Rose-y Practices for Team USA

It all started with a simple Vine of Derrick Rose driving to the hoop and throwing down a sick dunk in his first practice with Team USA.  This was the first time in quite awhile any media had been allowed access to Rose's post-rehab workouts, so the newest information possible was key to the image making its way around social media.  The ending to this story remains to be written, but for now, the images and lauding from the team's coaches have caused a small, but noticeable upturn on public opinion of Rose.

Assistant Jim Boeheim had the most noticeable praise for Rose, calling him his "biggest surprise coming in here."  Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has gotten in on it too, saying he was "absolutely terrific these first two days."  We all know what assistant Tom Thibodeau would say about his star point guard, so I think these acclaims from two of the top college coaches in the country will do.

Rose has said his whole purpose for this international tournament and the coming NBA season is to prove the "doubters" wrong.  If you've read this blog enough, you'll know I've typically been one of the first to come to Rose's defense when he's been the subject of large amounts of criticism.  So obviously, this comes as a refreshing breath of air.  It feels like it's been months since anything good was said about Rose among the media or fans.  I will make no apologies for sticking by Rose, even when some of the things these "doubters" said about him were merited.

Of course, it's going to take some time for that criticism to subside enough.  Recent polls and sports talk radio suggest some people still aren't ready to forgive Rose for all the drama of the past two seasons and others don't think he'll ever return to level he once played at.  That should not have been unexpected.  Rose has not yet accomplished anything meaningful except show the world a glimpse of what he can do when he was completely healthy.  Whether the 2010-11 MVP version cannot be determined yet.  A couple of practices open to everyone give us too small of a sample size to make any sound judgments on who this Rose is.  Maybe the coming tournament will clarify things a little more.

At the very least, we have to admire Rose for going on this mission for himself.  The mindset of all NBA players, but especially NBA stars, is that they're never good enough, so they always have to improve themselves.  Rose's situation is slightly different in that he's looking to be healthy long enough that he can still be one of the top stars in this league.  Regardless, he's taking on the challenge and won't be backing off on it.  This coming season and this world tournament mean too much for him to just go through the motions.  Just maybe, that can give us hope that whatever unfolds in the next several months will be something special.

Love-ly Offer

I was going to wait until after something happened to comment on this, but there's simply too much talk about it for me to ignore.  Kevin Love and Taj Gibson might most certainly play against each other next season, but it's possible they'll be switching the uniforms they're wearing in the above picture.  The Bulls have reentered the Love sweepstakes as a late challenger to the Cavaliers.  Reportedly, their offer to the Timberwolves for the big man is Gibson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott and maybe some future first-round draft picks.

This is where two sides of me begin to clash because I can see both sides of this argument.  On the plus side, Love would finally be that second primary scorer the Bulls have been needing for so long and it would round out the club.  Teaming up with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol can only be a good thing for a player of his caliber.  He could finally play for a winner in a big market, neither of which Minnesota has been able to offer during is time there.  Most importantly, the Bulls would be a serious contender to take the East and maybe even give the West champion a hard time in the Finals.  This is, after all, what the fan base and the organization has aimed for ever since Tom Thibodeau took over as coach and Gar Forman was named general manager.

Then, you have my side that doesn't think this is the best idea.  The Bulls are offering a lot, and as the Spurs showed us recently, you need depth to win a championship.  Miami's Big 3 learned the hard way that a team of stars won't always achieve its ultimate goal when the last team in the way has plenty of reinforcements.  Butler and Gibson personify what this team has been under Thibodeau:  a hard-working, defensive-minded club that prides itself on smothering its game plan right in the face of opponents.  Their offense is just as important to who they are.

While it sounds foolish to not be so inclined to trade McDermott and Mirotic when neither has played a single NBA second, I'm still interested as to what they can do and would love to have them in a Bulls uniform for years to come.  It's true that we don't know how well their games will translate here although they dominated their last levels.  There have been plenty of stories of such players who struggled to adapt to the NBA and never found their footing.  Even so, I have the utmost confidence they'll make names for themselves to the point where every team would love to have them.

