superiors that the secret to the Jazz’s success as a team and his success as a head coach is that “players play and coaches coach.” When it becomes OK for a player, no matter how good he is, to decide whether the play the coach has called is the right one, you’re no longer the head coach…not really.

Sloan wanted none of it so he acted quickly, decisively and with characteristic class. He rightly thanked the Jazz organization for giving him, for so many years, the increasingly-rare opportunity to be a genuine head coach in the NBA.

I only had two boyhood sports heroes – Dick Butkus and Jerry Sloan. As a player, Sloan wasn’t particularly talented, but he was tough as nails and absolutely relentless on the floor. When it came to the game he loved, there was no room for compromise.

Some people don’t change.

Godspeed, # 4.

Tom Nossem

Sources: Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, nba.com, basketball-reference.com

Article published to sportstwo main page 2/5/11



While not surprising, it’s kind of unfortunate that the NBA Developmental League is shortened to “D-League” by just about everyone…makes it sound like it's for players who are perilously close to flunking out. Come to think of it, for most D-Leaguer dream-chasers, there's probably more truth to that than they'd care to admit. As for forward James Johnson however, now playing for the Iowa Energy, he expects to return soon to where he believes he belongs…in the NBA playing for the Central Division Leading Chicago Bulls.

Johnson, a Bulls’ first-round draft pick in 2009 (16th overall) certainly isn’t the only NBA first-rounder to be “sent down." The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Martell Webster (6th overall pick in 2005), Indiana Pacers’ Dahntay Jones (20th overall in 2003), New Jersey Nets’ Jordan Farmar (26th overall in 2006) and the Houston Rockets’ Aaron Brooks (26th overall in 2007) are just a few D-League alums who made it back to "The League." Still, even knowing that the assignment is only temporary, it has to be a somewhat humbling and eye-opening experience.

When we think of professional basketball players, we often think of young millionaires with palatial homes, garages full of six-figure cars and entourages of old pals who are paid to remind the player of how truly wonderful he is…in the unlikely event he should forget.

Well, the D-League is men’s professional basketball, but it is truly a whole different ballgame.

Salaries in the D-League range between $12,000 and $24,000 per season with most players at the low end of this. Since the D-League season is 50 games, this works out to $24.00 to $48.00 per game. Although the teams pay for their players' rent and utilities, most D-Leaguers share apartments in order to better pool their meager resources. While their NBA counterparts travel first-class to play before large crowds in big-city arenas, D-Leaguers travel as economically as possible to play in gyms against the likes of the Maine Red Claws, Sioux Falls Skyforce and Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Of course Johnson is still paid his NBA salary ($1.7 million this season) while playing in Des Moines. That kind of money can go pretty far in Des Moines and I imagine that he’s pretty popular with his Energy teammates.

Unlike most NBA players who are sent to play in the D-League, Johnson asked for the demotion. After a disappointing rookie season in which he averaged only 4 points and 2 rebounds in 11+ minutes per game, Johnson made a concerted effort to turn things around this year. He stepped up his offseason conditioning program, dropped about 20 pounds and was determined to crack the Bulls rotation. However, playing behind Luol Deng (5th in the NBA in minutes per game) and record-setting sharpshooter Kyle Korver who was acquired in the offseason, Johnson pretty much had the deck stacked against him.

Still, Johnson has had his moments this season including playing a key role in comeback wins against the Detroit Pistons (8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in 18+ minutes) and the Phoenix Suns (12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 22+ minutes). In the end though, the minutes just weren’t there for Johnson and as a developing player, what he needed most was game action.

"He wanted to do it," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It's not a punishment. It's an opportunity for him to get playing time and develop." This thought was echoed by Bulls’ General Manager Gar Forman who explained the timing of Johnson’s D-League trip, “We had talked about doing this for several weeks and we looked at our schedule. We wanted to find a window where he could get a lot of time on the floor. While we’re out west the next two weeks, he’ll get eight games in.”

Johnson is now 5 games into his stint with the Energy and he’s making the most of it averaging 20.6 points (on 57% shooting), 8.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. Johnson has also cut down on his turnovers, averaging only 3.2 per 36 minutes compared to an alarming 5.3 per-36 this season for the Bulls. Of course the most important benefit of his time with the Energy is, well, time…he’s averaging 31.6 precious minutes per game.

Sources say that Johnson is expected to reunite with his Bulls teammates when the team returns home from its current 5-game road trip on February 15. This timing is likely due to the fact that the Energy have no games scheduled from February 16-23 and the Bulls come back from the All Star break to play 4 games in 6 nights.

Johnson will reclaim his place on the Bulls bench, grab his favorite twirling towel and wait for his opportunity to provide energy with a capital “E” to the Bulls playoff push…on second thought, make it a lower case “e."

Tom Nossem

Sources: Des Moines Register, basketball-reference.com, Wikipedia, www.npr.org, nba.com, bulls.com