From a long and rambling article, I snip the bits about the Bulls and paste them here: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9186204/nba-trade-value-part-1 Kawhi Leonard, Gordon Hayward, Danny Green, Ryan Anderson: New post-lockout NBA reality no. 1: Defenses have become so sophisticated that you can't consistently score against good teams without nailing 3s. Nine of our top-10 teams in made 3s made the playoffs (sorry, Portland). Our four best teams (Miami, Oklahoma City, New York and San Antonio) rank second, third, fourth and fifth in 3-point percentage. These aren't coincidences. The smartest teams figured out how to game the system, and here's the reality: Three points are more than two points. Check out the 2003 Finals to see how much basketball has changed in 10 years. It's mildly incredible.6 (my comment - you beat a Thibs style zone by shooting over it. 3 point shots are great) New post-lockout NBA reality no. 2: You definitely shouldn't pay $8 million a year for non-impact perimeter players (Caron Butler alert!); you probably shouldn't pay $13 million a year for Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala (sorry, fellas); and you DEFINITELY shouldn't pay Rudy Gay $18 million a year unless you're forced to at gunpoint. There's too much available cheap perimeter labor for defense and 3s. Why pay Rudy Gay $18 million when you can pay Jimmy Butler $1.5 million? Why? WHYYYYYYY????? The one exception: Anderson, if only because I don't mind spending $8 million a year on someone who takes SEVEN 3s a game and makes 39 percent of them. He's an expensive luxury, but not prohibitively expensive. (And we got rid of Korver because....) ... Omer Asik: Such a shame that Chicago couldn't afford to keep him. We need to figure out revenue sharing once and for all — the Bulls shouldn't be penalized by playing in a tiny city like Chicago. By the way, congrats to Omer for edging out Nikola Pekovic and Nikola Vucevic for the Tommy Heinsohn Award, given annually to the foreign dude whose last name was mangled in the most ways by the majority of NBA League Pass announcers. (The Chairman asks, "where do I sign up for this revenue sharing?" The answer is he's been collecting it all along from tax paying teams that try to win). ... 49. Jimmy Butler 48. Chandler Parsons There isn't a better cost-effective DTA (defenses, 3s, athleticism) guy than Butler right now. If you want to make the color drain from a Bulls fan's face, just quietly mutter to him, "Man, I love that Butler-Deng combo — can you imagine if you had a healthy Derrick and your cheap owner hadn't stupidly let Asik leave? You guys would be LOADED." Meanwhile, Parsons has been doing an eerie Ryan Anderson impersonation for one-eighth the price. Even better, he inspired this e-mail from Nick in Bloomington: "I've been thinking of an idea for a TV show that would air during the NBA offseason. It's a sitcom called Launchpad, and it stars Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and James Harden as three buddies who all live in a Houston apartment together and Omer Asik as their wacky neighbor. All my friends say that they would watch the hell out of this show." ... 35. Tyson Chandler 34. Joakim Noah Edge to Noah because he's three years younger than Chandler, which raises the question "How the hell is Joakim Noah only three years younger than Tyson Chandler????" (Oh, right — the whole high school–to-NBA thing, I forgot.) Noah makes $11.05 million this year and $39.45 million for the next three. Chandler makes $13.6 million this year and $28.7 million for the next two. They're both properly paid, but in this league, competent big men are always overpaid by 30 to 500 percent. So really, they're bargains … unless the rejuvenated Kenyon Martin steals Chandler's crunch-time minutes for the next three seasons (like he did in Game 1 because Chandler is banged up). Then we'll have to reevaluate. We should mention that Noah bumped his 2012-13 playing time to a whopping 36.8 minutes per game — compared to 30.9 per game in the three years before that — without any real dropoff other than the usual Noah-esque injuries/hangups that included plantar fasciitis (ongoing), a sprained ankle and his ongoing battles with HAD (hyper-annoying disorder) and SLD (severe likability deficiency). I'm awarding him 2013's Laimbeer Trophy, handed out annually to the Celtics opponent I vehemently despise the most … only if we traded for him, I'd immediately love him. Last night's Game 2 performance in Brooklyn was Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Joakim: Crippled by chronically sore feet, he gritted out a reasonable Noah impersonation and willed the Bulls to a season-saving victory. Actually, he's too low on this list. Hold this thought. ... 31. Joakim Noah This looks better. Sorry about that. ...
