Few nice lines involving Houston players - "So is Williams. He can't rebound like slightly taller guards such as Miller or Jason Kidd, but he has dunked when needed and has range, heft and ball skills. Plus, he already has more maturity than players such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Allen Iverson might have in a lifetime." "Williams was a great pick for the Bulls. It doesn't bother me at all to say that. In fact, it's a pleasure. The Bulls don't need more soft giants." I LOVE THIS WRITER A bright future June 30, 2002 BY RICK TELANDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST It was a blessing the Bulls had a very good pick in the NBA draft Wednesday, but not the first one. Thus, they did not have to choose 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming and pin all their hopes on a young man with the head of an 8-footer and the shoulders of a 6-footer. Dreadful thoughts of Shawn Bradley, Chuck Nevitt, Manute Bol and, yes, Brad Sellers go through my mind every time I look at Yao. You do remember Sellers, don't you? He was the Bulls' first-round pick out of Ohio State in 1986, a slender fellow who stood 7 feet tall "but played smaller,'' as excited general manager Jerry Krause curiously put it. Sellers would go on to become one of the greatest in-bounds passers the Bulls have had. Maybe he was the best ever. At any rate, what I see in Yao is a much weaker, less dramatic, non-cigarette-smoking Vlade Divac. But with the second pick of the draft, the Bulls simply gobbled up the obvious in Duke point guard Jay Williams, who is 17 inches shorter than Yao but as accomplished a guard as anyone to come out of college since Utah's Andre Miller. Miller has been on a bad Cleveland Cavaliers team for three seasons, preventing his skills from being widely seen. But he is the real deal. So is Williams. He can't rebound like slightly taller guards such as Miller or Jason Kidd, but he has dunked when needed and has range, heft and ball skills. Plus, he already has more maturity than players such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Allen Iverson might have in a lifetime. Williams was a great pick for the Bulls. It doesn't bother me at all to say that. In fact, it's a pleasure. The Bulls don't need more soft giants. They need somebody to run the show in the way that no Bulls point guard has since Norm Van Lier. The only troubling thing is remembering how the Bulls got to the point where they could choose a quality penetrator and winner--forget Williams' missed free throws in the NCAA tournament--and become respectable again. Utter lousiness is how the Bulls got here. It never ceases to amaze me that in a controlled franchise system such as the NBA, blowing up your team and foisting garbage on your fans for several seasons can be the ticket to success. Management saves salary money, stockpiles high draft choices and lets kids develop. And if the fan base doesn't mutiny (and because the sweet-natured fools have nowhere else to go; they seldom do)--bingo!--you're a contender again. The Bulls got a leader such as Williams because they have been the worst team in the league since 1998. But attendance barely dipped at the United Center in all that time, apparently because of the pent-up demand to see where Michael Jordan once showered. But now the Bulls might be tolerable to watch again. I don't know what you do with still-growing point guard Jamal Crawford, except trade him or play him alongside Williams, the way the Philadelphia 76ers play Eric Snow and Iverson together. But it's a decent problem to have. I was speaking the other day with Orlando Magic forward Pat Garrity, a former Notre Dame player, and he said he thought No.3 overall pick Mike Dunleavy Jr., Williams' teammate at Duke, might be the Rookie of the Year. "I could see him playing for Golden State just like Mike Miller did last year [for the Magic],'' Garrity said. Miller was the 2001-02 Rookie of the Year. Garrity also said he was ecstatic the Magic obtained Notre Dame power forward Ryan Humphrey in a draft-day trade with the Utah Jazz. He said he thinks the 6-6 Humphrey will bring his passion, hustle and Notre Dame grit to the NBA hardwood. Myself, I think the draftees who will turn out to be stars are the Memphis Grizzlies' Drew Gooden, the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Wilcox, the Miami Heat's Caron Butler and the Cavaliers' Dajuan Wagner. Gooden is silky smooth, Wilcox is physically maturing and can jump to the moon, Butler is a scorer who reminds me of Paul Pierce and Wagner is an offensive hand grenade. Dunleavy will be good, but his defense and frailty are serious issues. But I wouldn't be surprised if Williams becomes the Rookie of the Year. And an All-Star after that. He'll have the opportunities, and he has the skills. The Duke stuff. In fact, I bet if you could keep together a Duke team of Williams, Dunleavy, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and perhaps Carlos Boozer, you might have the nucleus of an amazingly good NBA team in a couple of years. The Bulls could throw a team out on the floor today--Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Jalen Rose, Crawford and Williams--that averages 22 years of age, fairly normal for a senior-laden NCAA team. So the future is looking better. And Williams is helping to close the door on the ugly, ugly past.
On this website we like the Rockets. Have you ever heard of the Rockets Roy? Have you? They play a game called basketball in Houston.
Oops I stumbled into a Chicago fan's lame attempt for attention. I Should have known not to read this when it said "Read This." It just Bull crap to me.
Literally and figuratively. It's a Chicago sportswriter's attempt at bashing the Rockets and making Jay Williams seem like the next coming of MJ. Which, unfortunately, seems to be all that comes out of Chicago - ways to prop the Bulls up so their fans don't, as he puts it, "mutiny."
The Bulls bandwagon has returned after a four year's absence! I definitely don't think that anyone knows enough about Ming's all-around game to comment. When has this Chicago Sun-Times writer seen him play? Perhaps during the 2000 Olympics (his performance then, admittedly, wasn't at all impressive) - but mainly he has just seen fragments of video. How does he know that he's "soft", or that he remotely resembles Brad Sellers - a seven-footer who saw time at small forward? He, like Krause (the worst general manager right now, but that is an opinion), probably has a thing or two to learn about people skills. Another thing to wonder: how many times did he mention the word "upside" when recounted the fact that Krause traded away the team's MVP - Brand - for a gangly seven-foot high-schooler? Chandler, like the some of the players he mentioned, couldn't be a low-box scorer, yet lacks the ball-handling skills to become a big-time perimeter player. He can play facing the basket, but so can Tony Battie. And he's the second coming of Rasheed Wallace? He will be a very good player, but please. Jerry "organizations win championships" Krause deserves no praise. At 7'5", Ming has the potential to become a high-post passer, a tall/mobile perimeter player and even a low-post scorer if he gains strength. My two biggest concerns are fundamentals, especially on defense (can he clog passing lanes and get steals like Olajuwon?), and his quickness (will he be able to get perimeter isolations and dominate like Nowitzki has?). I've hardly seen him play, but scouts really haven't touched on the former, which is disconcerting. He will take time to adjust to the new level of competition - and I do have my doubts. But we can only wait and see, so don't label him "Brad Sellers" just yet.
Hey good for the Bulls they got Williams. The Bulls are just like the Rockets except the only thing keeping them from the playoffs is a backcourt. We then, are the two teams to watch in the future. Bulls and Rockets got a good history. Champions in the 90's and Co rookies of the years in 2000. I always wanted to see a Rockets Bulls finals and it might just happen. Rockets all the way!
Hey good for the Bulls they got Williams. The Bulls are just like the Rockets except the only thing keeping them from the playoffs is a backcourt. We then, are the two teams to watch in the future. Bulls and Rockets got a good history. Champions in the 90's and Co rookies of the years in 2000. I always wanted to see a Rockets Bulls finals and it might just happen. Rockets all the way! Highassrocket
Bulls fan ? I just aint no hater. Moreover, I'll whup yo invisible ass. ever question my love for the Rockets.
the first part of the article dissing Yao and building up Williams pissed me off, just because it was more unsupported hogwash. The rest of the article in looking at the state of the Bulls was actually pretty good though.