Curry a Grizzly?

[-BHZMAFIA-]

No because Swift isn't a center...He is 6'9 and weighs 230. The only way he would play center is if he was forced to, and that's the position he is in now. IMO Pau can play center because after I saw the way he dominated Yao in the international game then I figured he can probably play some center. That way, Swift can actually play starters minutes and I think Swift and Gasol would be a pretty good frontline to go along with Posey. Especially, if we can't get the big man we want this off-season. I would rather see Swift at PF and Gasol at C, other than Gasol at PF and Wright at center. Gasol will have all the quickness against the centers and the only thing he has to do is play smart. Gasol was able to score 21 pts and 10 rebs against Yao in the China vs. Spain game. Yao had 12 pts and 8 rebs I think Yao is a little too much overrated right now anyway because people think he is already dominate like he is Shaq already, and he isn't...

Andrew, the reason why the trade isn't that pointless because it's not a straight up deal. Like Curry for Swift, when you add Bonzi it changes the whole complex of the trade. Bonzi can score 15 a game easily in around 25 mins of play so that add-on to the Bulls will make the trade favor them a little more. I still don't want the Grizz to do the deal, because I think we can get a cheaper deal done. That's why we never traded with the Warriors to get Dampier because they wanted Swift, and West wouldn't give them Swift. So basically, we would've had Dampier easily or Curry if we involved Swift in the deal.

[air gordon]

SbHZmAFiA...
so tell me again what are the similar potentials between swift and curry?

i'll give you the aldridge speculation however that's all it was. the rumor disappeared so fast, was bird even given the opportunity to deny the speculated trade

if curry is posting 20 and 8 next season, bank on mr logo stepping up the offer...

The Bulls have to make some type of move anyway because they got a bunch of crap for Crawford and JYD.

yep, paxson traded for crap to force himself in a corner to make another move. thanks for playing bulls gm for the day

[-BHZMAFIA-]

SbHZmAFiA...
so tell me again what are the similar potentials between swift and curry?

i'll give you the aldridge speculation however that's all it was. the rumor disappeared so fast, was bird even given the opportunity to deny the speculated trade

if curry is posting 20 and 8 next season, bank on mr logo stepping up the offer...

The Bulls have to make some type of move anyway because they got a bunch of crap for Crawford and JYD.

yep, paxson traded for crap to force himself in a corner to make another move. thanks for playing bulls gm for the day

Ok, when did similar potential get involved? I'm not the only one to say that both players have the same amount of potential. I think Swift is going to start this season and if he plays his natural position at PF, I can see him putting up 15 and 10 on the regular basis by averaging around 25 or so mins a game. I'm pretty sure Curry is in the East and he will most likely get more minutes this season because he is your only true big man so if he does put up 20 and 8, I won't be surprised. The only thing is, I don't think West will go after Curry when the season starts. He will most likely go back to Dampier and get him from Atlanta. I can't wait to see the next move Paxson is going to make because the way he is talking, Curry isn't going anywhere. The other trade bait the Bulls have, they don't want to trade. I don't expect to see a move that will completely turn the Bulls into a contender and hold an automatic spot in the playoffs.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

After looking at this pic, I realize how much Yao is overrated at this point

http://images.sportsline.com/u/ap/photo ... 24x768.jpg

[Carlos Boozer]

Yao is chicken
Yao will never dominate the game..

[air gordon]

i'm one stupid post away from putting on the flame suit...

Ok, when did similar potential get involved?

earlier you said:

Swift has so much potential, kind of like Curry.

I'm not comparing Stro skills to Curry skills...I said they have the same potential.

he will most likely get more minutes this season because he is your only true big man

stick to evaluating memphis players

I can't wait to see the next move Paxson is going to make because the way he is talking, Curry isn't going anywhere. The other trade bait the Bulls have, they don't want to trade. I don't expect to see a move that will completely turn the Bulls into a contender and hold an automatic spot in the playoffs.

ok it's try and take shots at team. so what now, you're a troll?

trade bait... you mean the expiring contracts we got from ny and the current expiring contracts of pip and jeffreis?

where are you getting this idea of the bulls must make a trade to turn them into a contender?? please do tell

i'll be very happy if curry plays out this season as a bull. he'll have the opportunity to prove himself worthy of a big contract or not.

[Carlos Boozer]

coq au vin

[-BHZMAFIA-]

When I said Swift has alot of potential alot like Curry, I meant he has alot of potential to become a star player since Curry would be considered a star player if he reached his full potential right?

