Chicago Sports Review

Yesterday’s trade of Rich Harden further cemented the legacy of one of Major League Baseball’s premier general managers. Possibly the most important part of any trade is timing, and once again this GM showed impeccable timing.

So congratulations Jim Hendry. What, you thought I was talking about Billy Bean?

With all due respect to Bean, the winner of any trade is the team that gets the best player. And even when considering the very legitimate injury concerns that come with Rich Harden, he’s clearly the best player in this trade.

Hendry is not perfect – far from it in fact. But since becoming the GM of the Chicago Cubs in the middle of the 2002 season he’s managed to lead the perennial losers to two playoff appearances (2003 and 2007) and an 89-win season in 2004. Then of course there’s the current season, in which the Cubs have been the National League’s best team all year long.

The biggest reason for Hendry’s success is the Cubs’ suddenly huge payroll, made famous by the $300 million off-season a little more than one year ago. But in no way does that take away from what Hendry has done.

He overpayed for Alfonso Soriano, who has had problems in his year and a half with the Cubs ranging from injuries to the fear of ivy covered walls, and worse yet the 32-year-old is only in the second year of an 8-year, $136 million contract. He also gave a corner outfielder with a .417 slugging percentage $48 million over four years. Despite all the love Kosuke Fukudome gets from North Side fans, his numbers show he’s nothing more than a Japanese version of Brian Giles (and sorry, that’s not worthy of $48 million).

Yet it also has to be considered that Hendry had to overpay to get those players. And both of them, even though they come at ridiculous prices, have helped the Cubs win games.

There have been other mistakes, too. The trade for Nomar Garciaparra in 2004 never worked out. The signing of former Cub Greg Maddux that same year had less-than-desirable results. Last year’s catcher position was a disaster, and the acquisition of former All-Star Jason Kendall proved to be a bust.

All of those transactions have one thing in common: they were low-risk, high-reward deals. When a general manager consistently makes those kind of transactions, good things tend to happen. Like the 2003 trade for an inconsistent Aramis Ramirez, who quickly became one baseball’s best hitting third baseman. Or the signing of one of the major’s premier utility players, Mark DeRosa. Even though Ted Lilly has reverted back to his career averages, he once again looks poised to top 200 innings this year, making him worthy of his $10 million a year contract.

Oh, and then there was the signing of Lou Piniella, who is already making room for the 2008 Manager of the Year trophy (apologies to Tony LaRussa, but this is Sweet Lou’s year).

So, finally, back to the point. The Rich Harden deal is yet another low-risk, high-reward transaction. For the Cubs purpose – which you would have to guess is ending that World Series drought you may have heard of – Harden is a great fit. As long as they politely decline extending his contract, this should work out fine for them.

“It’s no secret that when he’s [pitching], he’s about as good as it gets,” Hendry said. “You can hear that from any player in the American League. … Obviously, there’s some risk. He never has had a surgery. We did extensive work with their doctors. … There’s certainly some risk, but a very, very high reward.”

Harden solidifies an iffy starting rotation and Chad Gaudin can provide some value as a swingman. And all the Cubs gave up is a platoon outfielder, a second baseman who wasn’t going to play for them, a future number 3 starter and a catcher who is at least two years away from the major leagues.

Most importantly this trade cements a win-now attitude developed during Hendry’s reign. That, more than anything, is what has made Hendry’s time with the Cubs a success and made him one of baseball’s top GM’s.

The chairman has spoken. In an interview Monday night with the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson, Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t mince words in expressing his disapproval of Mike D’Antoni becoming the new head coach of the New York Knicks.

“I’m disappointed in him,” Reinsdorf said. “I don’t know what else we could’ve done. He chose to go to New York knowing there was a good chance we would make him an offer. If he had really wanted to be in Chicago, he would’ve waited. Instead, he misled us. It’s not the end of the world, but it is somewhat rude.”

In case you missed it (and Bulls fans can be excused for giving up on the NBA season sometime in January), as recently as Friday it appeared the Bulls were the most likely destination for the now ex-Suns head coach.

So what happened? How did the Bulls go from being the front runners in hiring a coach who has won 232 games in four seasons to losing out to a Knicks team that spent this past season not as a legitimate NBA team, but as a league-wide joke?

Perhaps the real question is why is anyone in Chicago surprised by this?

By now everyone should know the Kobe Bryant-to-Chicago rumors were just that, rumors. There was never anything there. But clearly the Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol rumors had some substance, each player did get traded after all. And if the Bulls weren’t talking to Minnesota and Memphis about those players, they should have been.

But back to this situation. Why didn’t it get done? Reinsdorf said it had nothing to do with money:

“The second subject, I said if we need to get something done this weekend we shouldn’t even bother talking because it will take longer than that,” Reinsdorf said. “He said nothing had to be done over the weekend.

“I also said if this proceeds to where we want to make an offer, we don’t deal with coach’s agents. He said that’s not a problem and that money wasn’t the most important thing anyway. He said he wanted a job where he was going to be happiest. He said he didn’t want to coach the Knicks.”

And that, in a nutshell, is why this deal didn’t get done. It was widely reported the Knicks were going to make an offer to D’Antoni, yet Reinsdorf still didn’t feel the Bulls could come up with an offer over this past weekend.

In attempting to avoid a PR nightmare - fans questioning if the Bulls will ever be able to make a big move - Reinsdorf confirmed all Bulls fans worst fears.

The Bulls lost out to the Knicks because New York quickly made a decision. The coach who has won 232 games over four years isn’t coaching in Chicago because the Bulls needed more time to make him an offer while the Knicks - the league-wide joke - had no trouble coming up with a contract D’Antoni couldn’t refuse.

