With news of the NBA officially renaming the bulk of their annual awards after NBA legends – which included creating the “Michael Jordan Trophy” for the MVP winner – the jokes have been plentiful.
Fake trophy ideas, in particular, have become a brief trend in the social media world over the last 24 hours. And I thought I might as well hop aboard (with a Bulls twist, of course).
Here’s what I’ve come up with …
If we’re being real, the Dennis Rodman Trophy should go to the NBA’s best rebounder each season. If we’re being awesome, then the trophy should 100 percent go to the league’s hardest partier. Strip club visits per city would be one of the most important stats to take into account for this one.
An obvious route for the Scottie Pippen Trophy would be to hand it to the league’s best sidekick. But I think it should probably represent the NBA’s most underpaid player. We all knew that man deserved far more money in his pocket, and there is always someone each year that performs far above his respective pay grade.
The Tim Floyd Trophy goes to the NBA’s worst coach. I tweeted out some of these yesterday, and it didn’t take long for folks to tell me that Jim Boylen should be the representative here. I’m not necessarily saying that’s the wrong choice, but I also think we forget just how awful the Floyd Era was. His winning percentage with the franchise sits at a disgusting 20.5 percent, while Boylen’s is actually at 31.7 percent. The case could surely be made that Floyd had an even worse roster, but the guy literally never won more than 17 games while at the helm of the team and has to resign mid-season. It was a true disaster.
The Toni Kukoc Trophy goes to the player who’s stuck in the wrong era. I stand by the fact that if Kukoc was in his prime today, he would easily be one of the NBA’s premier talents. His combination of size, shooting, and passing would fit somewhat effortlessly into the pace-and-space style that now dominates the league. Current candidates for this award are guys like Jakob Poeltl, Draymond Green, P.J. Tucker, Herb Jones, and Kyle Anderson.
The Rusty LaRue Trophy will be awarded to the most irrelevant player to win a ring each season. Quinndary Weatherspoon would have likely won it last year and Elijah Bryant the year before that.
A few more before we move on: The Joakim Noah Trophy goes to the player you would least want to mess with. The GarPax Trophy goes to the most hated front office at the end of each season. The Benny the Bull Trophy is handed to the biggest butterfingers (get it … popcorn … whatever). And the Kirk Hinrich Trophy goes to whoever tackles LeBron. K. We’re done.
Steve Kerr knows what’s up.
Steve Kerr agrees that Michael Jordan was the 'obvious choice' to be the namesake of the NBA's new MVP trophyhttps://t.co/ZMsYCemadC
The last thing this season needs is a loss on national television to the New York Knicks, so let’s hope the Bulls have shaken off any bad juju from Sunday’s last-second loss in Atlanta. The fact of the matter is that this group was one missed circus shot away from being on their first three-game winning streak of the season. They pulled out a clutch win over the Wizards and blew the doors off the Mavericks to create some real momentum as they embark on a much easier stretch to finish out 2022. Now, against a Knicks team that has entered youth mode (benching guys like Evan Fournier and Derrick Rose), they have to demonstrate that they are the more win-ready team.
Now, to the Knicks’ credit, they have turned their season around by embracing a youth movement. The team has won four games in a row and has held opponents to under 100 points in three of those games. With that being the case, it comes as no surprise that they have held the league’s top defense since the start of December. They have also happened to be the NBA’s second-best rebounding team this month, doing particularly well on the offensive glass (where they have gobbled the 5th-most OREBs per game).
With Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and Isaiah Hartenstein in the rotation, this game is going to come down to whether or not the Bulls’ can match New York’s physicality. Patrick Williams, Nikola Vucevic, and Andre Drummond need to help set the tone underneath the rim and keep a Knicks squad that scores the fourth-most points in the paint per game under control.
I’m not exactly sure why the Bulls haven’t given Dalen Terry a shot. It’s not like the current rotation has been working any magic, and Terry’s whole thing is being an unselfish energy driver. He feels like the exact kind of talent that could be worth an extra look when things are going so poorly, but I guess head coach Billy Donovan doesn’t see it that way yet:
“If you’re throwing him in the rotation you’re having to sit somebody else,” Donovan told Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “And right now, clearly, I don’t think he’s at the level of some of our guys. Not to say that he can’t get there at some point. But probably right now as a younger player, as he continues to learn and grow I think there’s got to be a really good balance organizationally that we do between G-League games, practices with us and if he does get an opportunity to get in there, to play.”