I'm not even being a troll all because I said you had to make a major trade to become contenders. I mean it's true, your team is very young and I don't see any true leaders on the team. The only leader I see are Pippen who may retire and who ya'll are talking about getting rid of anyway. I don't see no type of team captain on the team unless one young player will step up and become that. I remember from watching a Bulls-Grizzlies game and they we're saying on WGN that Skiles run too many plays for the team to learn because their too young to memorize all that. I will end this argument now because I have said what I need to say and neither of us will ever agree upon our opinions so let's just stop.

[[Q]]

All I have to say is: Don't doubt the logo... Jerry West knows what he's doing. I would rather have Swift/Wells combo.

[air gordon]

SbHZmAFiA... haha who cares if we don't agree, this is a forum. the only thing that bothers me is that you're taking unnecessaryshots at a team because i'm disproving some of your points.

the logo is fallable: saying gooden was the best player in the draft and then trading him for mike miller. or his questionable draft the year after

[Carlos Boozer]

guys guys please stop flaming :I

[-BHZMAFIA-]

SbHZmAFiA... haha who cares if we don't agree, this is a forum. the only thing that bothers me is that you're taking unnecessaryshots at a team because i'm disproving some of your points.

the logo is fallable: saying gooden was the best player in the draft and then trading him for mike miller. or his questionable draft the year after

Ok, but now look at our team

At least we are a winning team now. If Paxson makes a questionable move, you never know what's going to end up happening. He isn't West. Despite the moves West made, he still build a winner in Memphis. I mean we went from 28 games to 50 games in 1 season and the only thing West had to do was get some depth. How about this? Why did we need Gooden in the first place? We thought he could play the SF position because we weren't going to pick him to play PF. We had Gasol and Swift so why would we need Gooden? He would've played well for us at the SF spot if he didn't shoot so much. Everytime he would get the ball, he would shoot. Jerry West went by what he saw in the draft. When it was his turn to pick with the 4th pick, he thought Gooden was the best player left in the draft and I'm pretty sure nobody else thought Amare Stoudemire was going to be that good so just admit it. We didn't need Stoudemire anyway because we have Gasol and Swift once again. Caron Butler was the only other player we was looking at, but West decided to take Gooden and Gooden was the best player left on the board. Stoudemire did better than what everybody thought he would do so no one is physic. The Bulls would've been an easy playoff team if they would've held on to Artest, Miller and Brand lmao

[air gordon]

actually my fallable comments were in response to qballer's. but game on...

you're preaching to the choir if you're trying to prove to me how great of a job west has done with memphis lol. i didn't say the logo is doing a bad job or saying paxson is as good as west, i just said west can make mistakes too...

If Paxson makes a questionable move, you never know what's going to end up happening.

er not sure what you mean there but i'll guess. if you stop just looking at the stats of the players traded away, you'll see the direction paxson's trying to put the ballclub in: keep or bring in hard working players with the "right attitude" and have financial flexibitly for the immediate future. i'm not sure if i entirely agree with this plan, but at least paxson has taken a stance.


no matter how you spin it, west drafting gooden was a mistake

The Bulls would've been an easy playoff team if they would've held on to Artest, Miller and Brand lmao

while it's so conveniently easy to make this statement, it's ignornant as well.... that awesome trio won a whopping 15 games in the '01 season. no one here ever factors in that the teams they went to were noticeably more talented then chicago. put brad miller and artest on a team where they don't have to be the #1 guy, it's no surprise they look better. same goes for hoiberg and hassell.

lol btw none of those moves were made by paxson

time for the obligatory rip(s) on memphis...
the bulls made the playoffs in their first year in the nba while mempis/vancouver was positioning themselves to pick bryant reeves ( ) in their first year
the grizzlies best accomplishment is making the playoffs. the bulls... do i need to even bother

[-BHZMAFIA-]

The Vancouver Grizzlies isn't the same as it is in Memphis. Look at the entire organization and the only people that you will recognize that was in Vancouver that's still in the Grizzlies organization now are: Michael Heisley (owner) and Stromile Swift (player). I mean the MEMPHIS Grizzlies franchise didn't start until the 2001 season. So we had 2 losing seasons, and every season we had a franchise record win total. We tied it the firts year, then surpassed it the 2nd year. In the 3rd year, we won 50 games and reached the playoffs. I would rather have a team that has alot of great years to come than thinking in the past and talking about a team that has accomplished things 8 years ago.

The way you was talking about Artest, Miller and Brand only winning 15 games, they didn't give that trio enough time. Why they just couldn't add to the team and try to work something out where they could stay together. You never know what someone will become until you actually see them in their prime. I mean when you look at Amare Stoudemire, too many people speculated on him coming from HS and not making an impact when he got into the league. I know Paxson didn't make the moves of trading that trio, but instead of your former GM speculating, he should've just kept them together and waited a few more years before making a move for sure.

