Not on MJ’s watch, that’s for damn sure.

h/t: TPS

h/t: Javier Sandooski

h/t: Lamebook

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.

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.

They may both be headed out of Chicago within the next two weeks.

Mayor Daley is going to have to take some action if Chicago’s sports teams keep this up. We can’t keep sending jobs out of this city.

First, the Blackhawks outsourced jobs to crazy outposts like Nashville and Edmonton. And now it seems like the Bulls are intent on sending workers to Washington D.C. or Sacramento, California.

Rick Bucher of ESPN reports that the Bulls have tentatively secured a deal with the Washington Wizards to trade Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick in this year’s draft. His sources were unclear as to what the Bulls would receive in turn.  No matter how good you think Hinrich is, I doubt we’re getting the #1 pick this year in return. Would next year’s Wizards first round pick be a possibility?

From the Wizards point of view, I can see why they are making this deal if they fear that Gilbert Arenas will do irreparable damage to John Wall without some kind of mitigating veteran presence to share minutes with both of them.  I guess it’s not the craziest thing in the world if they use Kirk to form a three-headed monster sharing minutes at the PG and SG spots and making up for Gilbert’s below average defense (his steals numbers have always been misleading).

What would the Bulls receive in return?  If they did take a player back, the Wizards’ only other guard under contract for 2010-’11 is Nick Young, who is due to make $2.8 million.  I doubt they’ll want to take on any contracts for this year and ruin the chance of signing two max players, so I’ll assume they would be angling for future draft picks. And if this is the case, it would work out rather well. Whomever they sign with the money saved from Hinrich’s contract will be an improvement over Hinrich, no slight to Kirk’s contributions over the years. Thus the trade would come down to being a swap of the 17th pick for whatever pick the Wizards offer. Even if it’s not a first round pick next year, but maybe the year after that, the Wizards aren’t going anywhere fast and it will likely be better than where the Bulls sit in this year’s weak draft. And as a potential contender with the right free agent signings, the Bulls would be smart to accumulate future picks to use to prolong their success.

This trade wouldn’t be able to go through until July 8th when the Wizards would have enough salary cap room to not have to take back a matching salary. And if this falls through Bucher also reports the Sacramento Kings are interested in making a similar deal for Hinrich.  The man has trade value after all!  Stay tuned for more details.

Rumors (without confirmation from either team officials) had the Clips sending the Bulls their 8th pick overall in exchange for Luol Deng and the 17th pick in the draft.

This makes sense for the Clips as Luol Deng would be better than any free agent that they would be able to dupe into signing a free agent contract this summer. It also lends them a starting lineup of Miller-Gordon-Deng-Griffin-Kaman.

It also makes sense for the Bulls if they think that they think they really have a shot at Lebron and another free agent that may cost some coin, since this will help them shed Luol’s “ghastly” contract.

Alas, it looks like for now, this deal will not be consummated. But it’s fun to think about what the Bulls lineup might look like by the end of July.

Thursday 6/17 Game 7 NBA Finals Boston Celtics @ LA Lakers – 8 PM

• StevieY19 (30-17) Lakers over Celtics: Shocker, this one went seven games. I’ll take Kobe to win the title. Let me know what happens.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (16-11) Celtics over Lakers: The staples center will be rowdy but the Celts should still manage to play lights out defense. I picked the Lake Show to win it all in May, but as I have mentioned many times, the mean green has won me a lot of money this playoffs. Ray ray has been cold; he’s due for a performance more like game 2 then games 3 and 4.
• South Side Sheik (25-22) Celtics over Lakers: Every Celtic player has his knees drained for that added boost, Big Baby’s drool overpowers Pau Gasol’s perma-sheen of sweat, and still the game will be close to the end. No blowouts for this last game. Chalk this up to my Eastern Conference bias.
• Player to be Named Later (11-10) Lakers over Celtics:  I picked them to win at the beginning of the series and I’m sticking to my guns.  With Perkins out for the Celtics, expect Pau to have a good game.  He won’t take the spotlight away from Kobe though, who will lead them to victory and get MVP honors.
• Stormin Norman (23-24) Lakers over Celtics: the Lakers are a different team at home, as was apparent in Game 6.  Pau and Ron-Ron play like the all-stars they are (or should be) and Kobe is just Kobe.  The Celtics miracle run has been impressive, but barring some sort of mammoth defensive effort by every single player on the team, this game, series, and championship belongs to the Lakers.

