Get to Know the Bulls Future: Nikola Mirotic

The Chicago Bulls have a player named Nikola Mirotic stashed away overseas and their waiting until the right time to bring him to the NBA. Their giving him more time to develop his game while an spot opens up on the current Chicago Bulls roster. Not too many people know much about Nikola Mirotic, including myself so I thought now would be a good time to learn more about him. The guy who should be the number two man for Derrick Rose in a few years.

Nikola Mirotic was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. His rights were then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and then his rights were traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls still own his rights, even though he is still playing overseas for Madrid. In 2011 he signed a five year extension with Real Madrid, so the only way he will get out of that deal and come play for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA will be if the Bulls buy out his current contract and then agree on an NBA contract, so he won’t come cheap.

The question everybody wants to know is what position does he play.  Mirotic is a 6 ft 10 Power Forward and is currently only 21 years old. Thus, his game is still developing.  He is a big shooter who can shoot from all over the court.  Please read his Bio and scouting report.

For a young shooter he has potential, but looks to have room to grow. You can see His Stats and make your own conclusions. He is doing well now and in a year or two should be ready to come over to the NBA. A lot could depend on Carlos Boozer who is currently the starting power forward for the Bulls. When his current contract expires or if the Bulls decide to amnesty him if they think Boozer is not living up to his contract, then they could bring Nikola Mirotic over. Or if they think Mirotic is ready sooner they can make the transition for the future.

Hopefully this preview allowed you to get to know Nikola Mirotic a little more. If there should be more of  him in the future.

The Bulls without Derrick Rose

The Chicago Bulls season just started and they are 4-3 on the young season.  The team with the best record in the east for the last two seasons are coming into the 2012-2013 season as an entirely different season and the underdogs. Yes, the underdogs even though they had the best record in the eastern division for the last two years and won the Central division both seasons. This is because this year they don't have their star player and leading scorer. The NBA is a star driven league and without a star of his caliber many experts and myself (not a expert) don't consider the Bulls a top team in the Eastern division and the NBA.

The key is the eastern Eastern division is not a strong division.  Without Rose the Bulls could probably make the playoffs, but the bottom of the playoffs. I think the 6 or 7th seed. Last year they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs when Rose got injured. Without Rose they would not have a chance to advance far into the playoffs.  If the Bulls can hang in there until they get Rose back they could be a strong enough playoff team. 

Please vote in the poll on side with how many wins you think the Bulls will win this season.

Luol Deng Makes His First All Star Game

Luol Deng was drafted by the Chicagio Bulls with the 7th overall pick in the 2004 draft. If you have been following my post's for a while you know for the longest time I was down on Luol Deng because he never lived up to his potential. He was always good, but never great and lived up to all the athleticism that Bulls fans thought he could. This was early on in his career when he was trying to develop into the type of player he wanted to be. Now, he has found the right style to his game being a slasher, jump shooter, and even adding the three pointer to his game. The movement he means to an offense you can only understand by watching Bulls games. 


His defense can also not be underrated. He can guard so many 2's or 3's and keep with the top shooter's in the game. Now under his second year under Tom Thibodeau he has really come into his own. With all the nagging injuries that he experienced early on in his career behind him, the mentorship of a good coach has had a endless impact on Deng (and Rose for that matter).

Deng is putting up pretty similar numbers compared to the last few years, but he finally got recognized by the other coach's in the league for his effort and all the little things he does that impact a game. Deng is the glue of the Bulls and deserves to be an All Star!

Why doesn't Dwight Howard want to come to Bulls?

Dwight Howard originally said he didn't want to come to play for the Chicago Bulls. No one understood why he wouldn't want to play alongside MVP Derek Rose and the other great role players we have in Chicago. With a great point guard and Howard the Bulls would have a great chance to win some Ring's for years to come. With a young dominant point guard in Rose (23 years old) and Dwight Howard (26 years old) the most dominant defensive center and a great inside scorer, the Bulls would have a great combination. With the right role players, like the Bulls have now, it’s hard to imagine what the Bulls could do.

The one obstacle was Dwight Howard said he only wanted to be traded to five teams and the Bulls were not one of those five teams. It came out from this Yahoo Article that it was because Howard and Rose are both Addias big endorsers. It wouldn't be good for Addias to have two of their young superstars on the same team. It would be harder to reach more markets if there in the same market!

