Chicago Bulls

Hey gang. I have posted the standings for the bracket contest below but, as always, I will use this platform to initiate discussion on the NBA playoffs. You are encouraged to post your own thoughts/observations on the subject. The 2nd round of the playoffs are over and very little about this round ran contrary to my (everyone's?) expectations. Eastern Conference: I will limit this to as few words as possible as the East is a bit of a disaster right now. Much has been said on the site about the Bulls/Heat series so I will not repeat too much. Let me just say that I am proud of the Bulls playoff performance and I think that a playoff series victory is a very big deal for them going forward. I am back in 2011-mode where I will be glad to see anyone but the Heat win. The Knicks/Indiana series is now over with the Knicks playing much worse than advertised. Maybe it it the age/injuries. My initial thought was that Indiana would beat the hell out of them and make them lose there cool. This may or may not have happened but I will have to consult one of the seven people who actually watched some of these games to make sure. As far as the ECF is concerned, I see Indiana roughing up the Heat quite a bit. I do not think that the Pacers have the scoring to actually pull off the series victory but I think that they will seriously expose Miami's smallball lineups. Heat in 6 Western Conference: The Spurs/Warriors series went just as expected. When the Warriors requited 37 minutes to inbound the ball at the end of the Nuggets series, it was clear to me that they lacked the ability to execute required to make a deep playoff run. Contrast that with the Spurs where it is totally unconscious for every player, from Tim Duncan down, to make the extra pass and find the wide open shot. Their attack was relentless, especially compared to the Warriors. Now, I too am human. I loved watching Steph Curry nail 30 footers. That said, if the W's are going to take the next step, they must emulate the Spurs and learn to execute. They need more of a defensive identity and need more and better ball movement on offense (things that the Spurs excel at). Hopefully they can pull this off as they will then be very interesting going forward. I did not watch much of the Griz/OKC series due to OKC's weakened state. As far as the WCF goes, this could go either way in my eyes. On the one hand the Spurs look like a well-oiled machine. That said, the Griz are hot right now and are really delivering with their bruising front-court. I see this series going to 6 or 7 with the Griz being the eventual winners. Griz in 6 (only because if it goes to 7 I will have to change to the Spurs due to home-court advantage). Finals: I said this last time but I have the Griz winning it all (if I could redo my bracket). I will revise this by saying that I think that whoever comes out of the West will win it all. My reasoning is that the Heat's game-plan is to force their opponent into awkward match-ups/positioning. That is all well and good if the only sacrifice that you must make is a mildly hot night from Carlos Boozer. If you have Shane Battier and Chris Bosh guarding ZBo and Gasol, you will pay. The same is true for the Spurs. Throw in that the Spurs have a large number of wing defenders to throw at LeBron James and I think that the Heat winning the championship is not the forgone conclusion that seems to be the conventional wisdom. Alright gang. That's it. The Bulls are out but they went down valiantly and are poised to be real contenders next year. I loved this team and am very proud of them. Go Bulls! Please discuss the playoffs at length. Post-away. Patty Mills, Juicy Dengler 180 Spurs View xkellenx's bracket, xkellenx 160 Heat View THEKILLERWHALE's Bracket, THEKILLERWHALE 145 Heat View drock8686, drock8686 145 Spurs View Otherface NBA Bracket, otherface 145 Heat View simplebracket, prevenge

