On Saturday the Blackhawks and Antti Niemi received the arbitrator’s decision to award Niemi $2.75 million for the 2010-11 season if the Hawks resign their restricted free agent. It is widely thought that the Blackhawks pursued a salary of closer to $2 million while Niemi and his agent Bill Zito were pushing for closer to $3 million. While the salary is not the worst case scenario for the Blackhawks, it’s far from the best. For now, the Hawks have 48 hours, presumably until sometime on Monday morning, to make a decision on whether to resign Niemi or let him become an unrestricted free agent.

Rumors also began to circulate that the Hawks have come to an agreement with veteran netminder Marty Turco on a one year deal for $1.5 million in case Niemi leaves. With various sites reporting that the Hawks are either just below the cap or currently over the cap, a move to sign either one of these netminders requires moving Cristobal Huet’s ghastly contract. While I’m far less knowledgeable about the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement than the NBA’s (which is saying something since they are both rather confusing), it appears that Huet is eligible to be placed on waivers and thus, optioned to Rockford. I’d like to believe he would probably clear waivers since whichever team picked him up would have to pay the full amount of his terrible contract for the next two years (Did Jim Hendry sign this guy?).  Now if Huet doesn’t raise a fuss and goes down to Rockford this is obviously a huge benefit to the Blackhawks’ salary cap woes. Yet, the salary cap woes are only one part of the equation.

While the Blackhawks fortunes rose steadily through last season, culminating in their Stanley Cup victory, the organization slumped further and further into debt. Rocky Wirtz admitted that the Blackhawks simply ran out of cash several times during last season and had to be bailed out by the other Wirtz family businesses. While a 20% increase in average ticket prices will certainly help the team’s financial bottom line, I find it hard to believe Rocky Wirtz would be too eager to pay the entire salary cap amount next year plus Huet’s $5.625 million contract in Rockford.

There is one out for the Blackhawks. If a player that is waived, clears waivers, and is sent down to the minors refuses to show up to the minor-league team, the NHL squad can treat this as insubordination and grounds for withholding the player’s salary. So don’t be surprised if John McDonough, the man who invented the Beanie Babies idea at Wrigley, concocts some soap-opera storyline where Huet refuses the indignity of being assigned to Rockford and lashes out publicly in broken English, or even better yet, a rant all in French (a refusal to speak the language of those who betrayed him). And behind the scenes the Blackhawks organization tells him they’ll pay him $2 million a year off the books to drive a truck for their liquor distributorship and take a few years off of hockey until his contract runs out.

I’d love to hear StevieY’s thoughts on this matter. That is, if he’s still alive, or if he isn’t too busy taking his talents to South Beach or East Lansing as the case may be.

Stacey King: "A sick dunk from Asik."

There is plenty of tape of the Bulls’ new additions including Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, CJ Watson and Kurt Thomas. We generally have an idea of what each of these players will bring to the court this upcoming season. This is not the case with Bulls import, Omer Asik.

Asik, whom the Bulls picked up from the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft, hails from Turkey. He played the majority of his games for Fenerbache Ulker and had some considerable success (mostly shot blocking) in Euroleague contests. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see Asik play against some higher level competition in August and September when he suits up for the Turkish National Team at the World Championships in Turkey.

Until then, head on over to NBAPlaybook.com for a detailed analysis of Asik’s strengths and considerable weaknesses with supporting video evidence. Looks like he has some ability to finish at the rim, but I agree with the assessment that he looks pretty weak. Some sites have him at 7′0″ but in truth, he probably is closer to 6′11″. And at that height and 230 lbs he’s going to be pushed around a lot in the NBA. Yet, if all he does is keep someone else from getting a clean shot at a rebound, I’ll trust Taj or Joakim to come away with any deflections that he can’t pull down himself.

In the last couple of weeks I have seen a whole lot of attention paid to a front I forgot existed, team diplomacy. The Bulls and White Sox have added two stars as “team ambassadors.”

As far as I understand it, Scottie Pippen and Frank Thomas are being paid to represent their prospective teams as a public figure, attending games (for free), signing autographs, and occasionally writing something nice about the franchise. I would like to go Billy Beane and take this generic public relations move and turn it into an actual tactical advantage for the team on the field, or court, of play.

