I'd have to say I'm surprised by the Bulls performance thus far this season. I moved up to CHicago from Houston last year (I still listen to the Rockets on any internet radiocast )so this was my first 2 FULL Bulls games I've watched. First game, they played an excellent Boston squad and beat them on a 3 pt with 1 minute to go, 99-96. They stayed close the whole game and fought back at the end to pull it out. Second game they played one of the east's projected playoff teams, the New Orleans Hornets. They beat the crap out of them the whole game and once went a whole quarter with a 14-16 pt lead. They ended up winning the game 84-79. This is an excellent squad, and if you haven't seen Jay Williams play, I encourage you to do so immediately. Excellent player who can score on his own, pass, and get rebounds. Only thing he might have to work on is free throws. Donyell Marshall, the offseason major free agent acquisition for the Bulls has come in with a bang, avg'ing over his career highs and being a major contributor. His career avg, 12 pts, 8 rebs, have been eclipsed in the last two games by avg's of 15 pts, 12 rebs. If they continue their fast, motion oriented offense, they should no doubt be a playoff contender in the WEAK WEAK east.
Good for Jerry Krause. I'm tired of him getting knocked every time his name comes up. Let MJ see how tough it is to assemble a perrenial winning club.
The one thing that turned this team around, imo, is Cartwright. He is a underrated coach who knows the game very well.
Yup. I made a bet with a sometime last season that the Bulls would make the playoffs within 3 seasons. Now, I'm not saying that'll happen this year, but it is fun to see them doing good.
It's so much easier to pull for the Bulls now that GettinBranded is gone. Seriously, though, I like watching young teams, and outside of Memphis, the Bulls are probably my favorite non-Rockets team to watch play.
The Bulls are 2-0 but will still have a terrible season. They were two fluke wins. Their little winning streak won't last for long.
You'd think he could assemble one winning club in many years, but no. He ran off what he had and failed to do anything to attract any top talent to Chicago. He deserves all of the treatment he's getting.
The Bulls win against the Hornets defied most "laws" of statistics. The Hornets had fewer turnovers, more blocked shots, more steals, committed fewer personal fouls, had 1 fewer assist and 2 less rebounds, had the same FTM's, and hit one more 3 pt'er... However the Bulls led in FB Pts 10-6 and points in the paint 42-26. Elden Campbell appears to be on the IR. Anyone no why? Agree with JayZ - Cartwright deserves max kudos.
Someone had a thread that asked who they thought some of the up and coming and surprise teams could be, and I said the Bulls. Especially with the addition of Donyell Marshall, the Bulls have the talent to contend for a playoff spot for a good part of the season. I'm not sure they'll get there this year with so many non-playoff teams that are stacked like Washington, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Interesting enough, tonight on WGN the Bulls and Hawks will go at it, that should be interesting. I'm really impressed with Bill Cartwright as a coach. He pulls no punches, is tough but smart with the players. Krause gave him the talent and Cartwright doing the right things with it. How funny would it be if the Rockets and Bulls returned to the playoffs in the same year? Maybe we could finally get that Bulls - Rockets Finals?
Bulls vs Hawks today at 6 central time on wgn, for anyone cares to c how long the Bulls can stay undefeated and if the Hawks can keep their promise to the fans or if they'll have to refund them. I like the Bulls but I have a feeling the Hawks will win.
Jerry Krause has been knocked for the insane moves that he has made over the last 4 years - tearing a team apart and attempting to rebuild in two ways; i. Through the draft ii. By clearing enough cap space to sign 2 marquee free agents (namely Hill/Duncan/McGrady at the time) This plan of action failed miserable, so he decided to stake everything on youth - a plan that also didn't work out too well. FINALLY he turned to a more sane plan - build a winning culture and make moves to improve the team by necessary pieces. The first step in this plan was the overpaying of Miller/ Mercer and Robinson, and the trade for Brent Price + the addition of Oakley - a move designed to bring in some wins. This didn't really bring wins, but it DID give them some vets who put up numbers and became tradeable commodities - and bingo - stage 2 evolved in the trade for Jalen Rose. That trade gives Chicago a proven go-to-guy who can lead the team and win them games. Then the team turned to address its next needs - someone to run the point and another proven veteran. So they add JayWill in the draft (great choice) and pick up Donyell Marshall - you know you're getting tough nosed play at either forward spot and around a double-double with Donyell. And thanks to Krause's earlier insanities, they have a bunch of youngsters sitting around - nobody knows how good they will be (or bad) - but if one of them works out in the next couple of seasons then the madness of Krause will be forgotten. I refuse to give Krause credit for rebuilding the Bulls - he owes that in large part to the Pacers (the Rose fued) and their needs for a center to play along the talent they developed. The only sane moves he made were in response to this - he's lucked upon a rebuilding plan!
To be fair, the Hawks look like they could be pretty damn good this season. Glen Robinson is playing out of his mind.
Yeah. Robinson is playing great. Luckily I have him on my fantasy team. He is putting up great numbers.
Jerry Krause has been knocked for tearing the Bulls championship teams apart when in reality Phil Jackson turned down a 6 million dollar one-year deal and Jordan turned down a 30 million dollar deal to come back for another year. Once that happened, why keep and sign Pippen to that contract. Regarding the Bulls this year, I think they will win about 35 if they stay pretty healthy, especially Rose and Marshall. Otherwise, they could end up with 21 wins again.
it's not exactly how you described it: plan A was freeing up as much cap space as possible, draft a few good complementary players and sign a couple of superstar free agents. It failed because the CBA changed, because money was no more enough and because Chiacgo's tradition was attracting nobody (actually more scaring players affraid jordon's legacy). After the 2000's summer disaster, plan B started. Acquire youth through the draft, stockpile high picks and then start making short term moves (like the Rose deal or the Marshall signing) only once sure (from his standpoint) of having enough potential talent to be a contender in the future. That's the point: a CONTENDER. Krause's not trying to reach the playoff, he doesn't give a damn about making the Bulls "respectable". His goal is building a new dinasty, otherwise he could have made many short term moves to make the team "decent" (like the Pistons, for instance) in the past years, instead of trading your best player for an HSer and keeping cap flexibility even after horrible seasons. The Bulls have achieved nothing, so even if I trust him it's way to early to call this a success (as a failure, actually). But it's really unfair to forget that almost EVERYTHING he did was against the common opinion. He shouldn't have drafted Brand (ok, I'm in a Rockets forum, but I really don't like Francis!), he shouldn't have overpaid for Barry (who's actually one of the most underrated players in the league, so he was right when he saw something in him), miller (and he was a success, considering that he's probably going to have another payrise next summer) or robinson (who we need to wait to see healthy). Or when he traded for Chandler, last february he was a fool giving away his best 3 players for an headcase... even the Marshall signing wasn't appreciated enough! it's incredible that someone really believes that he deserves no credit when everyone in this team was a gamble of his, made against the press opinion, and that could pay A LOT. It could fail and he'll look like an incredible fool, but it could work and then he should be considered a genius.
You can't make people go where they don't want to. How many top-flight free agents has Houston ever snared.... Pippen! Krausse got Donyell Marshall and Eddie Robinson at least. I'd take those two over Pippen anyday. Orlando snared Grant Hill and failed to land Duncan. Oh yeah, they lost Shaq, too! There are more factors than the appeal of the GM.
Well, if the Bulls stay hot, he built this team from scratch. And he did it quickly. So you'd have to give his sorry ass some credit.
