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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-thank-for-roster-ready-to-make-nba-title-run
Bulls Have Carmelo Anthony to Thank for Roster Ready to Make NBA Title Run
By Howard Beck, NBA Senior Writer
Oct 30, 2014
NEW YORK — NBA free agency is a wicked game of musical chairs, a wild rumpus of dollar signs and tangled destinies, each player's decision affecting the next one down the line.
The results, and the resulting what-ifs, never cease to fascinate.
The Chicago Bulls wooed Carmelo Anthony in July, offering limited money but unlimited possibilities, an invitation to play with All-Stars and a chance to compete in May and June. When Anthony turned them down, electing to stay in New York for a greater payday, the Bulls settled for their second choice, Pau Gasol.
Before choosing Chicago, Gasol heard pitches from title contenders (in Oklahoma City and San Antonio), and one impassioned plea from Knicks president Phil Jackson, his mentor and friend, who badly needed a trusted hand in New York.
They all reunited Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to open a new season, and the results were illuminating.
The Bulls, with a healthy Derrick Rose and a talent-rich roster, and bolstered by Gasol's interior scoring punch, thoroughly humiliated the Knicks, 104-80, throwing into sharp relief the decisions made in the heat of summer.
Anthony recommitted himself to the Knicks, choosing a hefty contract ($124 million over five years) over the chance to contend in Chicago. In doing so, he tied himself to a franchise in transition and a roster in disarray. Jackson and his new coach, Derek Fisher, might eventually return the Knicks to respectability, but it will not be anytime soon. There are too many holes, too many mismatched pieces and a frightful dearth of talent beyond Anthony.
The Knicks are struggling to adapt to Jackson's famed triangle offense, but they could master it tomorrow and it would not erase their obvious structural flaws. This team needs an overhaul that cannot happen until next July.
The Bulls' time is clearly now, and they have never looked more ready to chase the crown. Though they coveted Anthony, they should perhaps thank him for turning them down.
An Anthony pact would almost certainly have meant jettisoning one or more key pieces. Instead, the Bulls quickly pivoted to Gasol, signing him to a three-year, $22 million deal that represented a fraction of what Anthony would have cost. They retained their core of Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson, re-signed Kirk Hinrich, brought over Nikola Mirotic from Europe and signed Aaron Brooks, giving them the deepest team in the Eastern Conference.
None of that would have been possible had the Bulls signed Anthony to a deal averaging at least $20 million.
Gasol fits the Bulls as seamlessly as expected, and his debut—an effortless 21 points and 11 rebounds—had to send goosebumps through general manager Gar Forman and his staff.
"Huge," said Rose. "It's huge. It eased the game."
And that, after all, is what the Bulls' greatest objective was this summer, with Rose coming back from knee surgeries and a dire need for an offensive boost, someone to ease Rose's burden. For the last two years, Chicago survived, and even thrived, on defense alone, while ranking among the worst scoring teams in the league.
Gasol represents the interior scoring threat the Bulls have never had and remains an effective option, even at age 34.
"Plays where you need a great shot and you know that anything isn't rolling for you, you can easily dump it down and space out," Rose said. "If you double-team, it's going to be a wide-open shot, a wide-open three. … It makes the game easy for everyone."
When Gasol was on the bench, Gibson kept up the assault, with a mix of layups and mid-range jumpers and a final line of 22 points and eight rebounds. Chicago now boasts the best big-man rotation in the NBA, and Gibson—a sixth man who could start for most teams—is superior to any big man in the Knicks' rotation.
"It was really their interior presence that caused us some problems," Fisher said, sounding a bit wi****l, and understandably so.
For nearly five years, Fisher and Gasol were Los Angeles Lakers teammates, advancing to three straight NBA Finals and winning two championships. Jackson coached those teams. Few people know Gasol's talents and character better, which is why Jackson made Gasol one of his top priorities in July.
But the Knicks had neither the salary-cap room nor the competitive appeal of Gasol's other suitors. Choosing between Chicago, San Antonio and Oklahoma City was "probably the most difficult decision that I made in my career and in my life," Gasol said, but turning down the Knicks' offer was purely practical.
"I considered it," Gasol said. "But I thought the team was not at the level of others, other contenders and options that I had. I'm coming down to my last few years of my career, and I want to maximize them. And it was difficult to leave L.A. in the first place. But now I feel like I'm in a great position, and we have a great opportunity, and now let's see if we're lucky and we deserve to do something special."
That depends, as ever, on Rose and his surgically repaired knees, but it may be time to stop placing that qualifier on every Bulls assessment. Rose was a tad erratic Wednesday, going 3-of-7 from the field with three turnovers, but the old explosiveness was back.
He was a blur in transition and split Knicks defenders repeatedly in the half court, tagging Iman Shumpert with two early fouls and earning eight trips to the foul line for the game.
This is what Anthony passed up in choosing the Garden's riches once more. The Bulls offered a perfect complementary cast, an elite playmaker in Rose, dedicated defenders in Noah and Gibson, a decorated coach in Tom Thibodeau. Instead, Anthony found himself complimenting that group for bottling him up all night, holding him to 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
The Knicks offense should improve with time and familiarity with the triangle, and they surely missed point guard Jose Calderon (out with a strained calf), who might just be their second-best player. But as Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal said earlier this week, in his ever-colorful way, the triangle functions best with "two bad mothers" (i.e. two superstars), and the Knicks only have one.
When the music stopped in July, this is the fate Anthony chose, and we are just beginning to see the ripples and the consequences. The Knicks won the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes. But in getting their second choice, the Bulls won the summer.
Howard Beck covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @HowardBeck.
