Larry Hughes' time with Bulls could be limited

Twenty-four hours after arriving in Chicago as one of the main pieces in the three-team, 11-player Ben Wallace dump, er, trade, last February, Larry Hughes made clear his desired role.

[reckonyze]

When are the Bulls gonna correct the mistake they made when they gave Deng that 70 million dollar contract ? That's star money and Deng is clearly not a star ... not even close !!! He's a role player. What has he done to earn 70 mill.? You can't pay a guy that type of money because you think he has potential. Trade this guy !!!!!!

[BigWay]

Now, if our Bimbo Vinnie would only hold Gordon to the same standards that he holds Noah, Thomas and Thabo

[Nada Surf]

Deng is not the problem here.
If the Bulls didn't have so many me-first, shoot-it-while-you-got-it players, Deng would be able to fit in nicely...
The problems with this team are Gordon, Gooden and Hughes.
Nocioni is also becoming a problem with his shoot-first attitude.
Clear everyone out for Rose. Put a big guard (Sefalosha) on his other side who can guard someone and Deng will be just fine.

[Miles]

What does Gordon do thats so bad BigWay? Gordon already holds the record for most three pointers as a Bull and all people can do is spit venom at the guy. He's awesome and without him we'd be unwatchable this year. Scoring 20 + a gme in the NBA is not as easy as you'd think!

[terry t]

"If Hughes is trying to force his way out of town, he's going about it the wrong way and is probably just forcing himself out of the rotation. Just wait until Kirk Hinrich comes back in February from thumb surgery." so sayith kc johnson. if anyone should get forced out of town, it should be kc. this is the most absurd commentary that i could imagine. how on gods' earth can you replace a more polished and a former all-star for a guy that no one can explain what he's good at. if hinrich is your favorite player, as a reporter this is clearly biased. there is no logical reasoning for this kc rant. i say kc should go along with paxson and hinrich. what a joke these guys are!!!

[terry t]

wait for hinrich? is kc some kind of joker or what? i just can't get over that comment. waiting for hinrich is as sad as linus waiting for the great pumpkin on halloween! we are in a sad state of affairs with our beloved bulls. we have a beat 'writer' that is biased and wants to run players out of town who are in his beloved hinrichs' position. we have a general mangler, i mean manager who has yet to make a smart deal, unless you count signing his son hinrich to that ridiculous contract. we have fan favorites that can't play. we have fans that are so blind that they can't see that the fan favorites will never win games. so what's the use of following this garbage of a soap opera?

[Alex]

Hughes has speed, quickness, he will drive to the basket and plays defense.
Hughes is head and shoulders above
Kapt Klank Hind-Lick the clock eating circle dribbler. Compare the Stats.

Hind-Lick, Scooby-Do's Shaggy Nocioni and Fragile Deng are Paxson's overpaid rotten core.... the Bulls thanks to the inept Paxson are a joke......No Shot Noah the clown is the poster boy!

[Wisconsin Reader]

Too bad the reporter really missed the point of Hughes' complaint!
The Bulls have too many guards and literally NO big men who can play... John Paxson should fine himself for creating a team with no strength or game at Power Forward and Center... Typical though of Pax - fire Skiles and hire a rookie yes-man coach who will keep his mouth shut about his personnel problem.

[Wini]

No one care Larry. Shut the hell up and play.

And while you're at it, try to play team ball and score some points without missing over 50% of your shots.

Wait, how long have you been in the league and never made a positive difference on a team.

That's right Larry, shut up and play. We're hurting now and your comments are screwing the pot even more.

[wes]

bla, bla, bla..... We can't even hope for the lottery or free agency. Pax will screw up any lottery pick and what quality free agent, given equal money on a team with an opportunity to win now, will sign with the bulls over the next couple of seasons?

[Peter]

Bulls almost to a man play lazy, hoist too many bad shots, play way too much one on one, stand around and almost no defense. They are not fun to watch anymore so I'll change the channel.

[RKA]

BigWay wrote:

Now, if our Bimbo Vinnie would only hold Gordon to the same standards that he holds Noah, Thomas and Thabo

Ben is his only scorer next to Rose. Remove Gordon and now the focus is on Rose. Thabo and Thomas are too inconsistent to relay on. You never know if you're getting 18/10 Thomas or shooting 17-foot jumper going 3 for 13 Thomas.

