Jordan Bell‘s jab at the Bulls after Friday’s game was a reminder of how many mistakes Chicago’s front office has made in recent years, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. The dynamic Warriors rookie made a money gesture during pre-game introductions and later said, “I wanted to see how cash considerations was playing over there.” Bell was drafted by the Bulls with the 38th pick and traded to Golden State for $3.5MM.
Chicago was focused on wing players at that spot, Johnson explains, and didn’t mind selling the rights to the pick once its prime targets were off the board. At the time, it was an indication that the team planned to re-sign free agents Cristiano Felicio and Nikola Mirotic and had faith in Bobby Portis and first-rounder Lauri Markkanen.
Johnson says the Bulls have to hope that Bell won’t be the latest successful young player they’ve let get away, a list that includes Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic and Tony Snell.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- One young player who is offering hope for the future in Chicago is Denzel Valentine, who has started the past six games, notes Sam Smith of NBA.com. Valentine has improved his numbers to 11.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per night in that new role and is getting used to small forward, where he is expected to battle for playing time with Justin Holiday once Zach LaVine returns from injury. “[You] come to an NBA team and the second year basically is like the first year until you gain that trust and prove yourself a little bit in the league,” Valentine said. “I haven’t proved myself yet, but I think I am inching my way to trusting, the coaches trusting me and me trusting the coaches.”
- Friday’s win at Oklahoma City was important to Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson, who spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Thunder before a 2015 trade to Detroit. “It was definitely special because I haven’t won in this building – except for playing here and being on this team, but I hadn’t won in this building with this team,” Jackson told Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. “It’s good to get a team win like that and have these guys’ backs and find a way to get one is special.”
- The Cavaliers knew physical problems were a concern with Derrick Rose when they signed him this summer, notes Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. However, he worked out with LeBron James during part of the offseason and seemed worth the risk on a veterans’ minimum contract.
Of course Rose is worth the risk at $2.1mil and will be next year too. He may not be good at changing his style though, like a lot of players, and so fitting in needs to be a stronger consideration than it was… especially since injury will set that back.