Chisoxfn

Counting against the cap is pretty small in grand scheme of things - but the flat is probably a negotiating point that has to get adjusted.

THANK GOODNESS!!! Fantastic news. Hopefully this means somewhere around March 16th might be options for a return. My presumption is this is more about him just getting cardio and seeing how his body reacts and we aren't talking about 3 weeks of contact practice before he can play where as someone like Williams might need more time given how long they were out? For perspective - I think there are 14 regular season games left if he can be there on the 16th (also gives context for how quickly that # starts to drop each week they are out (given you have 3-4 games per week).

Yeah - not good news on this front; Combined with Ridley item and it really means the market is thin. Kirk, Cooper, Robinson - all have a much better shot at getting paid just due to the supply pinch.

We are aligned - so much so that I'm quoting you twice

I don't blame the Broncos. They have enough weapons that they can deal without those 2 1st rounders and 2 nd rounders.

Wow - big day for QB's; 1st Rodgers staying in GB; Now Russell to Broncos.

Did he have an injury that I don’t remember or did he just do minimal throwing during offseason?

Please let tomorrow be a stellar day!!!

The below teams have a .600 or better record and below is Bulls record with a bit of a side-story of the game. Bulls would be 2-13 against those teams (Basically 12 losses between Sixers (0-4), Warriors 0-2), Bucks (0-2 - but all games close despite short-handed, Grizzlies (0-2 but shorthanded in all games). If you exclude those teams - against the next set of better teams in NBA, they are 10-9 collectively against Mavs, Suns, Celtics, Nets, Cavs, Nuggets, Heat (0-3), and Raptors. And that 10-9 is despite plenty of short-handed games against these same squads. 1. Bucks (0-2) - Close games despite them all being played short-handed. In fact - Bulls probably win both with Caruso (1st game was the Caruso injury which turned the tide of that game and 2nd one they blew what should have been a win with a bad 4th quarter that probably doesn't happen with Caruso/Ball to help the D). Either way - Bucks are a really good team and I believe a healthy Bulls team can play with them (which is all I can ask for at this point given where the Bulls were a year ago). 2. Warriors/Suns (0-3) - Bulls were completely depleted in their match-ups with Golden State, that said, they were either extremely short handed or short handed. I can't even count it - other than kudos for Warriors for crushing them. Suns game was a 3 point game, despite missing Caruso / Ball and its a game the Bulls choked with poor defense down the stretch / bad turnovers. 3. Sixers (0-4) - Bulls lost on road by 5 points and at home by 9 points when fully healthy (early in season; 9 point home loss the shooting by Bulls was atrocious). Bulls lost 2 more short-handed (one without Lavine, Caruso and Ball) and the other without Caruso/Ball). But I admit - this is a bad match-up anyway. 4. Jazz (1-0) - Bulls beat them early in the season (pretty sounding win and all teams had their main parts). 5. Dallas = 1-1 (loss was when short-handed...but in this case short-handed = no Caruso only - so relatively healthy; but Lavine was already playing injured and would go out shortly after this game;). 6. Grizzlies (0-2) - Bulls were either short handed or extremely short-handed (losing by 13 (extremely short handed) and 6 (short handed - i.e., no Caruso/Ball) Other Notable Items: Nuggets (2-0) - Bulls beat them in both games (6 & 8 point wins) Cleveland = 1-1 Nets = 2-1 (including a blowout by Bulls and a blowout by Nets (vs. very short-handed Bulls team - but it was first time Nets had old Big 3 and was going against nont trash Bulls lineup) Miami = 0-3 (including a 3 point loss where Bulls blow late lead, when both teams were fully healthy Boston = 1-1 (loss was by 2 points on the road; Vuc missed wide-open 3 that could have given them the win and this game was played without Lavine, Caruso, and Ball) Toronto = 2-1 (the one loss was in overtime with no Caruso/Ball).

This too.

Well no - they have smoked the Nets and Jazz (both when healthy). I Know Nets are not a good team now - but they had 2 (maybe it was 3) good wins against the Nets (including at least one blow out win; obviously they also had the blowout loss). They have never played the Sixers anything but shorthanded (and no matter what are a bad match-up there). Bucks have been in a number of close games (despite being short-handed). Haven't really played Heat with a good supporting cast; Warriors/Suns games were when the roster was non-existent. Celtics they have beaten (including I believe short-handed - but I will caveat this is a different Celtics team right now). Raptors they have beaten, Cavs was largely a split (and included one game Bulls were decimated). All of the games against top 3 west foes were when Bulls were decimated and/or materially short-handed (and latest Memphis games were closer despite remaining short-handed). So yeah - record not so great - but I think it is a bit of a flawed stat when you evaluate facts & circumstances.

