ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 8, 2010 -> 12:13 AM) you don't get the point that we are in the last 24 hours and are dealing with a decision probably shared with dozens and stuff leaks? How much warning did we get on Bosh/Wade? I don't know about you, but when I woke up this morning that was the first I heard that it was a done deal, not significantly before that. How much warning did we get on Boozer? At the beginning of the day the Cavs and Nets were still trying to lure him in an effort to convince Lebron to come. Taking this as gospel doesn't make any sense given all of the bulls*** out there.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 8, 2010 -> 12:09 AM) yes, i thought that last night and then woke up to find wade and bosh in miami. I don't really get your point. As recently as this weekend Wade and Bosh to Chicago was "imminent". Things change constantly because no one has any real info until things actually happen (which was the case this morning).

I would think that after 280 pages you would all know better by now. By 10 AM someone else will say that he's a lock for the Knicks, then by 2 PM someone will say he's definitely going to stay in Cleveland, then by 4 we'll get some other report that he's smoking a blunt with Rose and Noah on the south side. Then after the announcement everyone will pick some random comment they made at some point over the last three weeks and claim that they knew all along.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 08:05 PM) New York gets Curry's contract off the books after next season, and they'll be able to bring in another top FA. I think people are really underestimating how good the Knicks could be in two years if James goes there. They wouldn't have enough for a max guy. James, Amare, Gallinari and Douglas would take up around $40 mil, leaving them on the fringe of max space even before you factor in cap holds. How good of a player does $10-13 mil really get you? Maybe if they get lucky they'd get Tony Parker, otherwise it's someone like Troy Murphy or Kendrick Perkins. That's not THAT great a roster and it doesn't feature a ton of defense.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 04:44 PM) I don't take the Knicks out of it, the city and opportunities might lure him there and he might buy into Eddy Curry's expiring contract luring a big FA next season. They won't have nearly enough money for a max guy. Lebron, Amare, Gallinari and Douglas is $40 mil at least, leaving them only $12 mil to work with even if the cap stays the same. Even to get that, Chandler would be gone and so would anyone else on the roster.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) And they would have been quite a ways out of the picture had the Bulls not suffered any injuries. I'm not denying Bosh is a great player, but that team should have been a playoff team Bosh ended up missing 12 games on the season, Hedo missed 8, Calderon missed 14. They had plenty of injury issues themselves. The bottom line is he was on a team that played zero defense and had no center and point guard and they were still in the playoff hunt largely because of his 24-10 on a nightly basis.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:19 PM) That's a fact, Toronto's missing of the playoffs this past year was embarrassing They were in the playoffs before Bosh got hurt and missed the bulk of the last 6 games and they finished 2-4, on a team that allowed 106 PPG nonetheless. If they had an actual center to play next to him up front instead of a small forward like Bargnani, they'd have been far more sucessful.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:18 PM) Isn't Lee a significantly better passer? I'm not saying Bosh isn't better than Lee on offense though, but Bosh reminds me of the type of guy who's just out there to get his points, and not worry how the team performs. Lee had 3.6 assists this year after a previous career high of 2.1. Not exactly Chris Webber or Brad Miller. Bosh is typically in the 2.5 range, so not a huge difference. Didn't people say the same thing about Gasol a few years ago? It's hard to be successful when no one on that team can play any kind of defense whatsoever.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Salmons also tanked with us after he did something similar with the Bulls the previous year. I don't expect him to put up anywhere close to the numbers he did last year. Milwaukee's a good team, but I don't know if they're a 50 win team. The difference is the Bulls lost Gordon the next year while the Bucks are actually adding talent (albiet fairly mediocre players). I'm not saying they're a lock for 50, I just doubt the Bulls are going to "easily" win the division over them unless they get Lebron.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) For the person that said Bosh is a top 10 player, I give you these 10 without even having to think too hard about it: - Kobe - James - Wade - Howard - Gasol - Nash - Durant - D. Williams - Paul - Nowitzki For everyone saying Lee just gets his numbers cause the Knicks run and gun and play no defense, it's not like Toronto was a slow tempo team. Bosh is somewhere in the top-20, where is highly debateable. As for the Lee comment, he's only broken the 20 point plateau once despite having no other good scorers on that team. Toronto was 13th in pace this year and had another legit scorer in Bargnani and another okay one in Turkoglu (though he had a bad year). Bosh still averaged 24 a game this season. He's quite a bit better offensively than Lee.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 01:54 PM) The Bulls oughta move Deng for Gilbert Areanas. As bad as the contract is the only hope is to try and make it work. The PR nightmare of getting him can be parlayed into a what were we suppossed to do. All he has to do is play de and shoot. Please god no. Arenas shouldn't be anywhere near a contending team, especially one that already has a good ball-handler/scorer like Rose.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 01:49 PM) The only good thing that comes out of LeBron going anywhere but Cleveland is that the Bulls will easily win their division. You're under-selling the Bucks quite a bit. They won 46 games last year with a rookie PG, Bogut missing 13 games and Michael Redd playing only 18 games. They also went 22-8 after Salmons joined the roster. With Jennings getting another year of experience, a wing trio of Salmons/Maggette/possibly Redd and Bogut up front, they have a legit shot at 50 wins. Considering the Bulls don't have a shooting guard or a legit scoring big at the moment, they're hardly a lock to beat Milwaukee.