Friday 6/18 World Cup Group C Slovenia vs USA – 9 AM

• StevieY19 (30-17) USA over Slovenia: Damn, should have picked draw in the first match! Slovenia will be pressing for the win in this match, rather than try and get it vs England, to send them into the second round. Pressing and moving forward is not their style and a more possession-minded US starting 11 will cause problems for Slovenia. Big game for Michael Bradley.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (16-11) USA over Slovenia: Check for Altidore to have a huge game. Dude showed a lot of heart as well as skill and speed against England. He’ll be man of the match and help guide the US out of the group.
• South Side Sheik (25-22) USA over Slovenia: Algeria had their best striker sent off and all Slovenia could muster was a 1-0 win. The US is better all around and will be able to take full advantage of their depth in the midfield and up front to wear down the Slovenian side.
• Player to be Named Later (11-10) USA over Slovenia: USA was lucky to get 1 point in the draw against England as they were outplayed most of the game.  However, the US is a better team and they will be playing for the win in this game.  Look for US’s biggest stars, Donovan and Dempsey, to lead the US to victory.
• Stormin Norman (23-24) USA over Slovenia: This is the big win we need.  Coming off the impressive (i.e. lucky) tie with England, a win would give them 4 points and all but ensure they move on to the second round.  Howard’s rib may be broken, but it’s nothing a few painkiller shots can’t fix.

Lolla Song of the Week “Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear – Brooklyn sounds awesome

6/10 Game 4 NBA Finals La Lakers @ Boston Celtics (Lakers lead series 2-1) – 8 PM

• StevieY19 (29-17) Celtics over Lakers: The Stern Rules trump the star factor. Too obvious if Boston wins down 3-1, so this will be the Celtics’ game.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (15-11) Celtics over Lakers: “I didn’t shoot bad, the ball just didn’t go in”- Ray Allen
• South Side Sheik (24-22) Celtics over Lakers: This will be a back and forth series. It’s just too hard for one team to put a streak together in this series. I don’t see the Lakers winning two in a row in Boston, and Ray Allen can’t lay another stink bomb like he did in Game 3.
• Player to be Named Later (10-10) Celtics over Lakers:  The Lakers are the better team.  I know they are, and they are going to win the series.  However, they will not win Game 4.  Fisher won’t play as good as he did in Game 3, and Ray Allen won’t play as poorly as he did.  It’s tough to win 2 in a row on the road, so Boston takes this one.
• Stormin Norman (23-23) Lakers over Celtics:  The Lake show won a huge game on the road despite a great performance from KG.  Ray Allen was 0-13 and I don’t think we will see that again, but even with him shooting well and playing at home, the Lakers are just too good and they won’t have many more bad games like they did in game 2 and 3.

