Jul
9
Brand New Destination, Same Old Bulls
Filed Under NBA, Commentary, Chicago Bulls
How many people had Elton Brand opting out of the last year of his contract with the Los Angeles Clippers and signing with the Philadelphia 76ers this off-season? No one, prior to the last couple of days.
A lot of people thought Brand was a lock to stay with the Clippers after Los Angeles locked up Baron Davis early last week.
But somehow the 76ers were able to lure Brand to Philadelphia and away from Los Angeles (where the former Duke star has more than a budding interest producing movies) at a nice price of $82 million for five years.
Even more impressively, the 76ers were able to make this move by being aggressive and creative, trading away Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier in the day; hence, clearing cap space to sign Brand, shock the Clippers and beat out Golden State, which had reportedly offered Brand a contract in the $90 million range for the same number of years.
Give Philadelphia General Manager Ed Stefanski a lot of credit on this move. After the 76ers were a pleasant surprise last year, making it to the playoffs and giving the Pistons a respectable six-game series in the first round, Philadelphia wasn’t content and rather built on the momentum of a 2008 season which was an unexpected success for the franchise.
Getting Brand doesn’t make the 76ers a Finals contender out of the East; however, it does bunch them up in the middle of the pack of playoff teams in the conference. Philadelphia could easy be anywhere from a four to six seed in the 2009 NBA Playoffs with the upgrade from Reggie Evans to Brand, and may even push its way into the second round with some luck.
What This Reveals about the Chicago Bulls?
While the 76ers improved as a team today and other teams like the Toronto Raptors bolstered their front line prior to the draft with the addition of Jermaine O’Neal to pair up with franchise big man Chris Bosh (an interesting tandem if healthy), the Chicago Bulls continued to fall farther back in the Eastern Conference picture as a result of the organization’s inflexible philosophy of doing everything on its own terms.
For the Bulls, all of this comes back to the team’s inability to sign Ben Gordon and Luol Deng last year to contract extensions. Not that the Bulls didn’t offer Gordon and Deng fair deals (Gordon was rumored to have been offered money in the $50 million range, Deng in the $57 million range); it’s how the negotiation process — or lack of a negotiation process — allegedly went.
According to reports, Gordon and Deng were surprised how the Bulls approached their contract offers as a “take it or leave it” proposition. In some ways, it was the beginning of the end of Chicago’s season last year as both players were clearly disillusioned with the process and inexcusably let these off-court issues affect their on-court play (not that these players were the only guys who tanked last year for the Bulls).
With all this considered, imagine if the Bulls had locked up Gordon and Deng last season — the Bulls would have had much more flexibility at this point to go after Brand, a player the franchise should have never traded away seven years ago for the draft rights of Tyson Chandler.
The Bulls are currently a team with far too many complimentary pieces (Gordon, Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni, Tyrus Thomas, Drew Gooden, Joakim Noah, Larry Hughes, etc.) and needed to be aggressive in making a move for a consistent low-post scorer and classy superstar like Brand, who would have bettered whomever was left on the roster and restored the hard-working attitude that made Chicago an enjoyable team to watch prior to the 2007-08 season.
While it can be debated whether Brand would have wanted to return to Chicago (he left with a bad taste in his mouth of the organization, largely due to the poor bedside manner of former General Manager Jerry Krause), he’s still the type of big man the organization should have been pursuing.
Besides the Rose Selection, the Bulls Continue to Whiff!
Entering this off-season after arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history, the Chicago Bulls needed to make a statement.
While undeservedly lucking into the number-one overall pick and a franchise point guard in Derrick Rose, the Bulls bungled their coaching search, failing to hire Mike D’Antoni and Doug Collins because of Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s methodical deliberations before hiring a guy whose never coach a gamed on any level (prior to the last two days) in Vinny Del Negro.
And now Chicago has its hands tied as a result of the Deng and Gordon uncertainty and is watching on the sidelines as a team with less talent like the 76ers is more aggressive and gets considerably stronger.
Despite the drafting of Rose (who will be a star in a couple of years but should not be expected to improve this team drastically in year one as there is a steep learning curve at the point guard position), Chicago is looking more and more like a team that will miss the playoffs once again.
And this is a shame as the team has some talent and seems to know that it needs to make a move with either Hinrich (hopefully), Gordon or Deng as it’s become clear in the last couple of seasons that these players are far more comfortable and compatible as third or fourth options. However, the Bulls are failing to grasp the importance of aggressively making such a move sooner rather than later.
While Chicago will eventually make a trade this summer at some point as its roster clearly has way too many guards, it will be way to late to get an impact player like a Brand.
For the Bulls, it looks like this off-season trend of playing the waiting game (D’Antoni and Collins) will cost them once again in terms of making a trade that will be impactful for the organization rather than just moving someone from of the plethora of bodies for a matching salary or just another complimentary piece.
chris@hoops4thesoul.com
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