Bulls Ink Rip Hamilton to 2-Year Deal

I guess Chicago wanted a proven ‘winner’. Nick Young isn’t a winner, and not just because he’s on crappy lottery teams, but the guy’s overall attitude. He can score, but I guess Chicago brass doesn’t want that kind of person on the team.
All that being said, I cosign with all 87 of you – the Bulls need someone (else) who can create off the dribble. How is Rip gonna score when Miami wings clamp down in the playoffs?
But, NBA execs have long misunderstood what it means to create your own shot

@Bull22 – “No such thing as an Ex-Marine”, “Once a Marine, always a Marine” and all that other good stuff.
You’re right, the media and such are making the Bulls’ name taste like a** when they speak it, pretty much sounding as if a 62 win team is an afterthought despite not losing a single important contributor except for Kurt Thomas, who was huge when Noah went down.
But my thing is, in regards to you saying I was complaining all of last year, I mean, isn’t that what fans do?
What fan of any team has ever been 100% satisfied with their team?
Even on the Bulls’ 72-10 squad, I still yelled at the TV whenever Luc Longley dropped a pass or Dickey Simpkins did…anything.  
I don’t see anything wrong with, or being any less of a fan if you complain about certain aspects of your team, but we’ll just have to disagree on that one.
@Everyone else- Rip Hamilton won’t put the Bulls over the Heat. I’ve been seeing that a lot. However, y’all are forgetting that despite a 4-1 series win, the Heat didn’t exactly beat down the Bulls. Every game minus the game 1 Bulls blowout was close going into the 4th quarter.
I’d say in addition to Rip Hamilton, as well as a healthy Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, is enough to beat Miami. Obviously, it’s not a sure thing and Miami could just as well beat Chicago again, but Miami is not this bully or insurmountable foe for Chicago some of y’all are making them out to be.
@AllenP – I agree with you regarding Nick Young in respect to how a change of culture might have really helped this kid out. Some people are easily influenced and would rather fit in with their teammates than do their own thing.
I mean, look at Rip last year! You can’t tell me that if you had to judge Rip based on last season only, that you wouldn’t think he was a knucklehead as well. With all that stuff that went down in the D last year, Hamilton clashing with the coach and all that.
However, from what I’ve read it seems like Rip, even as a vet, tends to be easily influenced by his teammates and as a result he went the “mutiny” route as everyone else did, but most expect Rip to be just fine with the Bulls, with them being such a great chemistry team.
Not hard to imagine Nick Young couldn’t have also benefited from the same thing.

look people the reasons why nick young, reggie williams, kevin martin, or jamal crawford wouldn’t work because 1. young’s a restricted free agent. anything the bulls offer the wizards can match. 2. the bulls don’t have the cap room for any of those guys. the bulls are over the cap limit. 3. they’re all liabilities on defense. 4. yes they can score but all of them NEED the ball to do that. they have to dominate the ball to be effective. all of those guys are non factors when it comes to playing off the ball because rose is going to have the ball in his hands most of the time.

Shane Battier doesn’t make the Heat clearly better? And Miami wasn’t healthy either. In-fact, the Heat were not healthy for a single game last season. And whether or not every game was a blow-out during that Chicago series is irrelevant, it was obvious who the better team was. It’s why Miami won every single fourth quarter after game 1. It’s why EVERYBODY was saying they need someone else who can create a shot. And they added Richard Hamilton, who has not created a shot for himself in half a decade. It makes absolutely no sense to think he is going to change anything about the Miami v Chicago match-up, none. If Chicago does/can/will beat Miami, it will be because of Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, and Derrick Rose’s ability to beat LeBron James as a defender. It won’t have anything at all to do with a 34 year old Richard Hamilton

In that Eastern Conference finals series, the Heat averaged 89.4 points per game, the Bulls averaged 87.2.
With Boozer and Noah both battling injuries and averaging a combined 16 points per.
Hardly what I call insurmountable.
Now, once again, I’m not saying Rip Hamilton will be the reason why the Bulls get past the Heat, but that COMBINED with those two being healthy and a more conditioned Rose.
Shane Battier signing was nice, but cats act line they signed him in his prime.
Dude wasn’t even the best defender on the Grizzles last year.
As for Curry…yeah.
Miami may not have been 100% healthy either but I think a banged up Boozer and Noah trumps a banged up Mike Miller.
I give the Heat respect a lot more than your average Bulls fan.
They’re a GREAT team and I love Wade and James.
They are my favorites to win the title this upcoming year, but I still don’t feel they are the juggernauts so many of y’all make them out to be when it comes to the Bulls’ chances against them.