And though Reinsdorf won’t admit it, and D’Antoni will never say it, it was about money. D’Antoni came from a Phoenix franchise that gave away draft picks (that turned out to be Luol Deng and Rajon Rondo), let star players leave (Joe Johnson) and sold off valuable role players (Kurt Thomas) all because Robert Sarver didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

So when D’Antoni is told by the Bulls it will take a while to make an offer he should be skeptical. This is the same Bulls team that this season owned the league’s ninth lowest payroll in a major market. In 2006-07 they boasted the league’s fifth lowest payroll.

You can blame D’Antoni for taking a Knicks job that is almost certainly an uphill battle. But you can’t blame him for not taking the Bulls job.

As for Reinsdorf’s allegations, maybe D’Antoni did mislead the Bulls. Maybe he even flat-out lied to them. But that’s not the point.

The perception of the Bulls remains that they are a second-class organization who continue to rely on the Ben Wallace’s and Jim Boylan’s of the world while others compete for the Kevin Garnett’s, Pau Gasol’s and Mike D’Antoni’s.

That may be fair, it may not. But make no mistake that is the perception. And instead of playing the woe-is-me card and blaming D’Antoni, maybe the chairman should do something to convince Bulls fans that perception is false. Of course, that’s not happening:

“I can’t worry about perception,” Reinsdorf said. “I have to worry about making the right decision. This is a very critical hire. If you make a mistake, you set yourself back. Tim Floyd didn’t work out, Bill Cartwright. Scott Skiles, we thought we had a good one, but he’s gone with two years left on his deal. We’ve been set back.”

At least I can agree with one thing Reinsdorf said. The Bulls have been set back.

Welcome to the finale. In cased you missed the first four parts of CSR’s Bulls Season in Review, here they are: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Feb. 13 - At 20-31 the Bulls are still playing uninspired basketball, but they’re also still on the verge of being a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. Thabo Sefolosha and Chris Duhon are, temporarily, starting at guard for the Bulls and that has produced mixed results. And while Joakim Noah is starting to see more consistent playing time, Jim Boylan apparently doesn’t like Tyrus Thomas any more than Scott Skiles did.

Because it would be pointless to once again talk about the lack of any real rotation or how massively disappointing any number of players on this team have been, Charlie Danoff spent this week’s column on evaluating the Bulls less than two weeks before the trade deadline.

Now that all the pre-season dreams of contending for a conference title have long since been unmercifully crushed, I thought it’d be appropriate to do a re-evaluation of the Bulls current roster. I will look at each player, taking into account their age and salary and determine their current worth TODAY. I will forget what we though about them heading into the year, because that no longer matters. This column is not about who should be traded, or what rotation should be used, it’s about honestly ranking the assets the Bulls currently possess…

Asset Rank:

1 - Tyrus Thomas - Younger than Deng, extension not coming up, and while Deng has proved he cannot be the best, or second best player on a top team, Tyrus still has that chance.

2 - Luol Deng - Our best current player, hurt by contract status and injury woes.

3 - Joakim Noah - Like the two above, future is very unknown, but already proven he belongs in the NBA, and could one-day win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. I mean, Ben Wallace did … four times.

4 - Andres Nocioni - Above-average player, paid appropriately.

5 - Kirk Hinrich - Above-average player, paid inappropriately.

6 - Ben Gordon - Bulls’ best scorer, also hurt by uncertain contract status.

7 - Thabo Sefolosha - Gaining very, very quickly with each game.

8 - Joe Smith - Mr. Consistent, paid commensurate with what he brings to the court.

9 - Aaron Gray - Realistically could be an NBA starter. I mean, Mikki Moore and Mark Blount have started whole seasons for teams.

10 - Chris Duhon - Tough to put him this low, but below Gray because he’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and Gray is only making the minimum.

11 - Adrian Griffin - It’s Adrian Griffin.

…

100 - Ben Wallace

I would argue that Deng will definitely be a better player than Thomas, but Danoff’s point about his potential is a good one. Still, anytime your top three assets are Deng, Thomas and Joakim Noah, you know you’re in for a rough year.

Feb. 16 - Even though there was still almost a week left until the NBA trade deadline, two future Hall of Famers - Shaquille O’Neal and Jason Kidd - and two All-Stars - Shawn Marion and Pau Gasol - had already been traded.

In Chicago no moves had been made though. There were rumors of Ben Wallace going to New York (why??!?), but that’s not where I thought Big Ben should go:

The Spurs don’t have anything to give the Bulls except for expiring contracts, but the Bulls shouldn’t mind. At this point, Wallace is doing nothing but hurting the development of Noah and Thomas. He’s not the veteran leader the team sorely lacks and even if he was still a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, the Bulls aren’t winning anything this year. It would also allow the Bulls to be a player in a free agent market this year that will include a plethora of stars.

Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and Jacque Vaughn account for almost $10 million in expiring contracts, and the Spurs wouldn’t miss any of them. Add Robert Horry’s $3.6 million expiring contract and you have a deal.

The Spurs need another big man, they admitted as much when they started Barry at power forward earlier this year. The 37-year-old Horry is no longer a consistent option at power forward, and Greg Popovich doesn’t seem to trust either Fabricio Oberto or Francisco Elson at the center position. Matt Bonner may be okay for 15 minutes a game, but nothing more.

The Spurs instead traded for Kurt Thomas. I’m still convinced that even at his diminished skill level Wallace would have been a perfect fit for this year’s Spurs. He doesn’t have to be a leader, something he struggled with in Chicago, and he’s still an above-average help defender and would work perfectly (defensively) with Tim Duncan. But as I also alluded to, the Spurs haven’t gotten where they are by taking on contracts like Wallace’s.

