I guess at least Nocioni didn’t run his mouth too much when he was in Chicago, because he did pretty much everything else wrong.  Apparently he feels more comfortable speaking his mind in Sacramento and it’s just too funny:

“(Sacramento) is the worst team and being here you find out why… There are many young guys that want to find their niche, but they are so far away… There’s no chemistry or teamwork. I can’t see how this team could be competitive in the near future in the West… The draft is going to save no one. I don’t know, I’ll see what happens this summer.”

“Last year I lost all hope they would pass the ball to me (laughs). I just waited on the corner watching what happened. If the ball came, it came… It rarely did (laughs). It’s the same thing in Sacramento. There’s a lot of young people and a lot of individualistic play.”

There are so many things wrong with these statements I don’t know where to begin.  He’s not serious, is he?  I mean we all agree with what he’s saying about how bad Sacramento is, but you can’t say that about your team.  Also everyone is all about individualistic play?  Come on Noce.  You are the penultimate black hole on offense.  As Thank You Isaiah points out:

Love it. Dude took the most shots per minute of his entire career last year, and indeed, took the third most total shots on the team in 07-08, behind only Deng and Gordon. Meanwhile, his AST% (8.3) was third-lowest on the team among those playing meaningful minutes, (barely) ahead of only Ben Wallace (8.2) and Joe Smith (7.4).

And that was in Chicago.  Since being traded to Sacto, he is taking almost 11 shots a game.  Maybe he just thinks he should be the point guard and take all the shots.  Not to say that individual interests don’t dominate in the Sacto locker room, but isn’t this a bit hypocritical?  Would you pass to a guy that you knew would never pass back, unless he was like Michael Jordan or something?  Nocioni is no MJ, I’ll tell you that.

How come he never said this great stuff when he was here?  At least it would have made things more interesting during that brutal 07-08 campaign.  I’m sure his teammates will pass to him more now that he was honest about how he feels.

I’m not all that concerned about Chicagoans having remorse over the recent trades, but out of curiosity I looked to see how our old friends were doing on their new teams. As you would expect, they are not doing great.

Larry Hughes:
@TOR—1/9 fgs, 1/3 3pt, 3 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, -8 +/-
vs. IND—2/7 fgs, 1/2 3pt, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, -2 +/-

Andres Nocioni:
@DAL—2/11 fgs, 0/3 3pt, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, -6 +/-
vs. NO—7/11 fgs, 4/7 3pt,  19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, -2 +/-

Thabo Sefolosha:
@GSW—0/3 fgs, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 2 steals, -7 +/-

Drew Gooden:
@DAL—DNP-CD
vs. NO—DNP-CD

Cedric Simmons:
@DAL—DNP-CD
vs. NO—DNP-CD

At least Gooden and Simmons aren’t hurting their teams.  While Noce had one awful game and one decent game, his team lost both.  We were used to nights like this from Nocioni; high energy, good shooting night while his team loses.  This fools coaches and management into thinking he deserves minutes and a big contract, when really he only has one decent game in five.

Hughes is back up to his old tricks, shooting just 19% from the field (I rounded up) in his two games with the Knicks.  He has got to be the most inefficient player in all of basketball.

Thabo did nothing in 18 minutes.  I mean really nothing.  But he’s a defensive specialist, you say?  Well whoever he defended that game scored double digits, since 7 Warriors finished with at least 11.

I’m ecstatic not unhappy that these players are gone.

The Bulls couldn’t lure Amare or Bosh to Chicago, but they made the move for Brad Miller and gave up much less than we were hearing in the process.  Here’s a little taste of how the blog world is reacting…

Tom Ziller at Fanhouse (Kings Fan): The Nocioni acquisition is odd at best for Sacramento; Andres is 29 years old, getting worse every year, and signed above the midlevel until 2012. He might fit better in Sacramento than Salmons did, but Salmons is cheaper and less likely to eat children. We like our children in Sacramento, and we like our children to have heads.

The Bulls should certainly make the playoffs now. Salmons could very well start in front of Ben Gordon (and make him expendable this summer). I imagine Vinny Del Negro will start Miller; it’s plausible that Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah could be involved in some trade talks, as well. (Who knows?)

The Big Lead: The Bulls send Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons to the Kings in exchange for Brad Miller and John Salmons. Knee-jerk: Uh … the Kings get the better talent here, and the Bulls get another big man without a back-to-the-basket game, a SF who is expected to steal minutes from … Luol Deng?

Ball Don’t Lie: Beyond that, it’s hard to see what the Kings actually are expecting from Nocioni. He’s a crowd favorite because he works his tail off and provides obvious hustle, but he’s a low efficiency performer on offense, and a poor defender at both forward spots despite his energy and effort.

In the meantime, Miller gives the team a solid offensive option at center, and Salmons gives the Bulls that size in the backcourt that will make the talk radio types happy, even if John doesn’t have anything close to Ben Gordon‘s abilities.

Thank You Isiah: Miller is both a nice complimentary piece to Ty and Noah, and an expiring deal in the much-anticipated “Summer of ’10″ (TM). Salmons is having a career year this season, and will likely never play this well again, but as a backup to Deng and possible 1-year Gordon insurance, he’s fine. What’s more, he’s owed considerably less than Noce, which is fantastic. Plus, I’m obviously pleased that I don’t have to watch Gooden and Noce any more.

StevieY19: Man the Pistons really suck this year!