Bulls Sign Former Pittsburgh Panther Aaron Gray

The Chicago Bulls have signed another new face for the upcoming 2007-2008 basketball season. Aaron Gray, who played center for the Pittsburgh Panthers until his graduation this year, will be the newest member of Chicago’s infamous basketball team. Gray was chosen by the Bulls as the 49th overall pick and both sides are equally pleased with the addition – which means a high scorer for the Bulls and a new home for Gray. Gray joins Minnesota Timberwolves player Marc Blount as the only two Panthers currently playing in the NBA.

In March of 2007, Gray was named an “All-American” by the Associated Press after helping lead the Pittsburgh Panthers to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament. Gray, who is 7’0” and 271 lbs, was named to the Honorable Mention Team this year in the Pepsi Pro Summer League, in which he averaged 10.2 points per game. As far as his time with the Panthers goes, Gray is the first of the team’s players since the 1980’s to average a double-double – he ranks 6th with the Panthers for his 33 double-doubles and 5th with them for his 39 double-double figure rebounding games. This guy is no stranger to steady high-scoring and he will have plenty to work with when he joins the Bulls and fellow draftees Joakim Noah and JamesOn Curry this October.

To catch all of the action that the rookies bring to Chicago this season, get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls a Decade Ago

In anticipation of the upcoming 2007-2008 basketball season, it seemed appropriate to take a little look down memory lane to see where the Chicago Bulls were ten years ago. The 1997-1998 season was challenging for the Bulls, but in they end they came out on top – it wouldn’t be so bad to see history repeated this year. Scottie Pippen, a star forward for the Bulls, missed their first 35 games of the season due to a foot injury. Although they were shaky in the beginning, the Bulls pulled it together mid-season thanks to Michael Jordan, Toni Kukoc, and Dennis Rodman. The Bulls finished the season with a 62-20 record, tying Utah for the number one spot in the NBA.

This was a big season for Michael Jordan – he received All-Defensive First Team honors, All-NBA First Team honors, MVP honors for the fifth time, and All-Star MVP honors for the third time. He averaged 28.7 points per game, which put him at the front of the NBA and gave him his 10th scoring title. Can you say All-Star?

Post-season the Bulls made it to the Finals where they battled the Utah Jazz. The Jazz took Game 1, but the Bulls retaliated taking Game’s 2, 3, and 4. The Jazz took Game 5 with an 88-86 win and it all came down to Game 6. Game 6 was magical – the Bulls trailed by one point in the final minute, Jordan stole the ball and sealed the series with a jump shot with 5.2 seconds to go. The final score was Chicago 87-Utah 86. It was the sixth Finals MVP trophy for Jordan and the end of this golden era. This was the end of the Bulls for Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman, but definitely not the end of the Bulls magic.

Will the Bulls still have that certain magic a decade later? See for yourself when you get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

Storey Gets Another Shot at the NBA

On December 21, 2006 Bulls center Martynas Andriuskevicius sustained serious head injuries after being punched by former Proviso West player, Awvee Storey. Storey, who hit Andriuskevicius, causing him to fall to the floor and hit his head, was kicked out of the National Basketball Development League last season. Almost a year later Storey is getting another chance to play in the NBA. This was no small injury – Andriuskevicius suffered a fractured skull, a severe concussion, and a two-centimeter hematoma on the left side of his brain. Lucky for Storey, Andriuskevicius was cleared this spring for full-contact practices and has decided not to press charges.

Storey, who played for both the Washington Wizards and the New Jersey Nets before being kicked out of the NBDL, spent the last 8 months playing in the German league. The 6’6”, 225 lb. forward just signed a two-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks and should be back in the NBA action this season. Storey’s Chicago-based agent defends him, saying that the fight was totally out of character for this “cool guy” who says he’s “learned tremendously from the situation”. The next Bulls-Bucks matchup should be an interesting one. If Andriuskevicius does play this season (which at this point it’s looking like he will), then it’s looking like he and Storey might want to steer clear of each other on the court.