But don’t worry about the Bulls, as it turns out they had found another taker for Big Ben’s contra….. urr, services.

Feb. 21 - The final trade of a wild trade deadline period was the biggest. The Bulls said goodbye to Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Adrian Griffin and a second-round draft pick in an 11-player trade, getting Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden in return. There was once again hope in Chicago.

Feb. 25 - In his column this week, Charlie Danoff decided to take a look at the newest Bulls - Hughes, Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown:

Thursday’s deadline three-way trade by John Paxson may well go down one day as the move that saved his legacy as GM of the Chicago Bulls.

Doing the impossible and trading what is easily one of the NBA’s worst current contracts allows Paxson to finally move on from the most egregious error of his tenure.

As many have said, losing Wallace is addition by subtraction, and so long as the Bulls didn’t get Vin Baker back in a trade for him they would instantly become a better team as soon as he left.

Well, I for one thought the Bulls would be a lot better. But the team boasted a .396 winning percentage with Wallace (21-32) and a .414 winning percentage without him (12-17). Just enough to half-heartedly stay in the playoff race without really threatening.

March 6 - In hindsight, Wallace might have been unfairly blamed for the Bulls season. Sure, he was a disaster, but so was the rest of the team. When he did leave, just about everyone thought Chicago would turn into the 49-win team from a year ago, including Charlie Danoff:

Looking over the schedule as a whole then, I predict the Bulls will win seven of their easy games, six of the 50/50 ones (including a sweep of the Cavs) and three of the games they should lose. That means a 16-6 record over their last 22.

Leaving their regular season record at 40-42.

Given they’ve only managed to win 24 out of their first 60 games, you could say I’m letting my heart get in the way of my head, and you’d have a point.

Yet, being as objective as I can possibly be, I really feel the Bulls are a much better team than when they started 2-11. Hughes and Gooden are an upgrade over Wallace and Smith, plus Hinrich, Gordon and Deng are all playing light years ahead of where they were then. Thabo and Joakim have also emerged as consistent above-average players since then.

The Bulls had other plans, though, and they finished the year a pitiful 9-13. It’s important to point out the Charlie’s viewpoint was pretty common in Chicago, even after struggling all year long most fans thought they would eventually snap out of it. They just never did.

March 10 - If you’re going to look for someone to blame for this year’s 33-49 team, you really can’t go wrong with anyone. One of the bigger problems was Tyrus Thomas failing to develop into any thing more than a wildly inconsistent, immature youngster. It is important to have perspective, though:

Yes, he is immature and far too sensitive, but how many young people aren’t? With time and a little faith from the Bulls brass Tyrus will grow out of these character faults and evolve into the player Paxson thought he could become when he drafted him.Whether it is in a Bulls uniform or not, by the end of his career, no one will think the Bulls lost on that draft day deal.

Then again, he could go down as a draft day flop similar to fellow LSU alum, Stromile Swift. It depends on which Tyrus he chooses to be, the one who skips practices, or the one who worked his way up from nothing to college stardom.

The potential is there, but as Thomas himself said shortly after the draft:

“You have to maximize your skills and ability. Potential is just a smokescreen. You have to prove you’re real in order to earn all the praise.”

To finish in truly unoriginal fashion, I will end with a cliche. Mr. Thomas, you have shown you can talk the talk… now, can you walk the walk?

Thomas had a decent April, averaging 28 minutes, 12.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.56 blocks per game. Unfortunately in today’s NBA, next year looks like it may be the last chance Thomas will have to prove he can be a star - at least in a Bulls uniform.

Easy there, before diving into this one don’t forget about Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of CSR’s Bulls Season In Review.

Jan. 15 - A 102-88 loss tonight to Orlando will drop the Bulls to 14-22, but still not out of the playoffs. The team is a very average 5-6 since Jim Boylan took over, so really nothing has changed.

And you know what that means, another plea for a lineup change here at CSR:

As this season painfully drags on, one has to hope against hope Boylan will see the light and play his talented trio of young big men more. They are really the team’s best hope for future success. Playing Smith and Wallace extended minutes may earn the team a trip to the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, but is a first round exit really what this team needs? The only explanation that makes sense for playing these old dudes so much is that Paxson is trying to market them for trades. If that is the case it is acceptable. Just get a move on Pax. Start the fire, otherwise all your young plants may die before they even get the chance to bloom.

If only the Bulls could get rid of Wallace and Smith in one trade…

Jan. 21 - An inexplicable loss to the Memphis Grizzlies puts the Bulls at 16-24. Despite all the hoopla about Boylan being the opposite of Scott Skiles, Chicago doesn’t look like that different of a team. They still have a wildly inconsistent rotation to go with their wildly inconsistent play.

Charlie Danoff has another fix for the Bulls, this time a call for the running of the Bulls:

While a switch of philosophies would not necessarily improve their defense, it would vastly improve their poor offense. Even if this current group of players will never be the Phoenix Suns, they are definitely capable of better offensive output than they have shown so far this year.

At the end of the day, in spite of everything that has gone wrong this season, the team still has hope. Currently, the Bulls remain only a game-and-a-half out of playoff position. There really is no reason they can’t work their way into the top six in the East, maybe even up to number five. If the Bulls are going to make a playoff run, however, it has to start with some on-court running.

The Bulls would have a couple of offensive outbursts over the rest of the season, most notably a 135-point outing Feb. 22 against the Nuggets and the ridiculous 151-point outburst April 14 against the Bucks.