6/12 World Cup Group C Matchup - England vs USA 1:30 PM

• StevieY19 (29-17) USA over England: I think this game is going to be a draw, but that’s no fun. Our defense sucks? So does England’s. They’ve given up a goal in every international match they’ve played since qualifying. The forwards for the US could not be more hot coming into the tournament either. England may have the advantage up top with Rooney, but the US has a decided advantage in goal. 3-2 USA.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (15-11) England over USA: The US is fielding its worst cup team we’ve seen in over a decade. They’re in a fairly easy group and they should still make it out, but beating England? Forget about it. They don’t have the offensive firepower and their defense is weaker than ever with Onyewu at half-strength. Too many holes to beat a cup favorite in the Brits.
• South Side Sheik (24-22) USA over England: I think the Americans will have the edge in conditioning, as most of the Brits have had to slog through a grueling Premiership, Champions League and/or Europa Cup schedule that has led Fabio Capello to rest his players a great deal in the lead up to the World Cup. So long as the Americans can weather the first half and limit the chances for Rooney, they should be able to run at the British defense (sans Rio Ferdinand) and create with some fresh legs up top (Buddle, Findley, Gomez).
• Player to be Named Later (10-10) England over USA: It pains me to pick against our boys, it really does.  Like StevieY, I think that this game will end in a draw.  However, if I am forced to pick a winner I will take England.  This team is full of superstars who have enough talent to win the whole Cup.  Which ever team wins this game they will be in a great position to win the Group.
• Stormin Norman (23-23) USA over England: Soccer?  I’m not even going to pretend to know anything about this.  As usual, I will take the home team.  Landon Donovan is a guy, right?  Is Beckham on England?  Is soccer like foosball but on grass instead of a table?  Hopefully I’ll have read more previews before we have to pick the next soccer match so I can make an informed pick.

Lollapalooza SOTW – An awesome band called The Black Keys – “Tighten Up”  Dig it.

The chatter in the press and amongst fans has not subsided in the last three weeks. The only person who hasn’t come out with an opinion on the matter seems to be Lebron himself. (Did anyone really believe him when he said Cleveland still has the edge?)

• World Wide Wes, a long time advisor of James and others in the NBA, has Lebron going to Chicago.
• Carmelo Anthony thinks Lebron is staying in Cleveland. Funny that you would think that Melo, that would mean more dollars available to you next year as the lead dog in the 2011 Free Agent Class.
• Jay-Z isn’t going to push Lebron to come to the Nets, because he would feel guilty if they started 4-30 next year. Ouch, that’s not really a vote of confidence from a minority owner.
• No one outside of Manhattan seems to think the Knicks still have a shot, with Charles Oakley going as far as saying he would tell Lebron to go to the Heat and pair with D Wade or the Bulls.
• A contributor from Bleacher Report proclaims Miami is the front runner for Lebron, all but assuming D Wade will also stay with the Heat.
• This is my favorite rumor that was floated/advanced by Bill Simmons during his Game 2 Live Chat on Sunday. Tom Thibodeau, the new unofficial head coach of the Chicago Bulls, once served as an assistant coach at Harvard University. One of the players he took under his wing? Arne Duncan, who is now U.S. Secretary of Education. Who’s Duncan’s boss? Barack Obama. For the uninformed, he’s the President of the United States of America. And when the POTUS asks you to play for his adopted hometown team, you ask him how high. Am I right?!

5/27 Game 5 Phoenix Suns @ LA Lakers (Series Tied 2-2)

• StevieY19 (25-17) Lakers over Suns: Heard Tim Donaghy guarantee that the Suns would win Game 4, so I’d like to wait for his pick. However, I have a well-oiled system for the NBA and I’m taking Kobe and the Lakers at home in Game 5.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (12-10) Lakers over Suns- Series could still go 7 but the Lake Show won’t disappear at home. And the Suns bench won’t score anywhere near 54 in LA.
• Player to be Named Later (8-8) Lakers over Suns: Who would have thunk that both these Conference Finals would become competitive a week ago?  Well, apparently Tim Donaghy, but other than that.  I’m not going to pick the Lakers to lose at home, the other writers aren’t picking against the Lakers, so you shouldn’t either.
• South Side Sheik (21-21) Lakers over Suns: The Suns haven’t beaten the Lakers in L.A. all season long. In fact, the average margin of victory for the Lakers in those games has been 18 points. I don’t worry about Jared Dudley coming off the bench, but Dragic, Frye, and Barbosa are streakier and seem to get knocked off their game in L.A. The Suns will need all of their contributions, as they did on Tuesday, to upset the Lakers in the Staples Center. It won’t happen this game.
• Stormin Norman (20-22) Lakers over Suns: I love the Suns and they won a huge Game 4, but everyone knows the Lakers are a team that just doesn’t take every game seriously.  That won’t be the case in Game 5 in front of the home crowd at the Staples Center.  Look for Kobe to take over in this one.

