chicagonow.com

[dougthonus]

It's now up, my blog is open to the world at:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bulls-confidential/

 

[2ndcitydiehard]

Congrats DT!! Make us all proud!

 

[Basghetti80]

Good last post. You have us down for 13 players with about $74 million in salary if we sign Gordon and 2 draft picks.

Rose, Hinrich,Roberson
Gordon,Salmons
Deng, draft pick
Tyrus,draft pick,Tim
Noah,Miller,James

Now how good is that team next year, I say 47 wins and falls in 2nd round of playoffs which IMO makes it worth it to pay that little bit of luxury tax.

 

[rodman]

Great Blog! I love the statement to finally pay up. It's not that Reinsdorf is losing big money for it. Come on Jerry pay Ben, he's worth it!

 

[Dpauley23]

Basghetti80 wrote:

Good last post. You have us down for 13 players with about $74 million in salary if we sign Gordon and 2 draft picks.

Rose, Hinrich,Roberson
Gordon,Salmons
Deng, draft pick
Tyrus,draft pick,Tim
Noah,Miller,James

Now how good is that team next year, I say 47 wins and falls in 2nd round of playoffs which IMO makes it worth it to pay that little bit of luxury tax.

They will definetely cut Roberson because they already told Hunter he has roster spot or he could become coach

 

[Rose1]

Dpauley23 wrote:

Basghetti80 wrote:

Good last post. You have us down for 13 players with about $74 million in salary if we sign Gordon and 2 draft picks.

Rose, Hinrich,Roberson
Gordon,Salmons
Deng, draft pick
Tyrus,draft pick,Tim
Noah,Miller,James

Now how good is that team next year, I say 47 wins and falls in 2nd round of playoffs which IMO makes it worth it to pay that little bit of luxury tax.

They will definetely cut Roberson because they already told Hunter he has roster spot or he could become coach

I thought it was something wrong with our stadium or environment, because I never saw a player on the Bulls like Lindsey Hunter be that vocal for us before.

 

[MADman24]

Good work Doug, now all we need to do is to convince every sports writer and blogger to feel the same way and maybe just maybe the pressure would get to Reinsdorf and he will be forced to bring Ben back.

 

[dougthonus]

They will definetely cut Roberson because they already told Hunter he has roster spot or he could become coach

I'm not sure if they'll cut Roberson or not because I don't know his buy out. If the can buy him out for less than the amount of his salary vs the minimum then they will cut him. If cutting him and signing a minimum player will cost more than keeping him they'll probably let him stay.

 

[Dpauley23]

I thought his contract is non guaranteed? Hunter has good shot at being back with the team as Sam Smith reported they offered him to come back as player or coach

 

[dougthonus]

Dpauley23 wrote:

I thought his contract is non guaranteed? Hunter has good shot at being back with the team as Sam Smith reported they offered him to come back as player or coach

Non guaranteed contracts usually have some type of buy out if you don't pick up the deal. Something like 10% of the salary, but it can be anything from 0 to near the whole thing. In practice, I believe the amount is usually around 10-20% if it exists.

 

[Dpauley23]

I just don't see them having 14 players next year so that my logical of why Roberson would get cut. Hunter has tremendously helped the youngster of this team and if your going to trade Kirk you definetely should keep Hunter to help Rose out

 

[dougthonus]

Dpauley23 wrote:

I just don't see them having 14 players next year so that my logical of why Roberson would get cut. Hunter has tremendously helped the youngster of this team and if your going to trade Kirk you definetely should keep Hunter to help Rose out

I don't think they'll keep Roberson and Hunter.

However, I don't think we'll keep Hunter as a player.

 

[Dpauley23]

Sam Smith already has said they have offered both. I just think there offer as player since he'll probably go back to Pistons as coach

 

[dougthonus]

Dpauley23 wrote:

Sam Smith already has said they have offered both. I just think there offer as player since he'll probably go back to Pistons as coach

If they keep Hunter as a player, then they'll dump Roberson. The total salary difference between the two will be very small. I think 200k - whatever buyout Roberson may have.

I just don't know if I'd count on Hunter staying as a player.