[RKA]

Nada Surf wrote:

Deng is not the problem here.
If the Bulls didn't have so many me-first, shoot-it-while-you-got-it players, Deng would be able to fit in nicely...
The problems with this team are Gordon, Gooden and Hughes.
Nocioni is also becoming a problem with his shoot-first attitude.
Clear everyone out for Rose. Put a big guard (Sefalosha) on his other side who can guard someone and Deng will be just fine.

For once I agree with you about the shoot first ideas of the team. This team would be much much better if the moved the ball around to the open shooter. Back to playing TEAM BALL! Maybe even Noah could score if he could hang onto a pass.

[RKA]

wes wrote:

bla, bla, bla..... We can't even hope for the lottery or free agency. Pax will screw up any lottery pick and what quality free agent, given equal money on a team with an opportunity to win now, will sign with the bulls over the next couple of seasons?

That's were the developement of Rose comes in. Rose plus another key scorer could be the bait that's needed to attract a free agent. This years draft has no real superstar the Bulls could use, so the lottery is useless.

[RKA]

terry t wrote:

wait for hinrich? is kc some kind of joker or what? i just can't get over that comment. waiting for hinrich is as sad as linus waiting for the great pumpkin on halloween! we are in a sad state of affairs with our beloved bulls. we have a beat 'writer' that is biased and wants to run players out of town who are in his beloved hinrichs' position. we have a general mangler, i mean manager who has yet to make a smart deal, unless you count signing his son hinrich to that ridiculous contract. we have fan favorites that can't play. we have fans that are so blind that they can't see that the fan favorites will never win games. so what's the use of following this garbage of a soap opera?

I think KC meant that when Hinrich comes back there is going to be even more fighting for PT, I don't think he meant Hinrich would be a major difference maker or savior

[Mgray]

Exactly what does John Paxson do with his time? It is certainly NOT spent on making this a better team. The man has not drafted, traded for or signed a single All-star player in his tenure in Chicago. His time should be OVER as the Bulls GM.

[Now Wait a Minute]

So, the reporter is saying that the Bulls are using this year as an audition for whom to build with next year? This the Bulls brass could have admitted at the beginning of the year.
That's why, boys, I stopped watching.

[Yorkville Sox FAN]

I think they should have never fired Skiles! He was the scapegoat to this teams(and Paxson's) failure. They played hard nose defense too.

Nada Surf, I know what you mean. Remember how they moved the ball back in the during the 49 win season? Commentators praised this passing. If Rose wasn't playing, it would be torture to watch this undersized team get pounded on the boards every night.

Also, I can understand Noch's frustrations. If i were him, I'd want out of this team. He could be better used on another contending team.

I think Hughes deserves more playing time, but he should face the fact that he's on a team that's goign no where and they've got talent in Sefalosha to evaulate in the future. The Bulls are nto going to resign him when his contact is up. Plus, I'm sure Reinsdorf wants his overpaid favorite Hinrich playing when he comes back. I love Alex's assesment of him! l o l

[TMG]

What exactly does Larry Hughes do better than Hinrich? Play defense? NO -- Hinrich is a much more consistent defender. Hughes can be a very good defender, but gambles way too much for steals and ends up out of position. Shoot? NO -- their career FG% are basically the same (41.0% for Hughes, 41.4% for Hinrich), but Hinrich is a MUCH better 3-point shooter (30.3% for Hughes, 37.7% for Hinrich). Act as a playmaker? Give me a freakin' break -- Hughes barely understands that he's supposed to pass the ball (he has 40 assists in 22 games this year -- that's LESS than 2/game. Hinrich has averaged 6+ APG in every season he's played until now). Hughes is a me-first, shoot-first guy who isn't half as talented as he thinks he is. Hinrich may not be a star, but he's still better than Larry freakin' Hughes. AND he knows how to keep his mouth shut, rather than constantly whine about playing time. Hughes has whined his way out of Philly, Golden State, Washington and Cleveland. He is 29 years old and he's already playing for his FIFTH different team -- that should really tell you something about his inability to be a team guy. The dude is a 20-25 MPG role player who thinks he's a superstar.

[jid]

He'd be great for Denver