Welcome to another edition of Chuck Checks In. Last week we posed the question, "Who is the best reserve player in Bulls franchise history?"Thank you for the overwhelming feedback.
This week's CCI question: "If you could make one change to the NBA game, what would it be?"
CCI News and Notes:
Miami meets Boston for the Eastern Conference title. I'm taking Boston, especially if they get Gordon Hayward back sometime in the series. I loved the heart and toughness of the Celtics in their game seven win against the Raptors. Marcus Smart was tremendous on both ends of the floor. Daniel Theis took his game to the next level as Boston did just enough down the stretch to come out victorious. It was a fantastic series that lived up to its hype. As a fan, I caught every game and honestly wish it could have been a best of eleven series. The Raps now face an interesting off-season as they must deal with impending free agency to Fred Van Vleet, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Total respect to the Raps.
Miami is Miami. Simple as that. Jimmy Butler mirrors what the Heat stand for and the Heat will go as far as Butler can lead them. The Heat stole Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick. They shrewdly selected Tyler Herro with the 13th pick in 2019. Duncan Robinson was a free agent. Incredible job by the Miami front office.
LeBron and Anthony Davis put away the Rockets with relative ease. They will kick back and enjoy a game seven between the Nuggets and Clippers in order to determine who they will meet in the Western Conference Finals. I took the Clippers to win the title but after watching them in their series against the Nuggets, I'm not sure they'll even advance. Make no mistake about it, the pressure is on LAC. Should the Nuggets win, it will be a very, very long off-season for Doc Rivers' team. Denver's Nikola Jokic just gets better and better and I marvel at what a gifted offensive player he truly is. Denver Head Coach Michael Malone has done a tremendous coaching job in the series.
CCI QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Our CCI readers responded to last week's question: "Who is the best reserve in Bulls franchise history?"
"Probably Toni Kukoc. I also enjoyed Nate Robinson a lot, but there's no comparison between both players and the impact they had." -Jorge
"Ben Gordon was literally the 6th Man of the Year (so was Kukoc, but BG was making game winning shots his rookie year.)" -Henry
"John Mengelt!" -Ray
"Gotta put some Cliff Levingston love out there. Brought the energy up every time" -Michael
"Toni Kukoc is the Bulls best reserve." -Jai
"I would go with Kukoc or Craig Hodges." -mjhdz
"Craig Hodges. 3 point champion." -Theo
"We're really acting like Ben Gordon didn't exist?" -David
"Toni Kukoc. No one else is close." -James
"Kukoc! He was a stud!" -Matt
"Bobby Weiss, Mickey Johnson, Craig Hodges." -Rene
"Granville Waiters... with a special shoutout to Delmer Beshore!" -Bernie
The fans have spoken and the winner is ....Toni Kukoc!
Thank you to everyone who participated. Again, this week's CCI Question, "If you could make one change to the NBA game, what would it be?"
Reach out: cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter @ctsbulls.
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