This could have happened?

[prolific passer]

https://youtu.be/Bo9GFZHZou4

That is if anybody cares.

[gardenofsound]

Yeah...

There have been a lot of threads around it. Could have happened bit didn't.

Water under the fridge and whatnot.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Our idiot owner told Lebron to stay in Cleveland during these free agency meetings. Shows you how interested leadership is in winning.

[Axl Rose]

No. They would have never picked Chicago over Miami.

One example of the poor luck Bulls have had post Jordan. I mean Bulls were in perfect position that summer with a young team, a budding star player and 2 max slots with 3 great players available. If only Miami didn't have such foresight with contracts.

[jacoby1us]

Why keep ripping the scab off of this wound? Its over and done with.

[prolific passer]

Don't know why it was brought up today but it was and it's out in the open....again.

[HomoSapien]

I feel like I recently saw a Wade quote that said they had ruled Chicago out because they didn't want to play with Rose since he was also ball dominant.

[kodo]

No. They would have never picked Chicago over Miami.

One example of the poor luck Bulls have had post Jordan. I mean Bulls were in perfect position that summer with a young team, a budding star player and 2 max slots with 3 great players available. If only Miami didn't have such foresight with contracts.

Miami was the only choice because it was the only team with enough space, according to Wade.
With only space for 2, Wade said it was a choice between teaming up with Rose in Chicago or Bosh in Miami.
If Chicago had the space for all 3, he implied they would have went there. That seems believable to me as Bosh + Rose was clearly better than Bosh + Beasley.

[prolific passer]

I feel like I recently saw a Wade quote that said they had ruled Chicago out because they didn't want to play with Rose since he was also ball dominant.

Why that little

[Wingy]

Only saw about 30secs of the video, but did randomly scroll to the part about getting all 3.

Poppy cock.

1. I don’t recall hearing any Deng rumors
2. I think Pax loved him some Denger
3. You really want me to believe no one was willing to absorb a ~25 y/o, prime two-way Deng say…coming with a 1st round pick, or even two…hell, even three when we’re talking that big 3. Yeah right.

[umfan83]

I don't mind rehashing it. Ever since that summer I've loved to read things about what went on behind the scenes because the rumor mill was nuts during that week before The Decision and it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. At one point, I realized that LeBron had contacted a lawyer or something in Chicago and I realized it was the building I worked in, so I went up to that floor to see if I could find anything out lol. Then there was the NYT article that cited that LeBron to the Bulls was a foregone conclusion. Jason Goff reported that Wade to the Bulls was imminent (and I made fun of him on twitter when he didnt come here, causing him to block me and to this day I remain blocked). Lots of crazy stuff went down that week and there's never been a sports related experience quite like that week.

Yes its frustrating that it didn't happen and yes if it happened the Bulls would have been in a dramatically different place as an organization. The perception of the franchise and the market would be completely different. And I get how people don't feel like revisiting that, but I still find it fascinating. It didn't happen, Rose tore his ACL and we have kind of crawled as a franchise since then. It is what it is.

[umfan83]

Only saw about 30secs of the video, but did randomly scroll to the part about getting all 3.

Poppy cock.

1. I don’t recall hearing any Deng rumors
2. I think Pax loved him some Denger
3. You really want me to believe no one was willing to absorb a ~25 y/o, prime two-way Deng say…coming with a 1st round pick, or even two…hell, even three when we’re talking that big 3. Yeah right.

I definitely remember Deng rumors and specifically rumors to the Clippers. In fact it didnt take me long to find a report from back then: https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/17035/why-deng-to-clips-in-swap-of-picks-would-be-good-fit Really not sure why the trade didnt work out though. If it was 8th overall for Deng and 17, I can understand why the Clippers may have said no (BTW, players like Gordon Heyward and Paul George were available at 8), but if the Bulls knew they were a Deng trade away from the Big 3, then why wouldnt you trade Deng and 17 for a 2nd round pick to get the deal done?

The timing is also a little off since the draft is before FA opens up, so there's likely no way to know, even with backchannel communications, that Deng getting traded was the one thing stopping them from getting Wade, Bosh and LeBron. In reality, the Bulls were trying to trade Deng to open up space for a 2nd max player, something they accomplished when they ended up trading Hinrich (literally the day after the report linked above). If the Bulls knew they needed 3 max spots, I'm guessing they would have found a way to get the Deng trade done. Post-draft, a Deng trade may have been less enticing for the Clippers, especially because they were technically one of the teams that got a meeting with LeBron.

So what I think really happened is....the Bulls wanted to open up 2 max spots to get LeBron and Wade here, or at the very least 2 of the big 3 because it seemed almost inconceivable that any team could get all 3. I mean seriously, I don't remember anyone at the time suggesting that one team could get all 3 of them until the Heat rumors popped up. They shopped Deng and Hinrich, ended up finding a taker for Hinrich and didn't feel they needed to follow through with the Deng trade, especially since Pax loved Deng. If/when it was ever communicated to the Bulls that they needed to clear a 3rd max slot, it was too late to trade Deng, but 13 years later the game of telephone turns into "If the Bulls traded Deng they would have had all 3"

[Wingy]

If/when it was ever communicated to the Bulls that they needed to clear a 3rd max slot, it was too late to trade Deng, but 13 years later the game of telephone turns into "If the Bulls traded Deng they would have had all 3"

I think that’s a very likely synopsis of the reality. I doubt it was ever communicated, but who knows.

