Bulls and Pistons

In the late 80's to early 90's, the Detroit Pistons - Chicago Bulls rivalry was one of the best in sports. Growing up in Michigan as a die-hard Pistons fan, I hated the Bulls, especially after the Pistons' championship run was over and many Michiganders began jumping on the Bulls band wagon. Fast forward: the Pistons have won 50 games for 7 straight seasons and the Bulls will likely miss the playoffs in a conference where Davidson could probably grab the 8th spot. What happened? Joe Dumars has proved to be a better GM than John Paxson, just as he was the better player when they battled at the height of the rivalry.

Dumars:

• Traded Jerry Stackhouse for Richard Hamilton
• Signed journey man and career backup point guard Chauncey Billups
• Traded 4 easily replaceable backups and 2 draft picks for Rasheed Wallace when no one else wanted him
• Pulled off a sign and trade deal that sent Grant Hill (a restricted free agent) to the Magic for 3 players. One of those players was Ben Wallace.
• Key draft picks: Mehmet Okur at #38 in '01, Tayshaun Prince at #23 in '02, Jason Maxiell with the 26th pick and Amir Johnson with the 56th in 2006. I know he had the #2 pick in '03 with Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosch, and Chris Kaman on the board but I just can't remember which one he decided to go with.
  
• Refused to overpay an aging free agent: Ben Wallace

Paxson:

• Key draft picks: Jay Williams #2 overall in '02 (OK that's just bad luck, but I bet he wishes he had Amare Staudemire), Kirk Hinrich #7 overall in '03 (pretty good pick), Ben Gordon and Luol Deng at #3 and #7 (not bad, considering the lack of talent in the draft in '04), Tyrus Thomas #4 overall in '06 with Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay still on the board (oops)
• Signed Andres Nocioni as an undrafted free agent in '02.
  
• Traded Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler with little to show for it.
• Signed aforementioned aging free agent Ben Wallace to a 4 year, $60 million contract, realized his mistake and traded him.
  

Overall, Paxson's draft picks have been pretty good. Dumars has done more with less (with the exception of Darko). The biggest difference has been in their trades and free agent signings. Dumars has gotten the better end of most of his trades, Paxson the opposite. The team Dumars assembled has been the 2nd best in the league after the Spurs over the past 7 seasons. They play hard, play defense, and have a balanced offense. Paxson's draft picks have not been good enough to make up for his trades and free agent signings. He was unwilling to part with enough of his precious young players to acquire Pau Gasol or Kevin Garnett. Paxson may be fired soon, but I don't see the Bulls competing with the Pistons for the Central Division in the near future.

Attention Bulls Fans

The Baby Bulls will be visiting the Detroit Pistons on Saturday to kick off their 2nd round, 7 game series. The Pistons will certainly thrash Chicago's lousy excuse for a basketball team (actually they've been playing quite well and may even force a close game or two). Bulls fans, I'd like to direct you to the following piece from the Onion: "You Will Suffer Humiliation When The Sports Team From My Area Defeats the Sports Team From Your Area."

Rasheed From Long Range

Did you see this shot? On Monday night, the Nuggets had the ball with 1.5 seconds left, leading the Pistons 98-95. Then... Guess who wins in overtime.