You can see the Bulls play the Bucks by getting your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

Chicagoland All-Star Classic Weekend Held at the Bulls Home Stadium

This is a big week for basketball in Chicago. The Chicagoland All-Star Classic Weekend is happening and it’s all for a good cause. The weekend’s events will be benefiting The 8 Foundation, started by Antoine Walker of the Miami Heat, and also The Support Group. The 8 Foundation’s mission is to “provide positive life experiences for disadvantaged youth in single parent households” – and that is exactly what this week is about. Why Chicago? The Chicagoland area is the birth place of more active NBA players than anywhere else so it seems like a fitting place to host the Chicagoland All-Star Classic’s (CLASC) fun events.

The week kicked off on August 6th with a basketball camp for 350 girls and boys hosted by NBA athletics and of course participants in the CLASC. There’s a celebrity golf outing on August 9th and both a teen summit and the CLASC comedy show on August 10th. August 11th features a celebrity softball game and there is a health and wellness fitness festival on August 12th. The biggest event of the week by far is the sixth annual Chicagoland All-Star Classic, which takes place on August 12th. This non-profit basketball game is the second largest game in the country in which more than 20 of the NBA’s best players come together in the Bulls home stadium, the United Center.

Don’t miss your chance to watch all of the action happening for a good cause! Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

JamesOn Curry is Bulls Newest Arrival

The Chicago Bulls have officially announced the signing of the 2007 second-round draft pick JamesOn Curry. Curry, 21, was a junior at Oklahoma State and played shooting guard and point guard for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Curry, who’s 6’3” and 190 lbs, was the 51st pick overall. He averaged 17.3 points and shot 41 percent from the 3-point range last season and was the Cowboys’ second-leading scorer for the past two seasons. He finished 13th in Oklahoma State’s history in scoring, ninth in assists, and third in the 3-point range. It’s an understatement to say that Curry was a standout player in college and easy to see why the Bulls picked him in the second-round.

Curry is a native of Pleasant Grove, North Carolina and broke the North Carolina high school record for most points scored in four years while playing at Eastern Alamance High School in Mebane, North Carolina. He scored a total of 3,307 points throughout his four years as a high school player. Curry wanted to play college ball in his home state and was originally signed with the North Carolina Tar Heels but a guilty plea to six felony drug counts led to the fall-through of his scholarship. Luckily, Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton decided to give him a chance – he definitely proved himself there and will now be wearing number 20 for Chicago this season.

Keep an eye out to see how this guard stacks up when the Bulls start their season on October 31st. Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

No New Big Names for the Bulls

The Chicago Bulls will kick off the 2007-2008 basketball season against the New Jersey Nets on October 31st and so far the potential for acquiring at least a few big-name players is not looking good. Kevin Garnett has already been traded to the Boston Celtics and it looks like Pau Gasol won’t be on the market this time around, as was the talk of the town last season. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards agreed that the Grizzlies will take Spanish guard Juan Carlos Navarro, in exchange for a future first-round pick. This will make Gasol happy – and is a sure sign that he will be sticking with the Grizzlies – as Navarro is one of his best friends. What does this mean for the Bulls?

The Chicago Bulls had the chance to get Gasol but let the deadline pass because the proposed trade could have killed their season before it even began. ESPN’s John Hollinger has been critical of the Bulls decision to pass up Gasol, saying, “They needed Gasol to have a legit shot at the whole enchilada…Gasol might be the most underrated player in the league at this point. He was exactly what the Bulls needed – a post scorer who can pass and set up their jump shooters.” Even so, the Bulls lack of a big-name doesn’t really project anything about the upcoming season. The concern is for building the team at this point – and we’ll just have to wait until October to judge their decisions.