I'm not just looking at the stats of the players because if I was, I would be judging my own team. None of the Grizzlies players have eye popping stats and that's because of the 10 man rotation Hubie uses. Whatever Paxson is trying to do, it better be good because I really want to see how the young Bulls will fair next season. You know your team is too young when they can't even understand the plays in their own coach playbook and they suppose to be in the NBA.

[FanOfAll]

Ohh, damn vacation. I missed the start of this one.

Gasol will have all the quickness against the centers and the only thing he has to do is play smart.

No he won't. Gasol isn't the one determining whose guarding him. The other team is. He won't always go up against the center even if he's listed at the center. Ditto if he's at the power forward. IMO, as I recall I said in another thread, it doesn't matter which position he plays, sorta like the Pistons. Bottom line is you have two big men. Whoever guards Gasol, well then so be it. The Grizz can't control that, unless you run a bunch of screens and get switches, which doesn't happen every play and is better off for utilized for a smaller player because it requires more running around and stamina. What the Grizz can control, is who Gasol guards and who Wright/Swift guard. And most of the time the latter will and should guard the superior offensive big man.

Case in point. If you take the '96 Bulls and match them up against the '87 Lakers, who would have guard Magic Johnson? Ron Harper? Of course not. Your best defender out there is Scottie Pippen. Even though he's listed at SF, he's really the PG on defense (and offense a lot too). The position at which the player you are listed, sometimes matters and sometimes doesn't. Of course, if Gasol was the height of Sir Charles, I would've never made these last two paragraphs.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Ok then, so either way it wouldn't really make a difference if Gasol played center or not. Say if the Grizzlies are playing the Mavs, the Mavs would want to put someone more physical on Gasol like Dampier because Dirk wouldn't be able to guard him. On the other end, Gasol would probably guard Dirk instead of Dampier and Swift or Wright would be on Dampier. I see what your saying, but most of the time if Swift is in the starting lineup and him being 6'9, it would be a little difficult to find out who he will be matched up with. Like if the Grizzlies played the Lakers and they had Divac and Grant against Gasol and Swift. The Lakers might put Divac on Gasol if they want to matchup with his height, or Grant on Gasol because they want to overpower him. So you really wouldn't know who would be guarding who, so I have to agree with you on that.

[air gordon]

SbHZmAFiA....

actually it was certain bulls players not being able to memorize the plays skiles was running. you can go ahead and fish around the bulls forums at bbb or rgm if you can't take my word

hindsight is blinding and you question every move made when you have a team that hasn't topped the 30 win mark since their rebuilding. would the artest-brand-miller trio been successful? maybe. but i think otherwise when i hear all 3 of these players talking about how they were so happy to be out of a losing situation. i.e- brad miller telling the press that he had a nightmare that he was still in a bulls uniform

personally i'd choose the team that won 6 titles in my lifetime. some fans go a lifetime not being able to witness their team win one. sure go ahead and say i may live in the past. but while your memphis team may have "many great years" to come, i doubt they'll even come close to touching the great accomplishments of the bulls, let alone win just 1 title. and these current bulls aren't that far away from accomplishing memphis greatest accomplishment- a first round playoff loss

[-BHZMAFIA-]

I could careless if we win 6 titles or whatever because all I want is a championship. Most teams that win a championship anyway, will be contenders for maybe 5 years straight if they keep their team up. All I care about is what is going on in the future, and if we do end up winning a title in the next 3 yrs or so, I will be happy that we will continue on being contenders. I don't see the Bulls making the playoffs this season, they will most likely come close to making it, but I just don't see it unless Gordon, Deng, Hinrich, Curry and Chandler really come together as a team which I don't see happening. I think the Bulls have another year before they really make the playoffs and will be able to stay in throughout other years.

[twolvezfanfoever]

Where's the love. We all love Memphis/Vancouver here

go GRIZZ!!
love da jerseys

[air gordon]

haha at least that's something we both can agree on- it's unlikely the bulls are making the playoffs. memphis is no contender. not enough playoff experience, too soft downlow, and no go to guy

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Well it all depends on if you mean we aren't a contender for the playoffs or for a championship. I know we're a contender for the playoffs because we will get one of the top 6 playoff spots. It's no doubt that we will and teams like the Kings, Lakers, Rockets, we can beat. Right now, I see that the Grizzlies will finish either 3rd or 4th in the new division alignment this season so we will make the playoffs.

[havasufalls]

booooooo the grizz arent going anywhere MAFIA hahahahahahaha

[FanOfAll]

booooooo the grizz arent going anywhere MAFIA hahahahahahaha

Great post.

