QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 04:45 PM)
For the last years we have been hearing that the conservative moves of the Bulls was because they wanted "flexibility" for major additions in the 2014 offseason. The 2014 plan was touted by KC Johnson.
That's fine if you are going to do that.
The Bulls never declared their only plan was to go all in on FA in 2014. Was always one of several possibilities. They know as well as anybody that you never put all your eggs in that basket.
The TWolves are reportedly taking offers for Kevin Love. They don't need to move him now. They can wait 12 months and get more for him if they think that is necessary. He's not "available" in the same way Carmelo was. False equivalents.
You and I both have no clue what we really offered or are willing to offer. This is BS speculation if you are going to argue that we didn't offer enough or something of that ilk.
Perhaps the 16 and 19 aren't the assets you think they are. What possibility did we pass on to instead move up in the draft? And while you aren't a big Doug McDermott fan, you don't know a f***ing thing about how he'll do or how he is perceived as a potential asset by other GMs. Given this front office's track record in this part of the draft, he probably isn't believed to be (or actually is) is a non-athletic, non-second option player. I'd venture to guess there are several GMs that would have much more interest in McDermott than the 16 and 19 before the draft.
This is where you're spouting more complete bulls*** speculation. Do you really think we left any doubt in Carmelo's mind about how much he might earn? You need to not selectively pick out your rumors about our courtship of him as we heard just as often that we laid out several options, including the option to get a maximum deal with us as we would spin off our various salary commitments.
Melo could make as much money as he wanted with us. Be honest with yourself and realize that we will never know exactly what kept Melo away. Truth is that he stayed with his previous team, on his hometown, and will likely take an offer more lucrative than we were allowed to offer.
We added a premier scoring talent in Doug McDermott, a many time All-Star post player who can both score and move the ball among the best of those at the position, added Nikola Mirotic who Fran Fraschilla says would have been a top 4 pick in the Supposedly amazing super draft of 2014 and have shredded salary on the process of all this. The team is really deep and added at least two more 3 point shooters, which are the new premium asset in the NBA.
Melo could have come to the Bulls and gotten max salary, or he could have come to a Bulls team chock full of good players and gotten close to the max salary. Given what happened, who knows what turned him away. Heck, it could have been LBJ's soliloquy on playing for his hometown.
Given the reported price for Love, I don't see how he makes sense for us. To be competitive with some of the other supposed offers, we'd probably need to give up Taj, Mirotic, Butler, and likely one or more future firsts. At that point, you're looking at a gutted team that is relying on Rose to be it's best player and needs to win before Noah's contract ends. If you says it's worth risking the need to rebuild to get Love in the fold...
Then what's so wrong with instead spending a season finding out what you have in some of the new blood you've brought in here, instead? Either way, you're completely hitching your wagon to Rose. Love isn't even close to good enough to make the team a real contender without Rose, especially given that we'll lose depth to get Love.
Without Melo, a guy for whom there is no evidence we ever could have gotten away from NY, we're stuck in this position: hoping our home-grown superstar gets back into stride. That's the truth. There's no one else we can reasonably get that remedies that issue. There aren't any other franchises that would expect any level of success without their best player on the court and healthy. We already did the difficult thing, which is get a superstar. Now we just hope he isn't Grant Hill.
The Heat trio has warped the expectations of everyone. You can't just get all the best players to play for you. You'll soon realize they aren't even that great (Heat) or that it isn't even enough (Rockets, Thunder, Heat two times out of four).
Your only shot at feeling anything resembling certainty is to get the league's best player on your team (LeBron) or stacking your team with "really good" players, as many role players as you can, and a superb coach (the guys that just beat LBJ). The latter plan is essentially what everyone wants to do in every other sport, which is just put the best team out there that you can.
Bulls fans need to f***ing relax and be grateful that they're fans of one of the best run franchises in the league.
