Too Lazy to write a Bulls NYE post...

Maybe it's because the Bulls are under performing or maybe its because I only stayed up to watch the first half of last night's game against the Queens.  I just don't feel like re-hashing what happened.  Instead I'll give you links to people who are way better at writing about the Bulls and are slightly more articulate than myself.

• The Bulls are 2-1, but this Mike Wilbon article explains why Derrick, Thibs, and the city of Chicago are a little uneasy about their play early in the season.

• Good article about Derrick Rose's mindset about winning MVP and losing in ECF's last year.

• Another Derrick Rose article about learning from MJ and what he things about the Westbrook/Durant "feud".

• Who is the next "Toni Kukoc"?  That would be this man, Nikola Mirotic.

• Dwight Howard playing next to Derrick Rose? Adidas may not let that happen, read about it here.

Special birthday shout out to Tiger woods who can be seen in this video about to win his first tournament in 2 years.  Even though it was his own private tournament, isn't sanctioned by the PGA, and only had 17 other participants.  A win is a win isn't it?  MASHED POTATOES!!!

Another birthday shout out to the one and only Lebron James.  If you didn't like the Heat before, I'm pretty sure you'll at least think that they are huge douches after watching their intro video.  Some things to note while watching

•  Chris Bosh thinks he's on the same level as LBJ and Wade, but not even close.

• Who thought it was a good idea for Shane Battier to go with the double popped collar?

• Mike Miller looks slightly out of place

• Eddy Curry is still alive?

And with that, Go Bulls, Beat Lob City, and Happy New Year. 

Bulls Kings Thoughts...merry new year

I need to figure out again how to put pictures on this site in the middle of articles because if I could remember I would put a large picture of shattering glass to represent how badly Jimmer Fredette was getting his ankles broke yesterday by D Rose and CJ Watson. CJ was the MVP last night in a game that saw the Bulls blow a 15 pt half time lead. D Rose was getting hosed all night by the refs and CJ was forced into serious minutes and really rose to the occasion.

other notes-
* Jimmer Fredette is totally useless defensively and offensively I do not think he has a clue. Clearly he is white and short so he can drill 3's if left open but he continued to dribble into no man's land in the paint and make interesting decisions with the basketball.
* Demarcus Cousins is obnoxious. He can play. but he is obnoxious. There was not a minute I was watching the game and didn't want to punch him in the nose.
* Omer played awesome for having a pathetic looking stat line. I truly dig his style and clearly "GarPax" knew what they were doing when they didn't ship him to another team for a second rate 2 guard. "Omer"ica took Cousins out of his game and made scoring in the paint a real chore for the Kings.
* Ummmm....that's it Merry New year from us at the Cheese....We will be posting more regularly at the start of the New year in hopes of growing the site. we shall see how that goes....doubt it goes far.....but what the hell, world's supposed to end in 2012 anyways.....Go Cubs

Rough Start to Bulls Season

The Bulls pulled off a tough win on Christmas Day and followed up with a lackluster performance against the Warriors last night.  Both games can be summed up using Golden State's new coach and former ESPN NBA commentator Mark Jackson's two catch phrases (of which he has trademarked, not kidding).

Bulls v. Lakers - "Mama, there goes that man..."
You might be thinking that I'm talking about Derrick here, I mean he did hit that ridiculous floater with Pau's paw in his face (you see what I did there).  But I'm actually talking about Lt. Deng and his stupid looking faux-hawk.  Deng came up huge down the stretch.  He had nine points in the 4th quarter (21 in the game) and played an integral part of the comeback win.  When everything was all but lost, Luol had a three point play, made two free throws, made the steal that led to Rose hitting the floater with 4.8 seconds left, then blocked Kobe's last second shot.  The Bulls scored the last 7 points of the game and Luol was guarding Kobe the entire time.  Rose had an efficient game himself scoring 22 points on 13 shot attempts.  He had his long range shot going which was nice and had a ridiculous reverse layup.  For the first game of the season after a long lockout ridden off-season, he had a good game.  I just don't think he was aggressive enough on the offensive end (zero free throw attempts).  Rip was a non-factor as he was in foul trouble the entire game.  Boozer was decent putting in 15 points, and carried the offense at times.  But he didn't show any improvement in defense.  The bench mob had its first appearance and struggled to do anything offensively.  As a team, they played well defensively.  I would say that 87 points allowed is a success.  Another thing to be noted was that neither Rip nor Boozer were playing down the stretch.  Korver wasn't even being included in offense-for-defense substitutions.  I predicted an easy win against this depleted Laker team, maybe I underestimated Kobe and his white teammates' resilience or overestimated the readiness of the Bulls.  Either way, the Bulls pulling off a win was a Christmas miracle.