By Howard Beck, NBA Senior Writer
Oct 30, 2014
NEW YORK — NBA free agency is a wicked game of musical chairs, a wild rumpus of dollar signs and tangled destinies, each player's decision affecting the next one down the line.
The results, and the resulting what-ifs, never cease to fascinate.
The Chicago Bulls wooed Carmelo Anthony in July, offering limited money but unlimited possibilities, an invitation to play with All-Stars and a chance to compete in May and June. When Anthony turned them down, electing to stay in New York for a greater payday, the Bulls settled for their second choice, Pau Gasol.
Before choosing Chicago, Gasol heard pitches from title contenders (in Oklahoma City and San Antonio), and one impassioned plea from Knicks president Phil Jackson, his mentor and friend, who badly needed a trusted hand in New York.
They all reunited Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to open a new season, and the results were illuminating.
The Bulls, with a healthy Derrick Rose and a talent-rich roster, and bolstered by Gasol's interior scoring punch, thoroughly humiliated the Knicks, 104-80, throwing into sharp relief the decisions made in the heat of summer.
Anthony recommitted himself to the Knicks, choosing a hefty contract ($124 million over five years) over the chance to contend in Chicago. In doing so, he tied himself to a franchise in transition and a roster in disarray. Jackson and his new coach, Derek Fisher, might eventually return the Knicks to respectability, but it will not be anytime soon. There are too many holes, too many mismatched pieces and a frightful dearth of talent beyond Anthony.
The Knicks are struggling to adapt to Jackson's famed triangle offense, but they could master it tomorrow and it would not erase their obvious structural flaws. This team needs an overhaul that cannot happen until next July.
The Bulls' time is clearly now, and they have never looked more ready to chase the crown. Though they coveted Anthony, they should perhaps thank him for turning them down.
An Anthony pact would almost certainly have meant jettisoning one or more key pieces. Instead, the Bulls quickly pivoted to Gasol, signing him to a three-year, $22 million deal that represented a fraction of what Anthony would have cost. They retained their core of Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson, re-signed Kirk Hinrich, brought over Nikola Mirotic from Europe and signed Aaron Brooks, giving them the deepest team in the Eastern Conference.
None of that would have been possible had the Bulls signed Anthony to a deal averaging at least $20 million.
Gasol fits the Bulls as seamlessly as expected, and his debut—an effortless 21 points and 11 rebounds—had to send goosebumps through general manager Gar Forman and his staff.
"Huge," said Rose. "It's huge. It eased the game."
And that, after all, is what the Bulls' greatest objective was this summer, with Rose coming back from knee surgeries and a dire need for an offensive boost, someone to ease Rose's burden. For the last two years, Chicago survived, and even thrived, on defense alone, while ranking among the worst scoring teams in the league.
Gasol represents the interior scoring threat the Bulls have never had and remains an effective option, even at age 34.
"Plays where you need a great shot and you know that anything isn't rolling for you, you can easily dump it down and space out," Rose said. "If you double-team, it's going to be a wide-open shot, a wide-open three. … It makes the game easy for everyone."
When Gasol was on the bench, Gibson kept up the assault, with a mix of layups and mid-range jumpers and a final line of 22 points and eight rebounds. Chicago now boasts the best big-man rotation in the NBA, and Gibson—a sixth man who could start for most teams—is superior to any big man in the Knicks' rotation.
"It was really their interior presence that caused us some problems," Fisher said, sounding a bit wi****l, and understandably so.
For nearly five years, Fisher and Gasol were Los Angeles Lakers teammates, advancing to three straight NBA Finals and winning two championships. Jackson coached those teams. Few people know Gasol's talents and character better, which is why Jackson made Gasol one of his top priorities in July.
But the Knicks had neither the salary-cap room nor the competitive appeal of Gasol's other suitors. Choosing between Chicago, San Antonio and Oklahoma City was "probably the most difficult decision that I made in my career and in my life," Gasol said, but turning down the Knicks' offer was purely practical.
"I considered it," Gasol said. "But I thought the team was not at the level of others, other contenders and options that I had. I'm coming down to my last few years of my career, and I want to maximize them. And it was difficult to leave L.A. in the first place. But now I feel like I'm in a great position, and we have a great opportunity, and now let's see if we're lucky and we deserve to do something special."
That depends, as ever, on Rose and his surgically repaired knees, but it may be time to stop placing that qualifier on every Bulls assessment. Rose was a tad erratic Wednesday, going 3-of-7 from the field with three turnovers, but the old explosiveness was back.
He was a blur in transition and split Knicks defenders repeatedly in the half court, tagging Iman Shumpert with two early fouls and earning eight trips to the foul line for the game.
This is what Anthony passed up in choosing the Garden's riches once more. The Bulls offered a perfect complementary cast, an elite playmaker in Rose, dedicated defenders in Noah and Gibson, a decorated coach in Tom Thibodeau. Instead, Anthony found himself complimenting that group for bottling him up all night, holding him to 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
The Knicks offense should improve with time and familiarity with the triangle, and they surely missed point guard Jose Calderon (out with a strained calf), who might just be their second-best player. But as Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal said earlier this week, in his ever-colorful way, the triangle functions best with "two bad mothers" (i.e. two superstars), and the Knicks only have one.
When the music stopped in July, this is the fate Anthony chose, and we are just beginning to see the ripples and the consequences. The Knicks won the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes. But in getting their second choice, the Bulls won the summer.
Howard Beck covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @HowardBeck.
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... "If I was Butler I would demand 12 million per, he's a two way player" ... Mark Jackson was like "
WHAT, 12 million?" 