 

[houheffna]

Good work Doug, now all we need to do is to convince every sports writer and blogger to feel the same way and maybe just maybe the pressure would get to Reinsdorf and he will be forced to bring Ben back.

Reinsdorf ignores pressure from sports writers and to him, bloggers are like flies on an elephant's ass...and yes that is with both teams.

 

[dougthonus]

houheffna wrote:

Good work Doug, now all we need to do is to convince every sports writer and blogger to feel the same way and maybe just maybe the pressure would get to Reinsdorf and he will be forced to bring Ben back.

Reinsdorf ignores pressure from sports writers and to him, bloggers are like flies on an elephant's ass...and yes that is with both teams.

As well he should. An owner should hire the right people and make the best decisions for his business rather than listening to a bunch of journalists who have 1/10th as much information about the real choices and goings on of the team.

 

[houheffna]

Doug,

Did you ever see the Costas program from a year or two ago where a journalist verbally castigated blog writers, including one in particular. I am trying to find it on youtube now. It was so venomous. Hopefully I will find it soon...

It was a public forum about media and sports. As you move up the media ladder, you should be wary of the jealousy...

 

[dougthonus]

houheffna wrote:

Doug,

Did you ever see the Costas program from a year or two ago where a journalist verbally castigated blog writers, including one in particular. I am trying to find it on youtube now. It was so venomous. Hopefully I will find it soon...

It was a public forum about media and sports. As you move up the media ladder, you should be wary of the jealousy...

It doesn't surprise me. Most blog writers are doing this for a hobby, as am I. Most journalists make their money doing this. If some hobbyist computer engineer was threatening to take away my livelihood, I probably wouldn't be too amped about him either.

It's probably similar to how I may feel about outsourcing technical services to India. I'd claim you get worse products, support, etc.. The journalists feel the bloggers aren't giving you verifyable information, have less integrity etc..

There's merit to both those points as well. Anyway, I don't know many journalists, and I hope KC Johnson and Mike McGraw stay friendly given that I've talked to them both a lot via email. If Bob Costas wants to rip on me then that will be awesome publicity

Btw, I never did see the special.

 

[dougthonus]

But it’s one thing if somebody just sets up a blog from their mother’s basement in Albuquerque and they are who they are, and they’re a pathetic get-a-life loser, but now that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard’s column or Bernie Miklasz’ column in St. Louis. That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility. Most of it is a combination of ignorance or invective.”

What bothers Costas — and he’s not alone — is Internet and talk radio commentary that “confuses simple mean-spiritedness and stupidity with edginess. Just because I can call someone a name doesn’t mean I’m insightful or tough and edgy. It means I’m an idiot.

“It’s just a high-tech place for idiots to do what they used to do on bar stools or in school yards, if they were school yard bullies, or on men’s room walls in gas stations. That doesn’t mean that anyone with half a brain should respect it.”

Found the Costas quote. I don't know if he's pissed about one particular guy or what, but there is a whole segment of sportswriters who make their career by doing hatchet jobs on people (Jay Mariotti type).

I've never considered myself a blogger really, so I don't have some kind of strange blogger vs journalist thing going on, but it's easy to understand why real journalists would feel threatened by bloggers. They're competing for the same audience, and the bloggers don't need to follow any preset rules really.

Getting into a fight with bloggers seems like a bad idea if you're regular journalist guy, because the only thing you've got going for you is your integrity, and as soon as you step into the ring against a blogger like Costas you begin throwing it away.

Either way, I don't expect anyone to get all pissy with me as I doubt I'll ever make it high enough up the food chain for someone to bat an eyelash at in the world of journalism. I don't think it could ever be a full time gig for me, because unless you are at the absolute pinnacle of the business the salary scale doesn't compare to what I can make as a software engineer (which I enjoy more than writing anyway).

Actually, the spot I'm in right now at the tribune as an independent contractor for their site may be about the most perfect thing I could do journalism wise. I don't know if I even have a desire to try to do more than that.

 

[Seth]

the fact that ChicagoNow not only requires you to sign up before posting but also has a relatively serious signup form where you have the option of opting out of their spam sponsors is really going to cut down on the comments.