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If you could trade Rasho and any bench player for Chandler or Curry, you do that in a second. Too bad the Spurs waited until both of those Bulls are playing better to get serious.
Oh well.
Bulls spurn Spurs' call for little help
BY SAM SMITH
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO - (KRT) - With the season nearing the halfway mark, San Antonio still appears to be the big favorite for the NBA le. But don't tell coach Gregg Popovich.
Popovich isn't exactly saying it, but there are signs that the Spurs, despite being the league's best defensive team and having Tim Duncan, are worried about, of all things, small ball.
"I know some people think it's not going to last, but that's because they don't want it to last," Popovich said about the conventional wisdom that running teams like the Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics will collapse in the playoffs, when the halfcourt game usually plays a bigger role. "Those guys aren't going to forget how to run and they're not going to forget how to shoot. Can they win in the playoffs playing like that? I don't see why not."
That's why, according to league sources, the Spurs recently came in search of the Bulls' Tyson Chandler. Don't worry, Chandler isn't going anywhere. Eddy Curry isn't likely to be departing either. Even I'm on board with that. With the way the Bulls have played lately, it makes sense to let this team finish the season together. The Bulls are second in the league in opponents' field-goal percentage, one of the key barometers of defensive play.oach Scott Skiles should get a lot of credit for that. This isn't to say Curry, still a poor rebounder for his size, is a Bull for life. But it makes sense to ride it out until summer and perhaps sign him to a reasonable contract, which the Bulls tried to do in October before his agents asked for $80 million.
As for the Spurs, most everyone's preseason pick, they're concerned. They're still terrific, but getting out of the Western Conference could prove more difficult than it first seemed.
Two of their seven losses have been to the spread-the-floor, running Sonics (including their only loss at home). They've also lost to open-court Orlando and high-scoring Sacramento. And they caught the Suns on a bad shooting night for Quentin Richardson (0-for-7) and Steve Nash (4-for-14). The Spurs defense had something to do with that shooting, but the margin for error against quicker teams is not great with the streaky Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in the backcourt.
The Spurs have been looking to add some speed and came to the Bulls. Chandler would have been a beautiful fit now that he appears healthy, and he probably would have assured the Spurs the le. But the Bulls supposedly weren't biting at the package, which was believed to include center Rasho Nesterovic. It looks now like the Bulls will sit out the Feb. 24 trading deadline.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/10606079.htm
If you could trade Rasho and any bench player for Chandler or Curry, you do that in a second. Too bad the Spurs waited until both of those Bulls are playing better to get serious.
Oh well.
uh oh. I wonder how Rasho is going to be affected now that he is being offered as trade bait. Will he seize up even more and play worse, or start getting back to the Rasho@MIN level that the Spurs were expecting, at a minimum, him to provide?
Honestly, I don't think Rasho cares either way.
Seize up even more? He'd have top score on the other teams basket to score less points. I knew Chandler was a pipe dream, but I still would have liked to see that happen.
Small ball is BS. Suns are athletic but sick of hearing they are small.
Plus with Horry and Rose, Brown, Barry etc. enough of that - Spurs can run when they need to - still I would have made the trade for equal ht but not much less. BECAUSE
SIZE STILL MATTERS!
MadDoc
I think Rasho really cares, he just needs some "counseling" to help him get his at ude and head on straight. He can do the job, and I'm sure he wants to stay in SA forever. Somebody needs to "get to" Rasho and help him out of the bad spot he's thunk himself into. That's the kind of "meta" game that a team leader needs to play. But Tim says he let's people sort out their own . OK, but when the sorting doesn't happen, and the affects the team, the leader has to go active.
Bringing a Chandler in now would require him to get acclimated, and that takes, in Pop's system, 2 or 3 months, not much help this season.
Rasho is what he is. A seven-foot stop gap until the bench comes in. Some games he tries, some games he doesn't. The most you can hope from him is that he moves his feet to get into good defensive position most of the time. Anthing more than that is gravy.
The Bulls play better D when those guys are healthy. Have you noticed the team defense that Chi-town is playing lately?
Bulls are currently ranked second to SA in Opp. FG% .417 and 5th in ppg allowed (92.48). They are just ahead of SA in rebounds per game (9th).
With that said, the challenge for the Spurs would be to get someone like Chandler to learn the nuances of the defensive system the Spurs play and the little-noticed screens and seals used at the 5 spot.
Chandler is certainly quicker and more athletic and has better rebounding and scoring numbers. He's not much better than Rasho as a shot-blocker even though he's listed at 7'-1".
The biggest problem would be the mistakes Chandler makes and his learning curve.
Chandler's contract is $4.8M this year and then has a qualifying option next year at $6.2M...that's it.
Rasho and Rose, the two Spurs bigs besides Horry have contracts that are more long term. Rasho at 6.2 this year and 4 more years thereafter (roughly $36M total) isn't exactly an even contract match. Rose is closer at $5.4M this year plus 3 more years (roughly $25M total).
The article says "it is believed to include Rasho". Rose plus another player may have been a more feasible deal, financially.
I would say Chandler could pick it up. Not that we get him or anything.
True, that part was pure speculation. I actually think they would have kept Rasho and tried to move Rose given their will to move him in the past.
boy some fans would be ticked here if they traded rose and kept rasho for chandler
I take that trade too. Although there's no way I could see the Bulls biting on that one.
Problem is, you wouldn't get Ricky Davis' barber for either Rasho or Rose.
Any GM with a positive IQ wants nothing to do with these colossal zeros.
So you're saying a deal with John Paxon is feasible?
I thought curry was a smoke screen that they really wanted chandler
Now that we know what the Spurs FO is looking at, let the speculation begin.
What are some other centers that could be on the FO radar? What about Stromile?
Tyson Chandler.
Theres a reliable center.
Swift signed a one-year qualifying offer so he can't be traded.
So maybe half of them would bite?Any GM with a positive IQ
Which other Spur would you want to package to make it work, if it came to it?
Devin?
This article is written by Sam Smith. Usually he's pretty offbase in his speculation, so who knows if this even happened.
Ooh -- Smith.
I apologize for even commenting on this then.
The grass is always greener.
Who would trade Rasho, Devin and Beno for Tyson Chandler?
Discuss.
Trade an offensively-inept center, a very good backup PG and one of our more reliable bench scorers for... an offensively inept center we'd have to worry about resigning in 2 years?
Nah.
The throw-ins would have to be scrubbier.
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