The AP reports: The Pacers sent Williams to Dallas on Friday for Eddie Jones, cash and draft picks. Brandon Rush, a rookie, took advantage of the available minutes and scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead Indiana past the Chicago Bulls 102-95 in a preseason game… T.J. Ford scored 18 points and Marquis Daniels added 13 for the Pacers (1-1). Tyrus Thomas had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Aaron Gray added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls (0-2). Chicago guard Derrick Rose, the first pick in the 2008 draft, had 13 points and six assists.
Category: Chicago Bulls Blog
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Oct 9: Mavs 110, Bulls 102
The AP reports: Gerald Green scored 18 points to lead six Dallas players in double figures, helping the Mavericks beat the Chicago Bulls 110-102 in a preseason game on Thursday night. Bulls rookie Derrick Rose, last spring’s No. 1 draft pick, played nearly 27 minutes and scored 10 points in Chicago’s preseason opener… Luol Deng, Aaron Gray and Darius Washington paced the Bulls with 14 points each, while Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes each added 11. Dirk Nowitzki scored 15 points for the Mavericks, Antoine Wright and Jose Barea each had 11 and Brandon Bass added 10.
Ben Gordon signs one-year Bulls qualifying offer
The Chicago Bulls today announced that guard Ben Gordon agreed to accept the one-year qualifying offer ($6.4 million) that had been tendered to him by the team. Gordon will thus be under contract with the Bulls for the 2008-09 season, at which time he will become an unrestricted free agent.
The 6-3, 200-pound Gordon has appeared in 316 games, including 128 starting assignments, in four seasons with the Bulls. During that time, he has averaged 18.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.9 apg, while shooting .432 from the field and .416 from three-point range. Last season in 72 games, he led the team in scoring for the third consecutive season, posting 18.6 ppg and shot a career-high .908 percent (third in NBA) from the free throw line. Gordon was selected by the Bulls in the first round (third overall) in the 2004 NBA Draft.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Gordon should have taken the more-than-generous Bulls offer that was widely reported to be a multi-year deal for around $10 million per season. Assuming he plays as well as he usually does, the Bulls may wind up making the same offer next summer. Each year only a few teams are under the salary cap, and it’s doubtful any are going to offer Ben a better deal than what Chicago is.
Tyrus Thomas must prove himself
The Arlington Heights Daily Herald (Mike McGraw) reports: Bulls general manager John Paxson on third-year forward Tyrus Thomas, who seemed to regress after a promising rookie season: “I don’t want to put a lot of undue pressure on Tyrus, but this is a big, big year for him,” Paxson said. “I was really pleased at the commitment he made this summer, because he spent time in the gym. He still has a long way to go, but I hope that he has a great camp, because he did put the time in this summer to put himself in good position.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: I’m still not sure who will be the better pro two or three years from now, Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah. I’m leaning towards Thomas, but only by a little.
Michael Ruffin to Bulls training camp
The Rocky Mountain News (Chris Tomasson) reports: Forward Michael Ruffin was hoping to stick around his hometown in the hope his parents could see him play regularly. Instead, the 1995 Cherry Creek High School graduate will go to training camp with Chicago rather than the Nuggets. Ruffin didn’t feel good about his chances of making the roster with a nonguaranteed contract on the cost-cutting Nuggets, who have 13 players with guaranteed deals and aren’t certain if anybody else will be kept.
Bulls add four to operations staff
The Chicago Bulls announced today the appointment of four individuals to its Basketball Operations staff, including Dave Severns as Assistant Coach for Player Development, Jeff Tanaka as Assistant Athletic Trainer, Justin Zormelo as Assistant Video Coordinator and Joshua Bonhotal as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach.
Severns, 51, comes to the Windy City after spending the last 12 years at Nike as a player development coach. While at Nike he worked with college players at its All-American Camp, Skills Academies and the Jordan Flight School. Prior to Nike, he spent three years as the Video Coordinator at Fresno State University, two years as an Assistant Coach at Fresno City College and one year as an Assistant Coach at Chico State University. Severns earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from California State University-Chico.
Tanaka, 37, brings more than 15 years of experience on the professional and collegiate levels to the Bulls. He spent the last 10 seasons as an Assistant Athletic Trainer with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League and spent the previous two seasons at the University of California-Berkeley in the same capacity. Prior to his tenure at Cal Berkeley, Tanaka had four stints in the professional ranks, beginning with a training camp internship with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1994. He then spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with the 49ers (1995-96) before accepting a position as an Assistant Athletic Trainer for the NFL Europe Amsterdam Admirals in 1997. After his time in Amsterdam, Tanaka spent the next two seasons at the University of California where he was Head Athletic Trainer for men’s basketball and the men’s and women’s swim teams. Tanaka received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1994 and in 2001 earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from San Jose State.
Zormelo, 24, will begin his first season with the Bulls after spending last season as a video room intern with the Miami Heat. Prior to his internship with the Heat, Zormelo spent four years as the team manager (three years as head manager) for the Georgetown University Men’s Basketball team. He graduated from Georgetown University in 2006 with a B.S. in finance.