Of course, the Bulls have been trying to get over the hump with their style of play for years now with little to show for it.  Perhaps a change in their makeup is just what they need if they hope to get back to the Finals.  After all, everyone goes hard during the playoffs and as we recently saw, hustle means nothing if you can't score.  Love would be a perfect remedy for that.

Regardless of what happens, we have to give props to Forman for continuing to work on improvements for his team.  Just when we think he's ready to relax a bit for a couple of months, a story like this enters the news.  We can't fault him for trying.  We just wonder if he's able to close.

The real kicker for me here is I'm only two days away from spending the weekend in Minnesota.  How ironic would it be if this deal was executed while in the other area affected?  I wouldn't complain or anything, but it would certainly offer an interesting perspective.  The Timberwolves lost Kevin Garnett to the Celtics in 2007.  This might give a taste of what that was like.

Oh Aaron

In my last post, I said the Bulls appeared to be done with their offseason retooling.  In the unpredictable NBA though, you should never say never.  I bring this up now because the Bulls are finalizing a veteran-minimum deal which would make Aaron Brooks their 12th player under contract for the coming year.

Brooks, 29, split last season with Houston and Denver, averaging an even nine points and 3.2 assists per game.  In six NBA seasons, his career averages in those respective areas are 11.1 and 3.4.  He has also shot 41.3 percent from the field and 84.7 percent at the free throw line.

At 6'0", the only logical position for Brooks at any given time on the floor is point guard.  Seeing that this is the Bulls, he should be excited about that.  It's hard to tell how much he'll see action, but he's line to join the many veteran Bulls at his position in recent years who have emerged as explosive scoring threats.  C.J. Watson, John Lucas III, Nate Robinson and D.J. Augustin have all thrived under the current offensive system, giving new life to their careers.  Granted, most of them were probably just given the same opportunities that would have been afforded to Derrick Rose had he stayed healthy the last two years.  Still, they all have to be grateful that they were in the right place at the right time, although it was really the wrong time for the Bulls in the great scheme of things.

Although this move seems relatively minor compared to everything else the Bulls have done this month, it's nice to know Gar Forman and John Paxson have continued to work the phones and see who else might be able to round out their club.  How each new member contributes during the 2014-15 season remains to be seen and we likely won't until it tips off.  What we do know is this is an exciting time to be a Bulls fan.  With an open conference and retooled club, how can you disagree with that?

Booze Cruise Set Adrift

It was a move expected for so long, any Bulls fan could have done it themselves in their sleep.  Carlos Boozer was amnestied Tuesday, allowing other teams to blindly bid for his services.  If no one expresses enough interest to place a bid, he will become a free agent and the other 29 NBA teams will be free to sign him.  Although the Bulls will still need to pay his remaining $16.8 million on his contract, it will not count against the salary cap for the coming year, giving them room to sign every player they've acquired in the past week.

This marks the end of a soap opera which has been going on for about as long as Boozer has been a Bull.  Signed to a long-term deal right after the Big 3 came together in Miami in 2010, not everybody seemed impressed with this power forward who was known to have above-average offense and defense which was below par.  Initially, it didn't seem like too much of a problem as the Bulls earned the best record in the NBA during his first season and went all the way to the Eastern Conference finals.  Sure, Boozer had a few shortcomings to his game, but that would surely become less of a problem over time, right?

However, it soon became clear that for all of the offense he was able to provide, this lack of defense was becoming too apparent on a Tom Thibodeau team which prided itself on that part of basketball.  Scoring was big for a team which didn't seem to do it much, but more often than not, he was beaten in the post far more than we would have liked to see.  Plus, few found the justification for him making a superstar's salary when he was never even an All-Star during his four seasons in Chicago.  Besides, this team could have done something else if they had more salary room, which Boozer was unnecessarily taking up.

