#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

It was a good run.

With Silky Johnson, the Bulls--in 8 seasons--never had a losing season. We went 483-173 in the regular season. We won the division 6 times and the conference 5 times. We made the Finals 3 times and won 2 rings--the second one thanks in large part to Silky.

But all good things must come to an end. The decision to trade Silky was an easy decision, despite it being difficult to part ways with a player who brought so much success to the city of Chicago. And with Silky gone, we were left searching for the next good thing. We might not have it this season, but we're on our way, and we don't want the team and our fans to have to wait long for it.

Our roster right now has a few bright spots to build around, but it's very much a roster that's in transition. We demonstrated this in RFA by pulling off a couple sign and trades to get some good looks at really high ceiling young players rather than committing to players we didn't get much of a look at last season. Of course, we knew what we were getting with Cristiano Felicio, and we were happy to bring him back and watch him continue his development into a superstar.

The sign and trades, though, allowed us the cap flexibility to pull off our greatest coup...reaching a 4 year deal with Chris Ridley. Landing Chris helped give us a more clear cut direction, and he came into camp ready to work. He'll be the focal point of our team for a while, but it'll be really fun this season to see what he does before we start adding more solid pieces around him. The spotlight will be on him. We expect All-Star caliber production from him.

Despite the Chris and Cris connection, we have some promising young guys in Connell, Plott, Antetokounmpo, NOT Achiuwa, Houle, Larson, and Valero and a nice mix of veteran role players like Kirkendall, Fortunato (another Chris!), John Rainbolt, and back again--local favorite Jason Waters.

It should be an interesting season. We're entering the season with very few expectations other than the expectation that we will be building for the not-so-distant future. There's no pressure to make the playoffs this season, but it's something I wouldn't rule out, and it'd be a nice bonus if we did, and that's all I have to say about that.

Anyway, ask some questions!

P.S. Run with us.

You rattled off all of the Also-ran guys on your roster, but could you go into a little more depth on the newcomer on your roster that may be flying under the radar but you find the most intriguing?

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How do you compare Chris Ridley to some of the great stars you've had in the past and do you think guys like Felciano, Plott, and Connell can improve enough in time to help surround him during his prime?

MexicanMamba wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:34 am You rattled off all of the Also-ran guys on your roster, but could you go into a little more depth on the newcomer on your roster that may be flying under the radar but you find the most intriguing?

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We haven't set anyone in stone yet, but there are two players who I have high expectations for, and we'll take a good look at them early on.

First off, Christopher Fortunato. We've liked Chris since his days with the Pacers where he really had some breakout seasons, and he's coming off one of the strongest seasons of his career. He's always been a smart, efficient scorer and a well rounded defender. Most importantly, he's one of the league's premier bigs on the offensive glass, and we think that balances well with Felicio's prowess on the defensive boards. And like Felicio, he's 7'2. When we won a ring a couple years back, we had 7'2 Erik Haynes anchoring the 5 spot next to Felicio, and that worked well. While our team may not be as stacked all the way around, Felicio is a couple years better as a player, and Fortunato has a bit more spring in his step at 32 than Haynes had when he was 36 that season.

The other guy I'd like to specifically call out is Richard Larson. We signed a few promising guys to 1 and 1 deals, and Larson looks to fit in a few spots for us as an interesting tweener forward. He's athletic for his size, solid at defending both post and perimeter, and he has good scoring instincts. I'm hoping we can find some nice minutes for him.

Where would you place Felicio in the SLOE big man rankings? What do you think is the next step for his development as he enters his 2nd contract?

The Bulls looked primed for a complete reset year until you signed Ridley, has this thrown off the teams original plans going into the new season? What do you think of the Clippers proclaiming the Bulls dynasty as being "dead"?

NOLa. wrote:What do you think of the Clippers proclaiming the Bulls dynasty as being "dead"?

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78# wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 6:19 am How do you compare Chris Ridley to some of the great stars you've had in the past and do you think guys like Felciano, Plott, and Connell can improve enough in time to help surround him during his prime?

If I had to compare Ridley to players we had in the past, I'd say he shows some signs of Russ Westbrook mixed with Patrick Edmunds. He's got a lot of excellent abilities--including some rebounding--that put him in the do-it-all category like Russ, but his scoring comes from a different range. He's much more of a shooter, and Patrick Edmunds had one of the best mid-range games in the league. Ridley's better from beyond the arc than both guys though.

As for Felicio, Plott, and Connell...Felicio's already there, ready to be a nice one-two punch with Ridley. Plott and Connell are still young, and we'll give Connell some second unit minutes to see what he can do now before we make that decision. We think Plott has the highest ceiling of any young guy on the team, but this is only his second year, so we think it's highly possible that he doesn't really figure the game out enough to be a main player by the end of Ridley's contract.

Keepit100 wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 9:20 am Where would you place Felicio in the SLOE big man rankings? What do you think is the next step for his development as he enters his 2nd contract?

I'd rank him pretty high. King Kaldur'ahm made all league first team last season, and I'd rather have Felicio than King. Cris put up around 16 or 17 a game last season, and he was competing for touches with RJ Barrett, Silky Johnson, Mo Bamba, Kyle Kuzma, and Norris Turney or Brooks Jackson. The ball will be in his hands more this season, so I'm expecting his numbers to go up. I could see him putting up 20 points a game pretty easily.

NOLa. wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:07 am The Bulls looked primed for a complete reset year until you signed Ridley, has this thrown off the teams original plans going into the new season? What do you think of the Clippers proclaiming the Bulls dynasty as being "dead"?

I wouldn't say thrown off...I'd say sped up. There were only a handful of players in free agency who we thought were good enough to pull a 180 on our 180, and we talked to all of them. We were thrilled to end up with Ridley in a Bulls uniform and we can't wait to build around him.

As for the Clippers, hopefully they can make the most out of the head start on revamping their roster. There's only this season and next season before the league's about due to shuffle the divisions again, but I'll be damned if we don't make them eat our dust in Kemp one more time.

Do you see Kostas entering your rotation this year or in the next couple years? He can hold both SF and PF positions uniquely with his athleticism, but how ready is he to get minutes on the floor?


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greepleairport wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:02 pm Do you see Kostas entering your rotation this year or in the next couple years? He can hold both SF and PF positions uniquely with his athleticism, but how ready is he to get minutes on the floor?


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I doubt we'll completely redshirt him. We might see him at the end of the bench just because we don't have much in terms of third unit wings, so in garbage time or high foul games, we might stick him in a guard spot and see how far being half a foot taller than other folks will take him.