RokDeez Bulls Blog

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about this week, so I decided to throw some random Bulls thoughts at the screen and see what sticks…

1. I think I’m “in” on Jim Boylen as the head coach. I don’t know if he’s actually good at coaching basketball, but I love his pseudo-philosophical sayings. My favorite so far was something along the lines of –

You can’t prepare the road for the child, but you can prepare the child for the road.

That’s not technically true, you can prepare the road for the child, it just takes a lot of time, effort and cushions.

I also enjoy how much the word “spirit” gets thrown around when Boylen talks to the media. Every time he says the word “spirit” I can’t help but imagine Boylen sitting in a tent, heavy clouds of incense curling around him, sitar music mumbling in the background, colorful scarves and throw pillows everywhere, while he stares deeply into a large crystal, “channeling” or “focusing” or something.

2. I don’t think Kris Dunn wants to play for the Bulls. It’s not a conscious desire, but subconsciously he doesn’t want to be on this team anymore. All the fluke injuries? It’s just his body trying to get him out of Dodge. His recent regression in play? His brain has already punched his ticket to parts unknown.

3. The front office made a couple of good trades and got a couple of good players. I don’t normally give GarPax credit for the positive things they’ve done, so here it goes…

Thank You John Paxson and Gar Forman for acquiring Wayne Selden Jr and Otto Porter Jr before the trade deadline a couple weeks ago. Their additions to the roster has made a positive impact on the franchise.

Barf.

4. Are there any other “Jr” players in the league that we could acquire this summer? I want at least one line up that features nothing but “Jrs.” Here’s what a possible lineup might look like…

PG – Dennis Smith Jr

SG – Wayne Selden Jr

C – Wendell Carter Jr

SF- Otto Porter Jr

PF – Jaren Jackson Jr

5. Whatever happened to Andres Nocioni? I mentioned him in last weeks diatribe against John Paxson and now I kind of want to wikipedia search him just to make sure he’s still alive…

Okay, so some good news! I just finished checking both Wikipedia and Instagram, Nocioni is indeed still alive! He’s married, has two kids, a kick-ass beard, and, evidently, enjoys fishing…

6. If the Bulls don’t get the first pick in this years draft, should they just pick “best available”, or trade back for more picks? I’m very wishy washy about this. Sometimes I think I could live with an RJ Barrett or Ja Morant, but most of the time I feel like they should trade down.

Also,

7. Would the Front Office even consider trading down? They only ever seem to trade up.

8. Wait… has this Front Office ever traded down before? Now I have to look that up! This random thought thing was supposed to be easy, now it’s turning into research. Bleh…

So, I took about 40 minutes and skimmed through all of the Bulls transactions that have happened while John Paxson has been in charge of the team; According to the records kept by Basketball-reference.com, it doesn’t look like the Bulls have ever traded back in the draft. Maybe I missed a trade or two where that happened, but it doesn’t seem to be something the Front Office normally does. I guess that means they are taking best available or trading up in this draft.

9. If the Bulls find themselves without the rights to a top 5 pick in this draft, will they trade up to get one?

10. I bet they’d trade up for Ja Morant. Then they could say they are the only team to have had every Murray State point guard that went pro in the last 20 years (Isaiah Canaan, Cameron Payne, and Ja Morant).

11. This Otto Porter Jr calf strain better not turn into another season ending injury. If it does, the Bulls will have to get a whole new medical staff.

12. It took Lauri Markkanen chatting with his Finnish National Coach, Henrik Dettmann, to spur his recent aggressive play. According to reports that’s pretty much all Dettmann told him, be yourself and be aggressive. Why don’t the Bulls hire Dettmann to be the next head coach? He already has Markkanen’s trust.

13. This team would have been a lot better with a healthy Denzel Valentine coming off the bench to run the offense and spread the floor for the second unit.

14. Was the trade for Otto Porter Jr really the best use of the Bulls cap flexibility? Couldn’t they have gotten a player and draft picks from someone else? Porter Jr certainly fits with the Bulls team right now, and has instantly made them better, but is that really what they need? I think I’m always going to wonder about this trade. It’s going to haunt my fandom for all eternity, or, at least until the draft.

15. Oh wait, there is a “trade down” that I missed in my earlier skimming. The Bulls traded back from the 2^nd overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. They picked LaMarcus Aldridge and traded him and a 2007 2^nd round pick to the Portland Trailblazers for Viktor Khryapa (22^nd overall in the 2004 draft) and Tyrus Thomas (4^th overall in the 2006 draft).

This Front Office is just full of surprises.

Well, that about does it for this blog post. Now that you’ve gotten a little peek into the thoughts floating through my head, I hope I haven’t scared too many of you away. Feel free to leave your random Bulls thoughts in the comments section below, or on the Rokdeez Bulls Blog Facebook page, or hunt me down on Twitter @rokdeezblog. I always have time to chat Bulls basketball, and I like hearing what other people think about this team, it can lead to some fun blog posts. As always, thanks for reading and Go Bulls!