Smack / Dec 2, 2011 / 12:12 am

Deron Williams Will Become A Free Agent; Caron Butler Wants the Bulls

By

Josh Smith

Josh Smith (photo. Blake Peterson)

Josh Smith is still ready to move on. The relationship has run its course in Atlanta, just as the team has. With that, the forward has lost 30 pounds in an effort to showcase himself, and to alleviate the problems he had with his knees this summer … You might not recognize Kevin Love when he hits NBA floors this season. The dude lost 25 pounds over the course of the lockout (he’s 240… so much for all these guys being out of shape), and attributes most of it to just eating healthy. Funny what that can do for anybody right? Some fans might be nervous: less weight could mean worse rebounding position. But we’re betting this is just the start; Love will pack on some muscle to get back up over 250. We can remember back when he used to be a chubby teen looking like a little kid in an oversized body … If you really want to get technical with the new CBA rules about sign-n-trades, extend-n-trades and all the rest, check out this briefing obtained by SI.com. All Knick, Laker, Hornet, Net and Celtic fans should be reading this … So Danny Ainge is telling anyone who’ll listen that he isn’t trying to trade Rajon Rondo. We’ll take his word for it, despite knowing they’ve had issues at times with Rondo’s attitude and have talked about dealing him in the past. As Ric Bucher tweeted: Any coincidence Rajon Rondo’s agent parachuted into Boston today, cranky from Asian jet lag no doubt, and Cs expressed undying love for RR? Hmm, maybe because they found out Paul refuses to play anywhere but New York and figured they’d better get Rajon Rondo back on their side before he holds his own mini-stakeout and tells them he’ll play for anyone but them? … By the way, there are still a few reports that Paul’s reps have not told New Orleans he wants out. Believe them if you wish. There are also reports Paul’s camp told the team last summer that he would be out … St. John’s has some really nice young players. They just aren’t as nice as Kentucky’s. The ‘Cats destroyed the Red Storm by 22 and set a school record in the process with 18 blocked shots. Anthony Davis nearly had a triple-double (15 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks) and Terrence Jones exploded for 26. At this point, we think we can officially say it: If Calipari is ever going to win a championship, this is the year to do it … Hollis Thompson beat No. 12 Alabama with a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left, giving Georgetown its second huge win in three games (they beat Memphis last week). They held ‘Bama to a pathetic 16 points in the first half … LeBron‘s ridiculous “Cannon” edition of the Nike LeBron 9s just dropped at midnight. Did anyone cop? … And one thing we were reminded of yesterday that only enhances the package the Clippers can offer for Howard is the fact they own Minnesota’s first round pick in next summer’s draft… and it’s unprotected. That means a pick that could very realistically be in the top 3-5 of a completely loaded draft is either going to the Clippers or perhaps to someone in a deal to get Howard … We’re out like Kanye West’s Album of the Year Grammy nomination.

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  • control

    I’m sure Danny Ainge meant to say “We are done trying to trade Rondo”. I’m sure he called up nearly every team in the league trying to get rid of that douchebag, but though Rondo has the media on his jock, teams don’t really want him. Why would teams want the guy who, during their coach’s game plan meetings, just tells the team “leave that guy open, he shoots worse than that armless and legless guy in Metallica’s One video, worry about the other guys”.

  • yentron

    Rondo is actually better when his elbow is fucked up because then he’s not as tempted to shoot those wide open looks.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    lol@team Rondo coming back to reality.

    I did not know the Clippers own the TWolves first pick. Wow, that could really turn that team around if they are smart. I may just start a franchise with them in 2k12 lol.

    Of Course Caron Butler wants to come back home (he’s from Nearby Racine Wisc) and if it was Caron of 2-3 years ago i’d be all for it. But that dude has lost too much. He’s on the downside. Sucks to because that was my guy coming out of UConn. He was like DWade lite at 6’7 230lb.