His ultimate demise was apparent when Thibodeau began benching him for entire fourth quarters in favor of Taj Gibson this past season.  The man in charge recognized how big of a problem he was on a team which needed defense to close out games.  They didn't have the right closeout scorer with Derrick Rose nursing a second devastating knee injury, so they had to practically rely solely on the strength that made them distinguishable.  When one player can't contribute to that, he's not going to see the floor in crunch time.

For all of Boozer's deserved criticism though, I still think he got a bum wrath here in Chicago more often than not.  He rarely missed a start and was good for a double-double each night, even when he wasn't out there in close games at the end.  It's tough to find many players in this league who can do those regularly.  I won't knock P.J. Brown, Tyson Chandler, Brad Miller, Mike Sweetney and others for what they did for the Bulls in the years before Boozer's arrival as they all did well in their respective roles.  However, they never could have hoped to match what Boozer did statistically with such consistency.  All the aforementioned big men also played for the Bulls at a time of much lowered expectations, so they got a little bit more of a pass compared to Boozer.  On a team that seems to generate stars regularly though, Boozer seemed stuck in neutral compared to when he arrived, which contributed to the heat he regularly took.

He's not even a bad person either.  Many times after games, usually at home, Boozer would take to Facebook to celebrate wins, keep his head up after losses and above all, thank the fans for coming out to support the team and remind them to keep the faith.  He even tweeted his thanks to the Bulls for this stretch of his career after he was informed of their decision.  Yes, he sulked a bit when things weren't going his way, but he was a positive player and person most of the time.  In a league where it's easy to get upset over setbacks, he just kept pressing on and hoped he and his team would prove critics wrong.  That's a true definition of a team ambassador.

So while Pau Gasol will likely make us forget Boozer a bit come this fall, we can't deny what he brought to the Bulls for the past four seasons.  Yes, he was a reminder that the Bulls couldn't get LeBron James or Dwyane Wade that one summer, but you have to give him credit for at least trying to show this team would be just fine anyway.  And honestly, if you had told me back then that he would accomplish everything he did here, I'd be just fine.  I wouldn't have counted on two devastating injuries of Rose, but otherwise, I would have liked to hear what Boozer would bring.  Farewell #5 and don't forget to say hi now and again.

Anthony Who?

The news of Derrick Rose being among the finalists for the U.S. roster in this year's FIBA World Cup is not surprising.  Since this a Bulls blog though, I will prioritize an even less surprising story.  Don't worry though.  I'll compensate with some Rose on Team USA stories in the future.

Anthony Randolph's Bulls tenure lasted 2 1/2 weeks with no basketball to show for it.  Randolph, who was acquired along with the rights to Doug McDermott for the Bulls' two first-round draft picks, became a piece of currency yet again.  He was traded along with two future second-round picks to Orlando for the rights to European center Milovan Rakovic.  Then, as a final piece to signify Randolph's value to both sides, it was reported the Magic plan to waive Randolph and his expiring $1.8 million contract.

What all this has done is provide a great look into the economics of the NBA.  If a player is about to become a free agent and nobody wants to take up valuable cap space to keep said player around, it's just that easy to cut their losses to improve their roster in the way they see fit.  In the Bulls' case, this move had to be made to free up salary space for Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic.  As for Orlando, we saw the Bulls do this with Andrew Bynum in the Luol Deng trade back in January.  The Bynum acquisition was a mere formality and the Bulls promptly cut him.

As for Rakovic, 29, it's hard to tell if he'll ever sniff the NBA.  The last selection of the 2007 draft by Dallas, Rakovic wasn't in Orlando's plans.  It's only the latest personnel move for a player who has bounced around from country to country since 2003.  He hasn't had many honors to speak of and by this point, it appears he'd only be sitting at the end of a bench in this league.  Staying in Europe his best option for now.

All we need to do now is wait for the Bulls to officially amnesty Carlos Boozer and this offseason will most likely be finished.  I know we don't really want to remember him anymore, but it will only fair to take one final look at a productive, but frustrating player who was never worth the contract he received.  Until then, keep working on your game on both ends.

