So last week, Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas broke his arm while lifting and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. And with that, Thomas’ career with the Bulls is likely coming to a close. Even though this injury is not season-ending, I believe that this will be his last season in Chicago for several reasons:

1. Thomas has been inconsistent throughout his time here, much more than Joakim Noah, who seems to be taking his game to another level this year
2. Thomas has some attitude problems and hasn’t always been in favor with the coaching staff
3. With the drafting of Taj Gibson and James Johnson, the Bulls have a logjam at power forward
4. Johnson and Gibson are cheaper than Thomas, and Gibson has shown me so far that he is capable of doing what Thomas has been doing, if not more.
5. With Thomas out now, Johnson and Gibson should get more playing time and a chance to be a big part of Vinny Del Negro’s rotation.
6. When Thomas returns if Johnson and Gibson come along as they should, Thomas’ role with the team will be diminished.
7. He wasn’t given an extension on his rookie contract, and will be a restricted free agent this summer if the Bulls give him a qualifying offer. And with the vaunted free agent class, letting him go means more cap room. Bulls.com beat writer Sam Smith has suggested that LeBron to the Bulls is a possibility.

So this will likely be Tyrus’ last season in Chicago. So long Tyrus, it was nice knowing you

Earlier this week, I got an email from the Chicago Bulls saying that former Chicago Tribune basketball writer Sam Smith is back writing for bulls.com. Smith was bought out at the Tribune in April. Congratulations to a wonderful basketball mind, and I look forward to reading his wonderful take on the NBA

Over the summer, I read an article in the Chicago Sun-Times by Greg Couch about how the Bulls make huge profits. He even cited an article in Forbes magazine that mentioned of the profits. I am posting this now, because I have been lazy, and hadn’t gotten around to posting it, but here is the link:

Not only have the Chicago Bulls survived the departure of Michael Jordan, but they have thrived since the superstar retired (financially at least). The Bulls have been the NBA’s most profitable team this decade thanks to a huge fan base and low payrolls. The team has averaged $46 million in operating profits the past eight seasons versus a league average of $7 million. Only the Lakers have been in the same stratosphere when it comes to profits. The Bulls have consistently drawn more than 20,000 fans a game to the United Center, and led the league in attendance last season for the first time since 1999-2000.

It’s not just a big fan base and low prices, it’s ticket prices that are the 4th-highest in the league, and an owner in Jerry Reinsdorf who is a cheapskate who refuses to pay the luxury tax to help build a title contender (see Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol). Thank you for exposing Reinsdorf as the cheapskate he is, Mr. Couch.

The long-standing negotiations between Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls seem to have ended, when Ben Gordon said on Friday that he doesn’t see himself playing for the Bulls in the upcoming 2008-09 NBA season, saying,

I guess it’s safe to say I’ve played my last game in a Bulls uniform.

Gordon said that his agent has been talking with other teams about a possible sign-and-trade, saying,

I’m pretty optimistic it’ll happen. It’s very likely.

Gordon’s agent has also said that playing in Europe is a possibility, but the only certainty is that Gordon won’t sign the Bulls one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million. Gordon has also said that because of the slow pace of negotiations that he feels he’s being stiffed, and with a logjam in the backcourt, he feels going somewhere else is best, saying

“It’s a numbers game. Last season at the trade deadline, they brought in more guards and I saw my minutes drop and didn’t understand why. This year, the problem’s still the same. I don’t see it getting better, so maybe it’ll be a better situation for me personally somewhere else.

After turning down a 5-year, $50 million contract last year, Gordon feels that he should be the team’s highest paid player because he’s the leading scorer. If the Bulls were to comply, they would have to top the 6 year, $71 million contract they recently gave to Loul Deng, which will never happen as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is running the show, as it would put the Bulls over the luxury tax limit, and JR has said he won’t pay the luxury tax for a team that isn’t a title contender. (Like he’d pay it for a title contender, but I digress)

Who the hell is Ben Gordon to want to be the team’s highest paid player!? He’s not a superstar worthy of that kind of money. He doesn’t play any defense. He clanks a lot of shots. And so what if he’s the team’s leading scorer. He doesn’t even average 20 points a game. What good is that? Why do you think you’re better than Monta Ellis, who recently got a 6 year, $67M contract from the Golden State Warriors? You’re not. Being the leading scorer on a crappy team is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. Congratulations. Would you like a cookie? Ben Gordon can go rot in hell for all I care. He is a useless scumbag and he sucks.