Jan. 26 - Lost in a team fully of disappointments was the development - or lack thereof - by second-year guard Thabo Sefolosha. Sefolosha appears to be the perfect fit for the Bulls, a big two-guard that can defend the guys Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon can’t. He can even provide some offense, though it seems apparent he will never be a good offensive player in the NBA.

Up until this point, Thabo wasn’t playing much at all under Skiles and though he had seen a boost in minutes with Boylan as coach, he still hadn’t cracked the started lineup consistently. We hoped that would change:

It is time for Sefolosha to replace Paxson’s favorite mistake, Kirk Hinrich, in the starting lineup. He turns the point guard position, which has been a matchup weakness for the Bulls, into a chance to use matchups in the team’s favor. If nothing else, perhaps moving Kirk to the bench can motivate him the same way it did Gordon.

Don’t be a fool and ignore destiny, John. There are powers at work here you couldn’t even begin to understand.

Thabo played decent when he got the chance. In February, he averaged 31.6 minutes, 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. In 22 starts this season, he averaged 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. Not spectacular numbers, but not bad for a 23-year-old.

Feb. 6 - I’m open about my love for the Phoenix Suns. Part of the beauty of living in Chicago, is that no matter how bad it’s going for Phoenix it’s always looking worse for the Bulls.

After the Suns traded All-Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal, I was on suicide watch. Of course, at least my team was making moves:

As good as Paxson has been at drafting, he’s shown no ability to take the Bulls to the next level through free agency or trades. His biggest signings have been bringing Scottie Pippen back to town (which failed miserably) and over-paying Ben Wallace. In four-plus years he’s traded away Jamal Crawford, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry for players that are no longer with the team. His only positive trade was stealing Luol Deng on draft day from my Phoenix Suns because our owner didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

Now the trade deadline is two weeks away and it appears the Bulls are going to stand pat once again, hoping that if they can turn things around next year with this group of safe, low-ceiling players, they can once again be a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team.

Of course I was dead wrong about the Bulls standing pat, but we’ll get to that in our final installment of the Bulls season in review.

Hold on there, don’t forget about Part 1 and Part 2 of CSR’s Bulls Season In Review.

Dec. 26 - The firing of Scott Skiles was met with mixed reaction in Chicago. Once again the Bulls started off slowly under Skiles, only this time they weren’t showing signs of turning it around. He was also reluctant to play youngsters Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, and while both players showed a lack of maturity at times this season, they are both also top 10 draft picks and an important part of the Bulls future.

At the same time, it’s hard to blame Skiles for Ben Wallace and Kirk Hinrich’s disappointing seasons or Luol Deng’s injury problems. Skiles had shown in the past that his teams could rebound from poor starts and he was undoubtedly the best coach for this team this year (as Jim Boylan would later show).

Charlie Danoff wasn’t thrilled with Skiles’ dismissal, as many experts were arguing that the Bulls players had ‘tuned out’ their coach. In a prophetic statement, Danoff argued this would end badly for Chicago:

The team is flawed. They have been, despite their success over the past few seasons. A small backcourt with no inside scoring is a bad model in any basketball textbook.

Despite all that, Scott Skiles figured out a way to make it work with what he had. They were struggling this year, but that was nothing new for this group. They figured it out in the past, turned things around, and were stronger because of it.

They had faith in each other in past years when things started poorly, and were rewarded once they hit their groove. They trusted each other and played better. Respect is built when teammates stick together through the lowest of times - it is shattered when a leader gets stabbed in the back in the middle of a mild storm that the ship’s owner does not have the stomach to endure.

Now, that trust will never come back. Paxson chose to put the blame squarely on Skiles, removing accountability from the players and himself. Instead of grinding with the only coach they have ever known together - and eventually realizing it’s really quite easy to make the playoffs in the East - Paxson panicked and lost the trust.

I hope this galvanizes the team and makes everything better. I doubt it will.

Dec. 30 - The Bulls would start off 2-1 under interim head coach Jim Boylan, a noted ‘player’s coach’. With their record at 11-17 the team was still in the playoff picture in the miserable Eastern Conference.

Charlie elected to put aside his feelings about the Skiles firing to profile the new coach and even let a little hope show:

At the end of the day, he seems a fine choice to be the interim head man of the Bulls. His Heathcote pedigree and championship experience are pluses, and despite the poor performance of the NBA teams he has been with, he has been working in the league over 16 years and deserved a shot.

I have no choice but to be optimistic about him turning around the Bulls, otherwise this writing gig could get really depressing.

Boylan himself better be damn excited. Even if it’s only 50 games, almost no one gets the chance to be a head coach in the NBA. It is an amazing opportunity for him - lets just hope he wins a few more games than he did in his previous head-coaching gigs.

Jan. 8 - Possibly the most interesting year for any of the Bulls was that of Ben Gordon. The third overall pick in the 2004 Draft turned down a big contract extension before the season and then proceeded to show he’s not yet a complete enough player to be a starter for a championship-caliber team. Oops.

Gordon still had a nice season, averaging a team-high 18.6 ppg. On Dec. 28 he scored 19 points in the fourth quarter of the Bulls 103-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, causing Michael Redd to drop the ‘Mr. Fourth Quarter’ nickname of Gordon. Charlie Danoff decided to look at the numbers and see if the nickname is appropriate:

So, then - is Gordon deserving of the nickname or not? Certainly it seemed appropriate in his first two seasons, but not as much in his third. So far this season he has largely lived up to the lofty title, especially since he has resumed his - dare I say - proper role of sixth man. If the Bulls are to have any hope of making this year’s postseason dance, Gordon will have to find a way to continue to elevate his clutch performance.