Make your own judgment when you watch the Bulls play live. Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

Ben Gordon Talks to Youth

Ben Gordon was more than happy to help when the Bulls asked him to speak before 90 youngsters at the Bulls Players Camp this week. The youth basketball camp is designed to help Chicago-area youth basketball players improve their game, have some fun, and learn about the importance of teamwork and the need to work hard to achieve their goals. Other Bulls players who are scheduled to lend their services include Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Chris Duhon. The camp is so popular that there is a waiting list backed up for over a year to get a child enrolled.

Said Gordon about his role at the camp, “It’s an opportunity that I want to take full advantage of. When I speak to the children, I hope that they look at me in a different light—not just as a basketball player, but someone who they can look up to on and off the court. If I can be a positive role model and give good advice, my mission is accomplished. I don’t want to take the position I’m in for granted and this is something I love to do.”

You don’t have to be a kid at the camp to see Ben Gordon, though. All you have to do is get Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

Slate on Summer League Hoops

There’s a very interesting article at Slate about the value and annoyingness of Summer League basketball, which would be interesting for fans of the Chicago Bulls to read. As you probably know, this, being summer, is the time to focus on the NBA’s Summer League, which takes place in Orlando (where the Bulls played most of their Summer League games), Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. David Roth writes an article typical of Slate- slightly sarcastic, intellectual and scoffing- about how the Summer League is both awful and awfully awesome. The fringe players are here to throw hay-makers to get onto an NBA roster, the street balers are here to try and get legitimate, and the rookies cater to the lowest common denominator. It’s sloppy, but it’s fun.

An NBA game with the Chicago Bulls will feature a lot of the players you will see in the Summer Leagues, such as the rookie talent, and maybe a few add-ons. However, if you appreciate good defense or low turnover stats, you should probably stay away form the Summer League. This is a place where players try to boost their stats and coaches know that stats don’t matter at all. It is a funny kind of melting pot that is more WWE than NCAA, and more reality show than Seinfeld. If that’s what you like, then next time the summer league plays you should consider getting tickets.

Otherwise, for some more quality hoops, you can still get Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

Bulls Falling Behind?

With the Celtics adding Kevin Garnett, the Knicks getting Zach Randolph, and the Magic getting Rashard Lewis, some people think that the balance of power in the NBA is getting a little less tipped towards the west. Some are also saying that the Bulls missed the boat in terms of keeping up wit the arms race in the Eastern Conference. Greg Couch’s article in the Chicago Sun-Times alleges that the Bulls’ GM, John Paxson, didn’t do enough to land Garnett before the Celtics got him. To couch, Paxson should have been more risky.

The opposite end of that kind of thinking is this: the Bulls have been carefully built as a solid core of young players who will be winning and getting to the playoffs for years. This was Paxson’s design and he has the team exactly how he wants it. To declare that the Celtics are automatically going to dominate is calling it way early. There is no telling what will happen. Why dump the strategy that is slowly getting good for a quick fix that would destroy years of work for a result that is still in question?

You can get Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com.

KG to Alter East for Bulls

Kevin Garnett has been traded to the Boston Celtics in a 5-player deal which will likely keep the sports talk radio buzz off of some of the more unpleasant recent sports-related stories—at least for a while. KG will thus be paired with Paul Pierce and newly-acquired Ray Allen in Beantown. The trade dramatically changes the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, where it had long been thought that a team with just one or two big-time stars could easily dominate. We will find that out soon enough. The Celtics now have that star, and possibly two others.

So what does this all mean for the Chicago Bulls? Well, for one, it means that any thought of getting KG to play for Chicago can be scrapped. For a while the prospect of getting KG was legitimate, but recently the trade rumors had subsided a bit. It also means that the Bulls will have to contend with another improved Eastern Conference team, possibly in the playoffs next year. Neither of these things are particularly good for Chicago Bulls fans. Then again, it might just be a lot of hype, and the Bulls have made great improvements down low over the summer as well.

You can now see KG play Ben Wallace in by getting Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub.com when the Celtics are in town.

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