5/29 Game 1 Philadelphia Flyers @ Chicago Blackhawks

• StevieY19 (25-17) Blackhawks over Flyers: I can’t even imagine what the atmosphere will be like in the United Center. Will the Blackhawks crumble under the pressure of the finals? Maybe if they were playing a better team, but the Hawks are just better than the Flyers. As much as Hawks fans make fun of Detroit (the city; haven’t had much to say to the hockey team), the similarities to their rise are pretty fun to watch. It’d be fitting they would win their first Cup after a long stretch against Philly, just as the Wings did.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (12-10) Blackhawks over Flyers- Mike Richards picked up his conference championship trophy, Jonathan Toews did not. Richards nor Pronger are comparable to Sid the Kid. The Flyers cinderella run is over. They get too many penalties and Chicago has won 9 of 10 heading into this game. They’ll win another series opener with Antii at his best.
• Player to be Named Later (8-8) Flyers over Blackhawks:  Welcome to Chicago, Stanley.  It’s a very exciting time to be a Blackhawks fan, or even a hockey fan living in Chicago.  The fair weather fans are out in full bloom.  They know how to pronounce Byfuglien but can not explain when you’re offsides.  I expect the Hawks to stumble in Game 1 as they go for their first Cup since the popularization of color TV, but still take the series.
• South Side Sheik (21-21) Blackhawks over Flyers: Dustin Byfuglien meet Chris Pronger. You’re going to get to know each other very well over this series. And while the individual matchups between lines will be entertaining, the Blackhawks hold the advantage in overall depth. I see the Hawks winning this one, but the Flyers will steal a few during this series.
• Stormin Norman (20-22) Blackhawks over Flyers: So the Flyers are on some mission of destiny, or so I hear.  But what about the Hawks?  It’s our time now and the kids will come out firing on all cylinders.  I know home hasn’t been the best place for the Hawks this playoffs, but the intensity of the Cup Finals will bring out the best.  The Flyers score a lot of goals, eh?  Well so do we.

Lolla SOTW:  Bloodbuzz, Ohio by The National – they just released a new album recently called High Violet, check it out.

So what if Jackson said he was not coming back east to lead the Bulls to another dynasty? That should not have any true bearing on James’ plans, right? Wrong, this is about more than simply wooing a professional basketball player. This summer is about courting a cultural figure who transcends the popularity of the sport in the United States and worldwide. This is an honest to goodness culture war and the Bulls are playing it the wrong way.

First, we fired Vinny Del Negro and demoted John Paxson from GM to VP of Basketball Operations. Then the organization let’s a rumor stating Phil Jackson will return marinate in the media before getting shot down by the Ring Maker right before a playoff game.

Vinny may have been a terrible coach and Paxson may be no Steve Kerr, but now we begin the search for another head coach. A search that only reminds everybody outside of the Chicagoland area how the Bulls could not pull the trigger and at least make Mike D’Antoni hesitate before escaping Phoenix for the bright lights of the Knicks.

The rumor of Jackson’s return to the Second City was lingering in the ether at the beginning of May, but then Chris Broussard goes and releases a story paraphrasing back channel sources. Suddenly PTI and Sportscenter discuss and report the story and Jackson is forced to answer the question before a freaking playoff game. Have we not learned Phil Jackson hates being painted into a corner? Of course he said no, and now he may be even more inclined to say no for real, after the season is over and he starts a public war over taking a pay cut.

We look terrible. We have PR professionals in this city, let’s freaking hire them. Following the example of one Jerry Krause is not the path that leads to LeBron. Instead, we look like the same disorganized franchise that failed to land Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Eddie Jones, and even Tim Thomas in the summer of 2000.

To put this is another light, Bill Simmons made a point of stating LeBron would choose Chicago if he was truly about winning, but what about our organization says we have a culture of winning? The Bulls have no coach again, no high profile GM, and no chance of landing LeBron as of right now.

This is not to say the other candidates are really any better. The Nets are bringing in a wild card majority owner from Russia, the Knicks are hardly going to surround him with championship material (even with another max guy), and Cleveland just fired the Coach of the Year from last season.