    But if we had to chose between him and Shane Battier i would pick Butler (I just don’t like dookies) because Butler can at least stay in front of most 2guards. But if the Bulls can’t get Dwight, the person the they need to be throwing money at is Aaron Afflalo. He and Rose could be one of the top 10 Backcourts in the NBA.

  • pipdaddyy

    D. Rose and anyone is almost a top 10 backcourt … That said, I’m not sold on Afflalo being such a huge upgrade over Bogans, but I agree that psychologically the Bulls need a new 2 guard.

  • catdaddywhack

    Santa’s Christmas message to Tony Allen: buy your mother a car.

  • baloogawhales

    Afflalo on the Bulls would be nice!! he could kinda create his own shot right?

    No to Nick Young and TMAC

  • DNice

    CP3 trade rumor, Dwight Howard trade rumor, Yada Yada. I guess there is nothing else to talk about. Lets get the season started already, LETS GO HEAT!!

  • baloogawhales

    edit: if Nick Young can buy into Thibs system and play solid D, he would be the best fit.

    Young guard, create his own shots, nice J, athletic

  • First & Foremost

    I know I’ve clowned Nick Young in the past but I could see him playing with a more veteran team and becoming a decent 2 guard.

    But right now, the dude acts like passing the ball is forbidden. Last year, Blatche vs some dude on Denver were battling for a Rebound. Blatche lost, dude outlets the ball and Young steals it. Blatche, still devastated from losing the rebound never gave much thought to getting back on D was still under the basket. Natural reaction, wave your arms so the ballhandler can hit you with a pass for an easy 2. Bonus points all around, during film study you get to point out the teamwork and hustle. No! Young took about 5 dribbles, jumped from outside the paint, did a 360 layup around the defender.

    Nice individual play but, you have to reward the big man for hustling in the first place. Maybe going some place with unquestionable leadership would work wonders for his game.

  • http://www.zwani.com/graphics/funny_pictures/images/88funny-pictures128.jpg JAY

    ^ He should be a Celtic so KG could make him cry.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @FnF

    That’s exactly my issue with Nick Young. Kid is only out for self and has always been like that going back to USC.

    He would never fit in with the Bulls, who are one of the most unselfish teams in the NBA. Also, Nick Young doesn’t give 2 squirts of piss about Defense. We already deal with that from Boozer. Can’t have too many of those guys starting for you.

    @pipd
    You should check out some of Aaron Afflalo highlights on youtube. Kid is known for his defense because of the series vs Kobe, but he’s always been a good offensive player. Back when he was at UCLA he would take over games with his offense and was one of the major reasons they made it to the final four consecutive times. He has a nice handle and a smooth jumper. Even when he was a rookie in Detroit, the players nicknamed him “Young Kobe” because of his offensive game in practice.
    Unfortunately he’s been on teams that didn’t ask him to score until last year after the Melo trade. Then he was allowed to show his offensive game and was NIIICE for many games.

    IMO, The Bulls number one priority this off season should be getting Afflalo signed.

    Of course because it’s something that i think would be a good idea, Bulls management will think the opposite. They’ll probably sign another point guard or some stupid $h!t.

    I know people always get on the Knicks and Clippers as far as having terrible franchises, but the Bulls are in that second tier of Franchise f^ck ups.

  • baloogawhales

    yep but it seems like the Nuggets core is: Lawson, Afflalo, and hopefully for them Nene.

    gonna be tough to take Afflalo from them since hes a RFA and every decent team is looking to pick him up

  • Big Island

    Afflalo is solid. I think he’d be perfect on the Bulls because he can score but doesn’t need to. No problem being a second or third option, plays D, and takes nothing away from Rose.

    NJ just needs to get one guy to stay there and they’d be able to build around him. If Deron stayed, maybe get Nene, and suddenly it’s a pretty good squad.

  • First & Foremost

    Deron williams on the wolves would be great. Imagine him and love together? I don’t care what anyone says but personally, putting the best passer in deron, the best rebounder in love and a top scorer in beasly in my opinion is championship worthy. They would already be better than the heat. But they need defense and I think wesley johnson is ready to lock up kobe and lebron and the durants of the world. I also believe, this may be a stretch but darko will improve his game and make the all star team. He has been working hard this offseason. Add to the fact that the wolves’ new coach let’s his players play and minesotta HAS to get deron williams. Those gm’s better get this deal done before the season starts. I never thought I’d say it but the wolves can win a ring !!

