The 2000-2009 Running of the Chicago Bulls
The decade began with the Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf trying to replace the championship roster he had in the 90’s. We know the story. Michael Jordan retired, then un-retired for a year or two for a season with the Washington Wizzards . Phil Jackson left for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he three-peats to start the decade. Scottie Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets and Dennis Rodman went completely over the edge.
Another bad game many will remember
The Bulls came into the game against the Sacramento Kings looking for their second three game winning streak of the year.
They last won three straight the 4th,5th and 6th game of the season.
Like the duration of the season after those games, they showed a poor dedication to the game and fully irritated loyal Chicago Bull fans as they gave up a huge lead and lost 102-98.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the King’s comeback was the biggest rally since the Karl Malone and John Stockton Utah Jazz overcame a 36-point deficit to beat Denver on Nov. 27, 1996.
With 8:50 left in the third quarter the Bulls were up by 35 points. Then the Kings turned it up.
They made a 19-5 run to end the third. The fourth quarter continued the King’s sizzle as Ime Udoka scored 15 of his teams first 22 points.
Then the budding rookie star, Tyreke Evans took the game over scoring 9 of his 23 points.
Former Bull foward Andres Nocioni summed up the Bulls performance best in an interview with ESPN.
“This game was absolutely crazy,” Nocioni said. “I’ve played in many games with national teams and many games in the NBA and I’ve never seen anything like that. I don’t know if we won the game or the Chicago Bulls lost the game.”
It’s safe to say the Bulls gave the game away. They quit playing. The defense gave anybody in a purple jersey an opportunity to score. The Bulls didn’t pressure and were sluggish to get to rebounds.
Offensively, they only scored 10 points in the fourth quarter. How do you win a game only scoring 10 points to end the game? The Kings had just went on a 19-5 run to end the quarter and were feeling good about themselves.
Instead of coming out strong and slowing down the Kings momentum the Bulls backed down looking defenseless and utterly useless. The team is losing supporters, not because of loses, but how they are losing. Losing a game in which a 35 point lead is handed over is embarrassing.
Brad Miller returns to Chicago
As the trade deadline is upon us the Chicago Bulls made a trade yesterday to require former Bull Brad Miller and John Salmon in return for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni and Cedric Simmons.
John Salmons is averaging about 18 ppg this year and Brad Miller averages almost 12 ppg and 8 rbp.
Brad Miller played for the Chicago Bulls in from 2000-2002 before being traded to the Indiana Pacers. Miller is now 32 years old.
Nothing but rumors and more rumors around Chicago Bulls
Over the last week not a lot of new news has surfaced surrounding the Chicago Bulls. Ben Gordon remains a free agent. Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni have yet to be traded.
Although nothing has happened, that doesn’t mean the rumors and analysis on what the Bulls should do have stopped. Different ideas and possibilities have surfaced throughout the internet over the previous week, non of which appear to be that certain.
Here are a few over the rumors, analysis and other news that has come about over the last week or so.
- The Bodog Beat blog reported rumors of a possible trade between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. The trade would send Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Chicago in exchange for Ben Gordon, Joakim Noah and Larry Hughes. They are now reporting that trade talks between the two trade have halted. The Beat also posted their ten reason why to bet on the NBA this year and number two on their list appeared the Chicago Bulls: “2. Chicago Bulls – The Bulls were expected to be an NBA title contender last season before completely tanking. With No. 1 pick Derrick Rose in tow will this season be any brighter for the Bulls?”
- The fans at Bleacher Report provided some Chicago Bulls analysis as well this week. Michael Whittenberg gave his 2008-09 Chicago Bulls season preview. Michael believes the Bulls will finish in 8th place in the Eastern Confernece with a 42-40 record. The only question I have about that, is when was the last time all 8 teams that made the play-offs in the EC finished with a record above .500? Adam Miller also gave his intake on the on going Ben Gordon-Chicago Bulls standoff, saying its a ‘no-win situation’ for either side.
- BetUs.com also provide their 2008-09 Chicago Bulls season preview. Theres a lot of betting terms that I kind of fail to understand. They have the Bulls at +1100 to win the Eastern Confrence and +2500 to win the NBA Championship.
- Diabolo at BlogaBull.com gave his view on Vinny del Negro and the Bulls in 08-09. Much of which has to due with the Vinny’s first year as a coach and getting the locker room to ‘jell’ together.
- And last, but not least, from the UK the Great Britan national team has Luol Deng back on the court. In case you missed some previous news, after Deng signed his new deal with the Bulls, the company who insures players contracts elected not to insure Deng because of injury problems which kept him from being able to play with the Britain team. Last week though he was re-insured, and has began playing with the national team. As you’ll see on this UK news site, the basketball section is filled with praises for their GB team and Luol Deng
Hope this helps you get caught up on everything thats been going on. My 2008-09 Chicago Bulls preview is currently being worked on and can be expected in the coming weeks.
San Antonio, lets not make a trade
A recent blog post from NoBloodNoFoul.com came up with an interesting trade rumor between the San Antonio Spurs and the Chicago Bulls.
The trade included San Antonio sending Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen and Matt Bonner to Chicago for Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni. I am writing this post in response this trade rumor; a trade which does not make sense to me for Chicago. Lets go over whats wrong about his points for the Bulls.
The first reason made was that Chicago needs leadership. I agree with the fact the Bulls could use some veteran leadership. NBNL believes that Chicago can find this leadership in Manu Ginobili once he returns from his injury after a month or two. Why would we want someone who is injured? Ginobili is going to start the season injured. Ginobili, although a better shooter, is not much different than Nocioni. Each from Argentina, play tough nose defense, always playing with maximum effort.
Another reason made is the defense play of Bruce Bowen would also take pressure of younger Bulls players, as well as act as a mentor to teach the younger players. Bowen is quickly aging and his defensive play will begin to diminish as he becomes slower. Does another name pop into your head when you think of aging, defensive players? Ben Wallace.
The last point, and the only one I agree with, was that the Chicago Bulls get rid of two long term contracts they don’t really need. The Bulls have Hinrich and Nocioni inked to long term deals, each for players likely to spend more time than before on the bench. With Derrick Rose now slated as the Bulls future at point guard, Hinrich’s lack of skills at the shooting guard position make him a back up. The same goes for Nocioni now that Luol Deng is signed to a long term. The Bulls also need to be looking forward to 2010 when Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha become free agents.
Now although this trade makes since from a financial point of view, I believe the Bulls would be better off holding out on this one. As the dead line begins to approach in February, teams who are just out of it or missing players due to injury, others may become interested in these players.
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