The Chicago Bulls are set to embark on a season with a much different and more difficult road in the Eastern Conference. The Milwaukee Bucks are a real threat to take the division, The Boston Celtics refuse to show their collective age, the Orlando Magic are hell bent on winning (luxury tax be damned!), and the Miami Heat were the overwhelming Vegas favorites before they started adding those quality pieces to an already fearsome threesome. How would the Bulls turn a seemingly innocuous position into a game changer?

The Bulls find a way to pry Delonte West from his new team, the Minnesota Timerbwolves, and make him the team ambassador.

This is working under the assumption LeBron can do nothing but shut down whenever he sees the former teammate who broke an unspoken rumor- do not sleep with your friend’s mom. We could send him to big games and let him stalk the King ala Stephen Marbury 2009, lurking in the stands. This might result in some fines, but it would disrupt the Miami Thrice and open up the Eastern Conference to teams without three stars entering their prime.

Imagine buying Bulls tickets to see LeBron choke as West stares at him from courtside seats. The fans would be chanting unmentionable insults and Derrick Rose would drive by Dwayne Wade and dunk on a defensively ineffective Bosh in the circle. It would be great and it would be a divisive move announcing to the NBA the Bulls are ready to win big without Jordan.

This photo is from back in March when Noah was recovering from Plantar Fascitis.  I’m sure he was just asking for directions to a local eatery, right?

h/t: Deadspin

We found out a few months ago that Michael Jordan would not only be on the cover of the new NBA 2k11, but that you could in fact play with him in the game.  Hopefully that would erase all the bad childhood memories of not being able to play with him in NBA Jam.  Apparently things are about to get even awesomer though (yeah I made up the word awesomer for this special occasion).  I’m not much of a video game guy, but the fact that you can be 10 different MJs from different stages of his career is blowing my mind.  Check it out:

Now, Argent has unveiled the next surprise, which is that the game will have a mode called the “Jordan Challenge.” The mode allows fans to play with 10 different versions of Jordan that are authentic to that moment….

The games that fans can play with different versions of Jordan include all of the following:

-April 20, 1986 (Game 2 of the 1st round of the playoffs against the Celtics when Jordan scored 63)

-March 28, 1990 (regular season game against the Cavs when Jordan scored 69)

-June 3, 1992 (Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs versus the Trail Blazers when Jordan scored 35 in the first half)

- March 28, 1995 (Jordan returns to the game and scores 55 against the Knicks)

-June 11, 1997 (the famous Jordan “flu game”)

- June 14, 1998 (the day of his last game in a Bulls uniform as his last second shot gives the Bulls its sixth title under his reign).

In each game, gamers are charged with different goals, including matching Jordan’s point totals and shooting percentage.

If you hit six three pointers in a row like Jordan did against the Trail Blazers in 1992, the virtual Jordan will shrug just like he did in real life on that night.

Two of the 10 challenges don’t have specific dates tied to it.

You can play the 1991 Finals version of Jordan as well as play a game in 1990 style vs. Dominique Wilkins and the Atlanta Hawks, where gamers are challenged with holding Wilkins to 25 points or fewer.

That is only 8 versions and they say there will be 10. I’m thinking “The Shot” against Cleveland and maybe some AA ball with the White Sox affiliate the Barons. Just kidding on the last one, but sick!

h/t: BDL

Today two Chicago franchises continued to take small steps in opposite directions. No, I am not writing about the White Sox and the Cubs, but the Bulls and Cubs. The Chicago Bulls continued their summer of baby steps by adding C.J. Watson via a side-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors. The Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced he intends to retire after this season, when his contract ends.

The Bulls added another strong, but small piece to their puzzle. Once again, it is not as glamorous as hosting the LeBron-Bosh-Rose combo 41 nights a season at the United Center, but it added a tough defender and good outside shooter to back up Derrick Rose.

The Bulls can hardly be deemed the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, but the pundits can give us a tiny victory and speculate a Central Division championship, and, thus, a guaranteed top four seed in the Eastern portion of the postseason.

Not to brag, but now we have our long, athletic two-guard to stop the opposition from simply catching the ball near the paint and shooting over us (I liked Captain Kirk, but that killed me). We have a backup point to come in and play enough defense to hold a lead or play really small ball and pop three pointers from the corner. We have a low post scorer to bully his way into the paint (at least until we play a team with the Lakers’ collective front court length). And we have a point guard already a master at penetration, learning to extend his jump shot to the three point line.