Bulls v. Warrios - "Hand down, man down..."
Very frustrating game to watch and not just because the Bulls lost to a team coached by Mark Jackson and Pete Meyers.  Plain and simple, the Bulls were dominated on both ends of court and in every facet of the game.  The Bulls couldn't defend the high pick-and-roll.  The Warriors doubled Rose off the pick-and-roll and he couldn't get past it.  The Bulls couldn't get back in transition as Oakland looked like "Lob City North".  The Warrior backcourt of Ellis and Curry combined for 47 points (26 and 21 respectively) compared to the 23 put up by Rip and Rose (10 and 13 respectively).  All 10 of Rip's points were scored in the first half and Rose was not aggressive on the offensive end again.  Where do I start with Boozer?  Six points in 26 minutes.  UGH.  Seriously dude, what the fuck.  Three straight times he tried to get the ball in the post, he let his entry passes get tipped away for steals.  His defense was an atrocity.  There was one play where Rip got his shot blocked by Ellis as he curled off a down screen and Steph pushed the ball up the court.  Boozer just let him get to the rim without making him change directions or pace.  But at least he pointed at Steph and yelled "hey" in transistion.  MOVE YOUR FEET BOOZER!  He was severely exposed in the 3rd quarter by David Lee.  Biting on pump fakes, getting schooled in the post.  Boozer often left Joakim the only one in the paint to try and grab a rebound.  It's frustrating that both Lee and Boozer were given very similar deals for $80M, but Lee actually rebounds and works hard on both ends.  Thibs took too long to take him out for Taj.  The Bulls went with a smaller lineup with Rose/Watson/Deng/Korver/Taj down the stretch to get more scoring, but it was too much too late.  It sucks because the Bulls were on the verge of getting blown out of the gym, but made a small comeback at the end and couldn't rest Rose and Deng.  Rip, Boozer, and Joakim were all on the pine in the closing minutes.  That's, uh, not very good.

I know it's only 2 games into the season, but it's frustrating to see Boozer the same level defensively as last year.  Rip Hamilton was more of a factor against the Warriors, but disappeared in the 2nd half.  Rose only had 13 points and again wasn't aggressive getting to the rim.  The only stalwart on both ends was Luol.  When Rose has a bad game, it seems like everyone around him crumbles too.  That can't happen, especially when Boozer and Joakim are being paid that amount of money.  Next game is Thursday against the Kings (who beat the Lakers last night) and Friday against Lob City.  Hopefully the Bulls don't come back to Chicago with a 1-3 start.

Derrick Rose Spreads Christmas Cheer

Almost there folks.  Two more days until the return of DRose and friends.  The Bulls won their 2 pre-season games against the Pacers, but what was there to learn from them?  It was good to have 2 games to shake some rust off as the guys haven't played with each other since losing to the Heatles in June.  DRose had 2 decent games and was able to play with new addition Rip Hamilton in Game 2.  He already looked like he is a great compliment to the team as he was running around all over the place and was able to help the team in transition and get some good looks in the half-court offense.  Teams won't be able to double team off from the SG spot because Bogans won't be standing in the corner anymore and DRose won't have to completely carry the offensive load the whole season.  As long as this team doesn't get bit by the injury bug (I'm looking at you Jo, Booz, and Deng), this looks like a hard team to beat.  The depth on the bench is a luxury.  Having CJ, RonRonJuice, TajMahal, Asik, and HotSauce come off the bench is great for the team.  We will probably see a lot of them because of the crazy scheduling.  HotSauce and Jimmy Butler probably aren't going to see a ton of minutes (HotSauce sucks at defense and Jimmy is a rook) barring any injuries.