A good start would be getting more of those points they give away for “free.”

Jan. 11 - A win against the Philadelphia 76ers tonight puts the Bulls at 14-20, the closest they will get the .500 the rest of the season. You will begin to notice a trend in CSR’s stories, as for the next month or so we will implore the Bulls to begin making trades. After all, the firing of Scott Skiles was essentially the waving of a white flag, right?

So, what’s to do? Trade everyone, save: Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. Aaron Gray and Duhon can stay, because they barely make anything and are worth more than their salaries. Gordon could stay, though he is less of a priority than the first three.

Everyone else? Dump ‘em. Move them right now. Maybe a Ben Wallace trade to the LA Lakers for Kwame Brown’s expiring contract? How about Hinrich to the Heat for Jason Williams and Ricky Davis? Both of their deals come off the cap next year.

I realize moving players Paxson has put so much faith and effort into will be difficult. The hardest thing for anyone to do is admit they have made the wrong choices in the past, and realize it is time to cut their losses and move in a different direction.

The only thing harder is continuing down that wrong path.

Of course the big trade would come, but you have to come back next week for the conclusion of our Bulls review. Until then, try to enjoy the NBA Playoffs Bulls fans.

In case you missed it, here’s part 1 of the Bulls season in review.

Dec. 8 - After a big 98-91 win over the Pistons - the Bulls second defeat of Detroit this season - Chicago has won four of five games. Joakim Noah plays well, scoring 11 points in just 16 minutes, prompting Charlie Danoff to write a column on the Bulls rookie center:

Along with developing his aesthetic tastes, Noah played some ball, and continued upon returning to NYC, as a “5-11 point guard … he played at Poly Prep in Brooklyn for his first three years of high school, growing to 6-2 as a sophomore, 6-5 as a junior, and 6-10 as a senior.”

Yes, you read that correctly - the Bulls’ 7-foot rookie center was a point guard heading into high school.

As the draft express profile points out, this likely means that Noah has not really begun to tap into his potential. Consider that he’s only been playing center for 4 or 5 years; normal big men in the NBA - think Samuel Dalembert, Tyson Chandler, etc. - usually take at least 3-4 years in the NBA to become an effective center, after playing it their whole lives.

But there are a couple of big differences between Noah and those other two players. For one, he is not as athletically gifted as either. Secondly, he played point guard in high school, and neither Dalembert nor Chandler seem to be even remotely capable of dribbling a basketball down the floor in an empty gym.

At this time Noah wasn’t getting much playing time under Scott Skiles. He would, after a certain coaching change and a certain trade we haven’t yet got to, become the Bulls starting center. In nine April games, Noah averaged 31.4 minutes, 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

Dec. 12 - The Bulls lost at home to the Boston 92-81 and beat up a young Seattle team 123-96. This one-win, one-loss pattern would be repeated many times over the remainder of the season. In fact, the Bulls would only win two games in a row five times during the 2007-08 season, and they did not have a winning streak of three games or more the entire season.

Anyway, on to the next story. This time, Charlie does his best Sam Smith impersonation and plays NBA GM for a day. His first trade sends Chris Duhon, Aaron Gray and a second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for 23-year-old center Zaza Pachulia:

Adding Pachulia to the rotation addresses the biggest flaw of the current roster: inside scoring. Pachulia is not the most well-rounded player, but he does score. He has averaged 12 PPG over the past two years, and made over 52% of his shots in the immediate basket area last season.

As most fans and media members have already said, if the Bulls had inside scoring it would dramatically alter the team’s current offense. An inside threat would open things up for Hinrich, Gordon and Deng on the outside. Futhermore, having defenders forced to guard Zaza, as opposed to freelancing off the current big men, would open up driving lanes for the aforementioned three to get to the hoop.

Trade number two was a bigger deal, with the Kings sending Mike Bibby to the Bulls for Ben Gordon, Joe Smith, Victor Khryapa and a lottery protected first-round pick:

It is a good thing the Bulls are in the East. Sitting at 7-12, they are very much still alive in the playoff hunt, while the Kings, at 8-12 in the West, are basically in rebuilding mode. Given that, this trade works quite well for them going forward.

There have been rumors that Sacramento has wanted to trade Bibby for a while now, with the most likely trading partner being the Miami Heat. Given that the Heat’s best offer revolves around Jason Williams’ expiring contract, it would be easy for the Bulls to offer a more attractive deal.

Oddly enough, Bibby would be sent to the Hawks at the trade deadline for Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second round draft pick. The Bulls, of course, would later make another - and arguably bigger - trade.

Dec. 18 - More of the same. The Bulls lose this night at home against the Los Angeles Lakers 103-91 and fall to 8-14. The good news is Luol Deng has a couple of very impressive games, scoring 29 points a grabbing 10 rebounds in a victory over the Knicks 12/14 and putting up 26 points and 7 rebounds in the Lakers’ loss. Charlie decides to look at the numbers and decide just how good Deng is:

Using Dean Oliver’s “Approximate Value” formula and John Hollinger’s Player Efficiency Rating, we can investigate Deng’s effectiveness at a deeper level. These numbers are not perfect, but they are currently the best versions of a single number to indicate the value of a player.

Over the first three years, Deng’s average AV has been 9.45 - indicating an “average regular or a good sixth man.” His average PER has been 16.29, which usually equates to a “third Banana” on a top-flight team. Obviously, those numbers are relatively disappointing. But they may not be appropriate, given how much better Deng played last season than in his first two years.

