Reinsdorf talks Big 3; Regrets Dealing Hinrich

[red222]

On the heels of the greatest free-agent recruiting flurry in NBA history, Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has just one regret.

"I regret the fact that we lost Kirk (Hinrich)," Reinsdorf said in a phone interview. "But if we hadn't moved Kirk, we couldn't have been a player."

In the race to free up cap room to spend on free agents, the Bulls sent Hinrich and first-round draft pick Kevin Seraphin to Washington in exchange for the rights to obscure Belarus power forward Vladimir Veremeenko.

After chasing LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others, the Bulls were able to sign former Utah forward Carlos Boozer, while James, Wade and Bosh joined forces in Miami. The Bulls also signed ex-Jazz sharpshooter Kyle Korver and have an offer sheet pending with Orlando restricted free agent J.J. Redick.

"It was clear LeBron wasn't going to come (to the Bulls) by himself," Reinsdorf said. "Somebody else had to come with him so we had to take that shot. It didn't work out, so now I feel bad that Kirk is gone, but I don't regret taking the shot."

Reinsdorf didn't want to comment on James' often-criticized television special announcing his decision. But he took the alignment of the three stars in stride.

"Those three guys apparently had a dream where they wanted to play together and it's their privilege to do it," Reinsdorf said. "I don't side with the people who are critical of them for getting together. I think it was clearly their privilege to do it and I don't think there was any obligation on LeBron's part or Chris Bosh's part to stay where they were."

Now a popular topic of debate is whether Miami's power trio was sincere in considering the Bulls. Some suspect those meetings were merely a charade to hide the fact that the players agreed to team up long before free-agency began on July 1.

Reinsdorf felt the intentions of James and Bosh were honest.

"I don't think they would have wasted their time," he said. "I think Wade, in his own mind, was going to go back to Miami unless he heard something that made him change his mind. But I think LeBron and Chris were definitely open-minded.

"I think if we could have cleared space for three of them, we might have gotten them all. We just couldn't clear the space."

Still, Reinsdorf isn't ready to concede anything to the Heat. If the Bulls can find a decent rotation at shooting guard, they should be ready to step forward next season with the addition of Boozer.

"I believe we will be better than Miami this year," Reinsdorf said. "I think with Derrick (Rose), Joakim (Noah), Lu (Deng) and Boozer, we've got four really good front-line players.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=394087

[BbFlyEmCeE]

[Tim M]

Not surprising. Kirk has been a front-office favorite since putting on the uniform. Hopefully this now silences any critics who believe Reinsdorf will not go all out to try to win a title.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

:(

Breaks your heart a little, don't it? The way he puts it - "we lost Kirk" - makes me picture him lying dead on a battlefield somewhere.

[TheAdmiral]

Ahh, the love for Captain Kurt lasts forever.

[z0zin]

I do too, considering he's probably the best Wade-defender in the whole league. I'm hoping that the Wizards buy him out, and he resigns with the Bulls some time in the future.

[ELCIDz]

Article just had to remind us how we struck out in 2000 as well. Next time a big free agency summer comes count me out. Don't need a trifecta of dissapointment.

[Paxson]

Kirk better get a standing ovation when he steps on the UC court.

[ChronicKerr]

I regret it as well, in hindsight. I surely wouldn't of regretted it if we would have gotten Lebron or Bosh. Hinrich is better than any other 2 guard on the market and only has 2 years left on his contract. We could of added Anderson with the pick as well.

[glowsticks]

Too bad we couldn't/didn't have a clause on that deal where if we struck out on the big 3 we just give the Wizards our pick and that's it.

[jc23]

I hope this isn't a way of JR saying that he feels this team is good enough and there is no need to spend to get another big name. Because we can not beat Miami this year but we are much closer than people think. We are still a granger or mello short of accomplishing this task.

[ELCIDz]

:(

Breaks your heart a little, don't it? The way he puts it - "we lost Kirk" - makes me picture him lying dead on a battlefield somewhere.

LOL. Seriously though I'm starting to miss him as well. Not only do we not have a SG we don't have a backup PG. Kirk takes care of both.

[abrock]

Rumor has it Prince told Dumars that those guys were going to play together. That's weird.

[VolumePoster]

I don't regret losing Kirk. I regret that our front offense has traded or released three competent shooting guards in the past two seasons, and now we have none. Hell, we don't even have a back up point guard.

Right now we've got ***one frakking guard.*** How can he claim we can compete when we literally don't have a two?

[MJ23b4_Rose2day]

I don't mind loosing Kirk, its the pick that I wanted. We gave up James Anderson which we could've used right about now.

[abrock]

I hope this isn't a way of JR saying that he feels this team is good enough and there is no need to spend to get another big name. Because we can not beat Miami this year but we are much closer than people think. We are still a granger or mello short of accomplishing this task.

That suck if so, because Bulls have no wing scorer. I'm not talking about shooter -- a scorer.

[Hangtime84]

I HATE THAT HE SAD ABOUT THAT

[panthermark]

I regret it also...

I kept saying that we moved the wrong guy...(and I do like Deng)....because we didn't have enough room to sign two full max players and we were left withoug a SG on the roster....

But I understood it had to be done to even have a shot at two players....it was what it was....

Looking at the contracts given out.....we could have added Livingston, Korver, and Boozer to our current roster WITH Kirk and the #17....

Oh well....

[Franch1ze]

In the entire three days I've been here, I've never told you guys this, but Kirk Hinrich is the reason I started watching the Bulls again after Jordan left. I can relate to him because we're both from Iowa, we both played point guard, and we both share the same first name. It's truly sad to see him gone. Did we ever have a Kirk Hinrich appreciation thread?

[boogydown]

Regret losing Hinrich. You're kidding? Howabout Gordon?

With Gordon, we'd be a defensive guard away from being a contender. Gordon is who I regret losing since the start.

After Gordon, John Salmons who we could have resigned for cheap and should share minutes with Deng. I'm sorry but if it wasn't for Tyrus Thomas sucking so bad, we could have likely beat Boston as Glen Davis beat out Tyrus Thomas. Our guards matched very well with Boston. We also had perfect spacing for Rose.

Imagine if we had

Rose - Vet Min PG
Gordon - Vet Min SG
Deng - Salmons
Boozer - Gibson
Noah - Asik

We'd be set. MLE next summer.