The last couple of days has seen the NBA turned upside down. There was LeBron going back to Cleveland yesterday morning. Since then, Carmelo has also decided to stay in New York. This really makes the situation for the Bulls much more clear. Of course we still don't know the exact players who will be involved, but we at least have a good idea. On top of that, Bulls Summer League action is now underway with the Bulls going against the Clippers in Las Vegas. I'll go over that game (which is currently in the 3rd quarter) as well.
So, the first two big things to happen now have. LeBron James will be joining the central division once again as he returns to Cleveland. Carmelo Anthony will stay in New York. So while many fans will be unhappy about that, let's also remember that Carmelo is 30 years old now. Any deal the Bulls would sign with him would mean paying him big bucks until he's 34 years old. Given, Anthony does have some old man game, the Bulls would still be overpaying him. While it would be nice to have him, I'm not just throwing out sour grapes here, he is a great player that would have made the team better in the short term, there's no arguing that, just remember that it's not the end of the world, and there are positives to it.
So who did the Bulls go out and get? Pau Gasol. I've actually never been a huge fan of Gasol. He's a great player, that much is true, and he also has some old man game as well, but those dramatic faces he always makes are one of the most annoying things in all of sports. However, the bottom line is that the deal is a reported 2 year deal worth around $11-12 million per season. That's a great deal for the Bulls. What Gasol brings is a guy who can score down low or can hit the jumper. He's a very good passer as well, and while he's not a very good defender, he's also not a liability on that end either, better than Boozer at least. The deal isn't official yet, but Gasol has said that he will be going to the Bulls. I think 16 points and 9 boards are reasonable expectations for him, with a shooting percentage around 50% from the field.
This clearly won't be the last move the Bulls make, but let's look at the current roster along with guys who we're at least 80% sure will be on the regular season roster once the season starts (barring injury).
Derrick Rose - PG
Jimmy Butler - G/F
Tony Snell - G/F
Mike Dunleavy - G/F
Doug McDermott - F
Anthony Randolph - F
Nikola Mirotic - F
Taj Gibson - F/C
Pau Gasol - F/C
Joakim Noah - C
The obvious hole there is at point guard. After Derrick Rose there is absolutely nobody currently there. The Bulls will have to add at least 2 point guards. One option that is very possible is to bring Kirk Hinrich back as Rose's backup again. Of course, DJ Augustin is also an option, but I don't see the Bulls being able to bring both of them back. The third one, at least for the start of the year, will be a cheap option, possibly Mike James, or a younger/undrafted type of option. More on that later. That would put the Bulls roster at 12, and I think they go to at least 13 to start the season, maybe 14. I'm not going to try to figure out who those guys will be, but I will say that there's a chance Cameron Bairstow will make the team as well.
My guess for the starting 5 is going to be Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Gibson, and Noah at the start of the year. I think they have Gasol coming off the bench and stick with a main big man rotation of Gibson, Gasol, and Noah. Someone like Bairstow would be more of an emergency option there. Nikola Mirotic and Anthony Randolph will most likely split their time between small forward and power forward, while Doug McDermott will probably mostly be a small forward. Dunleavy, Snell, and Butler will all be able to play both the 2 and the 3. So that's 1 person able to play the 1, 3 guys who can play the 2, 6 guys who can play the 3, 4 guys who can play the 4, and 3 guys who can play the 5.
Anyway, on to the summer league. The game has since ended. The guys that I'm paying attention to on the Bulls are Tony Snell, Cameron Bairstow, Doug McDermott, and Billy Baron. We all know who Tony Snell is. Cameron Bairstow was the Bulls second round pick, a 6'10" big Australian out of New Mexico. One of his biggest assets is that he is very strong, and you can tell just by looking at him. He also supposedly has a good shot out to about 15'. He was teammates with Tony Snell in college, so they'll be reunited. Doug McDermott is, of course, the first round pick that the Bulls wound up with after last month's draft. He's a sharp shooter with a solid all around offensive game and solid athleticism. Lastly, Billy Baron is a point guard who played for Canisius, which I just found out is in Buffalo, NY. Going to a small school, he didn't get a lot of attention, but he's a scoring point guard with a good jumper who can also get to the hoop. I can easily see him filling the third point guard spot if he plays well in the summer league.
So how did they do tonight? Well, Doug McDermott was the big story. Lucky for me I was able to catch the end of the game, as there was bonus coverage, and it will be on later tonight so that I can actually see everything, but the announcers were talking about how it was McDermott's debut more than anything else. McDermott played fairly well. Supposedly he had a tough time early on, but settled down. His shooting numbers for the game were not great at 2-8 from the field, 2-5 from 3, and 4-5 from the free throw line, but that's nothing to panic about. He did show a good all around game with 5 rebounds and 4 assists on top of the 10 points. The real story of the game though was Tony Snell. He tore the Clippers apart to the tune of 27 points on 10-14 shooting, 5-7 from 3. He added 4 boards and a steal to that. Cameron Bairstow shot 3-5 from the field, scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 boards in 31 minutes. Billy Baron scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. I saw very little of the game, so I don't know how exactly it unfolded, but it looks like all four played well. One disappointment was that Brandon Paul never did get in the game, I had him as another person to watch, but it doesn't look like he'll get a chance to play. One other note is that Davonte Gardner had 4 points in a minute and a half of garbage time. It was just fun to watch him play in the garbage time that I did catch because he's 6'8" and almost 300 lbs.
Don't let the Carmelo news get you down. The Bulls have a good plan to move forward with. While Gasol isn't going to be the 2009 Gasol, he's still a good player who will be a nice step up from what Boozer was. If Rose is able to stay healthy, then the Bulls are going to be in good shape to contend this season, despite the drastic improvement their division will see.
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