At age 21, Deng’s AV was 12.3, putting him in the “All-Star Candidate” category, while his PER of 18.8 made him a “Solid Second Option.” That’s more like it - still not superstar numbers, but Deng has not played like a superstar to this point in his career, so that’s not surprising. These ratings hint that Deng has not yet reached his potential, but at least they suggest that becoming a perennial All-Star is not out of the question.

Dec. 21 - The Bulls are about to go on a three-game losing streak that will drop their record to 9-17. In what will turn out to be excellent timing, Charlie Danoff recaps Scott Skiles basketball career. Consider it an eulogy of sorts:

What you see is what you get with Skiles. He will hold his players accountable, but that is only because he also holds himself to a higher standard, and will work harder than anyone. If you are willing to work, and actually want to improve, Scott Skiles is the coach for you. If you want to be lazy and fall back on talent and potential, it might not work - sorry Eddy.

All of this is well established. But Skiles’ only Championship came in high school, and that was a long time ago. Through hard work as a player and coach he has earned the respect of his peers - for his dedication, and knowledge of the game. The question now is - can he take the next step?

Taking a step back, being less hands-on and giving his players more responsibility is a move in the right direction. Just ask Ben Gordon:

“I think one thing I’ve seen from coach since I’ve been here, the first couple of years he was definitely on guys, because we were young and we kind of needed that. Now, he gives us a lot of freedom and with freedom comes a lot of responsibility. So we have to go out there and do our part. So I don’t think he’s what most people perceive him to be.”

Three days later Skiles was fired as the Bulls head coach after slightly more than four years in that position. He had a 10-12 record in three postseason appearances. About a month later it was revealed Skiles was fired after he told Paxson the team needed “a new voice.”

Wow, that was painful.

The only solace Bulls fans can take from a miserable 2007-08 season is that it wasn’t just Chicago that was optimistic about the team coming into this season. After three straight playoff appearances and an 06-07 season that featured 49 wins and a first-round playoff sweep of the Miami Heat, even the World Wide Leader was buying what the Bulls were selling.

Now that the season is over and the Bulls record stands at 33-49, ninth worst record in the NBA, I think it’s safe to say ESPN was wrong. We were all wrong.

But it would also be wrong for me to review the Bulls season with the benefit of knowing how it turned out. Instead, let’s look back at what we at the Chicago Sports Review were saying about this Bulls’ season as it happened.

Nov. 12 - The Bulls (once again) started the season miserably at 1-5. An ugly 101-71 loss to the Toronto Raptors was enough for Charlie Danoff to call for a change in the starting lineup, making a plea for Skiles to get larger and more defensive with a starting lineup of Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray. As for the poor start, we’re not worried:

Overall, it is not time to worry… yet. Skiles’ Bulls teams have started slow before and made the playoffs. In 2004-’05 they got off to a roaring 0-9, while last year they started 3-9. I know changing the starting lineup might just be putting a band-aid over a bullet hole for some teams, but I really think it could make a difference for the Bulls. They are just at too much of a disadvantage defensively with their current unit.

Finally, the biggest key for this year’s team is Luol Deng evolving into the superstar that so many people think he will become. He needs to stop being such a team-first guy and passing off shots to Duhon and Sefolosha. Deng should be demanding the ball and taking control. If he does, the Bulls could win the East. If he does not, it may be a struggle to make the playoffs.

Nov. 20 - A little more than a week later, the Bulls are no better. Their record now stands at 2-7 (and soon to be 2-8 after a loss in Denver tonight) and Luol Deng is struggling with an Achilles injury. A change has been made in the starting lineup, as Andres Nocioni has replace Tyrus Thomas at small forward. Optimism is still abundant here at CSR:

Given all this doom and gloom, is all hope lost for the Bulls? No, not quite yet. Even if I let my heart blind me to the real team when I thought they could win the East, they are not THIS bad.

The Bulls are still a playoff team. What they need to do is play the way they did in the first quarter against the Clippers. They got defensive stops, then beat the Clippers down the floor for fast breaks. Running and gunning is the only way this team will get easy baskets, and that is really important for a team that starts Ben Wallace at center.

Nov. 27 - The Bulls are now 2-10, and even a 90-78 victory against the Atlanta Hawks this night won’t do much for the mood of Bulls fans. In case you missed the big stories of the off-season, Kevin Garnett was traded to the Celtics and Kobe Bryant asked to be traded from the Lakers before changing his mind. In his column this week, Charlie Danoff questions how good a job John Paxson has really done in building this Bulls team:

So, after giving up on Curry and Chandler, and not exercising their opportunities with Garnett and Bryant, where does this leave the Bulls today?

Well, currently they sit at 2-10. For a Scott Skiles-coached team this is not a huge cause for alarm, as they always start slow. Don’t worry fans, coach Skiles will figure out this mess and have his Bulls team losing in the early rounds of the playoffs once again.

Dec. 5 - Ahhh, what’s better than December in Chicago? Well, just about anything, especially when the Bears are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs and the Bulls are just now realizing their season started. It’s not all bad, though, (*SPOILER ALERT*) as the team is about to have their most productive month - an 8-8 December. Despite the team showing promise, point guard Kirk Hinrich is having the worst year of his career, averaging 10.7 ppg, 5.4 apg and shooting 35% from the field. You know what, Captain Kirk will not only never be a star, he may not even be starter-material:

At the end of the day, Kirk is who he is: a short two-guard who plays good defense and can make some jump shots. Despite the fact that Chauncey Billups eventually learned how to run a team all the way to the NBA Championship late in his career, I do not see the same outcome in Hinrich’s future. He is too overpaid, too satisfied with his own lack of progress, or maybe just too stupid to change. How can a team possibly have success starting Hinrich at the point when they are 6 points better per 100 possessions with him on the bench?