  • ProphetGK

    Am I the only one who wants Brandon Roy to go to Chicago?
    I feel like he would be the perfect complement to Rose in the backcourt, and think of all the cool nicknames one could come up with for those two. Rose-Roy(ce) comes to mind.

  • Sean Sweeney

    @F&F Not sure I agree w/ you on Williams as the league’s best passer, but I still believe he’s probably the best PG in the world. He got lost in the shuffle last year, but was playing like an animal for the first half of the season. Even in NJ, he averaged like 13 assists a night or something crazy like that.

    @Big I & Chicagorilla Afflalo would be amazing on Chicago. I just don’t see how they’ll ever be able to sign him. After the top big guys (Chandler, Nene), he’s getting more looks than anyone else right now. Denver will match any average offer, and then you know someone w/ cap room will come in and offer more than the Bulls can give. If they find a way to get him tho…

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @sweeny

    two things
    #1 – That wasn’t FnF posting. I’m pretty sure that was a poser. See why people get frustrated about that now?

    #2 – I forgot all about Afflalo being a RFA. That kinda kills the whole theory. The only way the Bulls get him is through sign and trade, and they’d have to actually give up a talented player. Someone like Brewer, which i don’t know if i’d be willing to do that since he was a major part of our defense. Me personally, I’d give up Deng, but I highly doubt the bulls would pull that trigger, especially with a 66 game season, we need the extra chemistry.
    Perhaps Bogans/Korver/Jimmy Butler or a draft pick would be enough, but with half of Denvers team in China it’ll be hard to pull that off.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Prophet

    Problem is that BRoy is not healthy. in a 66 game season where there will be plenty of back to backs and even a back to back to back, Roy has no chance of holding up. And even if he does, the playoffs will consist of back to backs also. I just don’t see kid making it through all of that. It’s a shame too because Rose and (healthy)Roy would be the best backcourt in the NBA. Maybe even an all-time backcourt. But as of right now, BRoy is in that 96′ Ron Harper stage of his career. Except he doesn’t D-up like Ron did.

  • First & Foremost

    @Sean – I’m not sure I’d agreed with me either because I’ve been busy a F*** today. Didn’t even bother reading that post.

  • http://www.dimemag.com Austin Burton

    When is Luol Deng not involved in a trade rumor? I feel like he just has two suitcases full of stuff constantly chilling in his closet just in case. He’s on a month-to-month lease.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Austin

    Loul Deng is in every one of my trade scenarios lol. EVERY ONE of them. You guys don’t watch the Bulls like i do. I don’t hate Deng as much as i used to. I see the value in him, and i can actually deal with him being a Bull (i say that now, but when the season starts…).

    My hope was that the Bulls could capitalize off the hype around Deng. But maybe GMs are smarter than they pretend to be.

  • baloogawhales

    lol healthy BRoy and Rose WOULD challenge the best backcourts of all time. even BRoy as he is right now on the Bulls would be fun to watch. He has a high enough Bball IQ to play off the ball, but again like u guys said he wouldn’t hold up in a compact season.

    Luol Deng could work on a championship team, but if a trade needs to be made for the Bulls he is their most valuable and replaceable player. (only cus nobody will touch Boozers contract)

  • baloogawhales

    Oh it’s amazing how much an influence Blake Griffin has on the league already. Nobody wanted to go to the Clippers EVER, unless they were using it as leverage (see Kobe) but now they’re seriously considering LA’s retarded stepsister as an actual destination in free agency. KIA chose the right guy for their spokesperson

  • Big Island

    Chi – No. GM’s are idiots. Someone will overpay someone to get them and then bitch about not making money and salaries are too high. And your GM didn’t get Kobe because of his refusal to part with Deng. Luol Deng was the piece that Chicago didn’t want to give up for the guy everyone compares to Jordan. Kobe would have gone completely nuts in Chicago with the whole Jordan/Jackson/Shaq stuff, but they didn’t want to part with…..Dang.

