Quite Possibly...

... the dumbest paragraph ever written:

One last observation before this process begins: Derrick Rose was considered the consensus number one choice in 2008. Rose posted better college numbers (11.28 PAW40) but after two seasons he has yet to develop into one of the top point guards in the game. Maybe that will happen for Rose in the future. Maybe, though, it won’t. The Rose story, though, should be considered as Washington evaluates the merits of Wall. Remember – and I repeat – people were just as certain about Rose in 2008.

Just about every word is suspect, including "it" and "and." For fuck's sake Mr. Berri, DERRICK ROSE WON THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR! He has clearly outperformed the only other player plausibly thought of as his rival for first pick in that draft. He has also clearly outplayed the second-best point guard taken in that draft (who is himself, no slouch). And though you claim with certainty that Rose has "yet to develop into one of the top point guards in the game," other objective sabermetricians clearly disagree. Dave Berry is actually disparaging a 21-year-old PG for failing to overtake Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, and Rajon Rondo (or, arguably, five of the 20 best point guards ever) within his first two years in the league. (And, indeed, Derrick's PER this year was better than the 2nd-year PER of all of the above, with the exception of Chris Paul; historically, it was better than Jason Kidd's and just a smidge below Isiah Thomas'.)

Just as general advice to NBA analysts: if you find yourself using the career of Derrick Rose as a "cautionary tale" to teams drafting no. 1, you might want to reconsider your argument's fundamental premise.

What the Hell Is Wrong With The Bulls Blogosphere?

Of all the rumors swirling around, why isn't this one all over the fucking place?

The sports world is blowing up with a rumor that LeBron James' poor performance last week against the Boston Celtics can be blamed on mommy issues -- more specifically, mommy-sleeping-with-a-teammate issues. Word is that the Cleveland Cavaliers star found out that his 41-year-old mother, Gloria, had been having an affair with 26-year-old Delonte West just before game time, and some are predicting the upset will push him to leave the team.

Come July, this humble blog might very well have to change its name to Thank You Delonte.

My Lord, Sweet Jesus, No

With regards to K.C.'s latest:

But the question — as crazy as it sounds — that Bulls management has to ask itself is if it already has its alpha male superstar to build around in All-Star Rose.

Would the Bulls be better off adding a space-the-floor shooter in Johnson — whose only drama would be a poor performance in the Hawks' Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the Magic — and perhaps having enough money left to sign another piece?

Listen, I'm a reasonable man. I understand that, from an organizational control standpoint, signing LeBron comes with a fair amount of unsavory baggage. (If you doubt that, read Woj's recent columns.) But unless LBJ is demanding that his contract include a provision that allows him to partake in weekly menages-a-neuf with the mothers, wives and daughters of Forman, Paxson, and Reinsdorf, then I think the Bulls should just go ahead out on that limb and sign LeBron James over Joe Fucking Johnson.

One more thought, semi-related: Joe Johnson is apsafuckingtively NOT a "space-the-floor shooter." I know some folks thought I was too harsh about Joe in this post and that I was suggesting he was no better than Hinrich. For the record, I do think Joe Johnson is a (much) better (offensive) player than Hinrich, but not because of his outside shooting. Indeed, on that score, it's hard to tell the difference between Johnson (.373 career 3pt. FG%) and Hinrch (.379 career 3 pt. FG%). Indeed, even from 16-23 feet out, I would prefer Hinrich's 43 FG% over the past four years to Johnson's 39.5 FG%). Johnson does a lot of things better offensively than Hinrich, but shooting from the outside is not one of them.

If the Bulls are really so hard up for a space-the-floor shooter, there are plenty of legitimate options out there. You could throw a ton of money (or at least the MLE) at Ray Allen. You could throw $6-7 million a year at restricted free agents like Anthony Morrow or J.J. Redick. I'm not saying we should spend that kind of money on outside shooting---that would actually be pretty stupid; read Sham as to why---but it would at least be somewhat logical and it would be a helluva lot smarter than signing Joe Johnson for tons' more dough with the dopey, braindead-on-arrival idea that his outside shooting will give Derrick more room to maneuver.

Tomorrow's Bulls Headlines Today

July 5, 2010

LEBRON, BULLS NEGOTIATIONS FALL APART

Sources say sticking point is Reinsdorf's refusal to grant James maximum deal, citing Game 5 performance against Boston.

My Greatest Fear

Let's compare:

----------PER TS% eFG% TRB% AST% TO% USG% 3FG% FTA/G

Player A 14.2 .501 .465 7.0 18.7 11.6 23.4 38.2 3.5 (Career Playoffs)
-------- 16.9 .476 .432 7.7 25.0 10.2 26.8 25.0 3.8 (2010 Playoffs)


Player B 15.9 .537 .492 5.9 28.8 12.8 20.6 40.5 4.7 (Career Playoffs)
-------- 13.3 .533 .500 6.5 15.1 3.3 13.9 50.0 2.8 (2010 Playoffs)


Do either of these players look significantly better than the other? And do you think either of these players should command a maximum salary?

I ask because one of them is Kirk Hinrich and one of them is Joe Johnson. If the Bulls end up inking the latter, I hereby predict it will make the Ben Wallace signing look like the Deal of the Century, as well as take the incredibly promising career of Derrick Rose and squander it down the toilet. That it is even being discussed is absolutely terrifying. Any talk of it---much less, a (perverse) hope for it---needs to stop. Now.

The King Is Dead! Long Live the King!

The VDN Era is officially over but the GarPaxDorf ancien regime remains firmly ensconced, free to draw out another lengthy and sure-to-be disappointing search for a head coach. (When, after hearing all of the possible candidates, you find yourself hoping they tap Dwane Casey, you know this process is going to be about as exciting as watching flies fuck.)

Anyway, I'll miss VDN's tight rotations and the fact that his players didn't actively hate him so much that they quit being competitive on the court. (Tyrus Thomas possibly excepted.) Just about every other aspect of his coaching seemed to my untrained eyes to be mediocre at best, laughably horrendous at worst. (It takes a special kind of ineptitude to lead an offense that ranks 28th out of 30 NBA teams, some five points per 100 possessions below the league average, even when taking into account that management did leave VDN with Kirk Hinrich as his starting two-guard.) That his record wasn't astonishingly bad can be attributed to the fact that there seemed to be a bunch of good eggs on his Bulls teams, self-disciplined players who didn't need a head coach to tell them to work hard night in and night out. That could bode well for the future, but of course the long-held theory here is that GarPaxDorf will somehow manage to screw it up. Here's hoping I'm wrong.