Hinrich eventually found his shooting stroke and finished the year at 41% from the field, his career shooting percentage. Unfortunately the Bulls still owe him $36.5 through 2012, and Hinrich is coming off career lows in points per game (11.5) and assists per game (6.0).

That’s it for part one of the Bulls season in review, be sure to come back for our next installment. It’s about to get good (and by good, I mean really, really bad).

One of the most difficult parts of a charity for children is how to communicate and reach out to them. A Chicago-based non-profit organization has got that figured out, though.

Play for Life International, founded slightly more than a year ago by Eun Jung Decker and her husband Colin, relates to at-risk children through a language any kid can understand – sports.

“We have traveled quite a bit and seen how sports were a great way to communicate with children,” Eun Jung Decker said. “Our main message is to engage and empower children through sports.”

The organizations first fundraiser, Season Opener, is scheduled for April 10 at Galleria Marchetti, 825 W. Erie St. Decker said she plans for the fundraiser to become an annual event.

The fundraiser begins at 5:30 p.m. with a Nintendo Wii tournament between the event’s attendees and kids who are part of Play for Life’s programs. Decker said that portion of the evening is a good chance for people who donate to see the children that are benefiting from their charity, and vice versa.

From 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. the event will be adults only, and include an open bar (and of course access to the ever present Wii). There will be a silent auction featuring various sports memorabilia and tickets to local events, as well as a raffle for prizes including a new Nintendo Wii.

In addition, Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton and former Bulls All-Star Bob Love will be at the event.

Play for Life currently runs programs in Chicago’s Englewood area, and Decker said they are looking into expanding into the West Side of Chicago. She added that hopefully within two years the organization will expand outside of Chicago, into other areas of the United States as well as internationally.

Decker explained while sports is the basis of Play for Life, it is not all they do.

“We want to disrupt the patterns that put kids at a disadvantage,” she said. “We use sports as our medium, but we insert life lessons that will help them.”

The organizations flagship program is a baseball clinic for 8-13 year olds run in conjunction with the West Englewood Athletic Association. This past winter the charities ran the program for anywhere from 40 to 50 kids.

Decker said the program will run again next winter, and that this summer Play for Life is sponsoring a baseball team of 12 year olds.

Play for Life also recently began a soccer program in the Englewood area last year, running clinics for up to 90 children.

Decker said the organization also provides athletic equipment for the kids.

“If they need a glove or a bat, or really anything sports related, they can fill out grant applications,” she said. “We see it as a way to get them ready to apply for things, before they have to do it for college.”

Decker said just about every athletic organization in Chicago has been very helpful to Play for Life, especially the University of Chicago baseball program. This season children from the Play for Life program will serve as batboys for the collegiate team.

“We took them to U of C, they held a baseball clinic for them and the kids were in awe,” Decker said. “It’s only 15 minutes away from where they live, but it’s like an entirely different world.”

Decker also singled out the Chicago Fire and the Chicago Bulls as being especially helpful.

“All the local teams have come through for us, either in small ways or big,” she said. “We feel very lucky to have their support.”

More information about Play of Life International can be found through their website, www.playforlife.org.

Best. Trade Deadline. Ever.

As bad as the 2007 NBA Trade Deadline was, the 2008 version has been historic. One future Hall of Famer, Shaq, has already been traded and another, Jason Kidd, is on the verge of switching teams. Past All-Stars Shawn Marion and Pau Gasol have new homes, as does former number one pick Kwame Brown. Two former stars, Chris Webber and Damon Stoudamire, were each signed by playoff-bound teams and I haven’t even mentioned the epic Stromille Swift-for-Jason Collins trade yet (and I won’t mention it again).

There is a very real chance that by the time the deadline passes next week every major title contender will have made some kind of move. And it’s wonderful. For the first time in recent memory, a trade deadline other than the MLB’s and the NHL’s actually means something.

Clearly, these teams seem to be feeding off each other, and in no way is this a bad thing. Trade fever is sweeping through the NBA and no one is immune. Not even the Bulls.

It has been said it would be foolish for the Bulls to make a trade now, given that virtually the entire team’s trade value has plummeted this year. No GM is going to come hard after a 6-3 combo guard averaging 13 points a game like Kirk Hinrich, not when he’s still owed almost $30 million over the next three years. And I doubt the Bulls have got many calls about Ben Gordon’s availability, not when you consider the injured sixth-man will likely want more than the $50 million the team offered him this off-season when he becomes a free agent in a couple of months. While Andres Nocioni is a nice player, the Bulls have to be worried he isn’t worth the $38 million contract he signed last year.

Then there are the untouchables. We’ve already seen the Bulls don’t really want to trade Luol Deng, nor should they. Similarly, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas all have upside, and unless you’re going to get a star in return you can’t trade them.

I’m sure someone would take Joe Smith, but he’s been the Bulls best player this season so he isn’t going anywhere. The rest of the team is either youngsters like Aaron Gray or mediocre vets like Chris Duhon.

The thing is, the Bulls don’t need to trade any of those players. They do need to trade Ben Wallace.

Before you think of all the things Ben isn’t, think about what he is. He’s still an above-average defender and a very good weak-side defender. He’s still a good rebounder. He’s not a leader, but he doesn’t cause problems either-unless it has to do with headbands. Most importantly, he’s a big man in a league that lacks big men.

Now the negatives. He is worthless on the offensive end of the floor and his contract means the only team in the NBA that would want to trade for him is the Knicks, and even Isiah isn’t that dumb. But that’s okay, because Wallace would be as bad a fit on the Knicks as he is on the Bulls.

