Okay, as a Bulls fan myself I too have been wooed by the prospect of landing both LeBron James and another superstar player. The problem is is that we as Bulls fans need to come back down to earth and look how far we have come and make the right moves during this free agancy. Sure acquiring LeBron would be great but we need to be careful to not put all our eggs in one basket. Sure we have a nice shot at signing him. Perhaps as good a chance as any other team aiming for him, but focusing on him is a big risk. A risk i do not want to take. I think the Bulls brass are wise to this as their gameplan heading into this thing makes a ton of sense.

          Waiting for LeBron James is a death wish if you ask me. There is a good chance he may stay in Cleveland. We all know the Dwyane Wade is staying with the Heat so he is off the table. This is why the Bulls need to go after Chris Bosh with all they have. offer him the Max deal right away. Tell him he is the guy that you want to build a Championship around. What has been the biggest hole on the Bulls over the last decade? One has been a supestar level player that can win games by himself. The Bulls have  player that is growing onto that role in Derrick Rose, but the other big hole has been a elite scoring bigman. Chris Bosh is not a lot of things but one thing he is is a scoring bigman. He can hit the jumper and can score in the paint. Sure he is a bit soft and shies away from contact. He is also not a great defender, but he sure can score and grab rebounds as well. Joakim Noah does the other stuff. i think a pairing of Bosh and Noah has great dynamics. They are a perfect match. 

          Of all the free agents Chris Bosh is also the most likely to bolt town. Chicago needs to make him their number one target before any other team gets their slimy little hands on him. Is he the best bigman in the game? No, but he alone could make the Bulls a contender. With Bosh in the bag the Bulls may be able to sway LeBron for sure, but even if they do not they are a much improved team. One year ago it seemed like a dream that the Bulls would be able to free up the money to be in the position they are in now. If you would of told me we would lose John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich but gain Chris Bosh, I would have called you a fool. But here we are.

          My point in this rant is clear. We should not become greedy and think that it is LeBron James or bust. That is not the case for our team. Let the Knicks fans worry about that. They bottomline is we now have the cap space to make our team better. We made it to the playoffs the last two seasons and last season were in the 5th seed until Noah, Taj, Hinrich, and Deng all had their injuries. We could have won near 50 games last season with the team we have now. I say add the right players and not the sexy ones. I am not saying that Lebron is not a great fit, but we have a greater need in the post and have had that need for darn near a decade. Rose is a great scorer and playmaker on the perimeter. That is why i say if we are to throw all our eggs into one basket, we should throw them into the basket of the player that not only is the best fit for our team but is also the most likely to sign with us.

          If we land Bosh and cannot obtain another star then who cares. John Paxson and Gar Forman would still have done a great job in my eyes. We cannot let ourselves set the bar too high, becuase we are certain to be let down. The Rumors last week of that it was a done deal that Lebron and Bosh were both coming to the Bulls simply are just rumors. Those kind of rumors can give us way to much false hope and they forve us to raise the bar on what we want. We go from a mindset were we just want to add any one other star player to our team to thinking we are owed two superstars. Do not fool yourselves. Set a realistic goal. I think Bosh is a realistic goal. If we cannot add him at the max then move to a player like David Lee with a smaller contract. There is no gun to our head that says we have to land a megastar. Lee is quite similar to Bosh in many ways. Both are solid shooting bigman that can spread the floor. Both are outstanding rebounders. Neither is a great defender or a great shot blocker. Lee is a better passer while Bosh is a bit more aggressive. Too me David Lee is a better backup plan then over paying for Carlos Boozer or Amar'e Stoudemire. If we cannot get Bosh then we should target Lee.

          The other glaring hole is the lack of a shooting guard and one who can nail the three pointer. Joe Johnson looks like he is signing the max deal in Atlanta so offering him what is left after signing Bosh will most likely not fly. If we lose out on Bosh and then sign Lee then Johnson will have long-since signed in Atlanta or elsewhere. We can make a pitch to Ray Allen but he is not a longterm solution. Sure he has some gas left in the tank because he takes great care of himself but sooner rather then later age will catch up to him. We can save some money and target a couple of role players to round out the roster instead. Perahaps pick up a shooter like J.J. Redick. or even Kyle Korver. Both are not very good defenders but they sure can spread the floor for Rose. There is always a player like Anthony Morrow that can be had. We could simply resign Flip Murry. After that we could go after a defensive player like a Matt Barnes. Then resign Brad Miller who has said he wants to stay in Chicago. We can grab a cheap backup PG like Kevin Ollie or Sergio Rodriguez. This would give us a deep lineup like this.