Welcoming Nikola, Returning Kirk

Whenever I blog about a Bulls offseason, I don't usually expect things to be so busy that I have to post updates three days in a row.  However, LeBron James' Cleveland return meant all systems go for teams as they looked to stack up for the new season.  As the Bulls were working out the details of Pau Gasol's 3-year, $22 million contract, they kept busy rounding out their roster.  By Sunday night, they had finally brought over 2011 draft pick Nikola Mirotic from the Spanish league and re-signed Kirk Hinrich.

Let's start with Mirotic, last year's Spanish Cup MVP, whose signing was greeted with much anticipation and great fanfare.  His NBA career will begin with a 3-year, $17 million deal.  That speaks as to how high the Bulls are on one of the greatest players to ever come out of Europe, at least among the competition there.  We'll have to see how well his game translates here in North America, but all indications are he's ready to compete with the best in basketball.  His floor spacing and perimeter shooting have always been valuable assets to the Bulls' front office.  That reputation will make him one of the most intriguing young power forwards in the NBA this coming season.

It has to be comforting to Mirotic that fellow Spaniard Gasol also joined the Bulls this past weekend.  They can certainly discover the city of Chicago together, but more importantly, Gasol should serve as a true basketball mentor to the rookie.  Gasol is a legend in his homeland and Mirotic likely watched him a lot while growing up.  What's more, both men can be stuck in either the four or five slot, so this appears to be a perfect match.  Once the veteran star is through with Mirotic, the fruits of his labors will be that everyone in the league will view this new kid as a real threat, maybe even an All-Star.

We don't know how often Mirotic will see the floor this season.  Thibodeau's reluctance to play rookies is well known by now.  Tony Snell was in the regular rotation last year, but played the fewest minutes of any of those players by far.  I've already talked about what Doug McDermott's role should be, but Mirotic's role this coming year should be of equal performance.  Not since Toni Kukoc arrived prior to the start of the 1993-94 season has a former Bulls draftee's arrival caused so much fanfare.  Kukoc became an integral part of the second three-peat.  While it's too soon to predict if Mirotic will serve a similar purpose, we know this is what the Bulls and their fans have wanted to happen for three years.  We're anxious to see if our waiting will pay off.

As far back as the playoff elimination by Washington, the Bulls and Hinrich have expressed mutual interest in coming together for another run.  Despite drawing interest from other teams, the aforementioned parties got their wish to the tune of 2 years and $5.5 million.  Whether Gar Forman and John Paxson knew D.J. Augustin was about to sign with the Pistons may never be known, but they knew they wanted to keep Hinrich around, so here he is once more.  Thibodeau likes him too, so everyone is happy.

Hopefully, this will be the year Hinrich can finally get a break from regular starting duties.  It was supposed to be last season after having to take it on in 2012-13.  Then, Derrick Rose was injured again and he had to re-assume the role.  Now, indications are Rose is healthy (unless lightning somehow strikes a third time), so the aging Hinrich won't be forced to carry so much of the load.  I pray this is the last time I have to type that statement.

Last year, his second season in his second tenure with the Bulls, Hinrich averaged 9.1 points and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 39 percent from the field.  All of those were below his respective career averages of 9.1 points, 5.2 assists and 41 percent.  However, his veteran presence is a reminder of the hard-work mantra the Bulls are all about and he'll be able to log some valuable minutes.  Thibodeau just has to space them out because if he plays him more than his body is capable of anymore, he becomes ineffective.  We saw that more than we would have liked last season.

For now, it appears the 2014-15 Bulls have been set.  Aside from using the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer over the next couple of days and possibly trading Anthony Randolph, nothing else presents a pressing need.  Yes, landing that second star would have been nice, but I truly believe the Bulls did everything in their power to make it possible and they just happened to fall short.  I'll give them a B+ for stacking the roster with talent they didn't have during the previous campaign.  That will make them fun to watch. 

I just hope this coming year is less about hustle and more about them just being that good.  We learned in the Wizards series that hustle is for naught when everyone is going full throttle and you don't have the talent to match it.  I see a more talented Bulls team now and despite any shortcomings that may have occurred, I'll take a team like this in the wide open East.

