Results tagged “chicagobulls”

So far this young season, Bulls budding superstar Derrick Rose hasn't played up to the level many expect. His play has been more tentative, he's committing more turnovers and his shooting percentage has dropped. While's he is still recovering from an ankle injury that caused him to miss most of the preseason, and the loss of Ben Gordon allows opposing teams to tighten up their defense, Rose is perhaps his harshest critic when it comes to his play. And he's vowed to do something about it.

We're fans of athletes who don't take themselves too seriously and the young Chicago Bulls prove themselves worthy of that adoration. Seriously, do you think Vince Carter would ever do something like this? [h/t NQTC, via Windy Citizen]

Don't be surprised if our Editor-in-Chief is a little jumpy this week. He's got this silly fear of clowns and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to town on Wednesday. Taking over the United Center from Nov. 18-29, the "Greatest Show on Earth" once again exiles the Bulls and Blackhawks for their annual "circus trips." The Bulls open their West Coast swing on Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings, followed by games against the L.A. Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks over the next two weeks before returning to the Madhouse on Madison again. While the team's been able to return to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving with family between games, this year the Bulls play the Jazz in Utah on the holiday.

During Tuesday's morning shoot around, the Bulls sent power forward home Tyrus Thomas home with "flu-like symptoms." Thomas missed the Bulls dramatic comeback win against the Milwaukee Bucks last night, with rookie Taj Gibson starting in his place.

       

Is this the year the Bulls finally reclaim their place among the NBA's elite? For the past few seasons, the Bulls have been full of potential but inconsistent on fulfilling that promise on the court. One of these years, they'll finally make that jump. When we last saw the Bulls playing meaningful games, it was in an epic seven-game series (plus seven OT periods) with the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the playoffs. Taking the defending NBA champs and second-seeded Celts the full distance gave Bulls fans a lot to look forward to for this season. But is the optimism justified just yet?

Once a role playe, always a role player. Former Bulls All-Star BJ Armstrong has been picked by Gov. Quinn to help out with youth outreach as part of Quinn's plan to fight youth violence. Armstrong, who won was part of the first Bulls three-peat of the early 90's will, according to ABC 7, "advise Quinn on youth sports, anti-obesity programs and promoting sportsmanship." Armstrong still has ties to Bull, serving as agent to the Bulls young star Derrick Rose.

Chicago's sports teams seem to have a knack for drafting players with unique talents. Bulls rookie James Johnson showed off his YouTube-worthy skill -- break dancing! In this clip posted by Dime Magazine, he shows off his windmill skillz at the 2009 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot. He's not the only local rookie to grace YouTube for his off the field antics. Bears rookie Jerron Gilbert has made a bigger name for himself on account of his leaping ability than his play on the field thus far.

       

Like their hockey counter-parts, Chicago's NBA team is getting their season started with a a little European jaunt. Tomorrow night, the Bulls take on the Utah Jazz in a preseason game at London's O2 Arena. The team is already there and settling for the game tomorrow night, though both Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas could sit out, according to coach Vinny del Negro.

For the upcoming season, the Chicago Bulls have added a spanish-language radio broadcast as they try to reach out to the city's large Latino community. Twenty-one home games will be aired on La Tremenda WRTO 1200 AM, with Omar Ramos and Ozzie Guillen, Jr. calling the games. As in son of the hot headed, loud mouthed White Sox manager. If he runs his mouth anything like his dad, we're sure the broadcasts will be entertaining -- no matter the on-court play. Pretty sweet as we've been looking for an excuse to brush up on our Spanish. This isn't the first time Ramos and Guillen have teamed up: the pair have been calling the White Sox on Spanish radio for the past few seasons.

In celebration of Michael Jordan's induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow, both the Tribune and Sun-Times have created an extensive special Michael Jordan Tributes. Both feature a collection of articles, columns, photos, and videos that trace MJ's life from his childhood, to his standout college career, to his illustrious run in the NBA, his detours for the Olympics and minor league baseball, as well as life in the executive suite. So go ahead and waste your workday reminiscing about the best basketball player we're likely to ever see, as well as the one who brought six championships to town.

On Friday, Michael Jordan finally assumes his rightful place in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Leading up to his enshrinement, the Trib asks what we can only assume is a rhetorical question, "Is MJ the best ever?" Sure, we may be a teeny bit biased here in Chicago. But we still pick MJ over the likes of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Oscar Robertson. So would former Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach, "I saw Oscar Robertson and Russell play. I coached against Wilt (in college). The idolatry Michael experienced would send anybody else off spinning. But he continued to produce."

Reports indicate that on Thursday, the NCAA will strip the University of Memphis of its wins from the 2007-08 following an investigation into violations by the program. Those violations include accusations that Bulls point guard Derrick Rose had somebody else take his SAT exam and that family of the Chicago hoops phenom received other illegal benefits such as free travel.

The NBA released the league's schedule for the upcoming season on Tuesday, and the Bulls (see Bulls schedule) face a series of challenges right away that could help clarify whether or not they can grab a seat among the NBA's elite.

The Bulls front office seems to have an infatuation for Dukies, having drafted the likes of Elton Brand, Jay Williams, Chris Duhon and Luol Deng in the past few years. And they were supposedly trying to move up in this year's draft in order to land the Blue Devils' Gerald Henderson.

Turns out that the rumors we'd heard over the past couple weeks were true. On the first day that NBA teams could make offers to free agents, the Detroit Pistons lured Ben Gordon away from the Bulls. Gordon reportedly agreed to a five-year deal worth between $55 and $60 million. While the Bulls claimed to want to retain Gordon, and Gordon stated his desire to remain in Chicago, he sure didn't waste much time in signing elsewhere.

