Summer Champs

No, there won't be a rally in Grant Park and it's unlikely the United Center will get a new banner.  You could also say the Summer League doesn't mean squat as it's made up of rookies, players going into their second and third years and guys who will never see meaningful NBA action.  Still, you can't help but be encouraged by what the Bulls did in Las Vegas, which was run the table.

In Monday's meeting between Tom Thibodeau's past and present, the Bulls won the Las Vegas Summer League championship by defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 84-82 in overtime.  Denzel Valentine tied it with a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in regulation.  He followed that with a game-winning buzzer beater.  It certainly got the attention of Dwyane Wade.

There was more than Valentine's clutch play in the final that got people's attention though.  Bobby Portis wrapped up an All-NBA Summer League First Team selection with 26 points and 10 rebounds.  Jerian Grant became the final's MVP by scoring 24 to go with 10 boards and five assists.  Cristiano Felicio's 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field topped off a league performance in which he shot 75 percent.

These guys make up a small, yet meaningful portion of the roster.  Most of the time, they won't be playing the most important minutes, especially not all together.  Even so, you need players to weather the time when the stars can't be on the floor.  There's at least 48 minutes in every game and you can't expect your top guys to play them all.

What if somebody gets hurt or in foul trouble?  You just saw the players who can answer those calls.  Although they would be playing against far superior talent to what they just saw, they just showed they have to potential to stick around the NBA long-term.  Even if a lot of them are raw, they could be making plenty of noise in the future, even if it's not necessarily with the Bulls.

But this is an organization that invests lots of time in its draft picks and international free agents.  And if this is any indication, the Bulls have a solid foundation built.  With a little more time and experience, they could blossom into something very special.  If they won't be stars, they can at least be solid supporting characters.

The attention now shifts to a real period of relaxation before training camp opens in a couple of months.  We should also pray that Jimmy Butler doesn't get hurt while with the Olympic team.  If he can avoid the Zika virus too, that would be great.  Here's to everyone just getting through the rest of the summer in one piece.

Arrivederci Aaron

The Bulls haven't been short of news the past few days.  The death of Nate Thurmond, one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players who played for them late in his career, gave cause to reflect.  Making the Las Vegas Summer League championship game with a perfect record gives cause for hope.  And Monday's news about Aaron Brooks is a reminder to let the past be past.

Two years with the Bulls officially ended when Brooks signed a one-year contract with the Indiana Pacers.  Over his two years, Brooks averaged 9.6 points and 2.9 assists while shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 81.5 percent on free throws.  Most of that time was spent backing up Derrick Rose.

Brooks might best be remembered as having a decent regular season in 2014-15, but dropping off big time in the playoffs.  His scoring average between those two parts of the season decreased from 11.6 to 4.5.  His assists went from 3.2 to 0.9.  Just when it seemed like he was following C.J. Watson, Nate Robinson and D.J. Augustin in the line of quality backup point guards, he simply became one of a number of Bulls who couldn't keep the team from missing the playoffs.

While Brooks might be missed as a person, he didn't really give cause for strong feelings as a player.  That's why it's better to look forward to what Jerian Grant can do off the bench.  It's certainly a departure from the veterans the Bulls have taken off the scrap heap in recent years.  Talk about a sure sign of progress.

Brooks deserves to be wished well going forward.  He'll be in a situation with the Pacers in which he'll compete with Jeff Teague, Ty Lawson and Joseph Young at the point.  On the surface, it's a more promising situation than giving relief to Rajon Rondo.  How it plays out, of course, could be a different animal.

Land of Canaan

The Bulls have added more depth at the point beyond bringing back the recently-waived Spencer Dinwiddie for the Summer League.  While their latest move doesn't have nearly the same interest of bringing Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo aboard, it could help their three-point shooting.  That's their biggest hope in signing Isaiah Canaan to a two-year, $2.2 million deal with a team option for the second year.

Canaan, 25, made his NBA debut with the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day in 2013, though he only played 23 seconds.  In Feb. 2015, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he's been ever since.  Over 146 games in his three seasons, he's averaged 9.4 points, two rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 36.8 percent from the field.  Last year was his best scoring and rebounding season with 11 and 2.3 respectively.