Later he backed on his statement in the public and said he would go to the Bulls, but we don't know if he actually changed the list he gave the Magic on the Teams he would play for. Adding a player of Howard's Caliber would bring the Bulls to the next level if they don't have to give up Loul Deng who is the glue of the team. The Bull's have a lot to offer the Magic so let's make this deal happen.

Bulls Should Have All Star game

Recently Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago Bulls came out and said he doesn't want the Chicago Bulls to host an All star game. The Bulls have not hosted an All Star game in 24 years and he wants to keep it that way. He said Chicago would not host the All Star game unless he was forced to. In this article he explains all the positives for the city, but doesn't think there are many benefits for the team, season ticket holders, and fans. As a Bulls fan I was taken back to hear that they don't want to host the All Star game. I don't know if I would go to the festivities if it was at the United Center, chances are probably not, but it would be cool to see Chicago have it again.

Will Ferrell introduces the Bulls vs Hornets

In case you missed it on Wednesday night Will Ferrell introduced the starting lineup for the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Hornets. I was watching the game and taken back when he started introducing the Chicago Bulls who were on the road. He introduced the Bulls like I have never seen an NBA team introduced before, or any professional team for that matter. Then the Hornets took the floor and he used the same style. It was a fun and interesting way to see a team take the floor. He took some shots at the players, especially the center for the Hornets...............

In case you missed it here is the video:

Tyson Chandler Finally Sells Mansion from 2006

Tyson Chandler was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and played for them untill they traded him in 2006 to the New Orleans Hornets. In 2004 he built a 20 room, 11,000 square feet, six-bedroom manison that also has

"has six full baths, two half baths, three fireplaces, a two-story great room, custom travertine and walnut floors, chef's kitchen with a large breakfast room, wine cellar, a home theater, an exercise room, spa, mudroom, four-car garage, and a first-floor master suite with a large onyx bath. The mansion is on a 0.91-acre parcel" according to the Chicago Tribune.

A few weeks before he was traded he actually moved into this mansion which he paid 4 million for! The house has been on the market for the last few years and he was frustrated not being able to sell it he kept lowering his asking price and finally settled for 2.1 million. Talk about a bargain!

A Very Bull-sy Christmas

Marketing Campaign aimed to Land Lebron James

I heard that the Chicago Bulls had a four day ad campaign targeting Lebron James from last Monday June 28th through this past Thursday July 1st when free agency officially started. I am surprised that here in Chicago I heard nothing about this at all while it was going on. I heard rumblings of this on Saturday, but didn’t hear anything about all four segments (across the four days) until today.

This four day campaign was paid for by the Leo Burnett agency which is based in Chicago. Each day the ads gave Lebron James a different challenge. This Ad campaign seemed to be aimed at debunking the notion that Lebron shouldn’t come to Chicago because he would be in Michael Jordan’s shadow and compared to Jordan. Well, Lebron James is already compared to Michael Jordan and would be anywhere he goes. Thus, instead of trying to promote the many great reasons why Lebron should come to Chicago, they just aimed at getting across this one message.

I first heard about this Ad campaign on the radio, but I had trouble finding more information about it and pictures. So I included pictures of each Ad, which I thought was really well done. Here is the break down by day:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Sources:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Chicago-is-daring-LeBron-James-to-play-for-the-B?urn=nba,253378

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-01/sports/ct-talk-lebron-james-pitch-0702-20100701_1_leo-burnett-air-jordans-chicago-cityscape

http://www.wgntv.com/entertainment/viral/wgntv-we-dare-you-july1,0,2025152.story

The Boston Celtics Did Not Get The Memo

Joe Johnson is Kinda Overrated

Most Chicago Bulls fans I talk to have the same opinion regarding the direction they want the Bulls to go in the epic free agent class of 2010. Option one is always Wade with Joe Johnson a decent back-up plan. At the forward position, people are fairly split between Bosh and Staudemire. The way I see it, having Johnson as the back-up plan would be a waste of money that could be used more efficiently this summer or even next.

Johnson definitely has his worth in the NBA, but considering the Bulls only have the money to pay max dollars to one free agent, Johnson will not be enough to make the Bulls a championship contender. If that is the case, then what is the point in signing a big name free agent. Fans watch their favorite teams in hopes of doing the impossible and winning a championship. This process may take 5 years, 10 years, or even 100 years if you happen to root for the northsiders. Neal Huntington, the GM of the Pittsburgh Pirates, said it best after dropping the team payroll to $30 million this season. He would rather put money into the draft, player development, and international scouting instead of overspending so Jose Guillen can hit 25 meaningless home runs for you. The same applies in the NBA, but to a greater degree because teams are constrained by a salary cap and a small roster of players.

