Yup… told ya’…

The only thing better than the Pistons spanking the Lakers on their own court in game one of the finals, is getting to gloat about it to everyone at work because you predicted it all along, regardless of their nay saying.

I may have to live here, but I don’t have to like the Lakers. They will loose it all to the Pistons… I promise!

The Bulls are having another terrible season. So bad it seems, that their mascot had to hit the streets for a little green. How does a man dressed as a Bull, shilling dime bags figure he’s not going to get caught? Kind of sums up the Bulls season…

In other news, the Bulls are changing the jersey number of mascot “Da Bull” from 95 to 420.

My #33 Bulls jersey is no longer retro… it’s now current again. My favorite player is returning to my favorite team. I never thought this would happen but now, once again, Scottie Pippen is a Chicago Bull.

After years in Portland and a brief stint in Houston, Pip is taking Chicago’s mid-level exception for two years, worth $10.2 million. The Bulls get an extremely experienced and much needed small forward to help lead and educate one of the league’s youngest teams. I get to watch him play in a Bulls jersey once again. Everyone’s happy.

There won’t be another six championships and at 38, there’s no question that Scotties at the end of his career but this may prove to be the turning point for the Bulls of the future. Read the article here…

I don’t have cable TV because I find that when I do, I do little else than sit on my butt and watch (I’m a sucker for Nazi documentaries and home improvement shows). In order to preserve any semblance of a life, I have to sacrifice the amount of basketball I get to watch.

I was taking a look at the NBA’s national TV schedule to see how many games are broadcast (not on cable) and found quite a few games on a station I’d never heard of. The listing only showed a “T” symbol and had no other information about what channel it was. Well today I was flipping through in order to find which channel was broadcasting the Knicks vs. Hornets game. It turns out that the game is actually the Nueva York Knicks vs. Nueva Orle?ns Hornets and it’s being broadcast on the local Spanish station KSTS. It seems the station has purchased the rights to broadcast a handful of NBA games this year. Okay… weird… but okay.

Watching the NBA in spanish is great. Not being able to understand the commentary is actually kind of nice. Instead of the normal blather, you get a lot of rolled “R”s and some fun pronunciations of player names (“Hore” (George) Lynch was my favorite). The interviews with the players are really short and a mix of English and Spanish. All in all, you get all the good stuff with less filler and it’s free! I’m all for this. Now if they would just buy some Bulls games…

Thanks to the Houston Rockets, there was no chance for Jerry Krause to screw up in this draft. With the overall first pick in this years draft, the Rockets selected Yao Ming, the 7’6″ Shawn-Bradley-wanabee Center, leaving the Bulls with no-brainer selection of Jay Williams at number two.

Williams, a 6’2″ PG out of Duke was the real prize in the 2002 draft and will make an immediate impact on a young (very young) Bulls team.

In addition to Williams, the Bulls also hauled in G Roger Mason and PF Lonny Baxter in the second round. Both seem to be quality players but more suspiciously, would cover the Bulls’ two best tradable/expendable assets in G Jamal Crawford and F Marcus Fizer if a trade was to happen. Although personally, I would hate to loose Crawford or (more likely) Fizer, expect to see at least one of them in another teams jersey before next season due to the Bulls need for quality veterans.

Kill the Lakers…

Ahh crap…

Defense, of course, is the Bulls major problem and needs to be addressed by draft/trade/free agency as well as by individual improvements by the players themselves. By all accounts, Jay Williams plays good D and should have an immediate impact at the point but he also allows the Bulls to be the most flexible. Such as…

• Out of college, Crawford was sometimes compared to Ron Harper. The Bulls could only hope this to be true. Taking the ball handling pressure off of Crawford might allow him more time to better develop his defense.
• With Williams providing the additional scoring needed, the Bulls could acquire a defensive specialist (like free agent Bruce Bowen!) that could offer instant defense at a number of positions.
• Although Rose’s defense may not be world renown, it is fairly solid and at 6’7, he could match up with some of the league’s bigger guards. Chandler, Erob and Fizer could pick up the slack at the 3.
• Trenton Hassell showed some real promise as a defense-minded guard and could help off the bench at the 2.

There’s no doubt that a trade could be as good or better for the Bulls but unlike other opinions that I’ve read, I see the loss of Fizer in the process as a big deal. Fizer is a spark off the bench of the likes of Malik Rose or Bobby Jackson and should not be simply be thrown into a deal for the hell of it.

Jay Williams fits the Bulls needs like a glove. Now if Houston will just play along…

Well luckily, a team the does not need a point guard (Houston Rockets) gets the only draft pick before the Bulls. Barring any trades, this just about guarantees the Bulls of getting PG Jason Williams. The beauty here it that Houston’s biggest need is a center and will likely take a hard look at Yao Ming, the 7’6″ center from China. If Houston is smart, they will trade down for a center and let someone else suffer with the “next Shawn Bradley”. Choosing him will prove to be a bad idea for sure but either way, the Bulls get the PG they so desperately need.

Go Bulls!

The Bulls HAVE to take Jason Williams if he’s available when they draft. He is a leader, scorer, defender and should fit perfectly into the team.

If you take a look at some of the teams in the playoffs this year. There is something to be said about teams having dual point/shooting guards or in other words, multiple guards that can play the 1 or 2. Davis/Wesley, Nash/Van Exel, Bibbey/Jackson… This could bode well for Crawford/Rose but more to the point, this could be very interesting with Crawford/Williams.

Yao Ming is not what we need! Saying he’s better than Shawn Bradley does not ease my mind in the least (I’ve seen Shawn play). We do need a center but the Bulls will be best off with a solid veteran defender (I miss Brad Miller here). I would be fine with taking Ming to trade for a high caliber veteran like Finley if there were no other options in the draft but there are!

• Jason Williams 6-2 195 PG Duke Jr.
  
  He should be the first to go. Now if only the Bulls get the first pick.
• Dajuan Wagner 6-2 200 PG/SG Memphis Fr.
  
  Allen Iverson-like upside. Not the defensive presence we need.
• Qyntel Woods 6-9 230 SG/SF Northeast CC So.
  
  The next Tracy? Something in me hopes we don’t get the first pick and end up taking this kid. The reports speak very well of him. Could be interesting.
• Mike Dunleavy 6-9 220 SF Duke Jr.
  
  Solid kid. Would mean moving Rose to the 2. Could work.
• Drew Gooden 6-10 230 PF Kansas Jr.
  
  With our luck, Jerry will pick him up, move Rose to the 2 and Chandler to the 3. I’m not going to say there’s no way but I’d rather not find out.

As for veteran trades, I would be very happy seeing Finley in a Bulls uniform and that would take care of our biggest problems but I would prefer to have Williams in there to make sure we won’t be shopping for a PG down the road. A Spree trade is interesting but all in all, I think the draft possibilities help the Bulls more.

Get more information, including a curious mock draft at nbadraft.net.