Gimme a break! Bulls cry about losing Jones By STEPHEN A. SMITH Copyright 2000 Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA -- Underpaid and underappreciated for years, Eddie Jones was finally recognized for his constant professionalism last month when Miami Heat coach and president Pat Riley pulled out all the stops to bring arguably the game's best defensive two guard to South Beach. Six years, $86 million. For a player who has never been noted for being late, arguing with his coach, or engaging in anything detrimental to a team. Around the NBA, the assumption was that the only team in a position to beef over the matter would be the Charlotte Hornets, who had been forced by Jones to make the trade or get nothing in return. Now we're hearing from the Chicago Bulls. For weeks, the Bulls have privately seethed over the supposed snubbing from Jones. They have put word out that Jones used them, agreeing to an offer of $71 million to be Michael Jordan's greatest replacement to date before skipping off to the South's version of Hollywood. Since then, columnists and other commentators have condemned Jones, saying he craved dollars and lacked heart. All this because Jones took the money and went to a contender instead of embracing the arduous challenge of leading the Chicago Bulls back to their glory days. "Eddie used us," one member of the Bulls organization said. "It wasn't Tim Duncan or Grant Hill because they didn't even come visit us. And it wasn't Tracy McGrady because he made it clear his first choice was the Orlando Magic. But Eddie ... we were used. "He was coming to Chicago. He had us believing he was coming to Chicago. Then, at the 11th hour, he just skipped out on us, just like Greg Anthony did to the Atlanta Hawks before signing back with Portland. It's an issue of trust. It'll be practically nonexistent after this summer, for sure." Please! Jones didn't skip out on anybody. He got a better offer. It is true the Bulls offered him $71 million, that Jones was heading to Chicago. But that doesn't mean the Bulls were used. Knowing that Jones was on the brink of heading to Chicago, that he was looking for a huge payday after earning just $2.5 million last season, the Heat came out of the blocks. The Heat stopped holding on to P.J. Brown and persuaded the Hornets to make a deal that would earn Jones $86 million. In the process, they also told Jones they would bring aboard Rick Brunson, who's savvy and talented enough to be better than a third point guard in the New York Knicks' lineup over the last two seasons. For those who haven't done the math, that's an extra $15 million, and the chance to play for a contender instead of a lottery team, not to mention the chance for Jones to return home to Florida, where he has always wanted to be. This, mind you, as a free agent. Chicago may have been willing to do the same thing by bringing Brunson on board, but overall it's not hard to understand why Jones chose Miami. Yet, few are trying to do so. Instead, we're hearing from team presidents such as Atlanta's Stan Kasten, who said, "Such situations (like Jones' and Anthony's) could change how we all do business during negotiations," insinuating that today's athletes can't be trusted and that even more rules, beyond the NBA's already strict collective-bargaining agreement, should be created to prevent such situations. The truth is that owners know it's not about loyalty. The NBA is big business. Anyone who knows Jones knows he's not a deceitful person or a manipulator. They also know that he loves Florida, where he bought a house last season. Chances are the Bulls knew this as well. They just lost him, as they did every other major free agent this summer, despite having $20 million under the salary cap to spend. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Maybe the players just don't want to be there. Seems like the Rockets are able to sign guys without even having much cap room. Poor Bulls. I feel so sad for them. NOT!!! ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Bulls SUCK! ------------------ Fun Police Says: 1. Stupid threads are not FUN! 2. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are not FUN! 3. Stupid BBS names are not FUN! 4. Conduct yourself in a FUN way! The Fun Police are Watching. Vote for the Rockets & Have FUN or be Assimilated.
I guess they're trying to blame everyone else for their FA failures, rather than taking a look in the mirror. I can see one or two major FA's not going there, but all of them? With the Bulls being the darlings of the NBA, you would think that FA's would want to go there for the exposure that they would get. The problem is obviously with the Bulls management, because it sure wasn't the money. ------------------
The money was good enough for Mercer ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Mercer was being tipped as an exception type player after all the big names had signed their max contracts. Unfortunately the big names moved around via S&T or stayed home so Mercer hit the jackpot!! Cap room in NO way means you automatically get FA's. Miami made a LOT of moves this off-season without any cap room. It's all a matter of being an attractive desination. Portland also made some moves and they're at least double the cap!! ------------------
Well Mercer probably cares only about the money anyways. Reinsdorf needs to fire Krause and hire a hot new young exec (K Smith) ala Doc Rivers. Then I wonder what they can do. Actually I hope he sticks with Krause, that way they can SUCK for eternity. ------------------ Fun Police Says: 1. Stupid threads are not FUN! 2. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are not FUN! 3. Stupid BBS names are not FUN! 4. Conduct yourself in a FUN way! The Fun Police are Watching. Vote for the Rockets & Have FUN or be Assimilated.
Hey hey...thanks for the sympathy, but you don't have to go feeling bad for us... We struck out in FA, but we've still got a nice core of talented bballers and we'll be pretty competitive again soon---just not as quickly as we wanted. I love this site and board btw...it's a good thing that you all don't have the haters that the Bulls do. A Bulls board like this would be 90% noise and only 10% content. ------------------
branded, You won't find a better NBA site than this on the internet. We have some of the most knowledgeble(sp?) people you will find. Many have been pointed out by the Rockets organization. Hope you visit often, and look foreward to your take from a Bulls perspective. ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Hey a NICE bulls fan. I didnt know they existed ------------------ Fun Police Says: 1. Stupid threads are not FUN! 2. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are not FUN! 3. Stupid BBS names are not FUN! 4. Conduct yourself in a FUN way! The Fun Police are Watching. Vote for the Rockets & Have FUN or be Assimilated.
Aye, a few of us do exist...and we have reasonable arguments for our faith in the future too... ------------------
Good to hear that GB. Welcome to Clutch City. Looking forward to your comments- we're all just a little down on Bulls fans due to a certain poster named Corey Benjamin or ROY D. Fizer. See this thread and you'll know what I mean. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/008089.html As long as you aren't like that, let us know what you think about the Rockets, and the Bulls as well. Always good to hear some outsiders takes' on things. ------------------ Looking for next year's Dan Langhi? Draftsource.net ClutchTown.com 4th Friday of August= Rocket Day 1999-Steve Francis 2000-Maurice Taylor
Sad to say it, but thats typical of a lot of Bulls fans. The rockets are cool...I can't answer the "would I take francis over brand question?" anymore. Before I used to say "brand all the way..." But Francis is a REAL talent--I think he'll be the next league superstar. I really think he's that good. (but I'd probably still go Brand ) But I question the talent around him. The west is WAY tough now and in the future, especially with Cuban set to build Dallas into another Portland (he's got all those players just so he can swing trades and get talented AND deep). I think Francis is in for a few years of frustration out west. Chicago? If our two newest top ten picks end up anything like our last one, we'll be set after they grow togather for a little bit. (I think Crawford is special, but will take a bit of time to come into his own.) We'll likely have another high 1st rounder and we still have 12 million in free money to make and facilitate trades. Mercer and Miller are just upgrades on talent that will let us be more competitive (that Brand didn't crack last season is amazing) than we were last season. I'm patient, I'm cool. I think our future looks good. Even if Krause doesn't do it, the next GM will have a great foundation to work with. ------------------
I still bet there are no smart Laker or Jazz fans though. ------------------ Fun Police Says: 1. Stupid threads are not FUN! 2. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are not FUN! 3. Stupid BBS names are not FUN! 4. Conduct yourself in a FUN way! The Fun Police are Watching. Vote for the Rockets & Have FUN or be Assimilated.
