Carmelo Sticks With Knicks; Gasol Picks Bulls

July 13, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Sunday smorgasbord: The Chicago Bulls got taller Saturday. They might even be better, too. They signed free-agent center/forward Pau Gasol, most recently of the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA champion San Antonio Spurs reportedly also were interested in him. Which should be some sort of endorsement of Gasol’s value to a championship team. Of course, the only problem is the Bulls are not a championship ballclub. And they likely won’t be unless the Bulls’ front office finds a way to bring in more talent for 2014-15 and beyond.

* One player not joining the Bulls will be forward Carmelo Anthony. He had the audacity to re-sign with the New York Knicks. Can you believe it? Yes. He apparently didn’t feel like moving on. Consequently, folks who took his decision as some sort of civic and/or personal slight ought to move on. Otherwise, they run the risk of sounding like poor losers in the wacky world of free agency.

World Cup-related: TV personality Ines Sainz.

* Speaking of Anthony, some people (mostly Bulls fans and/or Chicago media types) are upset Anthony did not take less money to join the Bulls. After all, he said would take a pay cut to join a team that could win a title. You can look at it as Anthony not being 100 percent forthright (as if free agents always are?) or as Anthony seeing the Knicks having a better chance at a championship.

* WLS-TV’s Rafer Weigel tweeted: If Melo signed w/ @chicagobulls instead of #Knicks he’d be leaving $50 mil on the table. With DRose’s injury concerns do you blame him? And, of course, there were people who did blame him. And those people who sounded like scorned lovers — or at least a high percentage of them — would have embraced Anthony if he had become a Bull. Well, provided that the Bulls immediately won an NBA crown. Otherwise, they would have decried the signing and bemoaned their fate. Ah, nothing quite like a lose-lose situation.

* Among those decrying Anthony’s decision to remain in New York were some media folks (and they know who they are). What I would like to know is how many media types would take job in a smaller market — for big pay cut — for the possibility of winning a Peabody Award or Pulitzer Prize? Just guessing that number of media types (hate to call them journalists because there are those who do not fit that description) would be close to the number of NBA championships the Bulls will win before Anthony retires.

Non-World Cup-related: Playboy 2014 Playmate of the Year Kennedy Summers. Credit: Joel Flora Photography

* Also guessing those media types would voice near-universal condemnation if Derrick Rose or Joakim Noah left the Bulls for a better chance to win titles elsewhere. Then there would be an outcry of disloyalty directed at anyone daring to depart.

* The next big-time free agent in his prime to sign with the Bulls will be the first. OK, other than perhaps Rusty LaRue.

* Booing Anthony when he plays at the United Center will indicate how disappointed — and petty — fans can be. He did what is right for him and his family. Anyone who doesn’t do what is right for him and his family ought to think about life’s priorities. Appeasing other people (in this case Bulls fans) is down on that list of priorities. Or should be.

* Speaking of appeasing fans, for Sunday’s game against Atlanta at Wrigley Field, the Cubs should call up all their can’t-miss prospects and start them. OK, so there are too many marvelous minor leaguers, so some will have to be on the bench, but you get the idea. To give Cubs fans something to dream about during All-Star break. Because being a Cub fan is about believing in the future (in no small part because of the pathetic performance occurring in the present on the big-league level). Believing in the future is a form of fantasy — until it becomes reality (if indeed that metamorphosis ever does occur).

* The Cubs lost to the Braves, as starter Edwin Jackson had a rough outing. [note to self: Might want to save previous sentence for future use]

* White Sox slugger Jose Abreu hit his 29th home run in a 6-2 victory at Cleveland. [note to self: Might want to save previous sentence for future use (and don’t forget to change numbers, opponent and site)]

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