Those obviously are not the numbers of a franchise-changing player, but Canaan's career three-point shooting of 36.3 percent exceeds the collective 29.7 percentage of Wade, Rondo and Jimmy Butler.  If Canaan is productive, it could offset a lot of the criticism that the Rondo and Wade signings did nothing to help the pace-and-space preached by Fred Hoiberg.  Not everyone cared to hear about the Bulls getting players on the wrong side of 30 who can't shoot from long range.  Maybe this will make those people feel a little better.

Sure, Canaan doesn't have as much as talent as most, if not all the recent Bulls acquisitions, but you gotta take chances on low-risk, low-reward guys.  That's how teams fill out their rosters.  And you never know when someone could become a key cog on a winner.  How do we know Canaan won't become the Bulls' go-to three-point shooter?

With the roster now at 13, this might be the end of significant additions for the Bulls this offseason.  There might be another minor signing or two between now and late September, but as far as players of consequence, don't expect anything too drastic.  Besides, it's not like expectations are high anyway.  This will be a season to just sit back and enjoy the narrative.

Goodbye to Gasol

Finally, as promised, I get to blog about Pau Gasol leaving the Bulls after he agreed to a two-year, $30 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.  With all the hoopla over Dwyane Wade coming to the team, I was worried this post wouldn't be as relevant by the time I found time for it.  All I had going for me was that this was a bigger story than the waiving of Spencer Dinwiddie.  Fortunately, Gasol published a Players Tribune piece on Thursday, so I have more leverage, especially after he wrote the following:

"I know the Bulls organization and the fans had high expectations for our team.  I came to Chicago to win and it stings that we weren’t able to live up to our potential.

I take so many positive things away from the entire experience in Chicago.  I saw Jimmy Butler transform from a role player the season before I got to the team, into an All-Star in this league — and more importantly, into a leader.  I hope to watch him continue to rise — and carry the team with him — for years to come.

I will be forever grateful to the Reinsdorf family, to the entire Bulls organization, to the players, and especially to the fans, for making me feel loved and at home, through good times and bad. Y ou were there for me, and I will carry the memories we made together at the United Center and in the community for the rest of my life."

What really touches me is the part when he talks about his relationship with Nikola Mirotic, who arrived in Chicago at the exact same time he did.  It was comforting enough that the two were fellow countrymen.  But that Gasol was able to impart the same wisdom bestowed upon him by the late Lorenzen Wright is particularly heartwarming.  Mirotic's star began to rise after that with more minutes and better play.

But that's just one way Gasol made such a positive impact during his two-year stint in Chicago.  He signed here after the Bulls missed out on Carmelo Anthony.  It was a field day for the critics who always like to say the Bulls can never land the cream of the crop in free agency.  Before long, most of them kept quiet.

Gasol made an immediate impact that lasted for the duration of his tenure here.  While his defense was never the best, he made the most of his ample opportunities in the paint on offense.  From there, his effectiveness was as high as it had ever been, resulting in the All-NBA Second Team in 2015 and back-to-back All-Star selections.  The first of those selections was particularly special as he was voted to start opposite his brother Marc, the only such occurrence in league history.

Off the court, he was the Bull most active on social media.  In both English and Spanish, he posted before every game and after every win, so he became an intriguing follow very quickly.  While he posted about other things, that he wasted no time posting messages for his fans made him all the more personable.  When I did my NBA Player Tweets blog for my grad school class, I said Gasol would be the player I'd most want to follow me back on Twitter.

Also while in grad school, my classmate and good friend Teresa Garica Alonso did an interview with him while working for Marca (translation here).  She went back to Spain shortly before last Christmas, but continued to cover the Bulls until then.  I have to think she had a good, trusting relationship with him throughout that gig.  That she had that opportunity is absolutely amazing.

So there's a lot we're going to miss about Gasol as he moves onto Texas.  He raised his game to as high as it had ever been, thus leaving his mark in Bulls history.  He knew how to treat everybody, which is one of the most important things as an athlete and a person.  If you can do both, you're going to make a lot of friends and be loved by each one of them.

Even if I've never met him like Teresa did, I feel like I've really gotten to know him through his play and personality.  Other Bulls fans surely feel the same way.  Accordingly, we should wish him the best going forward.  Hopefully before he hangs it up, he can taste that championship glory one last time.

