Reading through the trade rumors it appears that the next two weeks should be active, especially with the Cleveland situation. The Niko trade talk has subsided as has his recent performance. It's difficult to project his trade value as better than a low
first round pick at best as you have suggested. There still remains hope with this fan that the Gar/Pax combo will be able to utilize the cap space and trade assets for something meaningful but expectations are now far more modest. So we wait. Perhaps
the promised Senate Dreamer debate will help pass the time. Any revised expectations?
John Petersen
Where do you think Niko ends up? I'm guessing a team that trades for him would be a playoff bubble team in either conference who believes they need one more piece to get them over the hump. So who would that be? Utah for Favors, since they're gonna lose
him anyways? Portland? Or maybe Washington or Miami?
Paulie Giuntoli
After seeing Ben Simmons first hand a couple of times now, I'm interested in your take on him. We Australian's (particularly our media) tend to be pretty parochial when it comes to our athletes performing in the U.S. NBA players such as Luc Longley, Andrew
Bogut, Patty Mills and Mathew Dellavedova are lauded here as they were contributors on championship winning NBA teams. Watch the our national league NBL and you'll see Boguts and Dellavedovas are a dime a dozen! Essentially every American import that
comes and plays here talks about the ‘physical' play. Our athletes play ‘below the rim' so need to find other ways to be competitive. The way Bogut and Dellavedova play would not be considered dirty by our standards. To me, Ben Simmons looks like the
first real ‘All Star' prospect we have produced. I know it's early in his career, but where do you project he could be in the future. He certainly has a unique skill set, particularly with his size, but his shot looks suspect which could be an issue.
In saying that, off the top of my head, I can think of two other point guards with suspect shots who carved out Hall of Fame careers in Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. Not that I'm saying he is Hall of Fame material of course, I'd never be that parochial……
Andrew Robson
Can the Bulls get involved in the Deandre Jordan sweepstakes? Bulls - D Jordan, 2nd rnd pick Clippers - Lopez, mirotic, grant Put us right in the playoff picture this year and doesn't cripple us long term with Jordan off the books in 18mths if we choose
not to resign him. With that signing, it may attract a big name free agent his summer I think Lavine could be a SF as he can rebound. The search for a high level SG to complete our 5 with Holiday to the bench. I know, I know, it'll never happen. We'll
have a no.12-15 pick and heaps of money for free agency is the path we'll go. Just hope we don't pay 'overs' for some 2nd tier level star.
Andrew Brown
I don't agree with your moralist take on tanking. Everyone is always bringing up what the 76ers have been doing the last half decade or more with "the process," as a way to ostracize tankers in the NBA. But we're talking about the most extreme form of
tanking maybe ever, and a team that has the unfortunate knack for drafting players who sit out their first year in the league. (Noel, Embiid, Simmons, and now Fultz) No one is suggesting the Bulls take a decade off in the cellar to pick up 5 #1 or 2
picks. What a lot of Bulls fans think makes sense (including me) is to play out the rest of this year with the mentality that we play hard for most of the game and then Arcidiacano it up towards the end. We've already watched the Baby Bulls with Scott
Skiles give Chicago Rudy-like performances for several years and then with Thibs, we celebrated winning an occasional game in Miami or Cleveland without Derrick Rose in the playoffs, pretending it was a major achievement. We've done the whole heart
thing, as far as it can go, and now it's time to see the wizard about a brain. We've been sold this older-than-Sam-Smith mentality in Chicago that playing with heart and sticking to the whole blue collar ethic of never giving up or tanking games because
we're morally superior. Those were fun times but we want to win again. So let's gingerly tank one year. No big deal. What's the best thing that can happen this year, winning a playoff series against watered down Eastern conference sludge? Nope. Getting
a top 5 pick and adding him to a roster that can step up and win a title when the Warriors disband and Lebron retires. And don't give me that bologna that it goes against some honor code of the NBA. The Warriors are a 4 superstar corporation that made
the NBA like college football, played out in the off season. I know you're giving us the old school perspective, from the times when teams didn't tank, but then again the classic NBA teams didn't need to tank. It's one pointless year. Call it something
else if you need to. But we need to "defer" this year.
