Bulls to waive Fizer?

slinslin

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http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...bulls,1,6380276.story?coll=cs-bulls-headlines

Ronald Dupree, formerly of the National Basketball Developmental League, and Linton Johnson, he of the Continental Basketball Association, are ahead of $31 million man Eddie Robinson in the rotation.

Veteran Corie Blount was waived so Paul Shirley could leave the American Basketball Association for a 10-day contract, which makes seeing what Shirley has to offer a premium.

Thus, it's possible, in Year 6 of this seemingly interminable rebuilding process, the Bulls will play three players with minor-league experience against Philadelphia on Saturday.

"I can't guarantee any of these guys that it's not going to happen again," general manager John Paxson said.

Indeed, it's very possible, with 21 games left in a disappointing season, that Marcus Fizer, Chris Jefferies or Rick Brunson still could be waived so Paxson can take a look at another minor-leaguer.

Guard Jannero Pargo, a Robeson graduate Toronto waived Friday, recently worked out for the Bulls. So did CBA guard DeSean Hadley and NBDL swingman Damone Brown.

"I want to make sure we just don't take six weeks off," Paxson said. "If I can bring some guys in who are hungry and striving for something and [will] throw their bodies on the practice floor, that's a legitimate thing for us. That way, Eddy [Curry] and Tyson [Chandler] still compete in practice. Jamal [Crawford] and Kirk [Hinrich] still compete in practice."

A cynic could say that the influx of journeymen will be the perfect combination—guys who play hard enough to make scores respectable but ultimately fall short so the Bulls' draft position is improved.

A realist might say players like Blount and, Fizer—if he is waived—haven't lit the world on fire and the Bulls merely are getting a jump on seeing many players in NBA game situations rather than waiting until the summer league.

"We're trying to win," coach Scott Skiles said. "I'm taken aback a little bit about why we shouldn't be trying something. … If we're not proactive in trying to do some things to improve our team and look at different guys, then we're not doing our jobs."

That said, Skiles conceded playing such inexperienced players could hurt the team's execution in late-game situations. A lack of calls from officials could result as well.

But don't expect the trend to stop down the stretch. Waiving Blount, one of the team's best-liked players, proved that.

"There was no malice in it," Paxson said. "I'm not insensitive to how guys feel at all. … My job is just different than the players'."

Paxson's job is to evaluate as many players as possible for the future. That's happening on the court, as well as in the upcoming draft, which is heavy on high-schoolers.

"I can't say never," Paxson said. "But that'd be tough to throw somebody like that into the mix."

Imho, Fizer would be a guy that's worth a look to claim him off the waivers.
He could become a good 6th man.
 

George O'Brien

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Originally posted by slinslin
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...bulls,1,6380276.story?coll=cs-bulls-headlines

Imho, Fizer would be a guy that's worth a look to claim him off the waivers.
He could become a good 6th man.

It would be a mistake. Right now the Suns are having enough trouble getting court time for Dice, White, Lampe and Carbakapa. The Suns are seriously trying to figure out if Dice is worth keeping, if White can do more good than damage when on the court, if Lampe is ready to play, and if Carbakapa can play inside.

Fizer is only 6'8" and is not very good on defense, which is why they don't play him. He is pretty good at low post offense and used to be able to rebound, but the Bulls have been shopping him for a long time and no one really likes his game.

His best bet is New Orleans where Floyd coaches, but even they may not be interested because West is doing OK as their backup PF.
 

Joe Mama

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Re: Re: Bulls to waive Fizer?

Originally posted by George O'Brien
It would be a mistake. Right now the Suns are having enough trouble getting court time for Dice, White, Lampe and Carbakapa. The Suns are seriously trying to figure out if Dice is worth keeping, if White can do more good than damage when on the court, if Lampe is ready to play, and if Carbakapa can play inside.

Fizer is only 6'8" and is not very good on defense, which is why they don't play him. He is pretty good at low post offense and used to be able to rebound, but the Bulls have been shopping him for a long time and no one really likes his game.

His best bet is New Orleans where Floyd coaches, but even they may not be interested because West is doing OK as their backup PF.