When the Bulls drafted Derrick Rose #1 overall in June, lost in the shuffle was the fact that Loul Deng was still the cornerstone piece to the Bulls franchise. On Thursday, July 31, he was recognized for it and rewarded with a 6 year, $71 million contract, and incentives that could bring the deal up to as much as $80 million.

This contract ends a year of speculation of where Deng would end up, after last year when he turned down a 5-year, $57.5 million extension from the Bulls in hopes that he and the team would have greater success than they had had the previous 3 years, and then be able to cash in with a bigger deal at season’s end. Instead, the Bulls performed miserably, going 33-49, missing the playoffs and costing Scott Skiles and Jim Boylan their jobs, while Deng’s game slipped a little as well.

Now that Deng is signed, the Bulls must take care of business with their other restricted free agent, Ben Gordon. Bulls GM John Paxson has said he won’t make any moves until he has certainty on Deng and Gordon. If Gordon is to get a deal at or above the 5 year, $50 million extension he rejected before last season, it would push the Bulls over the luxury tax limit, something cheapskate owner Jerry Reinsdorf recently said that he would not do for a team not contending for the title. Really, Jerry? I’m not going to get into that here, but that is funny that JR said what he said.

Congrats to the Bulls on getting this deal done, not only for an outstanding basketball player, but an even better human being. For those who don’t know, as great columnist Jay Mariotti wrote, Deng is a wonderful young man off the court, with his efforts to help save Darfur being shown throughout the NBA Cares ad campaign.

If the Bulls are serious about making a title run again, it’s time to get rid of Gordon and Hinrich, clear out some cap room for the 2010 off-season when LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade will be free agents, and find a big man who can dominate inside.

(Cue up the piano music)

(Picture of Tyrus Thomas being a bum)

Where Tyrus Thomas blows off practice because he’s mad about his playing time happens

(Picture of Larry Hughes not caring)

Where Larry Hughes not playing to win happens

(Picture of Chris Duhon at Duke-UNC game)

Where Chris Duhon blows off shoot-around and doesn’t care about his suspension happens.

(Picture of Bulls logo)

Bulls basketball: Where not caring happens

In case you haven’t heard the news, the latest Bull to blow off practice is Chris Duhon. This comes on the heels of Tyrus Thomas’ 2 game suspension for blowing off practice because he was upset over a lack of playing time, and Larry Hughes saying he doesn’t play the game to win, he plays to have fun, saying:

“I play to enjoy myself. Some people take this the wrong way, but winning a championship is not what I base everything on. I was given an opportunity to play basketball, travel around and have fun doing it, and that’s what I want to do. I wouldn’t take being unhappy and not being myself and winning. I would rather enjoy myself with 18,000-20,000 people watching the game and people sending fan mail and those things and be happy.”

After all this, Duhon went to the Duke-UNC game on Saturday without telling Bulls management. He then missed the morning shoot-around, saying he never got his wakeup call, and he didn’t care for the suspension because he wasn’t planning on playing much and he knows the Bulls don’t want him back for next year. This is ridiculous. It’s gotten out of hand.

In January after Joakim Noah blew up at assistant Ron Adams, he got suspended 1 game for it. The players didn’t feel that this was enough and decided to increase it another game. It was a unanimous vote, which means Ben Wallace, Thomas, and Duhon were in on it. Who are these players to suspend Noah, one of the few players on this team who actually cares, when they don’t care themselves? This is despicable. John Paxson is going to need to blow this whole team up if he wants to re-make the team into a title contender.

LaMarcus Aldridge. Tyson Chandler. J.R. Smith. Ben Wallace. Kevin Garnett. Pau Gasol. Shawn Marion. What do these 7 players have in common? They are either players Bulls GM John Paxson either traded away for nobodies, overpaid for in free agency, or wouldn’t make a trade for. Players who would have helped this team contend for a title, players who wouldn’t be holding back the team with their massive contracts and poor performance. It’s time to get rid of John Paxson.

A lot of people give Paxson a free pass because he cleaned up the mess left by Jerry Reinsdorf’s partner in destruction, Jerry Krause. But once he cleaned up the mess, Paxson has been on the clock.

Since cleaning up Krause’s mess, Paxson has done nothing to improve this team to contend for a title. In the 2006 draft, after drafting Aldridge, he traded him for Tyrus Thomas and Victor Khryapa. Khryapa has since been bought out and left the team, and Thomas has been inconsistent, while Aldridge has been a dominant inside force that the Bulls could use.