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 01:19 PM) Low post moves are what we lack though. I'm not as concerned if he isn't a tremendous shooter. I think he plays more like a big than Bosh does. Bosh is the better player, specifically because he is superior defensively in every way, but a healthy Jefferson is no slouch. I don't know why you always hear about Minny trading him, but I wonder if there is some sort of 3 way deal that could interest the Wolves. I dont' even know what the Wolves would be interested in. A strong pick-and-roll big man is probably a better fit than a guy that needs to set up in the post and dribble for 5 seconds before shooting or passing it back out. Taking the ball out of Rose's hands and reducing his chances to penetrate doesn't really benefit the team. They'd also need a really strong 3-point shooter on the wing to complement those two since neither is the most efficient scorer. All needs at least 17 shots to get to the 20's most nights and so does Rose right now. Deng is a terrible fit with those two since he's another guy that needs like 14 attempts to get to the high teens and none of those guys can hit 3's. As for the Wolves, they really need a legit 2-guard as all of their perimeter players are either point guards or small forwards right now. A solid center would also help.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) I just meant statistically, not style of play. Bosh is still a bit better because he takes 16 FG attempts to get his 22-24 points. Al on the other hand took 17.6 to get 21 three years ago and 19.5 to get 23 the year he got hurt. I'm not trying to knock Jefferson, he's one of my favorite players (just ask Steve or Slav ), but Bosh is better.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 01:09 PM) Al Jefferson is someone I'd be all about if that's a realisitic possibility. Dude pretty much was Chris Bosh a few seasons ago. I like Jefferson A LOT, but he's not quite that good, even when healthy. Big Al has some of the best post moves in the league, but he's not as good a shooter as Bosh and doesn't get to the line nearly as often.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 09:52 PM) i honestly think lebron can win a championship there....people can go ahead and laugh at me, but that cleveland roster without lebron is roughly a 35 win team IMO...the knicks won 29 last year and are adding Amare....now clearly its not as likely as if he was a bull, but I honestly think no matter what team lebron plays for, they are instantly conference champion contenders There's this thing called defense. The Knicks wouldn't play any with Stoudemire and Gallinari in the starting lineup and Eddy Curry as the most viable option at center (by default), especially in D'Antoni's system.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 06:37 PM) Hence why they probably want Varejao then. He'd be a good fit next to Bargnani. Yeah, he has some value, but he makes far more sense on a team that's trying to compete than a rebuilding team like Toronto. He's due to make $32 mil over the next four years and is strictly a role player.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 06:32 PM) Toronto already has Amir Johnson, Bargnani, Ed Davis, and Hedo to all play in the F spots though, so I can see why they wouldn't have much interest in Taj or JJ when they've already got a logjam there. They need help at the C spot more than anything else. They need someone that can actually defend or rebound whether he's a PF or a C (though the latter makes more sense). Hedo and Bargs are both really 3's, Davis is a project rookie, and Amir sucks.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:27 AM) Rose + Gibson + Bosh + Haywood + Ray Allen + fillers is winning you 50+ games and puts you there with any team in the East. You left out Luol Deng, who hurts your flexibility quite a bit. You're very unlikely to sign both Haywood and Allen for the $14-15 mil you'd have left under the cap.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:15 AM) The question is, is it worth dealing Noah and risking only getting Bosh? Because if you don't include Noah, you don't get Bosh. And if you don't get Bosh, you risk getting none of the big three. And if you get none of the big three, you're basically irrelevant for at least a few years, if not longer. If you just get Bosh for Noah, you're in roughly the same spot, winning 40-something games and losing to Orlando or Cleveland. It makes no sense unless you're GUARANTEED to get Lebron or Wade as well, even then you're going to need to fill some holes to win since you'd have Phoenix Suns level defense inside.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:14 AM) How far did Ben Wallace and good interior defense get you in 06-07? About as far as having Bosh with no interior defense has gotten the Raptors the last few years. As I said, you NEED both to have any kind if real success.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:09 AM) It's a lot easier to find interior defense than superstar players. It's not THAT much easier. How many good defensive big men are you going to be able to find for the MLE? Keep in mind that guys like Amir Johnson and Drew Gooden are getting MLE-level contracts.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:07 AM) But the superstars are far more important right now. You can worry about the interior defense later. You really can't, otherwise you may never fix the issue. Their flexibility is going to be shot after this year if you sign those guys, and finding a legit big man with the MLE is a very difficult task. They're probably better off keeping Noah and just getting one of them than getting both and losing him in that scenario, it would give them a more well-rounded team and they'd still have two legit scorers.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:02 AM) I think a lot of us are a lot more concerned with getting superstar players than inside defense. You have to have both, otherwise you're not winning anything.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:00 AM) I'd rather deal with that problem than deal with not getting LeBron, Wade, or Bosh. That depends on if you assume getting Bosh means you automatically get Lebron or Wade, which may or may not be the case. If it is, fine, though you'd still probably be a 2/3 seed and out without adding another big unless the matchups fall extremely well. If it isn't, adding just Bosh makes you better but not a real threat until you fill that hole and/or find a decent option at shooting guard.