It is that time of the year Bulls fans. Discuss and post all Bulls rumors here. I will start. From Ralphb07 at Realgm: http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1320218 Plan A is Carmelo Plan B is Nikola Plan C is Gordon Hayward. The hope would be Utah doesn't match. Also heard the Bulls really like Doug McDermott a lot.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Bulls are high on Doug McDermott--but could end up a lottery pick. His perimeter shooting would clearly be of long-term use to team. https://twitter.com/NBARumorPress/status/463395987470315520
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread As far as free agency goes, Carmelo is Plan A. Talk is something near $20 million/per is what Bulls are hoping for. https://twitter.com/NBARumorPress/status/463397705083912192 Bulls are hoping Carmelo will structure first year salary to keep Taj Gibson in Chicago. https://twitter.com/NBARumorPress/status/463398110945755136
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Bulls haven't shown any interest in salary dumping Taj. Past offers at the deadline were salary dumps. https://twitter.com/NBARumorPress/status/463398989585346560
Official Bulls Rumors thread I have read and heard from several sources that Hayward is going to make someone sorry they overpaid for him. On the surface, I like that he's 23, tall, and seems to handle and pass well from the SF position . I don't like his shooting pct or especially his 3 pt shooting. Send out a lineup of Rose, Jimmy, Taj, Noah, and Hayward, and every opponent should play zone and dare us to shoot over it.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread I agree with the gist of your post. Hayward's a nice a player but probably not the kind of guy you overpay for. I think this year demonstrated that. (I also think that's why his shooting percentages were so low. I think he could be a high efficiency player on a better team....but that kind of proves your point about him). I think any offer that'd be big enough to pry him away from Utah is a contract you don't want having on your books.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Oddly, fans seem to only be happy about guys we draft. I happen to think Boozer was worth every penny of his contract, tho we hypothetically could have done better. He started for us and we have a gritty excellent record. Much better than any time since the dynasty team was made unwelcome here. We have two chances to pick gritty players in the draft. Not lottery where you can land a Noah. Not top of the draft where you can land a Rose. Right in the gritty spot where guys like Snell are available (over more talented guys). I would love to see Melo here, but I am quite sure he will get the Boozer treatment. He oozes talent. Grit, not so much. Hopefully the Bulls don't overpay for the gritty Kirk Hinrich next season to be our starting PG or SG. Maybe the would be best advised to draft a gritty offensive rebounder, to help clean up the misses from the other gritty players we put out there. It is remarkable that the Bulls were THE WORST shooting team in the NBA, and that the gritty Taj led the team in FG% at the grittiest .479.
Cavaliers interested in Carlos Boozer Since he lost his fourth quarter duties to Taj Gibson, it looks like the Chicago Bulls will almost certainly either use a trade or the amnesty clause to dump the final year of Carlos Boozer’s contract. According to Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Cavaliers could be a team that pursues Boozer if he becomes a free agent. Hey, Mary: We all know that the Cavs are gonna try to pursue LeBron James this summer, but have you thought about going vintage and bringing back Carlos Boozer and Mo Williams? Boozer would give some inside muscle on defense plus some inside out scoring that Tristan Thomson has not provided, while Williams would give some solid scoring off the bench once Waiters is traded. – Chris Taylor, Columbus Hey, Chris: I think the Cavs actually might take a look at Boozer if the Bulls amnesty him and his $16.8 million salary for next season, though I don’t think it would be popular with fans. Mo Williams never wanted to leave Cleveland, but the Cavs really don’t need another small guard. - See more at: http://fansided.com/2014/05/03/nba-rumors-cleveland-cavaliers-interested-carlos-boozer/#!JCOHv
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZ9pEbl1Qs&feature=youtu.be About Haywood
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread I haven't heard a Bulls related rumor on the subject but I hear GSW may pursue Stan Van Gundy for coach. If the Thibs thing goes south (I don't think it will...) maybe the Bulls should try to get in on that action rather than the Mayor.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Astute comment. I think the Bulls got pretty much what they expected from Boozer. At worst, they might be mildly disappointed. Boozer never quite was the 20-10 guy he was for a few seasons in Utah, but he was pretty damn close to this on a per-36 basis. And while I don't think many Bulls fans closely followed Boozer's time in Utah, his coach, Jerry Sloan, was pretty open about Boozer's defensive shortcomings. Still, Bulls' fans have pretty much fallen all over themselves hating on Carlos Boozer. Before Boozer, the last big star the Bulls acquired was Ben Wallace. I thought Bulls' fans would take "Big Ben" to their bosoms since he was the ultimate "blue collar" NBA star. When the 2007-08 team collectively stopped listening to Scott Skiles and Wallace began being referred to as a malcontent, Chicago turned on him with a vengeance. Back in the late-70s/early-80s, I recall being struck by how little affection Bulls fans had for Artis Gilmore. He was as close as the Bulls have ever come to acquiring a true superstar from outside the organization. He averaged over 19 points and 11 rebounds per game for 7 seasons here, but Steve Kerr probably garners more love from Bulls' fans. Has there ever been a "ready-made" star that Bulls' fans have uniformly embraced? Rodman? Chet Walker?
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Artis. I think the Bulls got every penny's worth out of Boozer. If they played him 36, like you said, he'd put up similar numbers as in Utah. Utah wanted him, paid him. Even with Sloan. Sloan played him a ton, even though they had Paul Milsap. 34+ MPG in his last season there, to be exact. Even though he was going to be a UFA.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread All this makes me wonder how Bulls fans would react to Anthony if the Bulls managed to sign him and still the team didn't win. I can easily see a hate for Anthony that would more than rival the Boozer situation. If getting Anthony cost the team Gibson, I could see it getting really ugly.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Anthony may be the 3rd best player in the league behind LeBron and Durant. Taj, not so much.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread This was a good post Denny. I agree that Melo could be set up to fail if he signs here and the team doesn't perform up to expectations. However, I think there's a lot of reason to think that Melo is a much better fit than Boozer. Boozer's always been prolific offensively but his game just does not have an extra gear to it so you can't rely on him in close situations. Melo's an end-of-the-shotclock kind of guy. I also think Melo could thrive in our system defensively, at least when it counts. Physically he's much better suited to play the Luol Deng role on defense than Jimmy Butler is. He's a strong rebounder, agile, and is strong enough to defend the 3 and 4 most nights. In a playoff series I'm pretty sure Thibs would ride Melo 40 minutes a night and not substitute him for long stretches due to his defensive inadequacies.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Boozer thrived in the pick and roll in Utah. Rose was terrible at it, and without Rose we didn't use it much. Who is to blame for not getting the most out of the players? I mean, running the offense through Noah at the top of the key isn't pick and roll. And having Boozer and/or Noah setting picks to free up Rose isn't pick and roll either.