Bonhotal, 25, will begin his second stint with the Bulls, this time in a full-time role. He served as the Strength and Conditioning Intern during the first half of the 2006-2007 season. Most recently, he worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning in Winchester, Massachusetts. Bonhotal graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2006 with a degree in kinesiology.
Quick East thoughts
The season is approaching, folks. Training camps open in around one week (I’m in Prague right now, haven’t looked at a calendar in a while. Tuesday I’m off to hang out in Berlin for a week, then about 8 days in Amsterdam. I’ll be back in New York City right around the start of preseason.)
In the east, the Celtics remain the best of the conference, though I wonder if Ray Allen will drop off a bit this season. They also need to improve their bench.
The Pistons bring back last year’s team, with Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups a year older.
The Magic still need to improve their backcourt.
The Cavaliers add scoring punch with the addition of point guard Mo Williams, but it’s still the LeBron James show with a supporting cast that will have to work very hard to carry their weight.
The Wizards must once again play without Gilbert Arenas for a while, though even with him they’re a lower-level playoff team.
The Raptors have to hope Jermaine O’Neal regains former All-Star form; it’ll be tough.
The 76ers added a star by signing power forward Elton Brand, and that should definitely raise them in conference standings.
The Hawks aren’t locks to return to the playoffs, but it’s good they kept Josh Smith.
The Bucks improved on paper, adding a pass-first point guard in Luke Ridnour, but more importantly, a legit good forward in SF Richard Jefferson.
The Knicks have the same talented yet flawed roster, but a new coach. Can Mike D’Antoni work miracles?
The Nets are rebuilding and aside from Vince Carter and young Devin Harris, everyone on the team who matters is young and in development.
The Bulls have the same team as the last few seasons, though Ben Gordon remains unsigned. Will they play like the good Bulls from two years ago, or the disappointing ones from last season? Flip a coin, because they’re capable of going either way.
The Bobcats have nice swingmen in Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, plus Emeka Okafor, but everyone else is young and in development.
The Heat could make a leap in the standings now that Dwyane Wade is healthy, plus Shawn Marion needs a new contract, and Michael Beasley doesn’t like losing. The supporting cast is still extremely weak, though.
The Pacers always do a bit better than expected. The bad news is, almost nothing is ever expected. Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavey and TJ Ford are very nice players, though. They may surprise a little, but not a lot.
I’ll share quick West thoughts tomorrow. Right now I’m off to hike up to the Prague castle. I’ll be right here in about an hour.
–Jeff
Fan Poll Results: 8 East playoff teams
InsideHoops.com ran a poll for the last week asking fans to pick the eight Eastern conference teams they feel will make the playoffs in 2008-09.
The voting for the first four teams was pretty close, with the Celtics (592 votes), Cavaliers (588), Pistons (582) and Magic (578) taking the home-court seeds.
The Raptors (504) came in 5th, though from our experience Toronto fans, being very enthusiastic, tend to bump their team up slightly higher than tends to be expected. Though, if new Raptor Jermaine O’Neal can stay healthy and play anything like his old former All-Star self, this is a very reasonable prediction.
One vote later, coming in 6th, was the 76ers (503), who played better than expected last season and now add star power forward Elton Brand, who is returning from injury, to their mix.
The Wizards (459) came in 7th. They welcome a healthy Gilbert Arenas back.
And now, a dropoff.
Fans feel that last year’s #8 seed, the Hawks, won’t do as well in 2008-09. Rather than pick them to return to the playoffs, fans went with the Heat (294 votes). This is reasonable. Miami welcomes a healthy Dwayne Wade back, alongside Shawn Marion, who needs a contract, and superkid rookie Michael Beasley. The supporting cast is still weak, but slightly improved from last year.
The Bulls (195) finished 9th, just outside the playoff seedings. The Hawks (180) were 10th.
Here are the complete final results:
1) Celtics 592 votes
2) Cavs 588 votes
3) Pistons 582 votes
4) Magic 578 votes
5) Raptors 504 votes
6) Sixers 503 votes
7) Wizards 459 votes
8) Heat 294 votes
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9) Bulls 195 votes
10) Hawks 180 votes
11) Bucks 83 votes
12) Nets 68 votes
13) Knicks 53 votes
14) Pacers 53 votes
15) Bobcats 43 votes
Luol Deng insurance doubt for London 2012
The Times of London (Ian Whittell) reports: Great Britain Basketball [GBB] officials fear that the insurance problems that are preventing Luol Deng, the Chicago Bulls forward, from playing for his country will rule him out of the 2012 Olympic Games in London and even put Britain’s involvement in the tournament in doubt. The sport’s governing body has seven days to find $500,000 (about £272,000) for an additional insurance premium if Deng, who is an ambassador for London 2012, is to take his place in the qualifying campaign for next year’s European Championship A division finals, starting against Israel in Tel Aviv a week today.
Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist
The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.