This could have happened?

[Chicago-Bull-E]

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

Give this website a whirl.

www.google.com

[TheGOATRises007]

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

If you actually believe GarPax refused to trade Deng to land LeBron, Wade and Bosh, you must believe in fairy tales.

[prolific passer]

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

That's some bullchit.

[BullChit]

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

If you actually believe GarPax refused to trade Deng to land LeBron, Wade and Bosh, you must believe in fairy tales.

What is it that you are are implying about fairy tales?

[prolific passer]

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

If you actually believe GarPax refused to trade Deng to land LeBron, Wade and Bosh, you must believe in fairy tales.

What is it that you are are implying about fairy tales?

Bulls winning a title post Jordan is a fairy tale.

[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

Give this website a whirl.

www.google.com

how about just answering the damn question like a normal human being?

obviously there is context lacking if JR made such a comment AT A FREE AGENT MEETING WITH LEBRON. the meeting wouldn't even occur if the bulls didn't want to sign him

[PJSteven22]

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.

The rumors were there. I remember seeing them at the time.

[Axl Rose]

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.

TBF Deng wasn't really valued like that at the time because of injury issues/Vinny didn't know how to use him (Thibs was a godsend for his career). That said if the all three would have agreed to sign they would have found a trade for sure.

[step]

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.

TBF Deng wasn't really valued like that at the time because of injury issues/Vinny didn't know how to use him (Thibs was a godsend for his career). That said if the all three would have agreed to sign they would have found a trade for sure.

Sure, he wasn't the All-Star yet, but he had a stellar playoff series against the Cavs in the lead up to that off-season.

2009–10 season

Deng played in a total of 70 games during the 2009–10 season, also increasing his scoring and rebounding to 17.6 and 7.3 respectively, helping the Bulls make the playoffs again. He missed 11 straight games at the end of March because of a sprained right calf.[18]

During the first-round of the playoffs, Deng averaged (34.8) points per game along with (5.0) rebounds per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.[15] He scored (26) points in the final game, but couldn't prevent the Bulls being eliminated by the Cavs.

[dougthonus]

how about just answering the damn question like a normal human being?

obviously there is context lacking if JR made such a comment AT A FREE AGENT MEETING WITH LEBRON. the meeting wouldn't even occur if the bulls didn't want to sign him

It's hilarious to think that a meeting with LeBron took place anywhere except where LeBron wanted it. Maybe we met in Cleveland, and if so it's because LeBron wanted to meet in Cleveland.

As if any team was approaching LeBron going "you meet us on our terms".

[gardenofsound]

I seem to remember rumors that the Bulls balked at some of Lebron's demands also... like his entourage getting to fly with the team and all that.

The fact is that it ultimately didn't happen. Wade added some context after he signed here in 2016 but who knows how much of that was him trying to make Bulls fans feel good after loathing him for so long.

[umfan83]

One thing I wonder - how many years would the Bulls have been able to afford Rose, Noah, LeBron, Wade and Bosh? Noah and Rose were both due extensions after a couple of seasons. Can't remember how punitive the luxury tax was back then and/or whether there was a hard cap (I think this was 3 CBAs ago).

Obviously Rose wouldn't have ended up winning an MVP and gotten the supermax but I still have a hard time believing the Bulls would have paid for all 5 of them after a couple of seasons.

[Axl Rose]

Sure, he wasn't the All-Star yet, but he had a stellar playoff series against the Cavs in the lead up to that off-season.

2009–10 season

Deng played in a total of 70 games during the 2009–10 season, also increasing his scoring and rebounding to 17.6 and 7.3 respectively, helping the Bulls make the playoffs again. He missed 11 straight games at the end of March because of a sprained right calf.[18]

During the first-round of the playoffs, Deng averaged (34.8) points per game along with (5.0) rebounds per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.[15] He scored (26) points in the final game, but couldn't prevent the Bulls being eliminated by the Cavs.

I don't know where that 34.8 is coming from he averaged 18.8 which isn't bad by any means. Still his value was kinda low but i ultimately agree he could have been traded if it came down to it.

[step]

Sure, he wasn't the All-Star yet, but he had a stellar playoff series against the Cavs in the lead up to that off-season.

2009–10 season

Deng played in a total of 70 games during the 2009–10 season, also increasing his scoring and rebounding to 17.6 and 7.3 respectively, helping the Bulls make the playoffs again. He missed 11 straight games at the end of March because of a sprained right calf.[18]

During the first-round of the playoffs, Deng averaged (34.8) points per game along with (5.0) rebounds per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.[15] He scored (26) points in the final game, but couldn't prevent the Bulls being eliminated by the Cavs.

I don't know where that 34.8 is coming from he averaged 18.8 which isn't bad by any means. Still his value was kinda low but i ultimately agree he could have been traded if it came down to it.

Welp, that's wikipedia for you...

[dice]

how about just answering the damn question like a normal human being?

obviously there is context lacking if JR made such a comment AT A FREE AGENT MEETING WITH LEBRON. the meeting wouldn't even occur if the bulls didn't want to sign him

It's hilarious to think that a meeting with LeBron took place anywhere except where LeBron wanted it. Maybe we met in Cleveland, and if so it's because LeBron wanted to meet in Cleveland.