Wade-Ing Back Home

I've been so busy the past few days, I haven't had time to give my thoughts on Pau Gasol joining the San Antonio Spurs.  That post will have to wait another day though because a story of much greater interest broke Wednesday night.  What happened goes against the "younger, more athletic" vision Gar Forman had for the Bulls during his draft night press conference.  But it also plays into his statement that the team would execute a retool rather than a rebuild.

Dwyane Wade, whom the Bulls coveted on 2003 draft night, but was taken by the Miami Heat first, is leaving the team he won three championships and became a future Hall of Famer with to come home.  He's agreed to a two-year, $47.5 million deal with the Bulls, making it the first time he's ever been the highest paid player on his team.  The second year contains a player option, so he could opt out for free agency if he wishes.

Returning to the area he grew up in, Wade stated in a farewell letter to Miami he always envisioned it happening.  Like many of us, he grew up watching Michael Jordan lead his hometown team to six championships.  A lot of his family still lives in the area.  Now, as the 34-year-old Marquette graduate gets closer to the end of his career, everything has come full circle.

The Bulls had to create cap space in order to meet Wade's salary.  They shipped Mike Dunleavy to the Cleveland Cavaliers for what will likely be a second-round draft pick or overseas player.  Jose Calderon, acquired in the Derrick Rose trade, went to the Los Angeles Lakers along with two future second-round picks for future considerations.  And while it doesn't appear to have been a stipulation, Doug McDermott posted on Instagram he's willing to give up his No. 3 jersey for Wade.

This move also shuffles the Bulls' player hierarchy and roles a bit.  Wade automatically becomes the most talented player they have, even at his age.  Jimmy Butler will move to small forward in the starting lineup, allowing Wade to work with Rajon Rondo in the backcourt.  All three are fine with it since Butler and Rondo recruited Wade to join them.

As Bulls fans, the first thing we have to think about is the team's prior history with Wade.  His Miami teams won three of four playoff meetings, two of them en route to championships, the second coming three years after he nearly signed with the Bulls.  When LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined him at a time the Bulls were looking to ascend even higher, all three were regularly reviled in Chicago, resulting in a playoff atmosphere whenever the Heat came to the United Center.  And he was a rookie on the team that dealt the first Bulls loss I saw in person (my sixth game overall).

Now that Wade is a Bull, the chief concern, other than his injury-prone knees and high mileage on his legs, is how well can he, Butler and Rondo perform in Fred Hoiberg's pace-and-space system?  All three are a combined 29.7 percent from beyond the three-point line in their careers.  It might be Hoiberg who will have to adjust instead by way of more isolation plays those three prefer.  He had two of those players last year in Butler and Rose, but now, it's becoming an epidemic.

Had this move taken place five or six years ago, the city would be ecstatic.  Championship dreams would be at a fever pitch.  Instead, Wade and Rondo are older and while still effective, are no longer players who can catapult a franchise to the top of the league.  Getting to the first or second round of the playoffs is attainable now, but it's unreasonable to expect the Bulls to challenge Cleveland, Toronto and especially the brand-new super team that just formed with Kevin Durant headed to Golden State.

As far as entertainment value goes however, there will be plenty of it.  Last season was not fun because everyone was clinging onto championship aspirations that flopped spectacularly.  The Bulls didn't look good a lot of the time either.  Now, with one of the NBA's biggest names and one of it's most prolific passers, interest in the team has piqued once again.

Of course, there's just as high a likelihood that this team won't win more than 30 games.  It's possible Hoiberg will insist his way is the best way and everyone involved will have just as bad a time as those on last year's team did.  That seems to be the biggest fear for many critics:  all that money the Bulls dished out will be for naught and they'll be forced to start that rebuild they didn't want anyway.

But here's the thing:  as optimal as a rebuild might seem, and I've called for it several times myself over these past few months, it's never a sure thing.  Why don't you ask the Philadelphia 76ers how well that's worked for them?  Or how long it took the Los Angeles Clippers to earn the relevancy they now have?  A lot needs to go your way and the Bulls' brass understands that, which is probably why they only wanted to go so far in that "younger, more athletic" idea Forman preached.

