With a strong Derrick Rose the Thibs led Bulls were NBA title contenders. The Hoiball Bulls are not even close. Its sad, the Rose story. He and Thibs led the Bulls back to NBA championship relevance. A MVP level player paired with one of the finest coaches in the league. Too bad they couldn't knock off Lebron. Of course, the Warriors and Hawks know that's tough to do as well. Losing Rose, Noah and Gasol and adding Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant isn't really a cause for celebration, if the name of the game is contending for a title. Sad days.
It remains to be seen if, like the PaxSkiles "Core 4" Bulls, the Hoiball era will even warrant much mention in any historical account. If they are running with Jimmy, Niko, Robin, Taj and McBuckets, there better be a sound plan to land that #1 player.
This is true. With Thibs and Rose/Noah/Jimmy etc we were able to land a multi time all-star in Gasol for below market value. That's pretty much the closest they have come. And he was a #2 or #3 on a contender at that stage of his career. Now there is less Cap Space. Bulls sacrificed that to have Robin Lopez on the books at a seemingly good price based on his production. While this good value, it doesn't really move the needle much. The Bulls are not closer to winning a championship based on this move, IMO. In isolation, it wasn't a bad return for Rose given his current market value. Lopez and a mid 1st round pick level player isn't bad. I don't see the path to luring great players to come player here based on this trade. There is less Cap Space now. That being said, the Bulls historically have not done well with Cap Space, except for the Gasol signing, which wasn't the original plan with that Cap Space. We'll see what happens. Its hard to rise out of the cellar or the miserable NBA middle without high lotto picks. GarPax have not shown the ability to lure the big fish via FA or get one via trade. Hard to see what the plan here is, other than make the 1st round of the playoffs and pray for a top tier FA or two to say yes. There will be less Cap Space now to make this happen. If they can get a #1 caliber guy to come here and play alongside Jimmy they have something to build on, but we've all seen this FA game play out before.
These types of puff pieces come out all the time at the beginning of the season. It might be true, but none of it moves my priors about Derrick Rose the player or the deal to move him just yet.