Luckily the sad state of these other franchises and the fact nobody wants to play for the Clippers gives the Bulls a little more than a month to repair the damage done and put the city, team, and duo of Rose and Noah in a better light. Then maybe Bulls tickets will be good for more than a first round exit after a terrible first half of the season and amazing second. Maybe, but it is becoming harder to believe.

The latest rumor that sprouted up last night and continued to gain steam this morning was that Lebron was spotted in Highland Park getting out of an SUV at a mansion on Sheridan Road with a For Sale sign.  A friend of the blog who teaches in the northern suburbs was told by one of her students that they saw James getting out of his vehicle at the estate yesterday.  It should be noted that Highland Park sits right next to Deerfield, the home of the Berto Center, the Bulls’ practice facility.

Kudos to King James for factoring in the commute to his future place of employment. Maybe we should be calling him “Green James” instead.

Stay tuned tonight for the Draft Lottery folks! If the Nets secure the #1 pick then they will be offering a slightly lesser platter of talent to James in the form of John Wall, Brooke Lopez, and if they can trade Devin Harris, enough room to sign another max free agent.

If he cares about winning titles (multiple) and reaching his full potential as a player, he has only one move: the Chicago Bulls. That’s always been the play. If you’ve been listening to my podcast or reading this column, you know that I’ve been touting this possibility since the winter, and here’s why: Deep down, I think LeBron (and, just as important, the people around him) realizes that he needs one more kick-ass player to make his life easier. That means Miami or Chicago. And really, I can’t imagine him signing with Miami because Dwyane Wade is almost too good. LeBron wants help, but he doesn’t want to be perceived as riding someone else’s coattails, either. Wade might be the best player alive for all we know — he certainly was in 2006, and he’s been banged-up and trapped on bad teams ever since.

No, Chicago makes more sense. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah proved they were warriors these past two springs. They could be LeBron’s Pippen/Grant or McHale/DJ. Easily. Rose could take the creative load off LeBron on nights when he doesn’t have it. Rose could come through a few times in the clutch. Rose could hide some of LeBron’s faults. It’s the single smartest basketball move for LeBron James. It’s the Michael Corleone move.

Of course, it doesn’t have the same upside as New York: Biggest market, great fans, most meaning. If LeBron saved professional basketball in New York and brought Knicks fans their first title since 1973? That’s the best available accomplishment in team sports right now. Name me a better one. You can’t. Biggest star, biggest city. But it wouldn’t be a smartbasketball move. He could bring only one good free agent with him, and from what we’ve seen, would LeBron + (Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson or Amar’e Stoudemire) combined with what the Knicks already have (not much) translate to anything more than what just happened in Cleveland? Please. That’s the Sonny Corleone move.

The other realistic option: Just stay in Cleveland. Finish what you started. That’s the second-best available accomplishment in team sports right now: Be like Tim Duncan. Be the guy who didn’t flee for greener pastures. Be the guy who stayed when almost everyone else would have left. Be the hometown kid who saved Cleveland sports, brought home the first title since 1964 and single-handedly removed the fatalistic malaise that hangs over the city. Be the guy who proved loyalty matters more than anything else. That’s the Connie Corleone move. Remember when she finally forgave Michael for killing Carlo and became the matriarch of the family? Exactly. Family trumped logic.

(And yes, if you’re scoring at home, the Clippers would be the Fredo Corleone move.)

It’s one of the greatest sports decisions I can remember: LeBron can choose winning (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland) or a chance at immortality (New York). We have one answer — Doc 2.0 with some Magic and Bo sprinkled in — and now, we’re waiting on the other. Within the next six weeks, we will find out precisely what matters to LeBron James. Just know that, wherever he lands, he’s going to need a little more help than we thought.

I highly recommend you read the rest of Simmons’ piece.  While it is extremely critical of LeBron in the sense that it is saying he really isn’t one of the greatest players to ever play the game (essentially because he did not show that MJ determination to win at all costs), the fact of the matter is that LeBron and the Bulls would win rings.  Could this really be happening?