There are a lot of interesting changes included in the new tentative agreement made by Hunter, Stern and his owners. One of them involve a new rule appropriately called the ‘Derrick Rose rule’. This rule consists of young, rookie players who exceed their expectations on their contracts. If a player is voted as an All-Star starter twice in their first four seasons, voted to be MVP of the league, or make an All-NBA team will be able to receive up to 30 percent of their team’s salary cap on their second contract. Cool, huh? This can be a motivator for young players to strive to perform to the best of their abilities and beyond. Players deserve to be rewarded according to their performance level.
Derrick Rose’s Career Accolades and Highlights (so far):
’09 NBA Rookie Of The Year
’09 NBA All-Rookie First Team
’10-’11 2x NBA All-Star
’10 Gold Medal for FIBA World Championship (USA)
’11 All-NBA First Team
’11 NBA MVP
Now, let’s add ‘NBA Champion’ to this growing list…
It’s starting to look like the Bulls will be back in action just in time for Christmas! After a 15 hour meeting, Stern, Hunter, Kessler, and lawyers agreed on a tentative agreement to start the season on Dec. 25 for a 66 game season. The start of free agency will begin in two weeks and training camp for teams will likely start on Dec. 9. Both parties have to vote on the new CBA agreement that states that it’s a 50-50 split of revenue. But, players have the possibility to make 51% or sway back to 49% depending on the details.
On Christmas, the Celtics will take on the Knicks and the Heat will have a rematch of the NBA Finals against the Mavericks. Also, the Chicago Bulls will be in LA to take on Kobe and company. The full 66 game schedule should be revised in the next couple of days.
Last year, the Chicago Bulls played the New York Knicks on Christmas day. Once again, the Bulls will be on the main stage for the holidays to match up against the Los Angeles Lakers. Bulls’ draftee, rookie Jimmy Butler will finally have a chance to show fans how he can contribute to his team. Expect the Bulls staff to answer questions about any major adjustments such as Brewer starting instead of Bogans or altering their offensive playbook to accommodate Derrick Rose giving their team more offensive options.
Tom Thibodeau and 85 members of the Bulls staff served over 750 people with a Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday at The Pacific Garden Mission. The Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter located on South Canal Street in the South Loop of Chicago. This Thanksgiving, Thibodeau and Bulls staff were volunteers preparing meals for a community and not on the sidelines of a court somewhere coaching towards a victory. Due to the “you know what”, Thibodeau and others will actually have time to spend with their families. Sure, Coach Thibs would love to be coaching right now, but he’s grateful to be headed to Connecticut to see his family.
Coach Thibs like so many others have been substituting NBA basketball with lots of college basketball and NFL games. With so much time on his hands now and Thibodeau being a basketball obsessed man, what is he doing to keep his sanity in tact? “Just the usual: Been watching college games, watching film from last year, working on the playbook. Just the usual stuff,” said Thibodeau. Of course, Thibodeau is still watching film from last season. It’s great that the Bulls coach is keeping busy, but it is too bad he can’t go over this film with the team.
At an exhibition game in Houston held by fellow Bull, John Lucas on Sunday, Rose stated to the media that he will likely not succumb to the temptation of playing overseas until the lockout is over. There have been rumors upon rumors about Derrick receiving several offers but no concrete details have been made. According to Tracking and the Houston Chronicle, Rose stated to the paper, “I’m not going anywhere, I’m good.“I’m just trying to stay in a nice place where you never know what will happen, or what can happen, what will happen. Now, I’m trying to keep myself in nice shape, and stay positive. Hopefully, we’ll have a season.” The reigning MVP could be a little apprehensive about the dangers of getting injured and not being able to play when the lockout ends. That could also explain why he unlike many of his superstar peers (Lebron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony) does not participate in many exhibition games.
