http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-30-bulls-bits-chicagodec30,0,260183.story The clock is ticking on Hughes and this whole situation. If Kirk comes back before Hughes is gone, we’re pretty much guaranteed to have be a major CF. And as much of a pud as Hughes is, he’s certainly got a point that this is a bad situation for him and everyone else. It’s a bad situation that Pax has created and let go on for a year. I’d consider it a “do the right thing” move, at this point, to trade someone. And the truth of the matter is, there’s really no reason at all to wait for Kirk to trade Larry. We don’t want Larry. I’d much rather see Thabo playing his minutes. And if we trade Kirk, it still doesn’t mean we need to keep Larry. Why? Gordon, Rose, Thabo… a dose of Hunter in the short-term. I’m ok with that. Get it freaking done.
Yes. This will be disastrous if a move is not made. Someone needs to go, Hughes or Hinrich, Hinrich probably more so, but I understand that Paxson wants to try to win with all 4 pieces of the original core. The main thing to watch is whether Kirk is going to be willing to play in a 24 minute a night, sometimes less, role as 6th man, because Del Negro would be doing a fireable offense in my book, of benching Rose or Gordon.
A trade is more pertinent than minutes too. If Hinrich isn't traded (or at least Hughes), you can kiss Ben Gordon goodbye. Derrick Rose will probably be pissed if we let Gordon go.
"I'm being very optimistic," Vinny Del Negro said. "The sooner, the better for me. [I'm completely over matched. My team is near revolt. I keep looking over at Del Harris and he's like, 'Yo, you're the coach.' And, I'm like, 'The hell.' Kirk's been running a little bit. But we're going to be cautious."
Ginoboli did his miraculous early comeback...maybe Hinrich can too. As for Gooden, we really need him to be on the floor and play consistently...he has probably been our most consistent player this year. Not Rose (who has much to learn) or Gordon (Guilty of jacking shots some games and some games doing great). I'd trade Hughes; I just like Hinrich better.
Both Rose and Gordon have been pretty consistent this year. And there is nothing to be proud about being consistently bad, and that is ignoring the fact that Drew Gooden has been highly inconsistent.
Also, I'm not sure if I posted this on here, but check this out: http://dabullz.com/2008/12/17/ben-gordon-has-one-foot-out-the-door/
Doug Thonus' sources within and around the Bulls organizations. It's pretty scary to see that. I have no problem if management feels that Kirk is important, and want to play him in a 24 MPG sixth man role, as Rose/Gordon take 12 minutes of rest a game. Maybe a little more if we go small ball for small stretches. But Hinrich over Gordon? This type of sillyness should be gone by now. Although I am near certain Paxson values Gordon over Kirk (and over everyone on the Bulls except Rose), so hopefully Paxson's voice will be the loudest this summer.
Ben Gordon will be back. K.C. Johnson who is entrenched with ownership motives, said yesterday that Ben Gordon is a guy that is labeled as "fits with Derrick Rose" and that the Bulls will make a push to re-sign him in the summer. Johnson said he expects deals both at the trade deadline and in the summer, and that there is tons of interest in Kirk around the league. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I'd bet we make some deal involving Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes at the trade deadline, and run Kirk Hinrich in a 6th man role, and then move Kirk in the summer, unless a too great to pass deal comes along. But I wouldn't be shocked if we got something nice at the trade deadline (see my Boozer idea). We have an expiring contract in Gooden, a 2010 expiring contract, which has the value of traditional expiring contracts, and trade pieces (Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng [Deng better be a piece management is ready to move!]), as well as trade sweeteners (Thomas, Sefolosha, Noah, rights to Asik, draft picks). I think we could make a good consolidation given that all eyes are on 2010.