And they beat more than bums when they had a full roster. I get it - they can't beat the top 4 or 5 teams right now without their main parts. And the match up with Philly is just bad. They have no one that can control Embid so it will look bad, but against other top teams they have been in the games when they have had most of their parts and are still playing without multiple parts to the core (something none of the top teams not named the Nets can say in the East). Now the problem is - they just may not be able to integrate the players back properly to get to where they are effective come playoff time. The team defense though has just been atrocious for the past couple months and at this point I don't see it changing. Lavine's defense has clearly been impacted by his knee injury. With that said - they are missing 2 guys who play above average to elite defense and a 3rd who is a 2nd year player who has pretty high defensive upside (albeit - he's missed a massive amount of time and still green). None of that helps against Embid - but it helps against almost all of the other top teams in the East.

I am in the opposite camp. I am shocked it doesn’t happen more often.

I can’t wait until they get Caruso and Ball back. They win this game with them. Plus Ayo is hitting that wall and needs a break. I think the minutes are adding up for him.

The defense is so bad - like awful. Giving up 40 points in 4th quarter. Lavine very impacted by knee injury too.

Would Jarvis Landry be a decent option to pair with Fields along with Mooney, Kmet, and presumably the use of an early pick? I presume he will get cut in Cleveland. Very curious to see how Poles reworks the receiving corps for Fields as it seems pretty clear its an area of focus.

They have beat Utah and Nets pretty good (with full squads), have obviously not been as good against others and had some blowout losses. Technically the random stat being thrown out (3-15) is excluding teams like Utah (so it is biased). I would also note their record against winning teams when they had a full roster - was pretty good. So while I recognize it is an issue, I would be more concerned if their record sucked when they had their full roster (or at least their main guys including 2 of their critical d guys - Caruso/Ball). The big issue with Bulls is going to be how do they integrate the injured guys back in effectively and will they have enough time to get there (and lets hope that no one new gets hurt and there are no setbacks with the guys coming back).

This is the next step - the players are going to paint the owners into a big corner - but meanwhile play tough internally and wait until the owners come back with a new proposal. That will be the next olive branch that happens - the only question is whether it happens again later tonight (after they cancel a block of regular season games or if they will have a more current counter). My guess (probably wrong is) owners will cancel, wait to see how players react...when players go silent and continue the charge on owners ruining game - we will see owners try to make an effort when they see how serious the players are (and I do believe the players are serious).

They will state a block - but really it is just a game of chicken to see how hard the players are. If the players stonewall - at some point we will see both sides come back to the table and we'll see a bigger move to the middle. This is the unfortunate reality given how contentious the two sides were, most notably the fact the owners have a split faction so it is really the players having to negotiate with two distinct factions. If it weren't for the small market teams - I am sure a deal would have been done a while ago - but those teams have power and have clearly dug in (probably because they are very profitable and have more razor thin margins so when you make this moves it is probably a situation where you are literally taking their bottom line from them). Say the small market team pulled in $30M of net income - you make a change that reduces it by $10M - you just cut their net bottom line by 1/3rd (which hurts - so the top line # may be small - but the bottom line impact is felt more significantly).

Said another way - I think all the noise of past two hours is just jockeying for final bit of leverage on both sides. We will see things hunker down and get more serious again tonight.

This - players didn’t seem to be denying so I think this is more both sides took a step back over night and regrouped and probably realized they went further on certain things than they wanted. If they (players) had an issue with the leaks they should have been tackling that last night not 12 hours later.

Agreed - I like the way they are shaping it up. A big advantage for the top 2 teams - bye is huge. You get some extra rest, get to stack your rotation, etc.

Luxury threshold increasing materially should help with Kimbrel overall value as well.

Meeting #12 just ended…Hal Steinbrenner called it a night but sounds like things still rolling. Nothing yet on any new insights from last meeting.

Joc Pederson - I wonder if this tweet is a sign players really are close!!! https://mobile.twitter.com/yungjoc650