A new direction: leaving the free agency train wreck behind once and for all

Found this comment on blogabull.com by one of our former posters:

They are not. The Spurs have been the diametric opposite of the Bulls in that:

• The Spurs are a team that’s gone into the LT multiple times instead of dumping key players. The Bulls have avoided the LT multiple times by dumping key players.
• The Spurs have emphasized drafting and player development. The Bulls have de-emphasized it over the last couple years.
• The Spurs have repeatedly emphasized getting players who can handle the ball and shoot. The Bulls seem to take pride in fielding the most offensively inept team they can get away with.
• The Spurs have been at the absolute forefront of technologically monitoring their players’ health and well-being. The Bulls most recent training upgrade was when the Estate of Red Kerr bequeathed his collection of 50’s and 60’s era medicine balls to the Bulls.
• The Spurs generally don’t give a shit about the regular season and the Bulls have played like Reinsdorf is gonna kill grandma if they don’t win 50 games.
• The differences fundamental, enormous, and start from the top and work their way down. I mean, we haven’t even mentioned the fact that the Spurs core has the 2nd best SG of the era (Manu) and we have exactly nothing at all that compares to him in any conceivable way.

We are nothing like the Spurs.

(I add, why not actually emulate the Spurs if we're going to try to win and act like a small market franchise?)

 

Well, I don't think you can emulate the Spurs. I actually don't find the comparison very useful. I mean, can you count on drafting two hall of famers toward the tail end of the first round and middle of the second round. Manu Ginobili is going to be the lowest drafted hall of famer in the modern era. Tony Parker is probably going to be the second lowest. That's a fluke you can't count on replicating; just like the Bulls can't count on replicating having the opportunity to luck into the number 1 pick again.

And having a big three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker has given the Spurs a level of consistency that has allowed them to avoid having to look to free agency; and the giant fluctuations in payroll that using free agency entails. I love the Spurs. I love Pop. I love what their front office has done. But you can't replicate that.

I do agree that the Bulls should fully embrace their status as a small market teams. At the end of the day, what defines a small market team is not it's budget but it's ability to attract elite free agents, which the Bulls have proven unable to do.

 

They're 6th in the league on offense. We're dead last. Lookie, a place to start.

They also shoot near .400 from 3pt as a team. That indicates a dedicated effort to acquire shooters, and to run plays to get them open looks.

The Spurs system may play to the players' strengths better than any other team. Look at Belinelli there vs. here. Same player.

We've had our share of #1 thru #4 picks in drafts. We draft well, or not?

 

The Bulls are trying to win pretty much the same way as the Spurs...disciplined team basketball. This strategy doesn't belong to any one team.

The Bulls need more offensive talent to make the strategy more effective.


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Of course the Bulls _could_ emulate the Spurs' scheme, but they don't.

"The differences fundamental, enormous, and start from the top and work their way down. "

 

Pistons Model. Spurs Model.

Both those teams have won NBA championships since the late nineties.

The Bulls since Krause, MJ and Phil left aren't anywhere close to that.

They are in a lower tier. Good, but not great.

 

This is all very nice.

 

I think you're fooling yourself if you think we're following the Spurs model or even somehow emulating what they do.

If we were, nobody'd be complaining and there'd be more banners in the rafters.

Accidentally paying the LT the one time is all the proof you need. The Spurs would have paid the LT to keep guys like BG or Deng or Omer. The Spurs also aren't renting Belinelli.

 

One of the most ridiculous things I've read on any message board ever. Congratulations.
[video=youtube;5hfYJsQAhl0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0[/video]

 

If they paid the LT more than once, you might have a point. It sure looks like they intended to get under the LT, but nobody would take Rip off our hands for cap space.

I don't recall the spurs carrying guys like Tim Thomas as a means to have future cap space. They actually try to win championships, so the roster spot isn't wasted.

 

Nice try (not really).

 

Selective memory?

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/writer...-buzz-teams-trudge-cautiously-toward-deadline

The Bulls are in the same boat with the tax line. Although they planned to be over the tax for the first time this season, Derrick Rose's stated reluctance to return from ACL surgery before he's "110 percent" presents a dilemma. Why pay the tax and burn a year on the clock that begins ticking this season toward massive repeater-tax penalties for a less-than-championship season? For that reason, sources say the Bulls are open to moving Rip Hamilton in a deal that makes sense and saves them a year on the repeater-tax rolls.

---

Just maybe they'd have remained slightly ($4M) over the threshold if Rose wasn't hurt, but there's EVERY SEASON IN HISTORY OF THE LT to suggest otherwise. We both know The Tax is only levied if you're over at the end of the season. Starting over, like they did this season, does not mean they'll end up over, like they did this season.

 

..

never mind.

 

You're not disputing that they only paid the luxury tax one time, right?

The accidental part is what rubs you the wrong way?

That makes sense. The Bulls likely knew they would pay a small amount of luxury tax the one season they did pay it going into the season.

They also tried like hell before the trading deadline that season to make it so that they never paid the luxury tax. They failed in their attempt to trade Rip Hamilton without giving up a #1 pick and paid a small amount of tax. The following season there were a series of moves that all basically revolved around getting under the tax number again, including the dumping of Luol Deng.

That luxury tax threshold number is a very, very important number to the Bulls. The Bulls are the #2 most profitable NBA team according to Forbes.

 

Correct.

Correct again.

Glad you think so.

If you can avoid the LT without damaging your team's present or future, it's irresponsible not to do so..."storm the castle" irresponsible. Trying to trade Hamilton to avoid the LT was responsible management.

Yes it is and it should be. Fans should be angry with team management if they believe their team paid the LT unnecessarily, but unfortunately, most aren't informed enough to understand why.

 

So letting Lu go wasn't damaging the team's present or future? Our starting SF went from being Lu to Dunleavy and our backup from Mike to Snell.

Or letting Asik walk leaving us with Nazr as our backup C.

But of course, none of us that complain about the Bulls' salary structure are informed. Or something. That would be #6:

http://sportstwo.com/threads/265022-The-10-Commandments-of-Logic

False dichotomy.

Maybe we're informed and disagree with the awful strategy in place. A third possibility.

 

Cool, thanks. And that statement was the most ridiculous thing you've ever read on a message board?

More so than Hinrich / Gordon / Deng / Nocioni would be the Core 4 on a title contender?

 

Yah, its crazy, why don't the unwashed masses understand that the last 10 years of Bulls basketball have actually been really successful?

I'm sure they are getting GarPax's banner printed out right now to place it next to Krause's. The results really do speak for themselves, don't they? You just have to be informed enough to understand it.

Thank goodness there are a few bright bulbs around that know when to play these.

 

Yes.

 

Goodness!