Wallace needs to be on a team that has leaders. As he’s shown this year, to be effective he needs to be on a winning team. And if there’s one thing we know for sure about Ben Wallace, it’s that he needs to be on a team that has another post presence like he had in Rasheed Wallace.

But sending Wallace back to the Pistons makes no sense, either. The Bulls shouldn’t be going out of their way to make the Pistons a better team, and the salaries don’t match up unless Detroit is willing to part with one of their starters. There’s another team that makes even more sense.

Ben Wallace needs to be on the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs don’t have anything to give the Bulls except for expiring contracts, but the Bulls shouldn’t mind. At this point, Wallace is doing nothing but hurting the development of Noah and Thomas. He’s not the veteran leader the team sorely lacks and even if he was still a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, the Bulls aren’t winning anything this year. It would also allow the Bulls to be a player in a free agent market this year that will include a plethora of stars.

Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and Jacque Vaughn account for almost $10 million in expiring contracts, and the Spurs wouldn’t miss any of them. Add Robert Horry’s $3.6 million expiring contract and you have a deal.

The Spurs need another big man, they admitted as much when they started Barry at power forward earlier this year. The 37-year-old Horry is no longer a consistent option at power forward, and Greg Popovich doesn’t seem to trust either Fabricio Oberto or Francisco Elson at the center position. Matt Bonner may be okay for 15 minutes a game, but nothing more.

Adding Wallace would allow the Spurs to match up with the Lakers new combo of Andrew Bynum and Gasol as well as the Suns duo of Shaq and Amare Stoudemire. It also would allow Duncan to rest more on the defensive end and once again the Spurs would be the top defensive team in the league. Wallace’s contract wouldn’t be a huge problem for the Spurs, either. If the trade doesn’t work, the Spurs are stuck with Wallace for the 2008-09 season before he enters his final year. Then they have a valuable trade asset-a huge expiring contract.

Popovich has made a living avoiding contracts like Wallace’s, but if he wants to do something he’s never done before-win back-to-back championships-he’s got to take a risk. The Spurs are nothing but a year older this season, and while it wouldn’t be a shock if they won it all without Wallace, it wouldn’t be a shock if they didn’t make it past the first round either.

In any other year, this trade would make too much sense to happen. But not in 2008. Not when trade fever is sweeping the NBA.

I got the call late last night. As a sports radio junkie, I knew there were rumors the Heat were looking into trading Shaquille O’Neal and that the Suns were a possible suitor. I literally laughed off the report of a Shaq for Shawn Marion trade, though.

Then my friend called and said it was real. ESPN’s Ric Bucher was reporting the teams agreed to the trade and the only hold-up was Shaq passing a physical. I still didn’t believe it, but the television and Internet confirmed it: my team had just traded away the perfect player for their system for a washed up, fat center. Oliver Miller, anyone?

The story of my allegiance to the Phoenix Suns franchise is a bit boring, so I won’t go into too many details. But basically, I grew up in a professional sports desert (Austin, TX) and I was a huge Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers fan. When Barkley came to Phoenix in ‘92 I was hooked for life.

Until my team, the most entertaining team in the NBA, traded away the ultimate Mike D’Antoni power forward for a guy who won’t be able to run with Steve Nash or Leandro Barbosa. It’s enough to make me want to renounce my fanhood.

Living in Chicago for the last two-plus years, I realize it could be worse. Yes, I think this is an awful trade. But I also understand what the Suns are doing. They know they couldn’t beat the Spurs with their run and gun style. They knew the Lakers passed them up when they got Pau Gasol without giving up any of their rotation players not named Kwame Brown.

So, it’s a desperate attempt by my team, but it is an attempt.

I imagine the feeling I had last night is pretty similar to the feeling Bulls fans had on July 31 of last year, when they found out that not only was Kevin Garnett not being traded to Chicago, but that he was going to another Eastern Conference team - the Boston Celtics.

Or earlier this month, when Bulls fans found out they weren’t getting Gasol, a player the Bulls were rumored to be interested in going back to last season.

Before I pile on John Paxson too much, he’s not without his strengths. Paxson had a plan to build around successful, college players and he stuck with it. The result? He turned the Bulls from a 23-win team in 2003-04 into a team that has made the playoffs three years in a row.

Paxson did that almost entirely through the draft. In ‘03 he got Kirk Hinrich. In ‘04 he brought in Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Chris Duhon. In ‘06 they landed Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha and in ‘07 they drafted Joakim Noah. All safe, quality players that any team in the league would be thrilled to have.

But there are no superstars there. No Kevin Garnett, no Kobe Bryant, not even a Pau Gasol.

And that appears to be the problem with Paxson and the current Bulls management. It is clear they need a star and/or a low post threat, yet they continue to do nothing.

As good as Paxson has been at drafting, he’s shown no ability to take the Bulls to the next level through free agency or trades. His biggest signings have been bringing Scottie Pippen back to town (which failed miserably) and over-paying Ben Wallace. In four-plus years he’s traded away Jamal Crawford, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry for players that are no longer with the team. His only positive trade was stealing Luol Deng on draft day from my Phoenix Suns because our owner didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

Now the trade deadline is two weeks away and it appears the Bulls are going to stand pat once again, hoping that if they can turn things around next year with this group of safe, low-ceiling players, they can once again be a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team.

So before I get too down on my team, I just have to look to the corner of Damen and Madison.

The Suns know they weren’t going to win a championship with the personnel they had, so they did something about it. Apparently, everyone except for Bulls management know they aren’t going anywhere this year and the team continues to do nothing. At least I’m not a Bulls fan.