Bulls-Sox analogy

Major difference: the Bulls team that was split up had already won 6 championships is 8 years - a proven, if aging, team that had a reasonably good chance of regaining the finals.

I'd agree that if the team *wanted* to stay, Jerrys should have let them... byt they didn't seem to want to.

Venkatesh Natarajan

The Mario Iglesias of alt.sports.baseball.iowa-cubs

Couple of things.....

Yes the Sox got some of their pitching out of that deal but you can hardly credit that trade alone for building the present team. Most of the talent currently on the White Sox roster did not have anything to do with that trade.

Secondly....

The Sox broke up a winning team but got something in return. We got nada.

I suppose you need to say it a 1000 or more times, which still will not make it true, but hell keep trying. Are you saying that if we played .500 or better ball the past couple of seasons, that players like Elton Brand or Marcus Fizer would have been available at the 16-20th pick of the 1st round? So we could have gotton them anyways?????

You do know that wins and losses don't have anything to do with ultimate draft positions right?? All you get from your record is more or fewer ping pong balls.

The Bulls made no attempt to be competitive over the last two years and that had nothing to do with draft position. So don't justify this laughing stock of a team by claiming that had to happen to get high picks. It didn't

Yeah, you have a chance with the ping pong balls if you do not make the playoffs, you go into the lottery. You do know that if you make the playoffs you have no chance for a high pick and hopefully you realize that the worse your record is the better chance you have for a high pick in the lottery. So yeah, the Bulls could have kept winning and still got Brand and Fizer if there was devine intervention!

First of all.....

Even with these 'brilliant' picks of Brand and Fizer we are a long long long way from being a good team so you can stop pretending that those two acquisitions begin to justify what we've had thrown at us the last two years.

Secondly....

There is a wide wide gulf between making the playoffs and what the Bulls have done the last two years. They are the worst team in basketball. As I have said, and it remains true, we didn't have to be this bad to rebuild thru the draft. Just the truth.

Just look at last years draft. In fact go back and look at SEVERAL drafts and just see how many teams that turned themselves around through the draft had records that even began to be as bad as the Bull's have been.

You wont find it. Why? Because, all together now, you don't have to field a non-competitive team for two seasons in a row to rebuild through the draft. It is just the way it is people whether you want to own up to it or not.

If you can provide any examples, I am sure you would have more people agreeing with you. And the teams that turned around last year all include big FA signings, or young talent that finally developed (Bucks, Magic, Wolves)

I assume you mean if the Bulls kept Pippen, Longley, Harper, Rodman, and the rest they could continually add middle-of-the-pack players and remain competitive forever. This is definitely true, but it would be extremely hard to become an upper-echelon team again.

The problem here is that the core of the Bulls team was very old, and they had absolutely no one left that would carry the team into the future. All the players would be making big bucks, so forget about cap room (yeah, I know, they wouldn't use it anyway). The Bulls might reach 4th or 5th seed for about 3 years, and then retirement and old age would completely blindside the organization with Rodman, Pippen, and Harper retiring and Kukoc over-the-hill. This method would work if Krause could come up with a Ron Artest type of selection every year, or lure good players into signing the 2.25 exception.

Perhaps, the problem is that you see it this way and perceive it to be a reality in your mind. However, I have more confidence in Jerry Krause than I do in your opinion. Jerry Krause has won 6 NBA championships as a GM. Exactly what have you done? It is easy to blast Jerry Krause from the back seat, but since you seem to be such an expert, what perhaps are your qualifications?????? I am confident the Bulls will be great again with Jerry Krause as the GM and in my opinion Brand, Fizer, Crawford and Artest will be the building blocks. Maybe, one day you will get a chance to show the world your basketball genius, but I am guessing probably NOT!

Because, all together now, you