Be careful what you wish for.  Do you really want to relive the Tim Floyd and Bill Cartwright years?  I sure as heck don't want six straight years without a playoff spot again.  That was a terrible time to be a Bulls fan and as Jerry Reinsdorf has shown in recent years, he'll be damned if he allows that to happen as long as he lives.

And you know how Rondo and Butler recruited Wade to come to Chicago?  Just remember that helped bring Miami's Big 3 together.  The addition of Wade also gives the Bulls a bigger recruiter than they ever had in Rose.  Assuming he doesn't opt out after this year, the Bulls could use him to help lure a big free agent to Chicago such as Russell Westbrook or Blake Griffin and they'll have to cap space to do just that.

So if you ask me, the positives of bringing Wade home far outweigh the negatives.  Sure, it won't add a seventh championship banner to the rafters, but for short-term image and entertainment, it's brilliant.  We shouldn't punish ourselves by thinking negatively about this team.  It all depends on curbing your expectations.

I hate basketball hell as much as the next guy, but if you're going to be there, you might as well look good.  You can't convince me I would have preferred Calderon, Jerian Grant and Robin Lopez as the biggest offseason acquisitions over this.  And while Denzel Valentine would have been fun to see in the starting lineup, putting the final draft lottery pick there would have painted the Bulls as a team in a lot worse trouble.  Wade and Rondo have the NBA accolades to justify watching them.

A league that thrives on talent should mean the Bulls will fit in just fine.  Maybe they won't rack up the wins and postseason success as the top tier of the league, but how can you not be interested in what they now have to offer?  It should convince TNT and ESPN to give them almost as many national TV games as they did last year.  Wade alone draws lots of attention and if this doesn't assure the Bulls play the New York Knicks on Christmas, nothing will.

The time has come to let bygones be bygones and get behind this kid from Robbins.  It will definitely feel weird at first, but we should come to accept him, maybe even love him, over time.  His mere presence is already putting fun back into Bulls basketball.  With that in mind, welcome home, Dwyane.

Raking in Rajon

With Derrick Rose gone and the Bulls looking to get younger and more athletic, quite a few were surprised when the team met with Rajon Rondo on Friday.  Wasn't this going against what Gar Forman had preached on draft night?  Rondo, most recently with the Sacramento Kings, is 30 years old and has a surgically repaired ACL as well as a polarizing reputation among teammates and opponents.  None of that mattered to the Bulls' brass.

Rondo agreed to a two-year, $28 million contract with the Bulls on Sunday, making him the starting point guard.  The second year of the four-time All-Star's contract is partially guaranteed.  It's probably not exactly what Rondo, joining his fourth team in less than two years, had in mind, but he and Fred Hoiberg had good feelings after watching film for over an hour during the meeting.

Rondo led the NBA in assists for the third time in his career last season, averaging 11.7 dimes per game (matching a career-high set in 2012-13 with Boston) to go with 11.9 points and six rebounds.  He recorded 10 assists in 51 of his 72 games, twice reaching the 20 mark.  But not everything went smoothly as he earned a one-game suspension for using a homophobic slur against gay official Bill Kennedy.

This move means different things for the Bulls on two fronts.  It drops their salary cap space to $84 million, so Dwyane Wade most certainly won't be coming to Chicago now.  As for the point guard position, Jose Calderon could be waived, but Spencer Dinwiddie is a more likely candidate because his contract is non-guaranteed.

Some are skeptical about pairing Rondo with Jimmy Butler, who's come to be known as much of a control freak.  But if there's any point guard in the league who can give Jimmy the shots he wants at any cost, it's Rondo.  He knows how to create opportunities for his teammates, sometimes with reckless abandon.  Although that might not always work, it would certainly be better than Butler and Rose acting indecisive on who gets opportunities at certain times.

Others would rather see the young players on the team get most of the minutes since this move probably makes the Bulls a middle playoff seed at best.  Really though, you shouldn't want to watch bad basketball simply because guys aren't talented enough.  Yes, the Bulls just failed to make the playoffs with guys who supposedly have talent, which is maddening by itself, but it's even more difficult to watch a team that you know has no chance.  At least with Rondo, you know you're watching a proven commodity and thus, increases your chances of winning.