  • baloogawhales

    @Big Island: wow i completely forgot about that. The Kobe to Bulls trade didn’t happen cus they didnt want to give away Deng. How do these guys get their jobs?? If they’re paid millions shouldn’t they be watching and analyzing every game of the season??

  • beiber newz

    at this point i dont think i’d fully know melo’s, amare’s or cp3′s TRUE legacy if joined in ny. playing with sooo much talent around you makes it hard to produce at one’s full potential. can’t put three 30 point scorers on the same team and expect them to average 90 a night. something has to give.

    but one thing i will know is that all three are supremely talented, and although their stats won’t reflect their true capability, it speaks volumes that stars are willing to play together to sacrifice numbers.

    that aspect gets overlooked as all the public sees are guys looking to ease their way to a ring. when it boils down to everything, these guys are doing it to win. and that is the purest thing in sports. it does get dirty along the way however. it’s very easy to look at teaming up in a negative light even though the end-means are to win.

    along the way to winning in the mlb, a dirty route can be taking steroids. in the nfl an unfair way to win may be what bill belichick did and steal signs or plays or tape signals or whatever he did. the point is sometimes along the way even though the goal is to be a winner, many will look at HOW you won as opposed to the fact that you simply JUST WON. it goes both ways.

    in the process of writing this as you can tell i played evil’s advocate. weird.

  • erob

    Hey guys JR has 6 chips so I think he knows how to run a team. Plus Kobe was the one that refused to come to the bulls if Deng was traded.

  • First & Foremost

    @Beiber, I see where you are coming from with the whole, I’m willing to sacrifice individual success for team success. But some have a problem of how players are going about that team success. Instead of building a team through drafting players or allowing your management to make key trades, players are just jumping ship.

    Kobe lucked his way into a great situation, f’d it up, bitched his way into a good situation and is riding it out. People still hate him but he did what he had to do and eventually his management gave him the pieces he needed.

    Wade played his way into a good situation, won, and then quietly bitched his way into a great situation. He allowed his management to get him the pieces he needs to contend. Lebron, Bosh, Melo, and soon to be Paul , Dwight, and Deron didn’t allow their franchises to get them the pieces.

    Amare is excluded because he got jaded with a contract he didn’t like and moved on.

    When you look at earlier decades, superstars didn’t move like this. Aside from Barkley, people weren’t jumping from ship to ship. Current stars are pretty much saying to teams, you have my rookie contract, the extension, and them I’m gone if we don’t win. How many years did Hakeem put in before moving on, Dominque, Iverson, Malone, Payton, Dirk, KG, Big Z…

    With the age rule, 7 years with a franchise doesn’t seem all that long when they haven’t even entered their prime yet are ready to bounce. Dwight has put him 6 years of no Offense in Orlando. Did he really give his all? Or did he make 1 valid attempt the year he decided to learn offense.

  • beiber newz

    and these guys are trying to avoid the same path of the guys you named..no rings. i did mention i see both angles. the good and bad. but really, think about it.

    when i did intramural ball, i was an unknown freshman kid from the bronx. i joined a team with my new found friends from the school and balled out. the next year, sophomore year, evvverryone wanted me..not tryna gas it though, just painting a picture. i never left my team tho. although, some guys just left the school, we picked up new pieces, but i never went to the more established, heavyweights. it didn’t get me anywhere.

    my teams were lucky to make the playoffs. very frustrating at times too. bad teamwork. bad management in terms of guys showing up on time to games, missing games, etc. but i never left.

    i wonder, if i was a pro athlete where my livelihood was at stake, cuz so many times we are judged by winning alone. so, i wonder, if i was in a pro position, leaving to a better situation to win, when it’s my job will be the goal. and that’s how these guys see it. they arent joing to say ‘;look how much more talent we have than youuuu” they are really just trying to reach their job’s goal.

    sry for typos if any

  • beiber newz

    my last paragraph makes no sense.

    corrected

    soo i wonder, cuz so many times we are judged by winning alone, if i was a pro athlete where my livelihood was at stake, it wuld have to be easier to leave.