I think the Grizz are going to be a sleeper to make some serious noise. No, a go to guy has not been fully established yet. A lot of players are sharing the role. However, they have a top 5 coach in the league, whose 10 man rotation is a bit funky these days and does disrupt the play of some players (like Swift), but it preserves the legs of the players as well. It also finds a way to get hustle guys who make tremendous contributions (+/-) like Outlaw and Cardinal into the game. They really need Swift back and another big man (preferably a bigger one than Wright and Gasol), but I see them as the dark horse (for a long playoff run...dark horse to make the playoffs is another matter) in the West.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Yea, that's why I wish we could've just been able to do a deal like the Mavs did with the Warriors, that way it wouldn't affect our 10-man rotation and it would be like were just adding to the team and not decreasing. Whoever plays center for us, either it is Wright or Swift, I hope they really bring some energy and fight for the boards this season. Last season, we were 25th in the league in defensive rebounding so we really need to step it up. They won't be able to do it alone so we will have to rebound as a team. The person that shoots the shot needs to go after the board, the 2 big man have to be near the goal to get to the ball and the other 2 players will run and try to crash the boards. If we can't get boards just by letting our big men handling it then they need to work as a team and get rebounds.

As for havasufall, stop being so stupid You just mad because I swept your Heat 5-0 in the PNLA through the season and the playoffs. This year it will be the same

[Jackal]

Paxson has only begun to tweak.

John Paxson took some rare days off last week, but he knows his work is far from finished this off-season.

With a little more than a month until training camp begins, the Bulls' general manager has several critical decisions to make, some of which could affect the franchise for years to come.

The Bulls believe they are better positioned for the future after drafting Ben Gordon and Luol Deng and signing Andres Nocioni. They could be right.

But even management might concede that the need to develop Gordon and Deng and to nurture Nocioni's transition to the NBA shifts the focus to the future rather than the here and now.

That said, mastering the following personnel situations would affect both the present and future, which is why Paxson is still on the clock.

What to do with Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler?

Recent trade talks with Memphis regarding Curry were legitimate and serious, with names like Lorenzen Wright and Bo Outlaw almost making the Bulls bite on a larger package involving Eddie Robinson.

Team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who met with Curry shortly after last season to impress upon him his value to the franchise, remains a supporter. That's why he has made it clear that Paxson must receive equal value in any Curry trade.

Curry will be a restricted free agent next summer and the Bulls want to avoid a repeat of the Jamal Crawford saga. One team—the Knicks—drove Crawford's price tag out of the Bulls' budget, forcing them to make a trade based more on financial than basketball reasons.

The trade value for Curry, who has alternately pleased and peeved management with his work ethic this summer, might be at its highest.

As for Chandler, his name came up in trade talks with Houston that were centered on Dikembe Mutombo. Those appear to have cooled for now. But Chandler's work ethic this summer has impressed management, so he appears to be safe.

Now Chandler just needs to stay healthy.

What to do with Scottie Pippen?

Paxson finally met with his former teammate last week in an attempt to compromise on the guaranteed second year that calls for Pippen to make $5.3 million.

In short, Pippen wants his money. Paxson wants Pippen's roster spot. Pippen still could be included in a trade if Paxson pulls off a blockbuster with, say, Curry.

Either way, it's unlikely Pippen will have any effect—beyond the salary cap—on the Bulls next season.

What to do with Mutombo?

Mutombo's agent, David Falk, has made it clear he doesn't want his client playing for the Bulls. But Paxson won't give the center away, and Houston keeps trying to include unwanted salary-cap filler in trade talks for shooting guard Eric Piatkowski.

Mutombo, typically a stoic professional, has a history of being prickly when he's playing somewhere he doesn't want to. Mindful of this, Bulls management has kicked around the idea of visiting Mutombo as a staff in sort of a recruiting trip.

The staff would try to sell the philosophy of hard work and professionalism that Paxson and coach Scott Skiles say they are trying to create.

What to do with the backcourt?

As of now, it consists of Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and some combination of Frank Williams and possibly Jannero Pargo or Chris Duhon. Unless Eddie Robinson is the answer as a reserve shooting guard—and he could be—Paxson knows he needs to acquire large, veteran help.

Luol Deng impressed enough at summer league with his tenacity and underrated quickness that he could even play some at shooting guard. But he's stuck in London with visa problems, limiting his off-season workouts at the Berto Center.

Paxson will be back at work there this week. Does he waive Cezary Trybanski? Does he waive Chris Jefferies?

With training camp looming, there are more questions than answers.

Source.

Yes yes, I know...I'm reviving a dead thread. Sue me.

I've got a new article with tidbits envolving a couple of players. Names are being mentioned now, perhaps a deal could go down?