Starters

PG Derick Rose
SG Anthony Morrow
SF Luol Deng
PF Chris Bosh
C Joakim Noah

Bench

Brad Miller
Taj Gibson
Matt Barnes
Kevin Ollie
Kyle Korver

          Maybe this lineup is not super sexy and it is far from perfect, but it has all the working parts of a contender. A dynamic star in Derrick Rose. An elite post scorer in Bosh. A top shelf denfender of the paint and energy player in Noah. A slasher and jump shooter in Deng and a long range shooting threat in Morrow or even Redick. We would have a solid bench full of a nice mix of roleplayers. This very much what our team could look like heading into next season. Would we be the clear favorite to amke it to the Finals out of the east? No. Could we compete with the elite teams every night? Yes. This is all we can ask for and hope to get. Wade and Lebron are likely not coming so I am not holding my breath or getting my hopes up for them. I just want our team to have a chance at contending.

          I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts? Do you think I am off-base? Am I selling the Bulls short or am I being realistic? What are your thoughts on David Lee vs Chris Bosh? After Wade, Johnson, and Allen who is the best choice for a shooting guard for the Bulls?

     OK, we are about halfway through the preseason and the regular season is upon us. I understand there have been a couple of threads dealing with the which player will breakout this season and I thought I would have a crack at it. First of all there has to be some ground rules set as to what is considered a breakout season. In my eyes the player has to go from an average role-player to a budding star. This means that you cannot say that Kevin Durant is going to have a breakout season. The guy is already a star in the league. You have to take a player who was getting maybe 20 minutes a game last year or less and averaging about 10ppg or so. This player then has to gain more minutes a game and have a major boost in numbers. I have spent some time looking at different scenarios around the league and have come up with 7 players I think will have breakout seasons or close to it. Please let me know what you think and let me know who I forgot. This is a tricky thing to predict so there can be a wide range of answers.

 Hakim Warrick. The Bucks might just be the right fit for this young guy. He has all the talent and athletic ability to do a ton of damage in this league. He can play a few different positions and has become a pretty solid shooter. He is fast and seems to be putting in the effort. The main factor for me is that he should see a lot of minutes on the floor for the Bucks and will be one of the first options on offense behind Redd now that Jefferson is gone. Preseason EF score:19

 

 

 Brook Lopez. He will become a main option on offense now that Vince Carter has left the building. He already showed us last season that he is one of the best young big talents in the NBA. I think with his size and abilities that he will have his way against most other centers in the east. He is strong and has good footwork and he has shown us he knows how to play smart. He is a star in the making. Preseason EF score:18.6




 Anthony Morrow. This one is a bit of a gamble with the Warriors also having Stephen Curry on the team but Morrow has looked lights out this preseason and may be motivated to play hard so that he is kept on the floor. i am sure he is not going to average 22.6 point per game like he is in the preseason but he could turn out to be a solid 2nd or 3rd option on this team. He also is a solid 3 point shooter and should be a good fit in the Warriors system. Preseason EF score:23.2





 Anthony Randolph. This guy oozes pure talent and it showed over the summer in summer league play. He is about as athletic as they come and is a scoring machine at times. He causes matchup issues with his speed for his size. He has been picked by many as the front runner fro the Most Improved Player Award already. It will be interesting if he can continue to dominate in the regular season against other elite bigman or will his lack of bulk hurt him. Preseason EF score: 17.2




 Tyrus Thomas. He has worked hard on his game this offseason but maybe more importantly he is in a contract season and that might be the motivation he needed to play hard and work hard. He has slowly improved with each season of play and with all the talent that he has it is about time for him to shine. His jumpshot looks smooth and he is playing better defense. He will be a top shotblocker this season in the NBA for sure. Preseason EF score:18.5




 Lou Williams. Sometimes it is about being in the right spot at the right time and with Miller gone and Willaims the new starter for the 76ers he should see a ton of minutes and his numbers should spike. With players like Iggy, Elton, and Young to dish it to his assist number should jump nicely. He has a nice shot and could be a solid third option on this team. Preseason EF score:14.6

 Andray Blatche. Two main factors go into thinking he will breakout this season. For one with Gilbert on the floor running things you have to imagine Blatche getting some nice touches. Just having a good point guard is all a player needs sometimes. Also, if Jamison needs surgery then Andray will be needed to add some scoring and rebounding and his minutes will jump as well. Preseason EF score:15.8

 

So, who do you like and who did I leave out?