So why am I so down on Joe Johnson? The same reason I am down on any player. He is an inefficient scorer. This season he is averaging 21 points on 18 shots. That is a perfect representation of his entire career. His one true superstar season came in 2007 when he averaged 25 points on 20 shots. He is unlikely to ever reproduce that season and should be expected to perform at his career norms. A +3 point to shot differential is not worthy of someone making between 15-20 million per year. A true superstar would normally double that differential and consistently average 24 on 18 shots or 26 on 20 shots. You may be asking yourself, whats the big deal? It's only a 3 point difference per game. It can't have that big an effect. It actually can and does. Only 5 teams in the NBA have a point differential greater or less than 5 per game. The other 25 teams normally play close games that are decided by 5 points or less. Just look at the Bulls losing Ben Gordon. His extra 5 points per game over Kirk Heinrich have been perfectly represented by the Bulls scoring going down 5 points per game over last seasons average.

You may also be thinking to yourself, well how is Joe Johnson any different from Derrick Rose. They have nearly identical numbers but you TBO praise Rose while punish Johnson. There is a difference between them. Rose is 21 years old and plays point guard, which Johnson is 28 and is a shooting guard. The fact that Rose gets to the free throw line as a PG more than Johnson as the scoring position is laughable. Superstars get to the charity strip more than 3.6 times per game. Period, end of conversation. I'm willing to bet the best player on every team gets to the line more than that. Yes, he's a decent shooter from the field. Above average from 3. And facilitates the offense better than most guards, but his inability to be a dominant player makes him expendable just like Ben Gordon was. If Gordon was too expensive for the Bulls at $10 million then there is no reason to throw $20 million at Joe Johnson. His best option is probably to stay in Atlanta who have a strong supporting cast for Johnson play with.

Derrick Rose cocks it back for the flush

What Is The Bulls Achilles Heal?

Half way through the NBA season, we can be pretty sure that the Chicago Bulls are a slightly below average team. They sit in the 9th spot of the weak Eastern Conference and are getting outscored by 4.7 points per game, which is 4th worst in basketball. The offense has been the weak point this season, averaging 92.7 points per game, only better than the 91.6 of the injury plagued Detroit Pistons.

Lets quickly figure out the source of the scoring differential between the Bulls and their opponents. In simplest terms, the offense tries to score points and the defense tries to prevent them. Hence the point differential. I recently described that there are only 3 ways to score in the NBA, so which of these 3 is the source of the Bulls struggles.

1) Take more shots than your opponents, or shoot a higher percentage to make more shots. The Bulls are being out-shot by less than 1 attempt per game, which is minimal, and are shooting 1% less from the field than their opponents, which only equates to 1 extra shot made per 100 attempts. Neither of these are significant enough to make up a 4.7 point differential.

2) Make more 3 point shots as they are worth 50% more than a regular field goal. The difference in the 3-pt field goal percentage is 0.1% between the Bulls and their opponents. Thats 1 extra made every thousand chances. Completely irrelevant. However, the opponents have made 251 out of 750 attempts, while the Bulls have made just 129 out of 386 attempts. Thats 122 more trifectas over the course of 35 games. Thats appoximately 3.5 more 3-pointers per game, equaling an extra 3.5 points for the opposition. Obviously, the Bulls miss those 2.1 3-pointers Ben Gordon averaged last year. Also, they shot and unrealistically high 38% from the arc last year, which has regressed back to a respectable 33% this year. Their lack of a 3-point shooter may be the difference between getting into the playoffs and not.

3) Take more free throw attempts per game, which will lead to more "free points". The Bulls have been out-shot by only 21 free throws this season, just over half a free throw per game. This figure is insignificant in the big picture.

Hopefully it is now clear that the main macroscopic issue of the Bulls offense this season is the 3-point shot. I would recommend that instead of that stupid 20 footer Loul Deng loves to take, he should take a step back and throw up some 3's. Same risk, 50% more reward.

An argument for Del Negro

I do not have a good enough basketball eye to be able to judge the ability of an NBA coach. I dont have enough knowledge of what plays they run, what defense they are running, what inbound plays they call(which cubsfan always criticizes). Basically, i dont have a good enough eye to be able to distinguish the difference between players not being skilled enough to execute plays, or the coach not being skilled enough to call/practice the right plays. And obviously many NBA GM's also can't because there have been hundreds of bad NBA coaches. So how can you Sexy Rexy, Cubsfan, or anybody really judge how good or bad Del Negro is?