That’s why I said poppycock. I don’t think KC was being intentionally misleading. It’s more like you said. 13 years later, people forget the timelines you pointed out, stuff gets fuzzy, and blends into this urban legend.

[GoBlue72391]

Rather would have beaten the big 3 than won with the big 3, but alas, neither was destined to happen.

[step]

If/when it was ever communicated to the Bulls that they needed to clear a 3rd max slot, it was too late to trade Deng, but 13 years later the game of telephone turns into "If the Bulls traded Deng they would have had all 3"

I think that’s a very likely synopsis of the reality. I doubt it was ever communicated, but who knows.

That’s why I said poppycock. I don’t think KC was being intentionally misleading. It’s more like you said. 13 years later, people forget the timelines you pointed out, stuff gets fuzzy, and blends into this urban legend.

That and the players in question have often contradicted themselves and the events that I don't think we'd ever get the true story.

it was too late to trade Deng

It wasn't though... Since he wasn't a free agent, we could of easily had discussions with any team during that period. Which is why I think this is a bit of revisionist history and agree with you here (it be BS).

[dice]

Only saw about 30secs of the video, but did randomly scroll to the part about getting all 3.

Poppy cock.

1. I don’t recall hearing any Deng rumors
2. I think Pax loved him some Denger
3. You really want me to believe no one was willing to absorb a ~25 y/o, prime two-way Deng say…coming with a 1st round pick, or even two…hell, even three when we’re talking that big 3. Yeah right.

I definitely remember Deng rumors and specifically rumors to the Clippers. In fact it didnt take me long to find a report from back then: https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/17035/why-deng-to-clips-in-swap-of-picks-would-be-good-fit Really not sure why the trade didnt work out though. If it was 8th overall for Deng and 17, I can understand why the Clippers may have said no (BTW, players like Gordon Heyward and Paul George were available at 8), but if the Bulls knew they were a Deng trade away from the Big 3, then why wouldnt you trade Deng and 17 for a 2nd round pick to get the deal done?

The timing is also a little off since the draft is before FA opens up, so there's likely no way to know, even with backchannel communications, that Deng getting traded was the one thing stopping them from getting Wade, Bosh and LeBron. In reality, the Bulls were trying to trade Deng to open up space for a 2nd max player, something they accomplished when they ended up trading Hinrich (literally the day after the report linked above). If the Bulls knew they needed 3 max spots, I'm guessing they would have found a way to get the Deng trade done. Post-draft, a Deng trade may have been less enticing for the Clippers, especially because they were technically one of the teams that got a meeting with LeBron.

So what I think really happened is....the Bulls wanted to open up 2 max spots to get LeBron and Wade here, or at the very least 2 of the big 3 because it seemed almost inconceivable that any team could get all 3. I mean seriously, I don't remember anyone at the time suggesting that one team could get all 3 of them until the Heat rumors popped up. They shopped Deng and Hinrich, ended up finding a taker for Hinrich and didn't feel they needed to follow through with the Deng trade, especially since Pax loved Deng. If/when it was ever communicated to the Bulls that they needed to clear a 3rd max slot, it was too late to trade Deng, but 13 years later the game of telephone turns into "If the Bulls traded Deng they would have had all 3"

1) do we really think that KC johnson would have sat on this story for over a decade if it was true?
2) batman and robin wouldn't have needed alfred (bosh) to come here if we had deng, rose and noah. the reality is that both were freaking morons for thinking that 2.5 stars and filler was their best option for winning titles. had they come here and rose had stayed healthy they would've won a fistful of titles (assuming willingness to pay a lot of lux tax, which is a big assumption)

[dice]

No. They would have never picked Chicago over Miami.

One example of the poor luck Bulls have had post Jordan. I mean Bulls were in perfect position that summer with a young team, a budding star player and 2 max slots with 3 great players available. If only Miami didn't have such foresight with contracts.

Miami was the only choice because it was the only team with enough space, according to Wade.
With only space for 2, Wade said it was a choice between teaming up with Rose in Chicago or Bosh in Miami.
If Chicago had the space for all 3, he implied they would have went there. That seems believable to me as Bosh + Rose was clearly better than Bosh + Beasley.

the only thing i have ever heard from any of the big 3 is wade saying that the FO almost convinced him (and presumably lebron as well) to come. crickets about a deng trade nixing things

[dice]

Our idiot owner told Lebron to stay in Cleveland during these free agency meetings.

says who?

Shows you how interested leadership is in winning.

by all accounts chicago was the runner-up in the lebron/wade sweepstakes (unless cleveland for lebron). the bulls opened up 2 max slots by trading management fav hinrich. so yes, they did care about winning

[TheGOATRises007]

Honestly don't buy it that all 3 were on the cards. Maybe Wade + LeBron.

But I also think they were always going to team up in Miami.

And co-sign me as another who would have rather beat them once + 1 title than won 3-4 titles with them.

[BullChit]

Man GarPax really loved them some Deng didnt they....