  • Big Island

    erob – They had Jordan and Pippen. And the Bulls didn’t want to give up Deng. Magic, who was the Laker’s VP at the time, goes on tv and says:

    “A deal can’t get done because they won’t include [Luol] Deng,” Johnson said Tuesday on TNT. “And without Deng, a deal can’t get done.”

    But Kobe held up the trade? Come on. Your boy was gonna trade Pippen for Shawn Kemp before Mike came back too.

  • First & Foremost

    I have a problem with players tiptoeing around the topic.

    “So beiber, your jr. year is coming up and you’d be leading a team of scrubs yet again, have you though about coming to Amen Prep?”

    “Well, I’m just going to let everything take its course but I’m not ruling out playing for another school. The guys we have are nice and if I’m still with the team, I’ll give it my best but, who knows, ya know?”

    “Huck Finn just transferred to Amen Prep, you two played in the same sandbox not too long ago. What about now?”

    “REALLY, OMG LIKE WTF, THAT IS SOOOO COOOLLLL, Yeah I know him. It would be fun and all but right now I’m with the team I’m with. IIIIFFFFF I were to pick another school I definitely would pick that one though and I’d play for NO ONE ELSE. I could only imagine how much fun that would be.”
    ——————-
    Just say yes or say no. A franchise has to look out for itself, they can’t build a contender if their centerpiece won’t make a commitment. Who wants to be stuck with a clusterfuck a players that without 1 key guy, suck. That is how teams get set back. Either you are in or you aren’t.

    If you give money to a friend to make a deposit in your account. You kind of want to trust that that person isn’t just going to walk off with your money. Had you known he was going to walk you would have given your money to someone else to make the deposit.

    You are judged by winning but you join the upper tier of greats if you were responsible for lifting your team to championship heights. Look at Dirk, he basically leap frogged KG by winning in Dallas than going elsewhere. He might not have leap frogged him completely but he sure as hell did close the gap.

  • beiber newz

    “You are judged by winning but you join the upper tier of greats if you were responsible for lifting your team to championship heights. Look at Dirk, he basically leap frogged KG by winning in Dallas than going elsewhere. He might not have leap frogged him completely but he sure as hell did close the gap.”

    the key point of your last post. this makes a ton of sense. even though i view kg as the better player when both in their primes.

  • First & Foremost

    20 years from now people will say Dirk > KG easily. The argument will be pretty simple: They both had success but struggled when it mattered for a long time. They both ran into some great teams. Dirk was tougher… and stuck with his team through the bad years [I guess the year they didn't win 50+ games] and reached the top. KG demanded a trade because he wasn’t good enough and had to team up to win a ring, similar to Lebron but not as many rings. Dirk hands down.

    It may take more than 20 years but no one cares about the circumstances you were in. You were good but not good enough and took the easy route.

    You can even compare it to marriages, older generations stuck with it for decades. Someone HAD to die before they remarried. She might not have been the one you really wanted but with a shotgun her father does not miss from point blank. So you might stuck for the next 5 to 6 decades, but at least you are making it work. Now people get divorced before the double digit milestone.

  • beiber newz

    i tend to take out players situations and look soley at their ability on the court when judging talent. what i mean is, i know for example, marbury has had a lot of issues. but i don’t let those get in the way of me seeing his ability far surpasses many of the PGs playing today. ppl are so quick to make his game a joke all becuase he swallowed vaseline. so dumb. so even tho i kno these guy choke, i still see thier talent. which is why it’s funny to me that people say lebron sucks all because he stinks in high pressure moments. that doesnt speak of his talent, more of his fear and how it AFFECTS his talent. same thing with injury. in my head i know tmac was dangerous, but damn, those damned health issues.

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