http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...3pAoA6Hy_rbR69CnQ&sig2=-KA62vdsHrJx6_-_YMSOmw Mirotic? Lance? Patience and a Scorer To Be Named Later?
One thing to remember is that the Bulls are a defense first team and the defense is anchored by Taj and Noah. Tah has to go to have a chance at Melo, yes? But, Thibs maximizes value and you can get a Taj in the draft. The D takes a big step back swapping Melo and Taj. If Melo can be had though, you have to do it. Stephenson is an interesting idea that comes up a lot. Ideally, I would want the 2 guard to be a deadeye 3 point shooter, which he is not. Rose-Stephenson-Butler-Gibson-Noah ... not a lot of spacing there for Rose to do his thing. That being said, he is OK with room to improve and can create his own shot / play D so if we could get him and Mirotic, that would be a fun year. Rose / DJ Stephenson / Butler / Snell Dunlevey / Butler / Snell Gibson / Mirotic Noah / Gibson / Backup C 2 Picks as well. That's a pretty nice squad. You could start Magic Mike at the 3 for spacing and bring Butler off the bench for heavy minutes at the 2 and 3. Draft a Taj 2.0 and BPA. Given that Noah is a 1st team all-NBA C, if Rose comes back 95% of what he was we're in good shape.
I think the bulls keep Boozer. All the figuring with him gone is probably wrong. They basically had to get rid of one of Boozer or Lu, and we all know Lu ain't here anymore. Paying a player upward of $15M to play somewhere else is not good for the bottom line. And bottom line trumps everything else.
This is fun: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/new...ace-jam-and-big-mac-incessantly-during-games/ http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/out...-Carlos-Boozer-Houston-Rockets-250597441.html
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/02/27/yoked-to-amnesty-boozer-grinds-on/ CHICAGO – It’s been said before (maybe in this very space) that Carlos Boozer is the prototypical modern professional athlete, his Under Armour matched by a top coat that is equal parts Teflon, Kevlar and calluses. The Chicago Bulls power forward has been a target for critics, be they ticket buyers, microphone wielders or keyboard jockeys, for most of his 12 NBA seasons and particularly so since the summer of 2010, when he was the Bulls’ consolation get in that offseason’s free-agent shopathon. If it wasn’t for a game that barked louder than it often bit (“Hold dat!”), it was for all those muscles that seemed more show than go. For the past couple of seasons at least, Boozer has been the target of nearly non-stop speculation over Chicago’s likelihood of shedding him via the amnesty clause in the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement. Signed to a five-year, $75 million deal as a piece to an imagined Bulls championship, he and his salary have seen longer as an impediment to that. A segment of fans and media has grown impatient as each season passes, Boozer still in residence, emoting, slapping at the ball and sitting down the stretch of close games. Look, we come here to assess Boozer, not to praise him. He does what he does. He is what he is and, for that matter, always has been. And at some point, you have to admire the tenacity and respect the unflappability. “It’s easy [to tune out critics],” the veteran forward said Wednesday after putting up 15 points and 13 rebounds in a surprisingly uncompetitive 103-83 victory over Golden State at United Center. “That’s why I’ve been in the league so long. Twelve years, and just focus on what’s in front of you.” Boozer is having another Boozer season, only slightly less so. His shooting percentage is at a career-low 45.5 percent and, though he’s making free throws more often than ever (77.6 percent), he’s taking a near-low of 3.0 per game. He has dipped to a just-average PER (15.0), using basketball-reference.com stats, compared to 20.1 for his first 11 seasons and 19.7 as recently as 2011-12. And yet, Boozer almost is a mini-Timmy, much like the Spurs’ Hall of Fame-bound Tim Duncan, in his unfailing consistency for more than a decade. Compare his numbers per 36 minutes this season at age 32 with those he posted in his third year, 2004-05 in Utah at age 23, and across his career: 2013-14: 18.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 7.6 FG, 16.6 FGA 2004-05: 18.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks, 7.3 FG, 14.0 FGA Career: 18.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 7.8 FG, 14.9 FGA This season, Boozer fussed a little over being yanked down the stretch of close games, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau tending – as he had been for three seasons – to trust backup Taj Gibson‘s defense. He has missed six games to injury, compared to three in all of 2012-13. His accuracy is down, as noted earlier. His lift at the rim is almost non-existent many nights. And his on-court/off-court net impact is way off (minus-4.8) from his career mark (minus-0.7). Still, Chicago is 12-6 when Boozer posts a double-double. A scout at Wednesday’s game said: “I like his game more than a lot these [other scouts]. He’s not a good individual defender but he’s all right as a team defender.” And through two tumultuous seasons of Derrick Rose injuries and the Luol Deng trade last month, Boozer’s constancy has been almost reassuring. “He’s playing well. And we need it,” Thibodeau said Wednesday. “The thing is, I look at he, Joakim [Noah] and Taj as three starters. I look at their production at the end of every night, it’s very, very good. I think we’re getting great play up front, and that’s been a huge key for our team. The rebounding is huge for us. Then the fact that we can throw the ball in to Carlos on one side, to Taj on the other, that’s another weapon that we can go to.” Said Boozer: “We bring the juice, man, we bring the juice to this team. It’s very … loud (laughs), very passionate and we try to hold the front down inside.” The question remains open: Will the Bulls amnesty Boozer after this season? Conventional wisdom suggests that any time a team can clear $16.8 million off its salary cap and luxury-tax liability with minimal downside, it should. But paying Boozer all that money not to play or, worse, to post his 14 points and nine rebounds for some rival at a bargain, double-dipping rate might not set well with Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ cost-conscious chairman. It could, in fact, feel like a luxury tax of its own, especially if Chicago doesn’t try to dredge out serious cap space for this summer’s class of free agents, focusing instead on 2014-15 improvement from Rose’s return, the luring of stashed Euro forward Nikola Mirotic and the draft. Meanwhile, whether for the next two months of the regular season and however long the Bulls last in the playoffs or for 15 months of the same, Boozer goes blithely along. His curtain publicly seems as impervious as the great and powerful Oz’s, though teammates have peeked behind it. “I’m proud of ‘Los,” Noah said, “because I know ‘Los is going through a lot. For him to bring the intensity he brings every night, with everything that’s said about him and the future, even playing time – I mean, there are a lot of issues that are probably frustrating for him. But for him to come out here, practice the way he practices, come ready to play every day, it shows what kind of guy he is and I really respect that.” Said Gibson: ” As a whole, we all help him out. We all ride with him. We really don’t think about what the outside world says about us, ’cause we understand some people are going to go against us no matter what. … Thibs just tells him, ‘Don’t worry about that stuff. Go out there, play basketball and have fun.’ He’s having fun. He’s laughing all the time. In the back of your mind, you want to think about [criticism] but as a team, we try to take his mind off that.”
http://www.csnchicago.com/bulls/bulls-notes-carlos-boozer-out-rhythm “We need everybody. We’re at the time of the year where we need everyone at their best. Everyone has to get their house in order. We have to put maximum work into it. We have to play for the team. Everyone has a job to do. You have to put the team first. I don’t where it’s going to come from. If you play well, you’re going to play,” Thibodeau said about whether or not Boozer remains an integral part of the team. “His scoring and his rebounding, we need that. I thought he made a couple of great plays [in Sunday’s win over Miami], passes where we got layups. Those are the things that can help a team win and that’s what we want. Whatever the role we’re asking you to play, do it great. Embrace your role. Just be ready.” For all of his well-documented flaws on the defensive end of the floor, the Bulls have been a top-tier defensive team since Boozer’s been in town. Furthermore, his strengths — specifically, spacing the floor with his mid-range jumper, his underrated passing and consistent rebounding — don’t get as much as acclaim as they perhaps should. If this is indeed Boozer’s last season with the Bulls, he would be a hot commodity for either a contending team with a need at power forward, one of the most stacked positions in the league, or for an up-and-coming squad desiring another piece to help them take another step. Either way, as Boozer has privately wondered, maybe his decreased playing time, while not something he’s a fan of, could help prolong his still-viable career.
Boozer was told by management that he would not be amnestied unless it was for a "star." Melo would fit that mold. Would be tough to call Lance Stephenson that at this point. And yes, Boozer would be a pretty hot commodity, at a drastically reduced price.
As I said at the time, if someone in Bulls' management told Boozer unequivocally that he would not be amnestied unless it was for a "star," then that person should be fired. There was absolutely no reason to tell Boozer jack shit about what the Bulls may or may not do with him this offseason...none.
I'm sure they told Lu "take this $10M contract or we're going to trade you." Of course they're going to tell Boozer their plans for him. The coach must like him. He's playing him for more than half the game.
In Deng's case there was a decision the player needed to make. Boozer has no decision to make now or this summer. I just don't see why he needed to be told anything. If he asked, the proper response is "don't know" (a very underrated response in general, but I digress). Sent from my Venue 7 3730 using Tapatalk
Because they aren't trading him or amnestying him and the constant whine from the peanut gallery could get him down. They need his spirits up to at least play their best in the playoffs, such as it is. In Deng's case, they were going to trade him if he didn't sign the $10M contract and told him so.
If you actually believe what you wrote here, that is, that they need to tell a player something to keep his spirits up, then I assume you don't mind if management lies through their teeth.
Sort of a duh moment? They told Deng the $10M was their best offer, he refused, they traded him. Where's the lie? They told Boozer he wasn't going to be traded, and he wasn't. Where's the lie? They told him they'd use amnesty on him only if a superstar comes along. Where's the lie? In fact, I believe it to the point he's going to be on the Bulls next season.
Let's assume that they think they're going to amnesty Boozer. You say that they need to tell Boozer something that keeps his spirits up. Boozer asks management what their plans are for him this offseason. You're management. What do you tell him?
Who says Boozer asked management anything? If I'm management and I'm not interested in amnesty or trading the guy, I'd tell him exactly that.