Pau! Right Here in Chi-Town!

To your right, you'll find one of the many cards from Sports Illustrated for Kids I collected and posted on my bedroom wall over the years.  I've lived in the same bedroom since 1995, but haven't put any new cards up since 2004.  So with each passing year, the number of active athletes taped on there has decreased to the point where not many are left.  A young Pau Gasol is on one of those cards and now, he's the newest Bull.

Only a few hours after Carmelo Anthony took more money to stay with the Knicks, the stronger and shaggier Gasol tweeted he had decided to bring his services to Chicago following some meditation.  How the 34-year-old forward/center will officially be signed is not yet known.  Sign-and-trade talks between the Bulls and Lakers broke down, so he will be a direct signing instead.

To clear the cap space needed to make the acquisition official, additional moves will have to be made, the first of which likely being a trade of Greg Smith to the Mavericks.  Smith never saw action when he was with the Bulls.  Other players who should be on the way out as a consequence are Mike James, Ronnie Brewer and Lou Amundson, all of which had non-guaranteed deals.

Of course, the biggest decision connected to this is what to do with Carlos Boozer.  By Wednesday, they must decide if he will be amnestied, thus bringing his large salary off the books.  He would be placed on waivers and if no one else claims him, he would become an unrestricted free agent.  What happens to Boozer after the clause is exercised though matters less to the Bulls than having enough room to also sign Nikola Mirotic.

Gasol is older now than he was when his game was more highly touted.  The Bulls tried bringing him over before, but he's spent the last six years with the Lakers.  Perhaps this is a better-late-than-never scenario with how open the East has become.  Although this team might have been better off with the younger version, he still provides both a much better scoring and passing presence in the low post than Boozer ever did.  His basketball IQ is also very high, which should make up for his natural lack of a defensive aspect.  Besides, on a team coached by Tom Thibodeau, he'll have his teammates pick up the slack for him when he's on the floor.  That's not to say he should avoid playing defense altogether though.

Gasol has had injury troubles in recent years, but remains as productive as he's ever been.  Discounting a 49-game campaign in 2012-13, he has never averaged less than 17.4 points per game in a season, which he achieved last year.  In 60 games, he also put up averages of 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 blocks.  In 13 NBA seasons, his totals are 18.3 points, 9.2 boards, 3.3 assists and 1.6 blocks.  So the Bulls are getting the same player, only older.

The question is whether this is the piece that will get them back to the conference finals or better.  Gasol won two titles in Los Angeles as the second scoring option to Kobe Bryant.  He definitely makes the Bulls a better offensive club while leaving the strong defense relatively unaffected.  Is that enough in the East though?  After Cleveland perhaps, it's so wide open, you could throw darts blindfolded and easily come up with next year's playoff teams save for a few really bad ones (Philadelphia, Orlando, etc.).  I like where the Bulls are right now.  If they can't get out of the East, they'll at least get close.  However, if they want compete for the NBA title, this might be the year to do it while LeBron and his new crew take this year to figure things out.

It's also worth wondering if Gasol or Taj Gibson will start at the four this year.  Conventional wisdom says it should be Gasol, but the current club makeup suggests Gibson is the better option.  This is where Thibodeau is in charge.  All indications are that Gibson and Joakim Noah will be the defensive closers.  However, Thibodeau always started Boozer before benching him in the fourth.  With Mirotic's impending signing, that creates a surplus of big men, but all of them will play their parts, whether it's to be this guy or that guy.  Gasol will provide offense and smarts, Gibson plays well on both ends and Mirotic will find his right footing with the proper tutelage of his coaches and fellow frontcourt mates.

Aside from Rose's return, there won't be a bigger acquisition for the Bulls this offseason.  I know it's not Carmelo and the front office's inability to secure these big names via free agency is certainly an issue.  We'll look at that another day though.  For now, let's celebrate one of the best international players of the past decade-plus choosing to come to the West Side.  We could be about to see the last of what makes him special in our uniform, so cherish what he has to offer.  While we're at it, a nice, long playoff run with him would be optimal.