On one hand, I get it. I’m not behind the scenes seeing how he is against this current roster competition, and I’m also not exactly sure who Terry would or should play over right now. On the other hand, things have just been bad. He doesn’t need to get a permanent spot in the rotation at the moment, but maybe letting him eat some of the minutes Coby White and/or Derrick Jones Jr. is seeing couldn’t hurt.
If freaking out over free-throw shooting footage is your thing, here …
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
The Miami Heat are a better team than the Chicago Bulls. We can all agree on that, right? We're talking about a franchise with three trips to the Eastern Conference Finals in four seasons. This included last year's historic run,...
The Miami Heat announced Thursday afternoon that Jimmy Butler will officially miss Friday night's do-or-die matchup with the Chicago Bulls. The announcement comes after Butler suffered a knee injury during the first quarter of the 7v8 Play-In game against the...
The Chicago Bulls aren't ruling Alex Caruso out just yet. Despite the guard having to exit Wednesday night's Play-In Tournament over the Atlanta Hawks, Caruso is currently listed as "questionable" on the latest official injury report. The Bulls' defensive anchor...
Joakim Noah hasn't played in an NBA game since September 2020, but he still can't stand the thought of losing. The Chicago Bulls legend recently appeared on an episode of The OGs Podcast with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller for...
I was sitting at an empty table with his legs crossed sipping on some white wine. The rest of the group was up on the dance floor, sending over the increasingly frequent wave to join them. I followed up each...
Coby White played the best game of his career on Wednesday night. In front of a packed United Center with the season on the line, White looked like the best player on the floor. He propelled the Bulls to a...
The Chicago Bulls understood the assignment. Unlike what we saw against Toronto in the first Play-In Tournament game last season, the Bulls were the ones to get out to an early lead. DeMar DeRozan was completely in his bag from...
The Chicago Bulls can't seem to swat the injury bug. Despite Andre Drummond and Ayo Dosunmu returning from their multi-game absences on Wednesday, the Bulls have likely lost their defense ace. Alex Caruso suffered a foot injury in the first...
Whether or not he gets the hardware, Coby White is the NBA's Most Improved Player. The Chicago Bulls guard has fully embraced his bigger workload this season, showing improvements in almost every aspect of his game. This was on full...
DeMar DeRozan is almost 35 years old and led the NBA in minutes this season. I want you to remember that as you watch what you're about to see. The Chicago Bulls' veteran forward was tearing apart the Atlanta Hawks...
The Cincinnati Reds (9-9), with Nick Lodolo on the hill, host the Los Angeles Angels (9-10) who will hand the ball to Tyler Anderson, at 6:40 PM ET on Friday.The article below will provide you with everything you need to...
The Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans take the court to start the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. The Kings are favored by 1.5 points in the contest, which airs on TNT at 9:30 PM ET. The over/under...
The Blackhawks put the worst regular season of more than 70 games in the history of the franchise to bed on Thursday night in a manner that sums up the season fairly well. Connor Murphy was banged up and Nikita...
It's a first-round matchup with a history of fireworks! The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers lock horns once again in the NBA Playoffs. This year marks the third time in five years these two teams meet in the opening...
The NBA Playoffs are here, and the Eastern Conference first-round ignites with a clash of styles. The Indiana Pacers, boasting the league's top-scoring offense, bring their high-octane attack to Milwaukee to face the experienced Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo's status adds further...
Quinn Priester takes the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates (11-8) when they host starter Brayan Bello and the Boston Red Sox (10-10) at 6:40 PM ET on Friday.If you're intending to watch this game, keep reading for streaming and TV...
Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres (11-10) host George Springer and the Toronto Blue Jays (10-9) at 9:40 PM ET on Friday.The article below will provide you with everything you need to watch San Diego play Toronto.When is...
Michael Conforto and the San Francisco Giants (9-11) host Ketel Marte and the Arizona Diamondbacks (9-11) on Friday, with first pitch at 10:15 PM ET.Find out how to watch the San Francisco-Arizona matchup below.When is Giants vs. Diamondbacks and when...
On Friday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will take the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers (12-9) versus Sean Manaea and the New York Mets (10-8), with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 PM ET at Dodger Stadium.Find out how to watch the Los...
On Friday, April 19 at 8:10 PM ET, a three-game series featuring the Minnesota Twins and the visiting Detroit Tigers will begin.Twins vs. Tigers Series Info Tigers @ Twins Time: Friday, April 19 at 8:10 PM ET Twins Starting Pitcher:...
NEWSLETTER