I am excited to see the Chicago Bulls play next season, especially with the NBA lockout looming the season after.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs made it clear it is time to dismantle the team. When the manager throws in the towel, it is obvious the team is a lost cause. Most of the time, the front office will start to publicly debase the manager of an underperforming team, eventually leading to a firing, since it is cheaper to cut a manager than a multi-millionaire picking at daisies in the outfield (or being sent to anger management sessions).

Piniella was never lying when he had no answer for reporters searching for some deep, dark baseball secret to inexplicable losses. He honestly had no all-encompassing answer for the Cubs underwhelming performance in 2009 and so far through a little more than the first half of this 2010 season.

Piniella manned up and made it clear the Cubs front office needs to begin searching for a new manager who can get through to these players, all while keeping his job until the contract ends. His move was actually quite genius. Now the Cubs cannot fire him without massive fallout from the fans.

One would argue the team’s difficulty selling Cubs tickets is already a sign of revolt in a city and a part of the city so well noted for grinning and bearing it, selling out Wrigley Field, even when a less than acceptable team took the field every beautiful day game.

This is an undeniably flare fired above the sports media and even the most oblivious fans holding out for a sensational second half that the Chicago Cubs as we know them are coming to an end. This is, or at least should be, Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin’s team.

To be honest, I can’t remember what the White Sox ad campaign was for this 2010 season. I vaguely remember some black and white commercials but I couldn’t tell if they were a tribute to the passing of Michael Jackson or actually plugging the new Sox roster. No matter the clever slogans, it really didn’t matter for the first two-and-a-half months of the season as the Sox were bad. Hitting? Not good, but we expected little. Relief Pitching? Average, and we wondered how long Matt Thornton could survive. Starting Pitching? That was the truly distressing part, as it had been labeled our strength from the start of the season.

Well as painful as those first months were, those memories are distant ones now. The Sox have been the hottest team in baseball for the last month or so as they made their climb atop the AL Central standings, and they have been playing thoroughly entertaining baseball during that stretch (I’ve blocked the last Twins loss out of my memory entirely. Let’s just say, I was not entertained.)

The bats have come alive with Paul Konerko and Alex Rios being the lone constants throughout the season. In almost every game the Sox have a different bat heating up. And in the past month it seems as if every bat in the lineup has been clicking.  Alexei Ramirez (.362 BA in July), Omar Vizquel (.333), Juan Pierre (.305) all have consistently populated the base paths. Carlos Quentin (.305, with 6 of his 11 hits in the month as home runs) when healthy, is terrifying to opposing pitchers. And Andruw Jones, while a shadow of what he once was, still puts together tough at-bats (.350 OBP in July, with a healthy mix of patience and power).

Heck, even Brent Lillibridge has gotten into the act, giving some rest to the Sox infielders and giving Ozzie a good bat off the bench in late innings (.423 BA overall in limited at-bats ).

While all those numbers are encouraging, the best news is that Gordon Beckham appears to have gotten his groove back. He’s hitting .421 for the month of July and it looks like the three games off that Ozzie gave him at the start of July helped him get on track. Since June 22nd, he’s raised his batting average forty-two points and has halved his strikeout rates from previous months. This boost from Ramirez and Beckham means that opposing pitchers have no room to relax in the Sox lineup.

I don’t even know where to start with the Sox pitching staff. From Buehrle and Garcia doing their thing, to Floyd and Danks hitting their strides, it’s been fun to watch. Ozzie seems to have found his guys in the bullpen (I’m still holding out hope that Linebrink finds himself, if not for us, then to be used in a trade). Ignoring the question mark that is Bobby Jenks, the only glaring question is whether Daniel Hudson can fill the 5th starter slot and not deplete the bullpen while he’s at it.

Last night, Hudson proved that he has the stuff to stay in the starting rotation. He started the game with a grotesque 11.25 ERA from his start against the Royals where the Sox bats saved him. And he left the game with 2 outs in the seventh inning with a runner on first, having lowered that ERA to 5.06. He allowed one run early on and then settled down, scattering five hits and striking out six (including all three swinging in the second inning). Those numbers would’ve been even better had he not fallen victim to a tight strike zone. One at-bat, in particular, saw Jack Wilson, the Mariners’ ninth batter, get the full benefit of Hudson’s tiny strike zone. Here’s hoping Hudson can keep it up down the stretch for the Sox.

