Thank You John Paxson

The trade deadline has passed, and thank our god above that the bulls still have Tyrus Thomas and D-bag Noah on the team. At first I was upset when I realized that they Bulls didn't get a "good" post player, but then I had a shocking realization.... Nobody wants Tyrus Thomas or Noah! I'm pretty sure that a package of Tyrus, Gooden, and the Bulls First round pick for next year was not nearly enough to get anyone, let alone Amare or Chris Bosh. So here is a recap of how the Bulls moved half their team, didn't get any better, and most likely got a lot worse. Here is your new Bulls roster:

Starters:

Derrick Rose
Ben Gordon
Luol Deng
Tyrus Thomas
Brad Miller

Bench:
Kirk Hinrich
John Salmons
Joakim Noah
Thabo Sefolosha
Aaron Gray
Lindsey Hunter
Tim Thomas

So first the Knicks trade:

Larry Hughes who hasn't played in lord knows how long gets dealt basically for 2 contracts that equal his contract. The Bulls basically got Tim Thomas who will probably back up Tyrus Thomas and come in and jack the ball up just like Larry Hughes used to. Thomas did play for the Bulls in 05-06 and didn't do anything so the Bulls let him go so he could go to Phoenix and play his ass off for them in the playoffs. If you think that Tim Thomas will play hard for the Bulls this time around you are an idiot. Jerome James is out for the season, so the Bulls will try to get his contract off the books this year. So this trade is basically a wash, and a way for 2 teams to get rid of horrible contracts that they have. In the case of Jerome James, he will most likely never see the floor in Chicago, and Tim Thomas is riding his last wave of absurd money for skills that diminished 5 years ago.

The Kings trade:

You can try and convince me that this is a good trade until you are blue in the face and I won't buy it! Brad Miller is 32 years old, hasn't ever averaged more than 16 points and 10 rebounds a game during his career, and he is injury prone. John Salmons is a good scorer, but that is not what the Bulls need. With Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Loul Deng, you have enough jump shooters on the team. This is the reason that Larry Hughes did not fit into the situation. The Bulls average 100 points a game, but they give up 102. So how do you fix that? You trade your best defender and your most consistent rebounder. The only upside to this deal is that we don't have to see Side Show Bob start for this team anymore, that is until Miller gets hurt in his 5th game. The Bulls actually took on salary in this trade, and they don't have any more cap space for next year. So Paxson is basically praying that the Bulls somehow get Haseem Thabeet with the draft pick that they weren't willing to trade.


With Salmons though, you do have some trade value, as a few teams in the West like San Antonio wanted him to come in off the bench. Seeing as Chicago is where talent goes to get overpaid and die (Ben Wallace, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni) it would not shock me to see Salmons numbers drop as a Bull and his trade value dwindle. Just for the love of God do not give this guy an extension. A contract extension from the Bulls in the Post-Jordan era is pretty much a kiss of death for your stats and value as a basketball player. By value I mean that the Bulls will pay you so much over your actual worth or foreseeable potential that it takes an MBA from Wharton to figure out how another team can acquire you without torpedoing their salary cap. Is anyone shocked that Kirk Hinrich, who is now our back-up point guard makes 10 million this year? If this is the standard, the Derrick Rose will most likely get the first Billion dollar contract in NBA history from the Bulls. When Luol Deng is probably lost on another NBA teams bench in 5 years, and there fans are wondering how the shit their team owes him 14 million dollars, they have to look no further than John Paxson.

The NBA needs to create a new rule right now. If you are not an All-Star, then you can't make over 10 million dollars a year!! If you don't start, then you can't make over 5 million a year. This rule needs to be created because agents and players are just plain stealing from teams, and more importantly inept GM's. Does anyone else think that being a former NBA player is probably not the best prerequisite to be in charge of a 100 million dollar payroll!!? Most of these guys couldn't spell their name right on their ACT's or graduate college, but by all means let them negotiate multi-year, multi-million dollar deals. This is why the 4 out of the top 5 Knicks salaries right now are Stephon Marbury, Larry Hughes, Eddy Curry, and Cuttino Mobley! Isiah Thomas is not some super-genius who got his business degree in the 2 years he attended college, he probably spent his time in college drinking milkshakes and coloring. What next? Is David Justice going to be the next GM of the Atlanta Braves, because he was married to Halle Berry, and she made lots of money? Every professional sport needs to learn a lesson from the New York Knicks and the Detroit Lions, and never put a former player in charge of your organization.

Now that Salmons is here, Thabo Sefolosha is never going to see the floor, which is absolutely fine by me. When you have a long player like Thabo who can's shoot for shit, you know what people start calling him? A great defender! Illinois fans have seen this before with Brian Randle. Thabo was an okay defender when he had a hand in a players face, but he was not overly great with dribble penetration. If anything, the Bulls rotation is now set, with Salmons backing up Deng, and Hinrich backing up Rose and Gordon. We can all rejoice in the fact that we will not have to see Noah flailing around on the court as much, and the robot known as Aaron Gray will never see the floor.

Finally today John Paxson announced that he is not stepping down, and will remain the GM of the Bulls. Congratulations New York!! Paxson will make the rest of the NBA forget how bad of a GM the Isiah Thomas was.