The first game against the Lakers is an interesting one.  Kobe's divorce just went public.  His team had a trade for CP3 in place, then got nixed by David Stern.  Then CP3 went to the Clippers and handed the Lakers' ass to them on a platter.  Lamar Odom was traded for cap space and the Lakers picked up Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy as his replacement.  Ouch.  Tough couple weeks for Kobe and his degenerating knees.  To top it all off, he injured his wrist/thumb and may not play (but he probably will).  Kobe and Pau are still formidable, but their surrounding cast is a pu-pu platter of poop.  Bynum is suspended for 5 games because he clotheslined JJ Barea in the playoffs last year.  Derrick Fisher has been negotiating for the players union all off-season and didn't even play in the pre-season games because he was working on his fitness.  Metta World Peace is, well, Metta World Peace.  That leaves Luke Walton, Steve Blake, McBobs, and Troy "JourneyMan" Murphy.  The Lakers are going to play more white dudes than black dudes this year, and that is never good.  Bulls shake the rust off and win the Christmas Day Season opener.  They will have the 2nd best record in the NBA (behind the Heatles, yuck) and face the Heatles in the ECF for the 2nd year in a row, BEAT THE HEAT and get into the finals against OKC.  Bulls win the Larry O'Brien Trophy.  Cue the parade and awesome white boy dancing from Omer.  This is the ultimate jinx by the way...


DRose also signed a contract extension that goes into affect next year.  They signed him to the max contract of 5 years for $95 million.  Best thing about it is that he didn't request any player options to opt out and he is fully committed to the Bulls for the entirety of the contract.  That's pretty awesome and as Thibs said, "Wish it was a 10 year contract".

Hawks are still number 1 in points in the NHL with Philly and Minny hot on their heels.  They suffered a loss against the Crosby-less Penguins, but came back with a win against the Habs.  Time to end this post with a great holiday video from the Blackhawks production team.  To the six people who view this site, Merry Christmas.

"Sam I AM.....in Deep Deep Sh*t" An By Article Gaeger, Gaeger & Gaeger, Chet Steadman's Legal Expert

By now we have all heard plenty of times the facts surrounding Sam Hurd’s arrest for conspiring to sell a half a kilogram of cocaine; cocaine purchased from a federal agent no less. Reciting the facts of the case yet again would be a pointless exercise. What is more important, is the four reasons why Sam Hurd is in deep deep shit. Considering I have defended a few clients facing federal drug charges, I thought I would relay how bad it might get.

1. Federal Involvement: If you know anything about the federal legal justice system from living in Chicago, you know this – The feds aren’t screwing around.. We have seen politician after politician, and governor after governor head to Terra Haute Indiana to serve lengthy prison sentences in the great state of Illinois. The reason for this is more than just the fact that they were guilty as sin. The reason is that the feds don’t lose. The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s office have a blank check when it comes to prosecuting federal crimes. On top of that, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has recently come under fire for their lack of effectiveness in dealing with the influence of the Mexican drug cartels on the drug trade in the United States. Thus, when you get ICE involved, you are asking for it. The depth and thoroughness of the investigation was most likely out of this world. Evidence such as confidential informants, wiretaps, and video surveillance is bound to come to light. This type of evidence is devastating at trial. With a 90%+ conviction rate, the U.S. Attorney should have a cakewalk with this one.

2. Federal Sentencing Guidelines: I will keep this one short and sweat… even thought it is probably what will keep Sam Hurd up at night for the next year. Unlike most states (Illinois included) sentencing in federal court is not solely dependant on the crime committed. Under the federal rules, the type of crime only sets a minimum, but a judge is free to go as high as he would like. And let me tell you… the minimums are high. As the case is charged now, the federal guideline sets the minimum at a decade. Not good.
3. The Charge and the Federal Ability to Amend Charges: People must realize that up until almost the trial stage, the Federal Government has the right to amend the charges commensurate to what they feel they can prove. From all preliminary reports, it could get much worse. Here is why. First, Sam is charged with conspiracy. This is a relatively easy charge to prove. In order to get a conviction, the government need only prove that he took substantial steps with a co-conspirator to commit a crime. Completing the crime is irrelevant. Considering the weights and amounts of drugs that have been thrown out there, there is nothing holding the U.S. Attorney’s Office back from charging Hurd with a crime that holds a minimum of life without the possibility of parole. Bad News Bears.
4. The Venue: Last but not least, it’s not only what Hurd has been charged with, but where he could stand trial that could be devastating. Federal Court is different from state court in the fact that you are not permitted to have a “bench trial” where the judge hears the case and finds guilt or innocence. Under normal circumstances, having an judge decide conspiracy cases is much more desirable because they know the law better. In Federal Court however, you MUST have a jury trial should you decide against taking a plea. With that in mind, lets look at Sam’s potential jury pool. North Texas has become a battleground for the Mexican drug cartels. Needless to say, they are not to fond of people who deal with them. Because ICE is the investigating agency in this case, there is no doubt that Sam’s operation was in close contact to the cartels (it would have to be in order for ICE to have jurisdiction instead of the FBI or DEA). Furthermore, Texas isn’t exactly the most minority friendly state in the Union. Finally, he is an ex-Cowboy… doesn’t help.