Blah blah blah free agents blah blah blah.  What about what we already have?  The most electric young point guard in the league, Derrick Rose, has two facets of his game that need to improve drastically: 3-point shooting and defense.  There were rumors that he was in an LA gym with Tyreke Evans and trainer Rob McClanaghan working out 8 hours a day on all kinds of things.  It appears the rumors are true:

h/t: Docksquad Sports

It certainly comes as no surprise to anyone in the basketball world that the LeBron James free agent show would take precedence over other superstar signings in the league. James took a prime-time stage while everyone else was lucky to catch a shout-out on Mike and Mike.

Durant quietly resigned with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Amar’e jumped to New York with half a cycle of coverage. Dirk resigned to crickets. Bosh went to Miami—pre James’ signing—with a few lights flickering. And Carlos Boozer, former Utah star forward, joined the Bulls with no one outside of Chicago blowing a horn.

Lost in all the hubbub over the LeBron-Wade-Bosh machine in Miami is the branch on the power tree of the East the Bulls hurdled over by picking up a legitimate front-court presence. Already tops in the league with rebounds, Chicago got a solid 11+ rebounder, a low-post offensive threat, and a yang to Joakim’s ying who, unlike the still learning Florida star, can score consistently.

Chicago fans might be a little blue over LeBron choosing to go south—probably to skirt more Jordan comparisons—but the Bulls are looking awfully competitive in an Eastern Conference that sees a playoff team eliminated already in Cleveland, not to mention a one-year-older Celtics squad and an Orlando team still stuck with Vince Carter.

The chances of bringing this together are solid for Chicago faithful. Of course, all the online casinos for USA players and sports books would give far better odds if James joined – 11:1, in fact. But the Bulls could easily be the next-up contenders behind Miami next season. And anything can happen in the playoffs…

But no gambling man would rule the Bulls out completely. After all, Miami’s mega-star conglomerate has been tried in places like the NFL to no avail. And with Rose, Noah, Gibson and other talented players in place, Boozer joins a complete team with chemistry and simply adds to it without bringing a ball-hoggish, need-to-score approach.

You might find better odds on a slot bonus game, but the Bulls, no longer babies, are looking stronger this year than any year MJ wasn’t suiting up.

Time will tell, obviously, how everything melds. But the next time you’re floating around looking for an online casino bonus, check out the sports book link and, if you can grab some good odds on a Miami vs. Chicago Eastern Conference Finals, take it.

Saying James choosing not to come to Chicago is really a blessing in disguise would be a lie. But the Bulls have competitive fire, a score to settle, and now a legitimate piece of the puzzle to push them over the hump.

h/t: Javier Sandooski

The Chicago Cubs walked their way into relevancy at the 2010 MLB All Star game. Lone Cub representative Marlon Byrd began the seventh inning rally with a free pass. Scott Rolen and Matt Holliday followed with back-to-back singles and Braves catcher Brian McCann capped off the inning with a double off the White Sox reputed lefty assassin Matt Thornton, driving in three runs.

This game, that walk, and the ensuing outfield assist in the ninth inning helped the National League end their 13 years of misery at the all star break. It also drew the notable attention of Joey Votto, who snubbed Byrd despite playing on the same side for once this season. Votto, the first place Cincinnati Reds first baseman, made his disdain for the Cubs and any Cubs player very public.

Now, thanks to a simple walk, the Cubs have a rallying call: Spoil the Reds season at all costs. I have now real acrimonious diatribe with which to condemn Votto. I remain upset I picked Ryan Zimmerman instead of Votto at this year’s keeper league draft. Votto explained that he plays for the Reds, who play in the NL Central along with the Cubs. The Cubs are competition and he feels no reason to wish goodwill to a team whose goal is to beat them and replace them in the standings.

I love that…I miss that…I wish baseball and every other professional sport were filled with Joey Vottos. Then, rivalries would define the sports spectrum instead of multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts, and LeBron would have come to Chicago and begun another dynasty instead of sneaking away to South Beach to play with his friends.

Now I am going to find Cubs tickets to the next meeting in August, no matter who many games below respectability the Cubs are, and hope the team can become an impasse for this Reds team. I do not even care that the Cardinals would be the benefactor, I find myself coveting a purpose as a baseball fan in the midst of these sweltering summer days.

