It was just last April when the Chicago Bulls were pushing the defending champion Celtics to the limit during the first round of the 2009 Playoffs. Though they lost in seven games, the Bulls were looking like a team on the rise and Derrick Rose was looking like the league’s next superstar. Not even seven months later, the Bulls are a mediocre team that’s six games under .500. They’ve dropped 9 of their last 10 games, seven of those losses have been by 10 or more points. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Carlos Boozer dominated the Bulls last night to the tune of 28 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks. He shot 86 percent (12-14) from the field, 80 percent (4-5) from the free throw line and had 2 turnovers. Boozer’s exceeding expectations this season and seems very motivated to make a good impression on teams who might court him this summer when he becomes a free agent. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: James Johnson, Taj Gibson, Jannero Pargo, Derrick Byars

Lost: Ben Gordon, Tim Thomas, Linton Johnson, Anthony Roberson Read More »

While it seems many people could care less that the Heat signed Carlos Arroyo yesterday to be their backup point guard, the deal only goes to signify to me once again that the role of the backup point guard is perhaps one of the most important in the League. Guys like Travis Best, Greg Anthony, Jacque Vaughn, Lindsey Hunter and Anthony Johnson have made a career out of it, and the best teams in the NBA take note. So with that in mind, here are the Top 5 best backup points this season: Read More »

While many teams were trying to get free agent guard Jannero Pargo back in the States, most notably the Hornets, Pargo has signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls after playing in Russia and Greece last season. Read More »

With the biggest of the big-name free agents quickly finding homes, the next phase is all about reactionary replacements. Example: The Blazers thought they had Hedo Turkoglu the other day, but now that he’s going to the Raptors, Portland has turned their sights on David Lee. They can offer Lee the same $50 million over five years they offered Hedo, but is Lee even worth that much? He’s only had one good year (16 ppg, 11.7 rpg) as a starter, and those numbers were put up in Mike D’Antoni’s stats-on-crack system where he was the only rebounder on the Knicks. And do the Blazers really need to spend $10M a year on LaMarcus Aldridge’s backup? … Read More »

Here’s what I don’t get: While you can’t make it five minutes into a Ricky Rubio argument without somebody supporting his case with the concept that he “held his own” against grown men overseas and against Team USA in the Olympics, Patrick Mills gets zero credit for not just holding his own, but putting in serious work against the Redeem Team and other international juggernauts. Read More »