Only 23 games are left in the regular season. It is time to renew season tickets and purchase playoff tickets. I will definitely not renew my season ticket but I will most probably purchase playoff tickets although I still have doubts about chances of making it. There were a couple of issues which worried me. Briefly;
1) You need to pay for the first 2 rounds until March 9 which is more than 1 month before playoffs begin
2) You need to pay for 4 games each round although %99.9 everybody is sure that Chicago Bulls will not be able to finish in the top 4 so they will play 3 games maximum in each round.
3) The refund for unplayed game tickets will be sent 30 days after the last Playoff game
It is very easy to sell playoffs tickets for Chicago Bulls. They do not really need 30 days to sell those tickets. They can ask intention of season ticket holders 30 days before the playoffs begin but they do not have to charge members in a month in advance.
I have to pay 30 days before playoffs but they will refund unplayed games not just after each round, but after the last playoff game and I have still need to wait 30 more days in order to get my money back. I am sure ticket executive will say that I do not need to buy playoff tickets but my response to that comment would be they do not need to keep my money that much longer.
I gave a long break and there are a lot of hot topics to write.
Trade Season
Goodbye to Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott. Taj is a true warrior on the court and it will not be easy to fill his role. There are a lot of reasons to trade him:- He is 32 years old
- His contract will expire at the end of season
- No more space on the floor to traditional power forwards
On the other hand, his loyalty so far does not deserve such an end in his 8 years Bulls career. It was sad but it was just another day in United Center after Taj. Just before the game, players count 5 to 1 and Gibson's role was to say the number 4. The creative team did their homework and replaced his intros with Bobby Portis. It was another day in the office.
I mentioned in earlier blogs that Doug McDermott has a potential to play for a champion team. I did not mean that he would make a team champion but I have a feeling that he might be a reliable piece of a championship team. Will it be OKC? If I say that I know that it would be too bold just after Durant's departure but I would say that it is not impossible. Let's wait until playoff time.
At the end of this trade, Bulls acquired Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow, and Joffrey Lauvergne. Since I do not know all these players, it is hard to make a comment about these players. Just after the trade, I read some comments about Payne's shooting problem; however, he made 2 3-pointers during Cavs game. It is not possible to make comment based on a single game but he responded well during his first debut with Bulls jersey.
Bulls signed with Rondo and Wade at the beginning of this season. Carter-Williams traded from Bucks. All these three guards have a common problem so they cannot make long distance shots with high shooting percentage. That forces Bulls to play close to the rim so it makes them vulnerable in pace and space era.
My gut feeling tells me that it is not possible to make so many mistakes on point guard decision so Chicago Bulls might find the best suitable piece right now. Payne played limited time and he is just 22 years old so I need to watch him more closely. Let's do not overlook Valentine who will fight to Payne to be a regular starter. I am looking forward to witnessing this competition between young lads.
There were a lot of rumors about Jimmy Butler as well. He stayed with the team but I expect a trade at the end of this season since both parties do not look happy from each other.
I was expecting a trade with Nicolas Mirotic but he is still with the team. Most probably Bulls front office could not convince OKC a trade with Nico instead of Doug.
Brief Notes about Games
@Cavs - 25FEB: Easy win against Lebronless Cavs. Bulls made 15 of 3-pointers which are way better than 6.7 season average. This was the 3rd game in this season between Bulls and Cavs. Bulls won all the games. Cavs played 8 games without 2 of 3 Big 3s (in this particular game without James and Love) and lost all of them. Captain Irving could not save his crew.Suns - 24FEB: Another huge disappointment against Suns which is the worst team in the Western Conference. Bulls would lose this game unless Kevin Booker misses a free throw at the end of regular time. Bulls won the game in overtime but it should not be so difficult to beat Suns.
Celtics - 16FEB: Big win against Celtics thanks to last-second free throws by Jimmy Butler. Isaiah Thomas extended his 20+ points game play streak with Celtics although he could not score for a long time when he reached 18 points at the beginning of 3rd quarter. He was able to score his next point in the 4th quarter when there are 5:45 till the end of regular time.
Raptors - 14FEB: Valentines day special with my son :)
OKC - 9JAN: Jimmy Butler named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the week.
Raptors - 7JAN: Unlucky Raptors again. They could not beat Bulls for a long time. They could not change the destiny in this game again although game went to overtime. Lowry made 7 assists in the first quarter but could only make 5 more.
@Cavs - 4JAN: Butler was on fire again. He finished the game with 20 points but he scored 14 points during the 4th quarter.
Hornets - 2JAN: Butler made the day with 52 points. Sweet win (118-111)
Bucks - 31DEC: Last game of 2016. Bulls started the game with 11-1 early run and keep the momentum some way during the first half. Buck took the lead in the second half and won the game by 20 points. Antetokounmpo was amazing again with 35 points, 7 blocks, 7 assists, 9 rebounds and 2 steals. By the way, this game was before Antetokounmpo's comments about Jason Kidd when he was benched and made a little research about Kidd :)
Seat Upgrade trial v2
I was checking the price of seat upgrades for a while and decided to do it during Sacramento Kings game. Here is the view:
It was not a problem free experience for me. Since last minute seat upgrade via application is not very common, staff is not familiar with the process. According to instruction, I should display my paper ticket with upgrade notification on my phone. However; it did not go smoothly. I was rejected by usher since she could not validate my ticket. She told me that I had to go to the ticket office in order to fix the problem. Everywhere was crowded and hard to move against the crowd. I decided to ask another staff just before reaching the ticket office. The staff told me that usher had to allow me which made me happy. In order to solve the misunderstanding(!), she came with me to the door. However; the staff could not help because the application could not approve my upgrade. I displayed my invoice but could not convince them. In order not to loose more time, I decided to go to the ticket office. There was a queue and I was able to use only a specific ticket office so I waited around 5 minutes and still it was not my turn. I was checking the application meanwhile and all of a sudden application was approved my upgrade and I took my way to the door immediately. I lost approximately 20 minutes for this issue and I can assure that I did not enjoy any part of it. However; I did not upgrade my ticket in order to ruin my day so I tried to be positive and it worked out.
I just caught pregame warm up and here is your dunk by Wade:
One of the main reasons I made this upgrade was because of my son. He wanted to be displayed in the central scoreboard screen and he realized that it won't happen on the third floor. He prepared 2 different signs in order to show cameraman. During the first timeout, cameramen stood just in front of us so I realized that we will be displayed shortly. Just a few seconds later, we were on the scoreboard and I have not seen my son so happy for a long time. The upgrade paid off at that moment :)
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| At the end of first quarter, Luvabulls performed their show. |
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| Benny the Bull cam |
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| Halftime music show |
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| Demarcus Cousins |
At the beginning of the 4th quarter, Benny gets into the rhythm of DE-FENSE cheers by playing the drum and inviting the crowd to follow him. It happens in all the games but on this occasion, it happened just front of us. Benny took his position and checked around. My son waved his hand and Benny waved his hand back to my son. It lasted more than 10 seconds and my son had started to laugh. My son tried to stop him but it was not possible. After 1 minute of waving and lots of laughs, Benny decided to stop.
The game was tense until the end. The score was 99-99 until the last second. Wade dribbled and got foul 14 seconds before the regular time. Wade missed the first shot and made the second one.
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| Wade with the shot |
Then, Gibson stole the ball from Cousins and Carter-Williams scored points on the other side of the court. Final seconds did not help to Sacremento Kings and we went back to our home with another win.