So, thank Joey Votto, thank you for giving me a reason to remain an avid Cubs fan in a season marred by an impotent batting order wasting every quality start.

h/t: Lamebook

On Friday night, the Bulls extended an offer sheet to restricted free agent J.J. Redick for $19 million over 3 years. The Orlando Magic will now have seven days to match that offer from the Bulls. The Magic roster, as it is currently situated, is designed to win now at all costs. Their GM, Otis Smith, has shown little hesitation in taking on additional salaries in past years to strengthen his team into one of the top teams in the East. He matched Gortat’s offer sheet, added Brandon Bass, and this past week, used a healthy chunk of their Mid-Level Exception to sign Chris Duhon to a 4 year, $15 million contract.

One would think that a prudent owner/GM might face some trepidation in matching J.J. Redick’s offer sheet. With their roster already $10 million over the luxury tax level of $70 million for 2010-11, the Magic will essentially be paying double the salary offered to Redick if they match his offer sheet. Assuming the Bulls do a little front-loading of his contract and pay something like $8 mil for the first year with subsequent decreases, the Magic would be faced with essentially paying $16 million for the services of Mr. Redick.  I don’t care how ballsy you are, that’s a lot of loot. Apparently though, Stan Van Gundy says the Magic intend to match any offer, so frontloading his contract to create as big of a “poison pill” as possible may be necessary.

With the Magic’s fiscal constraints (however real or imagined they might be) the Bulls should be able to plan on having J.J. Redick on the roster for next season. If so, that will take up some of the remaining cap room, but the Bulls will still enjoy some flexibility.

July began with the Bulls having nearly $31.9 million available under the cap of $58.04 million. Carlos Boozer’s contract will likely be structured with escalators that will only pay him $13 million for 2010-11. Let’s say Kyle Korver’s three year deal for $15 million will be stretched out evenly over each of the years. Combined with Redick’s $8 million in the first year, this leaves the Bulls with a conservative $5.3 million left to spend (give or take depending on how these salaries are structured).

Omer Asik has reportedly agreed to finally come over and play for the Bulls so he must be factored into the remaining salary cap space(please no Tarlac/Bagaric flashbacks). One blogger suggested we look to the Grizzlies’ signing of Iranian Center Hamed Haddadi to base our expectations on what Asik’s salary will look like. Haddadi signed a 3 year deal for $4.8 million. With the injury and free-throw shooting concerns (Hack-an-Omer could be a viable strategy at sub-50%) the Bulls should be able to sign him for a little less. Let’s pencil in a 3 year deal for $4.2 million. That would leave us with something close to $3.9 million left.

Who would the Bulls consider with the remaining cap space? The Bulls could use some additional depth in the backcourt and another big man to pair with Noah and Asik. My two suggestions? Ronnie Brewer and Brad Miller.

Brewer made close to $2.7 million last year in Memphis, but the Grizzlies elected not to resign him. The Jazz are reportedly interested in him as well, but they are currently up against the cap as well, and may have to use their remaining cap space if guard Wesley Matthews draws any qualifying offers in the next few weeks. It may be wishful thinking to think that Brewer would take a pay cut to play with the Bulls, but a nice three year contract that would last into the new CBA might be the kind of security that Brewer is looking for.

The fleet-footed Brad Miller will undoubtedly be in demand this summer with teams willing to offer a significant portion of their MLE to get his services. But maybe it’s time for Miller to think about sticking close to home, playing with players he has already achieved a comfort level with, and taking a little less pay to stay with the Bulls. I mean his last contract did pay him $23.6 million dollars over the last two years. From my limited knowledge of the collective bargaining agreement, the Bulls could get away with paying Miller less than $1 million and the league would pick up the rest of his veteran’s minimum salary which would actually reach $1.35 million for 2010-11. Not too shabby for a few minutes subbing for whomever has plantar fasciitis that week and lending your six fouls when we go up against teams with significant center/power forward duos (i.e. Not Miami).

It will be interesting to see what the Magic do with J.J. Redick and what other moves the Bulls can make, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Nike is probably going to take this down soon, so watch while you can.  This is laugh out loud funny.  LeBron West.  Classic.

h/t: Rule V Draftee

To me at least.  Terrible call.  Terrible for LeBron, terrible for the NBA, terrible for everyone.  How could he possibly think this was the right decision?

On another note, I like Boozer I guess.  Anything? Anything? Nope, still shitty.