Category Archives: Chicago Bulls

Waiver Wire: All-Star Questions

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My biggest questions for All-Star Weekend are simple:

“Is there an average NBA fan that can name – without prompting – more than one participant in the Slam Dunk Contest? And if so, does he or she win a prize?”

And …

“Will the notoriously long-winded Alicia Keys finish her halftime performance in less than 60 minutes? Because I sort of suspect that she’ll still be singing in the middle of the third quarter.”

My questions for the second half of the season are a bit more complex, starting with …

Which NBA superstar is fading fastest?

For years, I’ve been avoiding Dwyane Wade in the first round of fantasy drafts, reasoning that, given his injury history, his production will inevitably drop off a cliff. It seems I’ve been fading the wrong All-Star guard.It wasn’t long ago that Deron Williams was just a hair behind Chris Paul in the fantasy point guard rankings. But we haven’t seen him produce at that level for years now. There have been plenty of plausible reasons for his sub-par numbers. He was unhappy in Utah, and then he was playing for an awful Nets team. This year he’s surrounded by talent, but didn’t like Avery Johnson’s offense … and he has dealt with a variety of injuries.

The injuries are most concerning, as they’re really starting to add up. Williams received platelet-rich plasma treatments on both ankles last week, which could indicate that his leg problems are both worse than we thought and not really getting better.

It will be very interesting to see how he plays for the rest of this season and in the playoffs, but as things stand, I won’t be in any rush to draft Williams next year.

How long does an ACL take to heal fully?

Adrian Peterson’s remarkable season – just months removed from a torn ACL – may have given us some funny ideas about how long it takes to recover from that injury. Iman Shumpert’s unimpressive return, and Derrick Rose’s struggles in rehab – should be major reality checks.

As a rookie, Shumpert impressed NBA fans with his quickness, perimeter defense, and ability to get to the rack off the dribble. Since his return from injury, though, he’s been more tentative on both ends of the floor. I’d argue that Mike Woodson’s awkward three-guard lineup, which puts Shump on the floor with both Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd, is part of the problem, but that’s an argument for another column. Is he completely healthy? Is he having trouble trusting the knee? Or did we overrate him based on an impressive debut in a big media market?

I know, that never happens with Knicks players. Hang on, I have to go get my Landry Fields jersey out of the dryer.

Of course, Shump is a marginal fantasy prospect in most formats, unlike Derrick Rose.Like Shumpert, Rose tore an ACL during the first round of the playoffs, but the Bulls’ All-Star guard has yet to make an appearance this season, and recently told reporters that he isn’t close to a return.Rose has even suggested that he’ll sit out the entire season to get the knee back to full strength.

What does this tell us?

1. If you’re one of the players holding on to Rose in a non-keeper league – Rose is 83% owned, so there are a lot of you out there – you might want to consider the possibility of using that roster spot more productively.

2. You’ll also want to be very conservative when considering players like Rajon Rondo or likely lottery pick Nerlens Noel in next year’s drafts.

via Waiver Wire: All-Star Questions – RotoWire.com.

High Comedy

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Jay Williams told The New York Times that some of his Chicago Bulls teammates smoked weed before games… Deadspin is taking an educated guess at who Jay was talking about.

Couple of observations:

  1. Note the time on the post. Well done.
  2. They have Roger Mason (of “how u”) fame one spot ahead of Lonny Baxter (of “sent to prison for firing a pistol near the White House” fame)… which is sort of awesome.

Waiver Wire: Boozer to the Raptors?

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A few weeks ago, I was predicting a fairly quiet trade deadline.

Let’s forget I said that.

It seems more and more teams will do anything in their power to avoid the league’s new-and-improved luxury tax, which escalates a lot more quickly than the old version and which includes an additional charge – dubbed the “repeater tax” on teams that exceed the threshold for too many years in a row.

In retrospect, I should have seen this coming. Fear of the tax was a big reason the Thunder traded James Harden before the season, was the primary driver of the Grizzlies’ recent trades, and is a major factor in just about every proposal that has been floated this week.

So who’s going where?

Carlos Boozer to the Raptors? The Bulls have never been shy – or particularly apologetic – about looking to economize on salaries, and it feels like they’ve been hoping to unload Boozer’s exorbitant salary since the day he arrived at the United Center. The hottest rumor has Boozer headed to Toronto in exchange for Andrea Bargnani. It’s not hard to see why Jerry Reinsdorf likes the idea; Boozer will make roughly $32 million over the next two seasons, Bargnani $23 million.