All in all… Its looking more like bologna sandwiches instead of green eggs and ham for Sam Hurd.

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David Gaeger is a Criminal Attorney at the law firm of Rotunno & Giralamo, P.C. and as much as he wishes he was.... is not pictured above.

Sam Hurd's Reindeer Games

Holy Mother of god. I mean Sam Hurd. Sam Hurd. Guy is a special teams expert by day, and Stringer Bell by night. I mean we are talking some serious drugs. Like 1k pounds of weed and 5 to 10 kilos of cocaine. As someone not familiar with drugs, I needed a little clarification on how much coke was 10 kilos worth. Well it is about 5 standard size bags of flour from your local grocery store. Call me crazy but that sounds like an exorbitant amount of coke, and he was going to sell that much per week. What has become most evident following all these new revelations is that Sam Hurd was a much better drug dealer than he was a football player. He was making 10 times his 685k base salary per year on the drugs. Dude is a kingpin. So the next question that has to be asked is, was Sam Hurd the cocaine distributor to the NFL. He was selling 100k of coke for 5 times that so he was clearly not running it on the street. My theory is that Sam Hurd is gonna go all DOnnie Brasco on the NFL and bring to light a whole side of the NFL that we do not want to believe is involved in pro sports, but with big money, you get big drugs. I mean could you have imagined a better way for the Bears to end their season. I mean they lost their franchise QB and RB and just got beat by the horse sh*t AFC West. This team will probably not win another game and this season will be known as the season of "DISSAPOINTMENT." The Bears went from the only team in the NFC that could give the Pack a game to an afterthought in 3 weeks, and having the NFL's biggest drug dealer scumbag on their roster. Nice job Jerry. Caleb Hanie stinks. And I have one more observation from this whole situation. NIU "Northern Illinois University" is churning out a lot of criminals....It's becoming the new AMTRAK in that not a year goes by without an NIU student committing a serious crime. Caleb Hanie is horrific at football. I'm back and I'm out.....Chet

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As this comes as a surprise to no one, the Bulls finally signed free agent Rip Hamilton to a 3 year deal.  The question is how does this affect the Bulls?

The Good - Rip is a veteran who can step right into the the starting SG role.  In his 12 year career he has averaged 18 PPG and a 45/35/85 shooting percentage with almost identical numbers in the playoffs.  He's been on three all-star teams, went to the Eastern conference finals 6 years in a row, been to the finals twice and came out a champion once.  He definitely brings more experience to this younger squad.  He's more polished offensively than Bogans (who's extension will not be signed) and RonRonJuice and is another scoring option to help DRose.

The Bad - At the ripe age of 33, there are questions as to how he is going to hold up in this shortened and compacted schedule.  How will his legs hold up playing 5 games in 7 nights and back-to-back's 17 times this season.  Although he is better offensively than Brewer or Bogans, he isn't the type of guy who creates his own shot in isolation.  In the early to mid 2000's, the Pistons would shove down opponents throats a steady diet of Rip running off down screens and either continuing his drive to the basket, popping in a mid range jumper, or finding one of the Wallaces rolling to the bucket.  Don't know if he can still run for days like he used to, or how much on the ball offense he'll create.

The Ugly - Rather than talk about the stupid mask Rip wears, I saved this section for last night's Hawks Shootout winner.  The only ugly thing about this clip is how foolish Kaner makes Backstrom look on this filthy goal.  Funny to see Kaner undress someone other than a Chicago co-ed in Wrigleyville.

This past week in sports....

One of the more memorable weeks in sports in a long time.  Ranking the best events in reverse order:

#4 Commit to the Chief - Hawks have won two in a row in OT (Isles and Sharks) with game winning goals by Patrick Sharp.  They are #2 in points in the NHL, and play the #1 MinnyWild on Wednesday night

#3 The NBA is back - Free agency period started, the Bulls are stagnant, and CP3 trades to both teams in LA are shot down.  I would have been more excited to see him go to the Clippers if they could have kept Eric Gordon.  CP3 alley oops to the Blake-show on the reg.  Rip Hamilton cleared waivers and will probably be signed by the Bulls shortly.  Rumor is that GarPaxDorf didn't even offer JRich the entire mid-level exception.  Way to low ball him.  Plus, I met Captain Omerica at Nike Town.

