Bulls will need more to get past LeBron
The NBA free agency period is underway and the Chicago Bulls snagged their guy, all-star guard Jimmy Butler, for five more years at more than $90 million.
That's great news for Bulls fans. They also re-signed veteran forward Mike Dunleavy to a three-year deal worth about $14.4 million.
I doubt the Bulls are done, but we'll have to wait and see how things unfold.
With Derrick Rose healthy, at least for now, and with the addition of the 22nd pick in the NBA draft, Arkansas forward Bobby Portis, the SEC Player of the Year, the Bulls are poised to do what President John Paxson said they should have done last year: knock off the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And according to the front office, new coach Fred Hoiberg is the final piece they need to win. Firing Tom Thibodeau was the key to making it all work, right?
Sorry - no way!
Cleveland is still the mountain to climb, but I guess Paxson and the organization thought the Cavs with LeBron James should have been road kill for the Bulls this past season.
I'm sometimes surprised with Pax. Has he forgotten what happens when a team has such a dominant all-star like the Bulls did with Michael Jordan and the Jordanaires? Try six championship rings!
So again, Hoiberg is all the Bulls need to win a title.
Here's what I know: Paxson wouldn't bet his job on the Bulls even winning the Eastern Conference in the upcoming season, because he would be out.
What happens if the Bulls don't win it all? What will Jerry Reinsdorf, Paxson and general manager Gar Forman say then?
Who will be blamed? Who will be held accountable? To me, it should be Pax, but under Reinsdorf's corporate plan Forman is the buffer, just like GM Rick Hahn is for the White Sox.
As far as the NBA free agency period, it has replaced the draft as the premier off season event. A small market team can still pay a player or get fortunate in the draft.
Guys like Goran Dragic signed with the Miami Heat for $90 million for 5 years, and Iman Shumpert with the Cavs for 4 years and $40 million.
There are plenty of other average players who are paid mega millions, and there isn't an all-star among them.
If you are a player in the NBA, you are in the best league with the most skilled players. With only 447 in the whole league, the worst player in the league is still darn good!
For years, baseball used to be the money game with the highest salaries, but the NBA is the money league now.
Oh and the NFL? Players make a good living, but the players get the short end of the stick compared to the NBA and MLB.
Hey, the NBA baby is healthy and growing up to the best league in the business.
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