True enough, 3-point shots are becoming increasingly important in NBA offenses. However, Thibodeau's defense has been positively awesome defending the 3, giving up the second fewest 3-point FGs this season and the fewest in the preceding two seasons. Just sayin'. I kind of agree with Simmons' point on spending big money on non-impact wings. As for Korver, he doesn't qualify for Simmons' "defense and 3s" since he sucks on defense. I believe the Bulls traded Korver and replaced him with Belinelli because: a) Belinelli is slightly better on defense. b) Belinelli has a more versatile offensive game (can put it on the floor and get his own shot). c) Belinelli's pricetag was marked "Over 60% Off!!!" compared to Korver's. d) Bulls FO wanted the flexibility of a $5mil traded player exception, probably with replacing Hamilton in mind.
Color me skeptical that the Bulls will go another $5M over the LT. Can't wait to see the player who's "Over 60% Off!!!" of Marco's paycheck. Still, the 3pt shot being so important, having THE VERY BEST in the game at it is a plus. Even worth the $5M. Being the very best at something on the positive side of the stat sheet probably makes up for his lack of man to man defense ability. The Bulls played a 2-3 zone last game and it was blatant. They didn't even pressure the wings near the baseline. Surely Korver could actually play in that scheme.
Sorry, but I'm pissed at Korver. The year before he came here, he set the all time record for 3-point accuracy with an obscene 53.6%. He puts on a Bulls' uni and finishes 17th and 10th. Goes to Atlanta and all of a sudden he's 2nd. What the Hell! The guy clearly doesn't like Chicago.
Yeah, I guess we always get gypped when we sign free agents. They always (Boozer, too?) seem to play better for other teams. Or maybe it's the atmosphere here, or the way he was coached here. Atlanta sees it fit to play him 31 minutes a game, and he's a starter there.
You can blame the Bulls if you like, but I believe in placing blame where it belongs and in this case it's on Korver's own shoulders. If more minutes and starting makes Korver better, how come he set that ridiculous 3-point accuracy record in a year that he averaged under 20 mpg and didn't start a single game?
How come he set that ridiculous 3-point accuracy record when he wasn't with the Bulls? Why did his accuracy improve in Atlanta? Why did Boozer routinely put up PER over 21 in Utah but not even 20 here?
For Korver, I already gave my answer...he hates Chicago. Personally, I want no part of someone who prefers Salt lake City and Atlanta to Chicago...I mean, something's gotta be not right in his head. Boozer's a tougher case since we don't have the second piece of bread for the sandwich. If he plays in another city and excels, I'll probably come to the same conclusion as I reached with Korver. If he sucks at his next destination, we can write it off to early-onset athletic decline.
What makes you think he hated chicago? http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bul...mer-bench-mob-member-korver-praises-thibodeau ATLANTA -- Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks feels the same way the rest of his departed Bench Mob teammates do about Tom Thibodeau: He doesn't miss the veteran coach's practices at all, but he does heap praise on Thibodeau for the way he led the Chicago Bulls over the past two seasons. Korver & Co. knew they were part of something special under Thibodeau. "Practices here are quite a bit easier," Korver said before Saturday night's game. "Shootarounds are quite a bit easier. Thibs is a good coach. You are so prepared. And I think he probably walks the line of what's the right amount and what's too much, and he's right on that line all the time so it can definitely wear on guys. “But at the same time you have a great game plan going into every single game, and I think as a player you can appreciate that." ... As much as Korver enjoyed his time in Chicago, he knew pretty early in the summer that he wouldn't be back. He wasn't surprised that he ended up getting dealt to the Hawks. "I didn't think [I'd be back]," Korver admitted. "I thought when you add up the numbers and you look in the future, that's probably the case with the whole bench, the Bench Mob, I guess. You kind of figured everyone was going to have to go. “But [management] was up front with us; they helped me get into a situation that was good for me. So I got nothing but great things to say about everyone in Chicago."