As if any team was approaching LeBron going "you meet us on our terms".

what he's referring to is that AT the meeting JR suggested to lebron that he should continue to play for the cavs. ric bucher says that he was dead serious, thinking that it was good for the league for stars not to hop around. but clearly JR wanted lebron in chicago at least as the alternative or he wouldn't have been there

[erlim]

You know, if you take all the weird compromised agent signings we had through that era, even if we had a team under Thibs, peaking at the right time like:



We still very much could have never won a chip. There have been so many super teams that are way way better than that on paper that just duff out in the first or second round. Kawaii+PG13, Kayrie+Durant+Harden, Durant on the Suns, Butler with Embiid and capable Simmons, we could go on and on and on…

I do think Wade said they weren’t high on Chicago because Rose was ball dominant. It was on Knuckleheads maybe? Or All the Smoke? I think it could be in the new interview with old heads thread I made. Not like Rose wouldn’t have figured it out, and he’s gone on record that he actually went HARD trying to recruit Wade/Lebron/Bosh and later Carmelo, but it is what it is.

You see free-agent players drawing a hard line in the sand to play for the Lakers all. The. Time. Nobody is scared of the ‘shadow of Kobe’ who accomplished 83 and 1/3 as much as Jordan did.

Chicago at best gets some gems like Gasol because he likes the opera or wanted to check out the Steppenwolf or whatever, Wade because he’s from Chicago and was pouting with Pat Riley, or guys like Rip Hamilton or DDR because we aren’t a **** horrid franchise—we just aren’t some Cinderella town, it gets cold as hell.

But taking a step back, we aren’t the 2000s Krause Bulls whose top gets are Ron Mercer and Eddie Robinson only to lose to teams by 50+ a night. We have more appeal just by name and location than most teams. Listen to DeMar Derozan talk about trotting out to sirus and ‘failing to appease the ghost of Jordan’ when he misses game winning shots.

[prolific passer]

Sure, he wasn't the All-Star yet, but he had a stellar playoff series against the Cavs in the lead up to that off-season.

I don't know where that 34.8 is coming from he averaged 18.8 which isn't bad by any means. Still his value was kinda low but i ultimately agree he could have been traded if it came down to it.

Welp, that's wikipedia for you...

If Deng put up 35ppg in a playoff series then the bulls got a bargain for him with his contract.

[prolific passer]

You know, if you take all the weird compromised agent signings we had through that era, even if we had a team under Thibs, peaking at the right time like:



We still very much could have never won a chip. There have been so many super teams that are way way better than that on paper that just duff out in the first or second round. Kawaii+PG13, Kayrie+Durant+Harden, Durant on the Suns, Butler with Embiid and capable Simmons, we could go on and on and on…

I do think Wade said they weren’t high on Chicago because Rose was ball dominant. It was on Knuckleheads maybe? Or All the Smoke? I think it could be in the new interview with old heads thread I made. Not like Rose wouldn’t have figured it out, and he’s gone on record that he actually went HARD trying to recruit Wade/Lebron/Bosh and later Carmelo, but it is what it is.

You see free-agent players drawing a hard line in the sand to play for the Lakers all. The. Time. Nobody is scared of the ‘shadow of Kobe’ who accomplished 83 and 1/3 as much as Jordan did.

Chicago at best gets some gems like Gasol because he likes the opera or wanted to check out the Steppenwolf or whatever, Wade because he’s from Chicago and was pouting with Pat Riley, or guys like Rip Hamilton or DDR because we aren’t a **** horrid franchise—we just aren’t some Cinderella town, it gets cold as hell.

But taking a step back, we aren’t the 2000s Krause Bulls whose top gets are Ron Mercer and Eddie Robinson only to lose to teams by 50+ a night. We have more appeal just by name and location than most teams. Listen to DeMar Derozan talk about trotting out to sirus and ‘failing to appease the ghost of Jordan’ when he misses game winning shots.

Past super teams it was about chemistry issues. Today's super teams are about health and/or load management which hurts the chemistry even more.

[weneeda2guard]

I have seen many versions of this scenario even hearing Wade and Bosh admit they were seriously considering Chicago

But I as many here were very invested in that summer of 2010 and at that time, I just never really felt they really had Chicago as their destination. K.c says it was happening, trust me, well he wasn't talking like that then. In fact without looking it up, I remember k.c being rather pessimistic about the whole thing so much so many fans were always joking about how k.c was always about the cold water on everyone hopes and dreams.

What I remember feeling was that Wade and lebron were playing games with the other teams in the East specifically the Knicks and bulls hoping to string them along while free agency was continuing to move on, then they agree to go to the heat and we get left with nothing. I remember Wade very early on in free agency talking about how Chicago does its legends like how they did Scottie and Jordan. That doesn't sound like a player seriously considering joining a franchise. Bulls had already parted with Hinrich to make space and imo would have been dam fools to trade Deng without a guarantee.

Then Stephen a smith announced on his podcast that Wade lebron and Bosh would join forces in Miami. Stephen a didn't get that from nowhere and I think Stephen a was trying to warn the Knicks not to part with any more pieces hoping lebron would come. Maybe this just a slow news day but I still don't feel it was much truth to that and I still feel Wade and lebron were playing games. Miami was always their choice imo.

[weneeda2guard]

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

There a lot of things I don't like about some garpax decisions

How they handled 2010 is not one of them. I feel they dealt with it perfectly. They did enough to inquire about the big free agents, locked in boozer before all the free agents were off the table waiting on Wade and lebron, entertained Wade and lebron while still making other moves to bring in great pieces. The original plan was boozer and Joe Johnson. The hawks dropped a ton to keep Joe Johnson. Then the plans were Korver and jj Reddick, the magic matched our offer sheet kept Reddick so we had to go with Ronnie brewer and cj Watson. Best thing they did that year was hiring thibs who took that very flawed roster to best record in the league 2 years in a row.