All you are basing your opinions on is the word of so called NBA "experts". Experts have been wrong before, and they will continue to be wrong for many years to come. Del Negro took the Bulls to the playoffs with a crappy team that didnt even have Deng and almost knocked off the defensing champs. I would argue that Del Negro is no worse than an average coach. The fact that this bulls team has more than 7 wins this year is utterly amazing to me.

Nobody i know is skilled enough to judge the abilities of a basketball coach. The only legitimate reason to fire Del Negro is the negative perception of him that has spread throughout the NBA, such that free agents may shunt the Bulls because of Del Negro's perception. Perception is not always reality, but that may not matter to Wade and Bosh, hence Del Negro has to go.

Cubsfan4evr Top Sports Memory Of 2009

The past few days I have been seeing a lot of stories in the paper and segments on t.v. showing the best sport moments in the past year. So I thought I would share my favorite sport memory. I thought long and hard about the baseball season and the Cubs, but couldn’t think of many great memories. When I thought about the Cubs things that came to my mind were:

1. The Milton Bradley Saga
2. Kevin Gregg blowing save after save. One specific night comes into mind when I was at Champs with TBO and Sexy Rexy and the Cubs game was on. Gregg came in against his former team for the save and before I could blink the game was over and we lost.
3. Carlos Marmol getting himself in trouble by not being able to find the plate. He would walk batter after batter. I hope this whole off-season he is somewhere just pitching trying to get the ball with his movement over the plate.
4. Kerry Wood coming to Chicago and helping the Cubbies out by blowing some saves.
5. Soriano looking like age is catching up with him and his timing being a mess at the plate.

Hopefully the 2010 baseball season will bring me more positive memories for the cubs. I would have thought my best sports memory would be from the Cubs, but this was a bad and ugly season at times, so I had to think elsewhere. After the cubs I thought about the Bulls and Bears. The Bears had an uglier season than the Cubs, but the Bulls had some bright spots.

In 2009 the Chicago Bulls got lucky and had the number one draft pick in the NBA lottery. Instead of drafting Michael Beasley they choose Chicago native Derrick Rose. Even though I don’t know if he will ever be as good as Rajon Rondo or Chris Paul like some thought/think, he was the better choice. The Bulls were able to trade Larry Hughs and bring in John Salmons and Brad Miller that sparked the bulls. Even though it is still 2009 and they both look terrible, last season they were the spark plug that jumped the Bulls to make the playoffs and have an incredible run in the playoffs. So if you’re still reading this and a Bulls fan, then you may agree with me that the Bulls/Celtics series was incredible. That was some of the best basketball I have seen since the Jordan era and that was one incredibly fun series. Even though if they did have Kevin Garnet we probably wouldn’t of had a chance, but they didn’t, and that was some fun basketball with almost every game going down to the wire. So that series is my favorite sports memory in 2009.

Here is a clip of that Bulls Celtics series:


Watching it again makes me remember how much fun I had watching each game and where I was for most of those games.

What was your favorite sports memory for 2009?

Why Vinny Needs To Go Now

Vinny Del Negro needs to be fired now! Every day more and more reasons come out why he needs to be fired. There are many more reasons besides the fact that Vinny Del Negro is hurting the growth of this team . Vinny Del Negro is a first time coach at any level, and as we have found out over the past year and a half, he can’t coach. When Paxson hired him, it wasn’t because of him being a good coach or that he necessary even had the making of being a good coach. Paxson never directly said it, but if you listened to his reasons on why he hired Vinny and what he implied, it was because he thought Vinny Del Negro would be a good cheerleader. He thought Vinny would be good at brining everyone together and relate to the players well. He liked Vinny ideas to be a defense first minded team and his ideas for his coaching style. After coaching for a year in a half, the Bulls and Vinny have learned that his ideas are not possible, or at least not possible for Vinny to put into action.

The Bulls need to bring in a big star during the 2010 off season. No big star will want to come to Chicago and play for Vinny Del Negro. The Bulls need to bring in an experienced coach that players want to play for and that knows what he is doing to take us to the next level. Vinny Del Negro is not that person.

Over the past few weeks controversy has started to spread if Vinny will be fired. Then it recently came out that he has been fired and that the Bulls are just waiting to fine him until they find someone better. It is hard to hire a good coach in the middle of the season though. With rumors being circulated daily about the Bulls plans for their next coach, it is hard for the team to concentrate and play for Vinny when everyone knows it is only a matter of time before he is fired.