I still do not really believe that the Phoenix Suns had any interest in bringing Antonio McDyess back. I guess if they don't sign any big free agents they could sign him to a one-year deal. Frankly I think it is a mistake to give him as much time as they have already when they have young players who could use it. I would even rather see Jahidi White increasing his value. I would rather see Jake Voskuhl get time at power forward.

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DaFlogger

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I wonder if Skiles had anything to do with Blount's waiver... Didn't they have some bad blood in Phoenix?
 

Joe Mama

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Originally posted by DaFlogger
I wonder if Skiles had anything to do with Blount's waiver... Didn't they have some bad blood in Phoenix?

They kissed and made up when Scott Skiles was hired. In fact I thought I remembered that Blount had some kind words for Skiles when he was cut last week.

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hcsilla

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Re: Re: Bulls to waive Fizer?

Originally posted by George O'Brien
The Suns are seriously trying to figure out if Dice is worth keeping,

Why?

I seriously do not think that they are.
McDyess is a 30-year old PF (whose position is the same as Suns' best prospect's) with very bad knees. Once he did already disrupt the Suns.

There is no way, IMO that the Suns will re-sign him. He is an absolutely bad fit.
 

George O'Brien

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Re: Re: Re: Bulls to waive Fizer?

Originally posted by hcsilla
Why?

I seriously do not think that they are.
McDyess is a 30-year old PF (whose position is the same as Suns' best prospect's) with very bad knees. Once he did already disrupt the Suns.

There is no way, IMO that the Suns will re-sign him. He is an absolutely bad fit.

I'm not sure that D'Antoni agrees. Mike has been using Dice at center as much as he has at PF where his reduced quickness is not as much of an issue. Right now, Dice looks more like a defensive specialist than someone trying to do Amare's job.

Considering his injury history, I'm not sure that Dice will command more than a veteran minimum of $1 million. It will all depend on his attitude. If he is willing to play backup with limited minutes, he could be a valuable guy to bring in off the bench since he should have more offense than Harvey.

Would he be willing to take a subordinate role? I don't know. Obviously if he had indicated he wouldn't then the Suns would just put him on IR and be done with it. But if he is honest with himself and decides that he will not be able to play 35 minutes a game, this would not be a bad place to be a backup.

Of course if the Suns get Okafor or Howard in the draft, this will all be moot.
 

Errntknght

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The future of the Suns is with a high post center... it just doesn't make sense to let the opponents center defend even a moderately low post player like Dice, where he can help out on Amare. As a backup PF where Dice plays isn't critical, so if he isn't up to that he's not got a lot of value. Personally, I like the idea of Jahidi White backing up Amare as far as his floor position on the offense end goes - let him come in and bang the the defensers around while Amare rests. Can you imagine a defender being happy to see Amare return to the floor?
 

Joe Mama

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Originally posted by Errntknght
The future of the Suns is with a high post center... it just doesn't make sense to let the opponents center defend even a moderately low post player like Dice, where he can help out on Amare. As a backup PF where Dice plays isn't critical, so if he isn't up to that he's not got a lot of value. Personally, I like the idea of Jahidi White backing up Amare as far as his floor position on the offense end goes - let him come in and bang the the defensers around while Amare rests. Can you imagine a defender being happy to see Amare return to the floor?

That's fine as long as you aren't counting on White defend the most NBA power forwards. White is too slow to defend several of the centers. Most NBA power forwards would go right by him.

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George O'Brien

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Originally posted by Joe Mama
That's fine as long as you aren't counting on White defend the most NBA power forwards. White is too slow to defend several of the centers. Most NBA power forwards would go right by him.

Joe Mama

White really needs to work on his conditioning and lateral movment if he is going to be more than a limited role player. Of course, he has some value if only to toughen up Lampe for the real world of the NBA. :D
 

Joe Mama

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Originally posted by George O'Brien
White really needs to work on his conditioning and lateral movment if he is going to be more than a limited role player. Of course, he has some value if only to toughen up Lampe for the real world of the NBA. :D

From the sounds of things it would seem Amare Stoudemire is taking care of toughening up Lampe.

Joe Mama
 

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