“Wasn’t even the best defender on the Grizzlies” – Nobody else in the NBA would have been the best defender on that team. Now the Heat have without a doubt the best defensive perimeter in the NBA. Considering James proved he can guard the quickest most explosive PG — And Chicago averaged 1 less point because of game 1, not because every game. Miami won every 4th quarter after game 1 by 4 or more points. And in the game they only won by 4 in the 4th they won by 10 and cruised. — Plus the Heat as a whole team are going to get better. In a lot of peoples opinion (mine included) the Bulls over-achieved last season. I’m not saying they have no chance in the world at beating Miami, but I would give their chances like 10/2, making Miami basically insurmountable. Which really isn’t the right word, I just don’t know what is. “Daunting?” – “A very heavy boulder?” “Beatable, but not really?” idk

please give me a break with insurmountable opponent. how many of you idiots said the exact thing when the mavs played them and WHAT HAPPENED??? the heat got that tail handed to them and all heat lovers went into hiding, LOL!!!
the bottom line is neither the heat or the bulls got what they wanted last year and thats an NBA championship…..

*checks thesaurus*
I’ma go with complicated.
Complicated sounds good.
And Bulls are getting better too. And their depth still kicks Miami’s depth’s a**.
So ha! *raspberries*.
In other words, debating this while having to type this on my phone and get work done is a pain in the a** but we can take it to the tweets if you’d like. Lol

I don’t think Shane makes the Heat THAT much better. He brings more defense. He’ll be taking the spot of Miller who was actually a pretty decent defender and a better spot up shooter. I think what Battier gives you above Miller is less of an improvement than what Hamilton gives you above Bogans. Its going to be a close series again if it comes down to

I think you are underestimating what Battier gives you above Miller. Skillwise they are close, or at least when Miller is healthy they are close.
But Battier is so much better at knowing his role and doing it. Miller always seemed to be afraid to take shots he needed to be taking. Not Battier.
But, the biggest improvement will come based on how well Bosh, Bron and Wade work together. if they’ve built on last year, things will be a lot easier for the team. If they’re still making the same mistakes, they have a good shot at losing to the bulls

Richard Hamilton is definitely the best SG on the Bulls. But I don’t see how he actually makes the team better. He has no skill they need unless experience is a skill.

Works both ways, Soop.

While it will hurt the Bulls to not have Bogans or Brewer on Wade, with Rip in tow, now Wade is forced to exert more energy on the defensive end, chasing him around screens and whatnot.

Now, I haven’t watched too many Pistons/Heat battles over the years, not since their playoff series back when the Pistons were great, but from what I’ve read from Chicago sportswriters it seems Rip has done a good job of giving Wade fits on both ends of the court over the years.

Plus when Bron goes to the bench, you could always slide Rip to the 3 and put Brewer on Wade.
And don’t forget, Rip knows a thing or two about playing on a team known for its stingy team defense.

Boozer’s health in the playoffs is being overrated because he’s less effective against above average bigs anyways. Rip’s impact would be minimal against Miami. So, Chicago closing the gap with Miami relies more on Rose improving his game and the coaching. And reality is, Miami has widened that gap with the addition of Battier.

I agree on Boozer Huey, but think that he might play slightly better than the putrid performance he gave last year with an entire training camp and season to get right. He can’t get worse.
And Noah will be healthy too. It’s too bad the Bulls gave Boozer so much money because he would be good trade bait.

From Sports Illustrated:
It is a flier, though. Hamilton shot only 39 percent last season coming off screens, according to Synergy Sports. He was much better as a spot-up shooter, something that might reflect the aging process a bit. And the Bulls actually use the catch-and-shoot game a ton already, mostly because Korver and Deng are both comfortable jetting around picks. Nearly 7 percent of Chicago’s possessions ended with a shot taken by a player who had just come off as screen, per Synergy; only five teams ended a greater share of their possessions this way. What more can Hamilton bring? Hamilton prefers 20-footers to threes, so won’t the Bulls be running the same stuff they run for Korver, but in a tighter space?

I’ll get to that in a second, but as an aside: Chicago, compared to the rest of the league, ran few traditional post-up plays and rarely got out on the break. Only two teams finished fewer possessions via post-ups, and only eight were in transition less often. If the Bulls want to add more spice to their offense, these are two places to look. Carlos Boozer is an efficient post scorer, and Noah looked ready to make a leap on offense early last season before hurting his thumb

And Huey I was regularly pissed at Wade in that Boston series because of how often he lost track of Ray Allen on defense.