So the Bulls need to fire Vinny Del Negro and pick anyone to be the replacement. It doesn’t really matter who they pick if it is Bernie Bickerstaff, Pete Myers, or Gar Forman. I don’t think Bernie Bickerstaff or Pete Myers are good coaches or should be the coach for the long term, but they would be fine for the rest of the year. The Bulls should name one of them, or another assistant coach the interim manager and that this person will only be the coach until the end of the season. Then at that time the Bulls will have a thorough search for the next Bulls coach. This way they can move forward from the disaster Vinny Del Negro era and move forward.

Vinny Del Negro Stunting Growth Of The Chicago Bulls

Vinny Del Negro is hurting the Bulls by being their coach. This is why the Bulls need to fire Del Negro now and pick anyone else for the time being. Del Negro is a bad coach that is hurting the growth of this team. Last off season the Bulls decided not to re-sign Ben Gordon. By doing so they decided this would be a growing year until the 2010 free agent class. I agreed with this move. We took a few steps back this year with loosing Ben Gordon. With keeping him it would have meant we could make no other big moves and we went as far as we could have with Ben Gordon and the rest of the team the last few seasons making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round. To go forward we need our young guys of Derrick Rose, Ta Gibson, James Johnson, Tryus Thomas, Joakim Noah, to continue to develop. Them with a super star the Bulls could be a good team. The problem is that James Johnson isn’t playing in this rebuilding year because Vinny is playing for his job. We need a coach who doesn’t care about winning this season and his job, but a coach who cares about us getting ready for the future. We also need Derrick Rose to mature into a better point guard which isn’t happening with Del Negro at the help. Lets hope a change comes sooner than later.

Joakim Noah Making A Name For Himself

Joakim Noah was drafted by the Chicago Bulls 9th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft. I was not a big fan of drafting him at the time because I didn't think he would be good in the NBA. My colleague TBO didn't like him for other reasons. When I looked at the Bulls centers before the season started I did like his defensive numbersin a limited role, but looked at Brad Miller for being a bigger option for the Bulls at Center. I did think Noah would have good numbers with more playing time but I did not think he would be this good.

In the two months of this NBA season Noah has stepped up to be the leader of the team. Yes, Rose is better and the best player we have, but he is on the quiet side and not that vocal leader which Noah has become on the court and off by being comical relief.

Noah has quietly put together a very good season and he is one of the few bright spots on the team. This season he is averaging a double double with 10.5 PPG and 12.40 PPG. You have often heard the Bulls and media say we need a guy like Carlos Bozer, Chirs Bosh, or Admare Stoudmire because we need a guy who can score inside and be that double double guy. Noah may not be a great offensive force, but he is a double double guy that many people keep saying the Bulls need, but no one talks that we already have one. Noah is also second in the league in rebounds behind Dwight Howard. So Noah may not make it to the NBA all star team, but he should as Dwight Howard's back up. So do your part and try to vote him in!

Chicago Bulls Opening Introductions 2009

Guess where the Bulls attendance ranks. Guess?

Despite all the struggles that the Bulls are experiencing this season, they still rank as the second highest attendance in the NBA, trailing only the Cleveland Cavaliers by 12 tickets per game. This doesnt come as too big a surprise for several reasons.

1) The Bulls have had the 2nd highest attendance every year going back to 2004. Including the top attendance in the league during the 2007 season.

2) Like many teams, the Bulls give away many, many tickets for reduced prices to local businesses in hopes of getting people through the door and make up the difference in concession sales. Shucks, I've gone to games paying $20 for seats that normally cost $100 due to being a university student in the city.

3) Chicago is a large, corporate city with people that have deep pockets capable of buying up season tickets in the expensive sections. The United Center is one of the top 3 biggest stadiums in the NBA allowing for large attendance numbers.

The NBA is expected to announce just how much the salary cap is expected to drop for next season, due to a drastic drop in overall ticket sales this year due to the recession. Teams are estimating the cap to drop from 58 million this season to 52-54 million next year. Obviously this can have a drastic effect on who can afford the great free agents of 2010. The Lakers are going to be between 85-90 million next season, completely disregarding the luxury tax. Most other teams are not as fortunate. The Bulls seem to be in decent shape going forward. Definitely have the money for one top free agent. It remains to be seen just how high Jerry Reinsdorf is willing to with the cap to make the Bulls a real championship contender.