We've already done a pretty thorough "Best of the 2012-13 Chicago Bulls," but there was plenty of stuff that was left out. Namely, some of the more hilarious or "lesser" moments that were GIF'd for our pleasure. There was a request for a "Best GIFs of the Year" post, and I couldn't help but oblige. So without further ado, here's some of the best GIFs from this Bulls campaign, which do include some of the plays from the "Best of..." post. These are in no particular order, and if there are any I forgot, please do share. Jimmy is not impressed Jimmy is not impressed part deux via gifs.gifbin.com Jimmy posterizes Bosh Taj posterizes Humphries Marco's big spicy meatballs Nate discount double checks all over the place Nate blocks LeBron Bulls' bench starring D-Rose jumping very high and Nate going nuts Nate crosses Humphries via losthatsportsblog.com Shocked Boozer Shocked Boozer part deux Boozer low blows Danny Crawford via i.minus.com "That's a bad man" via gifrific.com Boozer stares down LeBron via cdn.bleacherreport.net Noah mocks Bosh and Chalmers Noah's jazz hands Noah's playoff promos Kirk rips ball away from Bosh via s3-ec.buzzfed.com Kirk's awful lob Kirk and Jimmy ticked with a side of Fred via i.minus.com Thibs is befuddled via cjzero.com Thibs is not pleased Thibs is REALLY not pleased via cdn.fansided.com Nazr shoves LeBron Nate and Deng's epic celebration

There are currently five teams left in the 2013 NBA Playoffs. I’d like to write “four,” but the New York Knicks had to save face by winning at MSG last night, and will live to see a Game 6 in Indianapolis on Saturday night. More than any other year I can recall, this year’s NBA Playoffs are about one word: attrition. We hear cliches about how teams or players are “fighting through injuries,” having “no excuses.” Doc Rivers likes to say, “Nobody is healthy at this point” about April, May and June basketball, which brings us to word: attrition. attrition – noun the good people at Merriam-Webster.com give us a sense of the word’s origin as well as how it is used today. In Middle English, the word attricioun meant sorrow for one’s sins that arises from a motive other than that of the love of God. The later definitions are the ones that apply to the way in which several of this year’s playoff teams have simple run out of energy (gas or steam, if you like): : the act of rubbing together :friction; also: the act of wearing or grinding down by friction : the act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse, or attack attrition> : a reduction in numbers usually as a result of resignation, retirement, or death attrition> There are five teams remaining in this year’s playoffs: Miami, Indiana, New York in the Eastern Conference. San Antonio and Memphis in the Western Conference. Of the eleven that have been relieved of their playoff duties, the following fall under the category of “attrition” teams because of a) injury; b) being ground down by the physicality or defensive intensity of their opponent or c) retirement. Actually, nobody retired in the middle of the playoffs, so reasons “a” and “b” are the only two I can think of. Attrition: Yes or No? Milwaukee Bucks – nope. A mediocre team that relied on undersized offense (Ellis and Jennings) and one or two very good individual defenders (Sanders, Udoh, Mbah a Moute) Boston Celtics – yes. A resilient team that limped into the playoffs (Garnett and Pierce) without its facilitator (Rondo) and the best rookie rebounder they’ve seen in a while (Sullinger), the Celtics fought hard before bowing out in 6. Players that defined this year’s battle through their own recovery from injury and will help define the future in Boston: Avery Bradley and Jeff Green. Atlanta Hawks – yes, kind of. Losing Louis Williams early in the year had a significant impact on the offense, and potentially kept them from being a 4th or 5th seed. Indiana’s defense certainly ground them into the kind of pulp you don’t want in your orange juice. Chicago Bulls – yes. As has been expounded upon at length, the Bulls had a fighting spirit that could not be denied. Credit to the entire system, the coaching staff, Thibodeau, but also players 1-12 for buying into the defensive schemes. The Bulls rode Joakim Noah, Jimmy Butler, Nate Robinson, Carlos Boozer and Marco Belinelli as far as they could. And that was farther than most expected. They made do all year without Rose, but without Hinrich and Deng, they somehow continued to test Miami in 4 of their 5 games. To read the complete post, click here: http://darkoindex.com/2013/05/17/the-playoffs-in-one-word-attrition/ There are currently five teams left in the 2013 NBA Playoffs. I’d like to write “four,” but the New York Knicks had to save face by winning at MSG last night, and will live to see a Game 6 in Indianapolis on Saturday night. More than any other year I can recall, this year’s NBA Playoffs are about one word: attrition. We hear cliches about how teams or players are “fighting through injuries,” having “no excuses.” Doc Rivers likes to say, “Nobody is healthy at this point” about April, May

