whatthe_buck!? wrote:If u think Wallace and Boozer signing with the Bulls is evidence that Chicago has been able to attract superstars in FA then I don't know what to tell u, if that's ur claim then at this point its time to just step back and let other posters decide who they agree with because u will never get me to concede that point. It's just pure silliness and revisionist history. And considering Wallace didnt sign for the max, didnt get a competitive offer from Detroit to  resign, and immediately went from DPOY the year before to being a player the Bulls were desperately looking to trade the one year later I think it's fair to say that they signed a washed up Ben Wallace (whether they knew it at the time they signed him or not). 
In fact I would submit the reason they were able to sign Wallace at all is not because of Chicago's attraction as a free agent destination but instead because many GMs around the league recognized that Wallace was in steep decline as a player and they were one of a few -if not the only- team interested in adding him. It's easy to sign FAs when u have no real competition for signing them lol
And how many teams are truly able to attract these "superstar" free agents? How many superstars are there? Five? Less? How many "superstar" free agents have legitimately switched teams through free agency in recent history rather than trade? Howard, Lebron, Bosh (who was actually traded, not signed outright). Any others? Hell, a strong argument can be made that Bosh wasn't even a superstar. There are a few metrics that might suggest Boozer was a better player, or at the very least on the same plane as Bosh, during the 2009-2010 season than was Bosh. (TS%, eFG%, TRB% all favor Boozer)
You're also saying Los Angeles is that type of destination. While I don't disagree, the reasoning you've provided here depicts Los Angeles as having LESS appeal than does Chicago. You don't have to attract "superstars" to be a destination location. You have to be able to have the marquee guys in each free agency class be interested and Chicago has been in the discussion for many of those players.
Again, more hypocrisy in this post. You reason with revisionist history in one paragraph and then completely ignore it in the second in your discussions about Wallace and him being "washed up." You can keep mentioning the "lack of a competitive offer" for Wallace, but it was reported at the time that the Pistons offered a four year 48 or 49 million dollar deal (
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/b ... lace_x.htm) to him. If that's not a sign of a team thinking he's washed up, I don't know what is. You also mention a steep decline. I'd love to see evidence of that given that he was 1st team all Defense, 2nd Team All NBA, an NBA All Star and DPOY in the season leading up to his free agency.