Funny thing, though – for a money deal, this one actually makes a fair amount of basketball sense. Bargnani would give the Bulls a floor-stretcher in the frontcourt, which would help create space for Derrick Rose’s drives, while Taj Gibson is already on hand to replace Boozer’s paint presence.

Toronto, meanwhile, would get a low-post scorer they haven’t had since Chris Bosh took his talents to South Beach, and (potentially) a nice complement to Rudy Gay.

Boozer is 92-percent owned – which seems about right. He’ll score and rebound but doesn’t block enough shots or shoot a stunningly-high percentage. Gibson (32-percent owned) stands to benefit significantly from the proposed deal, especially when you consider how much time Bargnani and Joakim Noah spend dealing with injuries.

Complete article at Waiver Wire: Rumor Mill – RotoWire.com.

The Agents Win. Because the Agents Always Win.

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On several occasions during last summer’s lockout, I made the case that the NBPA was crazy to risk the cancellation of the season – or even of a substantial portion thereof.

That assertion had nothing to do with the quality of the CBA offers on the table at any given time. Sure, it seemed like many of the owners’ proposals were terribly unfair. And sure, it looked like the union was being asked to go back to a pre-Curt Flood system governing player movement.

That never mattered to me, for two simple reasons:

  1. It’s not my money, and I didn’t want to miss seeing any games. But more importantly:
  2. I have every faith that the NBA’s player agents are much smarter than the league’s general managers, and that no matter the system, they’d find loopholes to maximize their clients’ earnings potential.

Not to brag, but I think I was on the money.

Even after the lockout, and the loss of the preseason and all games before Christmas… and even after the implementation of a new CBA designed to slow the growth of player salaries and penalize teams that exceed the luxury tax… we’re seeing marginal players get wildly overpaid.

The new factor driving up player salaries? The so-called “poison pill contract.” It works like this… Team X wants to sign a restricted free agent away from Team Y. So they go to that RFA and offer a deal that’s back-loaded… paying $5 million in the first two seasons and $10 million in the third. The original team still has the right to match, but doing so would mean facing a particularly ugly luxury tax bill in year three. That’s how the Rockets will pry Omer Asik away from the Bulls, and how the Raptors plan to get Landry Fields – and possibly Jeremy Lin – away from the Knicks.

Pretty savvy, right? But here’s the thing. If Landry Fields is worth $20 million over three… and to paraphrase Bill Parcells, you are what your contract says you are… what’s the next free agent worth? Suddenly, Jrue Holiday’s demand for a “max” extension seems a lot less crazy.

And the agents win again.

Anyone else thinking that restricted free agent contracts and “poison pills” are already on the agenda for the next round of CBA talks?

Image: New York Knicks player Landry Fields attends Knicks Bowl at 300 New York at Chelsea Piers. Nicole Sweet-US PRESSWIRE

Working the Wire: Compressed Schedules and Nagging Injuries

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A lot of top players are suffering from the sorts of injuries that can linger for an extended period… notably, Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade. How does a fantasy owner manage their injuries? Maybe taking a page from the fantasy NFL strategy book is in order…

Seems reasonable to expect Rose – and his coach, Tom Thibodeau – to “pick their spots” and try to get him additional rest when possible until the toe is completely healthy. But that means fantasy owners are going to have to watch Rose’s status very carefully and have backups available on the nights that he’s sitting. Adding to the uncertainty of Rose’s situation is the fact that he’s got no clear backup. John Lucas (1% Yahoo/.4% ESPN) started in Rose’s place against Washington and scored 25 points, but C.J. Watson is returning from an elbow injury on Monday and could do the honors tonight.

Dwyane Wade’s status is similar -Wade is suffering from an ankle injury or plantar fasciitis or both, depending on who you believe. Plantar fasciitis is another one of those nagging, hurts-all-the-time and “doesn’t get better until you have a chance to really rest it” injuries. When he does come back – and there’s no telling when that will be – his game-by-game status will likely be similarly iffy. Wade owners might want to “handcuff” him with Norris Cole (22%/23.3%) the same way Arian Foster owners needed to make roster space for Ben Tate.

via Working the Wire: Compressed Schedules and Nagging Injuries – RotoWire.com.