The lux tax thing is troublesome, but only because it seems so rigid. My understanding is that Uncle Jerry has a philosophical issue with paying the luxury tax. Sure, he said he'd pay it for "a winner" but since so many of the decisions this off season seemed based around avoiding the lux tax, and the Bulls certainly were a winner last season, it seems to either not really be the truth or he means some like he won't break up a champion team over the tax. Who knows. That being said, I also agree that being stupid about spending money isn't a recipe for success either. The problem I have with the Bulls has a lot more to do with the people making the decisions than the fiscal state of the team. Uncle Jerry was the owner when the Bulls won 6 championships after all, so his ownership isn't a recipe for losing. The players the Bulls got rid off in the off-season were average to below average players. It was a good bench, but the Bulls were not going to win a title around their 6-10th players being better than the other teams 6-10th players. That does not win the NBA playoffs (might help in the regular season though). The real problem is *how* they spend their money and the players they choose to invest in and why. For instance, its criminal that a team that bases much of what it does around defense had Thabo Sefolosha and Tyson Chandler on the team and they were let go. I know we can go on and on as to why, but the reason was the organization made decisions that other basketball players were better fits then they were. Those are just bad personal decisions. Derrick Rose fell into their laps. The pick of him over Beasley is on them, to their credit, but to be in that position is a massive stroke of luck. And, really, that's all the organization has. Once again, if you look at where the $$$ is being spent, we are spending a lot of money on guys that are not studs. Deng, Boozer and Noah. Solid players, but not the 2nd stud we need to pair with Rose to really make a run at this thing. Two times this organization has spent years plotting and planning for these major free agent hauls and it never pans out quite right. We just ended up overpaying for Ben Wallace (big time) and paying a lot for Carlos Boozer and many people are unhappy with that. Deng is an "all-star" now, but we need a 2nd guy that could be 1st guy on a team that could beat the Sixers in the 1st round of the playoffs. A lot of people are crushed and disheartened by this off-season because of the players we lost. When I look at the roster now, I don't think Hinrich/Robinson/Teague/Marco is going to be that much worse than Watson/Brewer/Korver. In fact Robinson might be a step up from Watson. Marco can be a capable replacement for what Korver brought (albeit shorter). I think we'll miss Brewer's "big guard" defense. But I do think its time to give Jimmy Butler some more minutes. Omer's skill set is the tough one to replace, but signing him to that kind of deal was a huge risk and I could see his regressing into obscurity just as easily I can see him getting better. I could totally buy into Omer being a guy who played really well for Thibbs in the Bulls system but might not get many minutes on other teams. We'll see. The main reasons the Bulls are going to take a major step back next year is that they are going to have to play without Derrick Rose most of the season and when he comes back, he'll likely look like a much different player. Thibs will have to motivate these guys to bust their humps on D night in / night out without the prospect of Rose coming back and the Bulls making a serious title run. That's going to be tough. The other main reason is that the Bulls are spending a lot of money on Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer and the consesus seemingly is that team with those guys as the main guys isn't one to be reckoned with. If you look at the title contender teams like the Heat, the Thunder and the Lakers, you could take their "alpha-dog" off the squad and I think most people would think that's still a solid playoff team. Their #2 / #3 guys are just much better than ours for the most part. That's the problem with the Bulls. Not losing Ronnie Brewer and Omer Asik.