Even if Rip doesn’t come off screens…if he just stands there and shoots the ball when its passed to him. The point is defenders were helping off of Bogans all season last year. They dared him to shoot that long mid range shot and more often then not he didn’t make them pay. You can’t do that with Hamilton. Hamilton being on the court means that you can no longer consistently double team Rose. When Wade came over to help Lebron in that one regular season game and left Deng open for the game winning jumper…Deng wasn’t coming off a screen. That will be going on all game with Hamilton on the court. Its going to force other teams to be 1on1 defenders

NO

First off, JJ Reddick averaged 27 points in college his senior year too. No one was talking about him comparing to Hamilton. I like Reggie Evan’s progress but put down the pipe if you think he’ll ever be as good as a guy like Rip. I have doubts he’ll even be a starter for most of his career.
And yeah, I like Nick Young. I REALLY like Nick Young. He woulda been great. But Washington would have easily countered the Bulls’ offer.
Rip Hamilton is a great pickup. Does it put them OVER the Heat? No. But as Enigmatic said, they COULD beat the Heat if they play well. I still have my doubts about how the Heat are shaping up (was really hoping for a good center).
I dunno, I think this is a great pickup.

Allenp, yeah but sadly (considering his defensive ability) Wade’s coverage of Ray during postseason was a huge improvement from the regular season. But I think Spo will have Shane and Chalmers chase after Rip.

LakeShow caught it too. Haha. Bottom line, Rip’s an improvement and the best addition considering their realistic options.

what do you mean he has no skill the bulls can use? He’s a constant threat to score unlike brewer,korver and especially bogans. He is also an underrated passer; he will make the bulls offense more efficient, probably not as explosive as a jamal crawford would have, but with his ability to get points in the flow of the offense, definitely more efficient.

NBK: Hey, guilty as charged. I definitely have seen Reggie Evans play in college but damn if I remember how he performed. My comment was mostly on the absurdity of using college numbers to compare NBA players to other NBA players.
Also, I see your point that Reggie Evans isn’t better than Rip NOW— but he will be in two or three years. And I agree. Rip isn’t getting younger, age will effect him harder than other shooting guards. And Evans can only go up. But I don’t see the Bulls as a young team ready to contend in two or three years… this Bulls team is ready to contend now. And I think the best option for them is the best option this year and next year. And that’s Rip (because Young wasn’t available. And I’m torn on whether Crawford woulda been better).
Once Rip has expired past his usefulness, they don’t sign the player option and use that 5-mil for another SG.
I like this signing.
I feel some people think Rip can’t play any D and can’t spot up for any shot. Not true. I think he can be an average defender now that he’ll be motivated to actually try on Chicago, and his spot-up shooting has improved. He’s no Ray Allen in that department, but like Deng, if Rose finds him for that shot, he’ll hit it.

Richard Hamilton’s ability to shoot is so overrated. He is not a knockdown shooter like he has been portrayed over the years. He is a workhorse, who knows how to get open and also how too get too the line. He’s only had 2 truly good shooting seasons in his 12 year career. He’s always been more Kevin Martin than Reggie Miller. Is it because he went to UConn during their great shooter boom that he garnered this reputation at a great shooter?

Whoa, Sooperdooperpooperscooper (I’m outta coffee and humor, leave me the f*ck alone)
Let’s not get carried away now.
Leading or being one of the top leaders in scoring in college doesn’t always translate to NBA success.
Ask Keydren Clarke or Aubrey Coleman.
I agree the kid is nice, but just because he put up a ton of points in a high-octane VMI offense (he’s not their first player to lead nation in scoring, SLAM profiled Jason Conley who played there as well), put up points in the D league and put up points in another high-octane offense (Warriors) doesn’t mean dude is gonna be better than Rip Hamilton.
Unless you literally meant he will be better than Rip as in, 30 year old Reggie Williams will be better than 39 year old Rip Hamilton. I could see that.
BTW, am I the only one who’s looking forward to watching Kenneth Faried play more than any other rookie? Jimmer comes in at a close second. Kemba third. Kyrie Irving is on my list somewhere, but I’m nowhere near as hyped to watch him as one normally would be about watching a number one overall pick.
Might have something to do with the fact that dude most likely wouldn’t have been a top 10 pick had he stuck around for the 2012 draft.
 LMAO @ La Huey!!!
Jukai, Reggie Evans is a 31 year old, 6’8″ 245 power forward.

BTW Arron Afflalo would’ve been best choice or Bulls if he wasn’t RFA