Bulls Tue Jul 14 2009

Bulls Bits: Bye-Bye to Tim Thomas, Rooks in Vegas

By Brian Lauvray

The Bulls management has gone ahead and bought out the remaining season of NBA journeyman, Tim Thomas' contract. Thomas, who came over from the Knicks in the Larry Hughes trade, "contributed" in 18 games for Chicago last season; by buying out his contract the Bulls remain juuuuusst below the luxury tax level, which would have been a tremendous move for the franchise, except for the unfortunate fact that some of that money that Tim Thomas would've been getting is, instead, going into the hands of Lindsey Hunter and Jannero Pargo. I'm no fan of Timmy Thomas, but, really, Paxon, Forman? Signing Pargo and Hunter? Replacing Thomas with those two is, I don't know, sorta like fixing a leak in a dam by removing one sorta leaky and ineffective brick with two smaller and even less effective bricks. Ugh. Look, I'm sure Pargo is a perfectly decent dude: probably he loves dogs, goes to church, kisses his wife before he leaves the house, respects the game, et cetera ... BUT ...

I'm sorry, if you are the Chicago Bulls and you just lost your (albeit moody and occasionally crap-tacular) primary scoring threat, see, Gordon, Ben; you don't replace him with a guy who last season averaged less than 19 minutes a game, shot less than .400 from the field and had the gall to play in 80 games, so, him being "injured" isn't even an excuse. Not to mention the fact that hel'll be 30 before the season even starts. Sure, $2 million isn't that big of a deal for a one-year, but, really, Pargo? These stats don't scream "must-have" to me, but, I'm not a NBA GM either...Then there's Lindsey Hunter, who has been in the running for "The NBA Player Who Just Won't Retire Award" for about five, now six seasons in a row! In mid-December when Chicago is struggling to score 90 points against the dregs of the Eastern Conference and fans start offing themselves I'll expect Hunter and Pargo to be taking full credit.

Meanwhile...

In much sunnier Bulls news, the summer league officially has begun and Chicago's recently signed rookies: James Johnson and Taj Gibson are in Las Vegas ready to rock. The Bulls are playing five games in the glitzy Nevada desert town and kick the action off tonight against the Golden State Warriors and their rookie guard, Stephen Curry.

Furthermore,

Bulls point guard/human particle accelerator, Derrick Rose will be attending a USA Basketball mini-camp in late July with such NBA luminaries as: Brandon Roy, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay and Kevin Love. The mini-camp has been instituted by USA Basketball as an attempt to bring younger, less internationally-experienced players into the ranks of the "Redeem Team" that recaptured Olympic gold for the USA last summer in Beijing.

Of Course There's Always Jordan...

The blogging superstars at Yahoo's "The Ball Don't Lie" deliver this rad piece of "Jordan-ana." Click the link and be in awe to what the company that brought "Be Like Mike" to everyone's lips in the early 90s, came up with to honor the G.O.A.T's induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The outdoor court that the artwork was created on, is at the corner of State and 18th. South Loop, holler!

And Finally...

Because these days, no day is complete without Carlos Boozer to Chicago rumor-mongering...Here's the Booze Man himself discussing the rumors with ESPN 1000 radio jocks: Waddle and Silvy. If any of that is true it sorta, in a weird, weird way, makes the aforementioned and maligned Hunter and Pargo signings quasi-reasonable but still sad, like watching a three-legged coyote chewing it's leg off in a trap [What???!!!?-Ed]