By not going overseas, this can allow fans of his to breathe a little bit easier. He’s doing exactly what fans want him to do and that’s to stay injury free and perfect his game even more. There are areas in Derrick’s game that need improvement like developing a long range shot, post up skills and conditioning to endure a long season. By staying in the gym until the lockout is over, Rose should be able to become a better all around player.
According to SLAMonline Bulls center, Joakim Noah, is possibly considering returning to France. Noah would be rejoining the Paris-Levallois team if the lockout continues and takes over the whole NBA season. Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Ronny Turiaf are just a few NBA players that will be joining the French League. A majority of players are considering taking offers since the NBA and talks of reconciliation is currently at a halt. So expect more players to jump ship soon and get accustomed to overseas basketball.
Below’s a clip of Noah talking about his experience playing with the national French team over the summer.
On Monday evening, Billy Hunter, Derek Fisher, and the NBPA announced during a press conference that they collectively decided to reject Stern and the owners’ latest offer. Since last Thursday, there have been rumors from agents that the players were not pleased with the latest deal that was on the table. Billy Hunter stated that the NBPA will file an anti-trust action against the NBA within the next two days and that the union is disbanded immediately. During an interview on SportsCenter, Stern stated, “There will ultimately be a new collective bargaining agreement, but the 2011- ’12 season is now in jeopardy.” This is absolutely not a shocker at all to many. Stern also threatened to void all contracts with players, making this situation uglier than ever. He continued to dismiss the players’ decision, saying, “Obviously, Mr. Kessler got his way and we’re about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA. We were close, and the players decided to blow it up.” Anti-trust attorney, David Boies, was hired by the players to handle their case against the NBA. Fans, casual and hardcore, have no choice now but to prepare for a long winter without any basketball. Yes, the players had the opportunity to end this by accepting the deal, whether it was favored or not, but Stern comes out of this as the Grinch since he is the commissioner and many owners are faceless. No union, no basketball, just coal in our stocking this winter.
While the NBA season is still uncertain, players are desperate to get back on the court. This is no shocker since the lockout is now on day 129. Rumors of in-fighting with players and owners are circulating like a whirlwind. Players are threatening to decertify and owners/Stern are threatening to cancel more games. For fans, this is a never-ending nightmare that we’d all like to wake up from.
Batman and Robin
Luol Deng is like many others eager to play. According to his agent, Deng is considering playing overseas if the NBA cannot come to an agreement in the near future. Of course, he wants to play for a team in Europe where he’ll be more comfortable since he played for Great Britain during FIBA’s Eurobasket tournament. Deng would be a great asset to any team with his strong leadership and good ability to play defense. During the regular season in 2010-2011, he averaged 17.4ppg and 5.8rpg. If he were to sign with a team overseas, it is advised that he only agrees to a contract that allows him to return to the NBA after the lockout has ended. Bulls fans are a bit hesitant of him or any other player on the Bulls roster to play overseas due to fear of a possible injury. But, the same could be said with players participating in exhibition games.
the Baseline King high-fives Boozer
Remember when Ronnie Brewer was supposed to be the starting shooting guard until he got injured early in the season? That injury led to Keith Bogans being upgraded to a starter for the whole season. Seems that Coach Thibodeau approved of Brewer coming off the bench. Well, a healthy Brewer wants his spot back. The lack of strength at the SG position has been the Bulls achilles heel. From sports analysts to fans, the Bulls have been criticized for not having someone who can compliment Rose in the backcourt. This started rumors of the Bulls organization searching under the radar for that undeniable void to be filled. Despite not having much at the SG position the Bulls managed to reach 62 wins last season with the leadership of Rose. Expect to see the Bulls possibly giving Brewer another chance as a starter. He’s great on defense and can handle the ball well. If Brewer has been working on his “unique-style” jumper this past off season then it shouldn’t be difficult to show and prove why he deserves his spot back.
There are only nine days and 77 games remaining in the 2012-13 regular season. And in one conference, we have a pretty clear picture of how teams will match up in the first round of the playoffs. […]