So with the Bulls' 2012-13 campaign dead and gone, we now look ahead to the offseason. I'm assuming this summer won't bring as much fury as last, but you never know with GarPax at the helm. What new faces will we see? Will the Bulls' mostly stand pat? Will they look to make a big move? (hint: the answer is probably no) Like last offseason, we're going to tackle the key questions facing the Bulls individually, but first, we'll do a quick primer to get everybody ready for what's coming. Naturally, the first thing to look at is the salary situation. The cap this season was $58.044 million and the tax was at $70.307 million. I would expect each of those to go up $1-2 million, but we'll find that out a bit later in the offseason. As for the Bulls, they currently owe about $72.04 million in guaranteed money to Rose/Boozer/Deng/Noah/Gibson/Hinrich/Butler/Teague. Richard Hamilton is expected to be bought out for $1 million (decision must be made by July 10), although the Bulls could use him as a $5 million trade chip on draft night. However, considering how much the Bulls owe in salary already, I doubt they'll be wanting to take back more in a Rip deal. Speaking of the draft, the Bulls have the 20th pick in the first round. There has been a lot of talk about drafting a backup center, which is an idea that I can certainly get behind. There are a plethora of solid bigs being tabbed as first round picks, as there are currently eight centers in the top 20 of the DraftExpress Top 100 prospect list. So if the Bulls want a center, they should be able to grab one. If they are looking elsewhere, I'd like for them to target a sharpshooting wing to help with the three-point shooting/general scoring woes. Either way, that first-round pick will likely add about $1.5 million in salary (Evan Fournier, the 20th pick last year, got $1.42 million this season). The Bulls have a second-round pick as well, and if they keep it, that'll cost roughly $800,000. If we're doing the math here, that's already over $75 million and pushing the apron, which is $4 million above wherever the luxury tax line is set. This means that if the Bulls keep the core together, the only avenue of signing free agents is the mini-MLE and the minimum. Sign-and-trades are essentially out because you can't go over the apron when acquiring a player via S+T. This limits the possible use of the Kyle Korver trade exception (expires July 16), although much like the Hamilton situation, I doubt the Bulls will really be looking to use that exception to take on salary. The use of the mini-MLE (a tad over $3 million per year) is where things could get really interesting. First of all, if the Bulls really believe in their 2014 plan, they may not offer a multi-year contract to any prospective free agent. They could still use the mini-MLE for a one-year deal if they wanted, but I'm thinking most players looking for that contract would want a multi-year deal. Next, we look at the Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli situations. The Bulls do not own their Bird Rights, so if the Bulls wanted to bring them back, they could offer up to 120% of what they made this year (Robinson made the minimum and Belinelli the bi-annual exception of $1.957 million). I know both guys really enjoyed their time here this season, but I'm guessing that wouldn't do the trick. In that case, the mini-MLE would have to be used if the Bulls decided they really wanted one of those guys back. I think the Bulls would certainly like to have both guys back, but it wouldn't really surprise me if neither of them were. If the mini-MLE doesn't get used on Nate or Belinelli, the Bulls could then look outside the organization. I know a return of Korver has been discussed around these parts, but I think the Hawks or some other team will offer more than the mini-MLE, so I'd consider that possibility a long shot. If the Bulls have to look elsewhere, a shooter would be ideal, and we'll look closer at options when we tackle that situati

Michael Reinsdorf talks about the undermanned Bulls making the most of the 2012-13 season, standing behind Luol Deng and Derrick Rose, and why he believes the team is in good hands with John Paxson and Gar Forman in charge of player personnel.

Bulls GM Gar Forman takes a break from the NBA Draft Combine to look back on a remarkable 2012-13 campaign, reiterate the organization’s support for Derrick Rose, and explain why he’s excited about what the future holds.

