Looks like Harrington and Nellie are really getting into it in the media. A lot of interesting quotes. Sounds like now we're going to start playing Wright a lot more and Al a lot less: http://48minutes.net/2008/11/06/nelson-harrington-wage-war-of-words/ http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn/2008/11/nellie-trashes-harrington.html
A primary rule of sales, you don't showcase a bad product, you keep it hidden and try to compensate with vague advertising (see: Windows Vista™).
It was beautiful. Brandon can at least grab rebounds (when was the last time Al got 13 boards?) and block shots. Please Nellie, let's see what he can do. He's got a great attitude and is a great kid with enormous potential. The W's are not going to the playoffs, let's see what the youngsters can do. Al? Poor hands and poor rebounding. Just bad for a 4. Somebody else get seduced by his scoring abilities.
i know this has been discussed before in the forum, but calderon is completely out of the question right??? harrington, marcus williams and a first rounder?? i dont know, im just thinking out loud... how about foye or farmar?? rondo? mo williams??? i dont know...everybody either seems too good or not good enough...
Considering they gave up Ford and how Calderon is playing right now, I don't think we can make any reasonable package to get him. Yeah, at this point, it's hard to make any deal for starting PG, simply because other teams want to see how they will play together. To make things more complicate, we have Monta, who's suppose to be our future PG for a long time. Unless we are certain that Monta is not our future PG, it's hard for us to bring someone like Hinrich with long term contract. Because if Monta actually works out, we will have a huge contract for back up PG. We may be able to get a servicable PG with two years or less contract for Harrington. Otherwise, I don't see a major shake up till Monta returns...
I agree, I just don't see how taking on a PG with a long contract helps us when the job is Monta's and he is the franchise right now. Personally, I would rather wait for a premiere, true PG, trade Jackson, and move Monta back to SG but I can't see that happening.
Hinrich is ideal even with Monta because he's big enough to guard the larger guard on D plus he's a good catch and shoot guy with good handles. He's not explosive like Rose but he was a near All-Star a couple of years ago with a flat contract. I think he's getting blamed for the Bulls' problems when its more the lack of interior scoring.
I like Hinrich, and I like him on the Warriors right now, but where's he going to play when Monta comes back? Unless you're talking about cutting SJax loose and moving Monta to SG, now you've got a backup for between $8M and $10M a year for the next 4 years. That's too much money IMO and really hamstrings us for any future free agent acquisitions for a long time. That also makes Azubuike essentially more expensive because part of his time currently will be at SG backing up SJax, and SJax is not going to be sitting on the bench.
I still think Monta is a SG, if he regains his old form. I mean he can score 8 pts on a night just on 4 alley-oops... but only if he has someone passing to him. He's not built to be a floor general and I'd much rather see him at SG alongside a real PG, a natural born PG like Steve Blake, Jose Calderon or Kirk Heinrich. We don't have to trade Jax to make it fit.... instead trade Mags.... although I don't know when that becomes possible, due to trade restriction. I wouldn't be at all sad to see him go, after all I felt it was a lukewarm deal when it was made (basically Mullin's way of trying to save face). Could we eventually trade Mags for Wallace? Heinrich / Watson (Nelson) Monta / Belly (Azu) Jax / Azu (Morrow) Wallace /Wright (Randolph, Hendrix) Beans / Turiaf (Curz) I don't mind this at all...
Well, I would also like to see Monta back at SG but it doesn't look like they want to go that direction, Nellie has been pretty clear about that. And Wallace is not a PF, he's a SF. Put him at PF and he's just a small upgrade over Harrington because he would get abused by almost anyone he's matched up with there. So now you have to move a lot of contracts around (which may be difficult) and you may still have a problem at PF, although I like a Hinrich/Monta backcourt better than Monta/SJax. I want more PT for Wright but I don't know that he's ready for a starting role and 35 minutes per night yet either. We overpaid for Maggette and I think his long, back-loaded contract will be hard to move right now, especially with injuries. I wish we could somehow exchange all three of Maggette, SJax, and Harrington for two other salaries (maybe Hinrich and/or Wallace), but I don't see the path to get from here to there. Those 3 salaraies are worth about $24.7M this year and $26.6M next year, which is pretty steep considering they're all ballhogs and shooting under 40% because of terrible shot selection, and two of them are now injured. The thing I like about Hinrich is his contract is front-loaded and declining.
If we got Hinrich that's instant problem solving for passing, shooting, and perimeter D right there. We don't need our point guard to be a jumping jack like Rose, he just needs to be mentally/physically quick and strong enough to convert plays or deliver the ball. Fortunately Hinrich is quick and pretty athletic and got all the fundamentals/natural instincts for the game. Hinrich is also a long athlete who can jump and throw stuff over the rim for a slam, but he's not Baron Davis level athlete. If Wright was so ready, what's up with him only getting such few minutes last night against the Grizz? They should have kept the guy in and put somebody else to match up with Rudy Gay. He was killing everybody. The guy is 6'8 and an elite level athlete. They should have crowded the paint more by putting Randolph on him while Wright and Biedrins cover the net.
good to see that Wright is getting time. I like Harrington's game, but he is more suited as a sixth man for a contender. He isnt a max guy who can carry a team as he has shown in his time with the Warriors and multiple stints with the Pacers. Most likely a Harrington for Gooden/Simmons swap would make the most sense. Bulls arent a contendor but Harrington could be good for them. Gooden is an underated player who isnt in the Bulls longterm plans but is a great rebounder and helped Lebron get to the finals with his solid play. Harrington is someone who can score some points, and the Bulls have problems with that when they rely on Gordon at times.