Following the draft, Paxson traded Chandler to the New Orleans Hornets for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith. Smith is now an integral part on the Nuggets, and Chandler has blossomed with the Hornets, helping lead them to the best record in the Western Conference (at press time), while Brown is gone.

Paxson’s stupidity did not stop there. He had chances to get Gasol and Garnett during the 2006-07 season and he balked, saying he didn’t want to give up Luol Deng. Garnett and Gasol were later traded to the Celtics and the Lakers, respectively.

However, Paxson’s worst move was the four year, $60 million contract he gave Ben Wallace. Wallace was supposed to help lift the team over the top. Instead, he was a miserable failure, not playing with any desire, breaking team rules (i.e. “headband-gate”) and lacking the passion he had with the Pistons.

Even though there are legitimate questions about whether or not cheapskate owner Reinsdorf would approve of such deals that would dent his wallet another 30-40 million in salary and luxury taxes, that does not absolve Paxson of failing to improve the team.

And even though Paxson finally dumped Wallace for Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes, he might have made the team even worse off. Gooden is nothing but a slight upgrade over Joe Smith, who was also traded away in the deal, and his six-million dollar contract will come off the books after the ‘08-09 season. Larry Hughes is just as bad as Wallace, as he performs poorly, and plays with no desire. Furthermore, his contract will expire following the ‘09-10 season, but it’s only 12 million, as opposed to 15 million with Wallace, which will hurt them that off-season, as they will have less money to spend under the cap.

Marion would have been a better solution. When Marion wanted out of Phoenix, Paxson should have gone to Steve Kerr and offered him Wallace for Marion, as this would have been a better deal for the Suns than Shaq, as Wallace can stay healthy unlike Shaq. He’s also younger, and would cost them less and would probably help them out better as Shaq’s offensive skills continue to diminish. The Bulls would have gotten someone who actually cares and would help the team, and would get big money off the books sooner.

Paxson has shown that he can’t make that final step. It’s time to fire him and bring in someone who can.

With the Celtics having started a road trip 0-3, they now have 12 losses. After the mid-season talk of them challenging the 95-96 Bulls for the best ever regular season record, you can throw that out the window. 72-10 lives on. And good riddance. The Celtics with Thug James are the last team I want to see break the record. Now for one more loss to keep the Bulls as the only 70 win team, and for the Celtics to get thrown out when they make the playoffs.

So here I am a few hours after the NBA trade deadline has passed, and Big Bum, Ben Wallace is no longer a Bull. Good riddance. The old overpaid fart, who didn’t give a dam, and thought he was better than the team, wearing a headband when team policy says no, but getting an exemption. A miserable failure who was exposed without playing with Rip, Sheed, Tayshaun, and Chauncey, which is showing since the Pistons haven’t missed a beat since he left.

One problem: John Paxson may have just set the team back even more with this deal. He got Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes in return for Wallace, but Gooden is nothing but a slight upgrade over Joe Smith, who was also traded away in the deal, and Hughes has a bloated contract just like Wallace and he plays with no desire either. Furthermore, Hughes contract is less than Wallace’s, but since the Bulls are going to be over the cap, this is going to hurt because they will have less money to spend under the cap when his deal comes off the books. DAM IT JOHN!!

What was Steve Kerr thinking, trading away a disgruntled all-star for an old, injured bum?

Last week, Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr made a terrible trade, sending Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in return for Shaq. This was a bad trade. Shaq is getting old, and he is always hurt. He is not suited to play in the run-n-gun offense. Everyone talks about how Shaq will help spread the floor, but with the Suns run-n-gun offense, how is it going to be possible?

This was a knee-jerk reaction by Steve Kerr. He should have waited and let the market play out. If he really wanted to get rid of Shawn Marion that badly, he should have gone to the Bulls and tried to get Wallace. Unlike Shaq, Wallace is actually able to play. Whether or not he wants to play is another issue. Going to Phoenix would probably re-vitalize Wallace. With Amare Stoudemire at center, Wallace would be able to move to his natural position of power forward, where he could be more productive, even with the Duncan’s, and Dirk’s, and Gasol’s out West.

Steve, I love you for what you did with the Bulls, but honestly, I think you made a bad trade here. Ben Wallace would have been a better option if you really wanted to get rid of Marion.