Sam Smith opens his mailbag to respond to the latest round of emails from his readers

The Bulls would amnesty Carlos (I always disappear vs Miami in playoffs) Boozer and sign Al Jefferson who's an unrestricted free agent. Better low post player, defends better, and that size of a front court will give Miami major problems. Plus can hit the 17-20 footer also. Bold moves need to be made to get past Miami. Add that with he's younger I believe will be 28 this coming season why not? I know salary cap etc but enough of that the Bulls are a cash cow gotta spend to win The Bulls would amnesty Carlos (I always disappear vs Miami in playoffs) Boozer and sign Al Jefferson who's an unrestricted free agent. Better low post player, defends better, and that size of a front court will give Miami major problems. Plus can hit the 17-20 footer also. Bold moves need to be made to get past Miami. Add that with he's younger I believe will be 28 this coming season why not? I know salary cap etc but enough of that the Bulls are a cash cow gotta spend to win

Probably someone in this stats infested sports world measures it, though I haven’t seen it yet. But the Bulls probably just completed the best ever 45-win regular season with a second round playoff loss. Of course, they knew they’d be missing for part, and it turned out all, their best player and a former league MVP, Derrick Rose. But then they had the regulars in their top nine rotation miss more than 100 games with injuries. And Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich, starters all season, then missed most of the playoffs with injury and illness. Still, the Bulls played the defending champion and favored Miami Heat tough, losing in the same five games they did when they were mostly healthy in the 2011 playoffs. Though there were disappointing defeats all regular season, like to Charlotte, New Orleans, Phoenix, Cleveland and Sacramento, the thrills far outweighed the frustration. There were so many brilliant moments of delight and joy, like breaking the Heat’s 27-game winning streak and then completing a season sweep of the Knicks and ending their 13-game winning streak. There were fabulous individual moments, like Marco Belinelli’s three game winning shots or Joakim Noah diving out of bounds to save a ball to set up one of those shots. Noah and Deng were All Stars, and Noah had brilliant games, like a rare triple double with blocks and a game of 30 points and 23 rebounds, recording historical markers. Jimmy Butler was discovered and immediately began battle with Deng for league ironman status that extended through the playoffs with five games of 48 minutes. Nate Robinson, a last addition, became an energizer and favorite, bailing the Bulls out of numerous games with his exciting individual play. Deng beat Toronto with a game winner reminiscent of Michael Jordan in Utah in 1998 and the team overwhelmed Kobe and Howard in the United Center. Robinson beats the Nets with a floater and Nazr Mohammed saves it with a block. Carlos Boozer is fifth in the league and second in the East in double/doubles, the Bulls dominate the Heat in Miami and perhaps the most exciting play, Noah’s tip in against Denver, is waved off on a night Robinson had 35 points. And then there was the triple overtime playoff win over the Nets with Robinson’s fourth quarter fireworks and the seventh game win in Brooklyn, the first ever for the franchise on the road. And then the opening victory in Miami and an end that wasn’t decided until the last seconds as the Bulls with half their top six out pushed Miami to the limit. The prospects look bright, frankly, considering coach Tom Thibodeau signed a contract extension and Rose should return fully healthy next fall. Deng, Boozer, Butler, Taj Gibson, Hinrich, Noah, Rose and Marquis Teague all remain under contract. Richard Hamilton has a buyout. The Bulls will get the No. 20 pick in the 2013 draft. Good health isn’t promised to anyone. But with Rose’s return, the maturation of Deng and Noah and how competitive the Bulls were against all the top teams in the Eastern Conference in the regular season and playoffs, it would seem likely without much, or any, change the team will be in position to compete for the conference championship next season. There’s still a long way to go with the draft and free agency as well as Robinson, Belinelli and Mohammed are free agents. So let’s take a last look at the Bulls of 2012-13 and perhaps their futures: Derrick Rose: The team’s undisputed star ended up missing all season with the recovery from his ACL surgery last May. There was criticism directed toward Rose that he should have tried to play. But Rose remains the future of the team. Without him and at full health or close, it seems unlikely the Bulls could be considered serious title contenders in any season. He plans to work out in Los Angeles in the offseason as well as probably some high altitude training for conditioning and is expected to be fully ready to open the next season. Joakim Noah: He had one of his best all around seasons, a

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