#2 Tebow takes down the Bears - How can you not watch this guy and laugh.  Not because he isn't a good QB, but because of the circumstances of his wins and this crazy/weird association with his relationship to Catholicism/"Is he Jesus reincarnated on the football field?".  Since the Bears are done (I have no faith in Caleb), I will be fully entrenched in "Camp Tebow" for the rest of the season.

#1 Talkin' bout the HOO-HOO-SIERS - Will not say much on this topic even though it holds the top spot.  I was screaming so loud that my neighbors thought I was slaughtering a horse in the apartment.  (staying home on a Saturday night, pretty awesome, I know) Great win for IU and Tom Crean.  I don't want to say the Hoosiers are back, but they are well on their way from the abyss of the past 4 years.  Thanks to Squints for the video...........

Christmas comes early....

Like the phoenix that rises from the ashes, the Bulls' 2011-2012 NBA season has been resurrected and it begins on Christmas day against the Lake-show.  Albeit it is a shortened and condensed schedule of 66 games, I believe it is better than zero.  I can't spend another day watching the talking heads on ESPN take about how great Aaron Rogers is, where Pujols is going to sign (apparently he's going to Anaheim), or the boy touchers at Penn St. and Syracuse.  I need Tim Legler breaking down plays of Omer Asik and exploiting Carlos Boozer as the defensive liability that he is. Just kidding, but not really.  The Bulls schedule looks better than some.  They have a heavy load of away games on the front end (including a 9 game road trip at the end of January), but they play 16 of their last 25 in the UC.  They play the Heatles 4 times (Ugh) and they only play one back-to-back-to-back (Pistons, TWolves, Wiz).

As everyone knows, the free agent period starts at 12:01AM tomorrow morning and the entire city of Chicago is demanding that the Bulls sign a marquee 2-guard.  I have news for you, we aren't getting a marquee 2-guard.  The free agent market isn't as good as last years (LBJ, DWade, Bosh, Joe Johnson) or as good as next years (CP3, Dwight Howard).  We're looking at the likes of Jamal Crawford, Jason Richardson, Arron Afflalo, Nick Young, Caron Butler, Rodney Stuckey (yuck), and Vince Carter (vomit).  Thank god reports came out about Tracy McGrady signing with ATL, so that is one washed up SG off the market that the Bulls can't sign.  The new Amnesty Clause (see below) in the new CBA could make the the free agent market more interesting.  Rip Hamilton and Brandon Roy are names being thrown around that could be available if their teams decide to dump them.  The mitigating factor is how much the Bulls can spend.  Right now they can only afford the mid-level exception which is in the $5M/yr range.  That narrows the list down to probably J-Rich, Butler, Vince Carter (again vomit), and Rip Hamilton if he's amnestied.  Not the sexiest of names by any stretch, but Richardson, Butler, and Rip are serviceable shooters and would give Rose more options offensively.  With the Bulls re-signing Bogans, and additional SG signing would create a log jam at the position with Brewer and Korver on the bench as well.  Which is why there are rumors of a sign-and-trade involving Brewer for Jamal Crawford.  It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but the dude is a chucker and will always be a chucker.  He is also awful on defense (talking about Boozer type defense).  Given that we exchanged words at the casino at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas during Hurricane Irene, we're friends and I can be considered to be a reliable source.

There is also some talk amongst some that they would like to see the Bulls use their Amnesty on Boozer.  Given his a horrendous contract and disappearance in the playoffs, I understand the ire of the fans.  But say we get rid of Carlos, where does that put the Bulls?  The team has more cap room, but who is out there to spend it on?  Unless it makes the Bulls substantially better, there's no way that the front office makes that move.

What the Bulls need to do is trade for Dwight Howard.  Anyone not named Derrick Rose is available.  Do whatever it takes to happen.  Joakim, Luol, Taj/Omer for D12?  Take Hedo Turkoglu's awful contract as well.  Gotta replace one Turk for another.  Even if he is a chain smoking, out of shape, overpaid Turk.  Could the Bulls win a championship rolling out Rose/JRich/Hedo/Boozer/Howard.  I would do this deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

Thank god the NBA is back...


Amnesty Clause - Teams can release one of their players and their contract will not count towards their salary cap so long as they are under contract before this season begins.  Teams may only Amnesty one contract for the length of the CBA (which is until 2022, but has a player/owner option to opt out in 2017 - aka another lockout)