Perhaps biggest of all, people simply don't like the way Rondo carries himself.  After all, this is the same guy who allegedly got away with a flagrant foul that bloodied up Brad Miller in Game 5 of the 2009 first-round playoff series with Boston.  The counterpoint is nobody in Chicago cared much for Dennis Rodman either until he arrived.  Just because you have hard feelings for him, it shouldn't affect how much of this coming year's team you choose to watch.

Whatever you feel about Rondo or the decision to sign him, don't send everyone involved off a cliff yet, though everything that's happened up to that point would make it justifiable.  Let's see how well Rondo and Fred Hoiberg mesh together or if they even mesh at all.  Almost every move is worth giving the benefit of the doubt.  This is one that could at least make for some entertaining times at the United Center.

Noah's a Knick

The first day of NBA free agency meant a lot of action on the Bulls' part, even if it just meant subtraction and speculation.  E'Twaun Moore became the latest in a line of quality backup point guards to leave when he agreed to a four-year, $34 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans.  The Bulls met with Rajon Rondo and became one of four teams in play for Dwayne Wade, who didn't like his Miami Heat's latest offer.  But it was the move involving the longtime heart and soul of the team that rightly generated the most interest and discussion.

Joakim Noah agreed to join Derrick Rose on the New York Knicks to the tune of four years and $72 million.  Noah, who grew up in New York, has never shied away from his Big Apple roots.  It only took the Knicks' team led by Phil Jackson, Steve Mills and Jeff Hornacek three hours in an Orlando-area hotel to officially bring him home.  Even before the news came out though, Noah posted a photo of himself wearing a Knicks cap on Instagram, signaling an announcement was imminent.

With Pau Gasol surely on his way out next, the starting center job is Robin Lopez's to lose.  In fact, he's the only true center currently under contract.  Cristiano Felicio is the only other player on the roster who could fill that position, starting or not, so Gar Forman and John Paxson will likely sign a free agent to add depth there.  Both guard positions need some help too, but don't count on the team making a big splash as all indications seem to be the front office is waiting a year or two to do it.

As for Noah, the longest-tenured Bull until Friday, he leaves behind an ecstatic personality and hard-nosed work ethic that gave life to a group Chicago will always hold near and dear.  His dunk on Paul Pierce in the 2009 playoffs is an iconic moment in Bulls history and it jumpstarted a career many felt couldn't happen when he was drafted while dressed to the extreme in 2007.  Even fewer felt it was possible when, coming off a one-game suspension his rookie year, his teammates voted to bench him for a second straight contest.

But Noah proved his basketball career could flourish beyond the back-to-back national titles he won at Florida.  When Rose tore his meniscus early in the 2013-14 season, Noah put the team on his back for the rest of it.  Taking on a point center role and cranking his defensive game up tenfold, he earned his second straight All-Star selection, became Defense Player of the Year and was named to the All-NBA First Team.  Despite earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs that year, the Bulls couldn't overcome the loss of Rose and got bounced in five games by the Washington Wizards.

Noah also proved he was more than just a legitimate NBA player.  His Noah's Arc Foundation has helped children with self-expression and his anti-violence initiative has shown his deep concern for the violence that is sadly a way of life in Chicago.  This is an amazing transition for someone who needed the Newtown school shooting to occur to end his six-shooter celebration, even though he had spoken out on gun violence before that.  In 2015, he won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, a culmination for the man he came to be.

The breakup of a Bulls team that had a shot at a championship has been tough to swallow, but Noah's departure might be the most difficult part of it.  Chicago has always thrown love back at athletes who epitomize the blue-collar work ethic it symbolizes.  Noah did his best with what he had and didn't surround himself with controversy the way others in the organization did the past few years.  It's unfortunate his body started to slow him down and sideline him frequently because before that, the way he played on the court and carried himself off it was something to be admired.

So as we bid farewell to Noah's nine years with this team, let us wish him well in all his future endeavors.  It was time to move on, but that shouldn't make us think less of him.  He will always have a place here in Chicago even if he electrifies Madison Square Garden instead of the United Center.  In his case, 13 was almost always a lucky number.