Heading into Thursday night's NBA draft, the Bulls were looking for some help with their inside scoring and some depth in the backcourt. When the night was over, they had addressed the first need twice over while neglecting the other entirely.

A year ago, Derrick Rose was the center of the basketball world's attention as he was picked first overall in the NBA Draft. In his rookie season, he lived up to the hype, winning the rookie of the year award and ingratiating himself to fans in Chicago. Rose has had a bit of a rocky ride since the season ended, however. First there was the photo of him flashing a gang sign, and then the allegations he cheated on his SATs in order to get into the University of Memphis.

Last year, the Bulls were sitting pretty with the top overall pick in the draft. And while some thought they should pick power forward Michael Beasley, the Bulls seem to have made the right call with their selection of point guard Derrick Rose. Not only did he take home the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the league's top rookie, he also helped the Bulls return to the playoffs -- where they played an epic series against Boston. As such, the Bulls avoided the draft lottery this year, and don't make their first pick in the 2009 draft until midway through the first round, at the 16th spot. The Bulls -- on account of trading Thabo Sefelosha to Oklahoma City -- also have the 26th pick. So with newly promoted GM Gar Forman running his first draft, we're interested to see what the Bulls can do to improve the team.

With the NBA free agency period still a couple weeks away, and the NBA draft upcoming as well, it may still be premature to speculate on where players might end up. And yet rumors have surfaced that the Bulls' Ben Gordon, an unrestricted free agent, may be atop the wish list for the Detroit Pistons. Sam Smith, on his Bulls.com blog, reported that the Pistons are ready to offer the Bulls guard an $11 million a year deal when the free agency period begins on July 1.

Chicago Bulls player - and reigning NBA Rookie of the Year - finds himself in a new controversy over a photo (above) that allegedly shows Rose flashing gang signs. The photo's been circulating over the last week on several sports blogs and today the Tribune takes up the issue.

A league source reports Chicago Bulls Assistant Coach Del Harris will soon retire, ending his 50-year coaching career.

Derrick Rose returned to town last fall with high expectations, as both the top overall draft pick in the NBA draft and a local boy made good. On the court for the Bulls, he lived up to everybody's high hopes -- winning himself the Rookie of the Year award while comporting himself with a humbleness rare in athletes of his stature and at his age. But a possible chink has been discovered in his armor.

Rumors swirled, in the weeks leading up to the NBA trading deadline, that John Paxson was on his way out the door as Bulls GM. Instead, he remained in the Bulls front off and managed to pull off three trades that turned the Bulls' season around and propelled them into the playoffs.

When the playoffs began, nobody would have even expected the Bulls to be playing on Saturday night, because doing so would have meant pushing the reigning NBA champs to seven games in their open round playoff series. And yet the Bulls extended the series to a final, deciding game in dramatic fashion, with four overtime games and seven total OT periods. Saturday night's game wasn't quite that close, but there were still moments where the upset seemed possible. In the end, though, Boston prevailed over the Bulls 109-99, ending the Bulls' season.

The Bulls and Celtics redefined "nail biter" last night, as the two teams battled through three more overtime periods before the Bulls prevailed 128-127 to force game seven to determine which team moves on to face Orlando in the second round. Down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and facing elimination, the Bulls came out red hot Thursday night. John Salmons scored 16 first quarter points -- including three 3-pointers -- to help the Bulls score 37 points and hold an 11 point advantage after the first period. During the first, Rajon Rondo -- already the target of booing by the fans for his hard foul on Brad Miller in game 6 -- and Kirk Hinrich got into a bit of a melee after Rondo flung Hinrich into the scorers' table. This time the refs called the flagrant foul on Rondo, but also teed up Hinrich. Boston made a run at the Bulls throughout the second quarter, chipping away at their double digit lead until they tied up the game at 55 apiece late in the half. Ray Allen hit four of his nine three pointers during the period. Bulls held a two point lead at halftime, 59-57.

Times are tough all over and the economy knows no barrier. One person feeling the pinch pretty hard is former Chicago Bull Randy Brown, a Chicago native and part of the second three-peat Chicago Bulls teams of '96, '97, and '98. Brown was most recently a coach with the Sacramento Kings but was fired and has since filed for bankruptcy. And now the bankruptcy judge in the case has ruled that Brown must auction the rings. The bidding begins May 19 and the price starts at $19,000. You can check out the rings for yourself here. [WBBM, Sun-Times]

This Bulls-Celtics series continued to add to its claim of most exciting playoff series -- at least early round playoff series -- ever with Tuesday night's thriller. Once again Chicago and Boston needed overtime to determine the winner. On their home court, Boston came away with the 106-104 victory over the Bulls.

During the first half of yesterday's Bulls-Celtics game, shooting guard Ben Gordon injured his left hamstring. While it didn't seem to slow him down during the game -- he scored 22 points and hit a key 3-pointer to send the game into double overtime -- there was cause for concern.

After two incredible games in Boston, the Bulls looked like they had returned to earth in game three when the Celtics handily defeated them upon their return to Chicago. After Sunday's epic battle at the United Center, which the Bulls won 121-118 in double overtime, they proved that they have the heart and hustle to go the distance with the reigning NBA champs. The Bulls and Celtics battled throughout the first half, heading to the locker room separated by a lone point. In the third, the Bulls jumped ahead by seven lead late before Boston turned the tables and closed out the period with a five point lead.

After their surprising game one victory and close loss in game two coming on a buzzer beater, the Bulls looked up to the task of challenging the defending NBA champs in their best-of-seven series as it moved back to Chicago. With their rabid fans all dressed in red to give them the added boost, surely the Bulls could regain the series lead against the Boston Celtics, right?