Marcus Nikokiris
Back in the fall, I wrote to you suggesting mediocrity was the great enemy of this season. You wittily assured me that it was an unlikely outcome. Of course, here we are, knocking on the door of a 30-35 win season, and a late lottery draft choice. I won't
join the chorus of fans who are disappointed we won't get first choice of the 19-year-old saviors, mainly because I'll get to proclaim loudly about how prescient I was back in the fall when most of us didn't know most of the players on the Bulls' roster.
This, of course, reflects the unending value of an English major's higher education. The other reason I'm good with how things are is, this team is in a stage of development contending teams have to go through. They have obvious talent, including more
good shooters than the Bulls have ever had, but the young guys have to learn how to play the game. I think they've come a long way offensively and they're definitely better defensively, so the progress is there. They remind me in some ways of the Bulls
when Pippen and Grant were new to the league. I especially remember when we all wanted them to make a big trade to bring in a big-stats veteran, but the Bulls stood pat and Pippen and Grant made great leaps in their development and all of a sudden the
team was in the thick of the conference race. As for missing out on a top-3 draft choice, as you constantly point out, the teenage picks usually need a year or two just to contribute as rotation players, and stardom, if it comes at all, comes much later.
I suppose you have to consider trading Niko if he's intent on being a starter and commanding top dollar, but it's hard to see a player swap that would benefit the Bulls. Maybe they could take someone's bad (but not fatal) contract and a first round
draft choice, but the draft choice would be in the twenties, probably.
Kirk Landers
What are your thoughts on Chris Paul, Paul George, Andre Drummond, Ben Simmons all left off the roster for the All-Star game?
Tom Plonowski
Trade deadline coming up. Please tell me Niko is staying put! After drafting him, we waited 3 years for him to finally come over stateside, his first 3 years in the NBA he was up and down, but at least we saw the potential during the month of March every
year. Now, although not starting, he is playing with that consistency and confidence we've been waiting for. He's upped his defensive game, and he's become more versatile on offense, scoring inside more often now. You can pair him with Portis or Markannen
at any point, so really there is no glut at power forward, as one might suspect looking at the depth chart. To recap, the Bulls have a guy they drafted and developed. He's just starting to come into his own. He's on an affordable contract with a team
option for next year. He's a perfect guy for Hoiberg's system. He's bounced back from the fight in camp this year and he and BP are playing great together. So, why would the Bulls move on from Niko now? The only real upshot I see for trading Niko (outside
of perhaps landing the next Niko at pick #22 this summer, then waiting another 6 years for that guy to become a useful player) is that if they trade him, they will go on to lose more games this season and get into a better draft position with their
own pick. Which is something I'm not really interested in-- I like this team, and I like how they are coming around. Why can't this group be the foundation going forward? I know the Sam Hinkie Sixers would definitely have traded away Niko, Lopez, and
Holiday by now while sitting Lavine for the season, but I am hoping the Bulls' mindset with this rebuild is different, and I suspect it is. So, as you can tell, I am hoping for a quiet trade deadline for the Bulls this year. What about Cleveland, though?
Any chance they could land Boogie Cousins, who is on an expiring deal? New Orleans has cap issues and wouldn't that Brooklyn pick look pretty good to them if they could get it for Boogie? He's going to want a big contract next summer if they keep him.
Cleveland obviously values that pick, as they might need it to start the rebuild if Lebron leaves, but looking around the league, I really don't see where Lebron would go. Why wouldn't Cleveland load up with an all star and Olympian? He would greatly
improve their team, and what a matchup that would be for Golden State to try to deal with if and when they meet again in the Finals this year! GSW might think twice about going small with Green at the 5 if Boogie Cousins is on the floor!
Hawk Gates
Why did the NBA not televise the All-Star draft. I'm quite certain it would have generated a lot of attention/ratings/publicity. probably more than the game itself.
Alejandro Yegros
I think bulls are in a prime position to trade next years first round pick to Phoenix for TJ Warren or josh jackson to fill their void left by the trading of butler. Considering most of the top five picks are bigs - I think it makes tons of sense to got
for known commodities versus speculating on upside. What are your thoughts on trading off picks for one of their small forwards to create a real beast in the east now in Chicago?
Ryan Carpel