Feb 21, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls point guard D.J. Augustin (14) is fouled by Denver Nuggets point guard Aaron Brooks (0) during the second half at the United Center. Chicago won 117-89. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Check out this picture of D.J. Augustin and Aaron Brooks. Kinda symbolic isn’t it. Out with the old and in with the new. Chicago Bulls free agency is a lot of things but boring is definitely not one of them.
Well Pippen Peoples, my love hate relationship with the Chicago Bulls front office has now gone back to the love side…for now. One of the Chicago Bulls free agency moves last week was a very hot topic amongst the Pippen Ain’t Easy staff with the signing of Kirk Hinrich. I hated it while Social Media guru, Ashley Wijangco and super sleuth writer Michael Rosenfeld was cool with it. It was such a hot topic to us that we ALL had opinions on Pippen Ain’t Easy.
Very quietly, the Chicago Bulls have run circles around other NBA teams with their free agency signings this offseason. If you are a Chicago Bulls fan, you can’t really complain about the moves Gar Forman and John Paxson have made this offseason. They continued their magic with the potential signing of Aaron Brooks.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, the Chicago Bulls are in the process of “finalizing” a deal with the free agent point guard. Terms of the contract have not been released yet but based on the fact that they have spent their money on Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. The Bulls will probably give Brooks the one year skid row deal for out of work small guards aka the league minimum.
I have to give the Bulls credit. It’s not that they actually bring in these players on the cheap, but they are actually good players. Watching Gar Forman and John Paxson work this offseason has actually been a joy to watch. Let’s be clear, I did not like watching D.J. Augustin walk out the door after what he accomplished last year, but if you are going to let the man walk, this is a player that you need to replace him.
The Bulls needed one more guard after filling out the frontcourt. Aaron Brooks is a quick, score first point guard who can create some offense. I have to admit, based on what we all saw in the playoffs last year, when the Wizards decided to pay attention to Augustin that was sorely missed last year. Plus this guy can score the ball which we ALL know was major problem last year. Aaron Brooks will basically fill Augustin’s slot bring firepower off the bench. Finally, Brooks is an early insurance policy in case Derrick Rose goes down…again.
Last year, Brooks spent time with the Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets averaging nine points and three assists in 72 games. He also can shoot from distance, shooting 39 percent of his threes last year.
Hopefully he can find a home with Chicago. Brooks has had kind of a strange career as of late. Back in 2009-10, Brooks won the Most Improved Player award after averaging 19.6 points and 5.3 assists with the Houston Rockets. Since then he has bounced around the league and he had a stint in China during the NBA lockout.
Hopefully Aaron Brooks will fall in line with the other success stories of Tom Thibodeau’s “Save A Guard” program like these guys…
C.J. Watson
After gaining success as a member of the “Bench Mob”, he went on to the Brooklyn Nets. Now he currently with the Indiana Pacers. Thanks, Coach Thibodeau!
Nate Robinson
After Golden State let him go (this was BEFORE they were good) Nate Robinson used prayer and Derrick Rose’s bad knee to parlay two ten-day contracts into a contract for the rest of the season. Nate helped the Bulls get into the playoffs and got on his patented hot streaks that helped the Bulls upset the Brooklyn Nets. he actually got into it with one of the “Save A Guard” alumni, C.J. Watson. After the season he parlayed his performance into a deal with the Denver Nuggets! Thanks, Coach Thibodeau!
D.J. Augustin
Back in December, when Derrick Rose went down with a knee injury…again. The Bulls picked Augustin up off the street. I had just took over as Editor and when I found out the Bulls had picked this dude up I almost quit. I just knew based on what I saw in Indiana that the lottery was in the Bulls plans. I mean the Toronto Raptors cut him just so they could trade Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings. D.J. came in balled out of his mind and parlayed it into a two-year six million dollar contract. Based on these circumstances, do you think Thibodeau could have saved Allen Iverson?
It looks like the Bulls are not done. Marc Stein also reports that John Lucas III is on the bucket list as well.