Cubs Continue to Grow as Postseason Looms

The process was supposed to take five years. The complete dismantling of the Chicago Cubs roster began when Theo Epstein took over the ball club in October of 2011, and it was a process that was high risk, high reward. Every veteran was traded or not re-signed in favor of youth and each of Epstein's first three seasons ended with records that were 15+ games below .500. The Cubs were, in a word, horrible. Yet oddly enough, everything was going according to plan. Prospects were being acquired slowly but surely, and with Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro leading the way, Cubs fans could see their future lineup begin to take shape.


The players were surrounded by hype. Names such as Kris Bryant and Addison Russell headlined the future of the Cubs, yet the most important spot in the dugout was the one hole that needed to be filled. Former managers Dale Sveum and Rick Renteria were unproven managers that, quite frankly, were not the right men for a task this tall. To lead a franchise back to the top of the division you need a culture change. You need a manager that will give an organization a chip on their shoulder and an identity that the players can buy in to.

Maddon has restored the faith on the North Side

Enter Joe Maddon. The former Tampa Bay Rays skipper stepped in as the new manager for the Cubs this season and immediately talked about making the playoffs this year. THIS year? Surely not. Not with four rookies consistently being in the starting lineup (Bryant, Russell, Jorge Soler, and now Kyle Schwarber). After all, this is only year four of the five-year Master Plan. To think of making the playoffs this year seemed a bit too optimistic, even for Cubs fans.

Then came Jon Lester, and his decision to sign with the Cubs. A bona fide ace the Cubs so desperately needed. He would join the reacquired Jason Hammel and Jake Arrieta on a rotation that was suddenly quite formidable and, suddenly, the Cubs' hunt for October didn't seem so far-fetched. The bullpen was still a question mark, but the North Side finally had a couple high-profile starting pitchers.

Now here we are in late September, with the Cubs sitting one game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central and on the verge of overtaking the Bucs for the top Wild Card spot. They have pieced it all together, and they have weathered every storm that has come their way. They've enjoyed walk-off wins on numerous occasions and have shown that they have the potential to boast one of the best lineups in the league. Runs have been easy to come by lately, and when the performances of Lester and the Cy Young candidate Arrieta are taken into account, it's easy to see why Chicago has reason to believe again.

The Lester signing headlined a successful off-season for the Cubs

Winning in the NL Central is not easy. The Cubs sit in third place in the division but also have the third-best record in all of baseball, which goes to show just how tough this team is. They are not intimidated by anyone and they play with excitement. Joe Maddon has led the charge and has preached patience while also demanding perfection on the simple aspects of the game. They are currently 25 games over .500 and have a very good chance to move into second place in the division. And while it would be a historic charge as well as a brutal collapse by the Cardinals, winning the division is still a possibility as well. The opportunities are endless, and this Cubs team realizes that.

The regular season is quickly drawing to a close. The playoff match-ups are beginning to take shape and October is right around the corner. It's been 7 years, but this Cubs team is staring a postseason berth right in the face and deservedly so. The young kids have led the way, backed by stellar starting pitching and even better management. There is not a team in the league the Cubs don't think they can beat, and with a weekend series against the Cardinals currently happening, the Cubs have a great chance to shake things up in the NL Central. They believe they can make a run deep into the postseason as do the Chicago Faithful. What else would you expect the theme of this team to be? It's always been about being optimistic, whether that be justifiable optimism or not. It's time to realize that this Cubs team is not following Theo Epstein's five year plan. They're ahead of schedule, and the rest of the league would be smart to notice that. 

Jordan vs. LeBron Needs to Be Laid to Rest

It's the argument that keeps NBA fans awake at night and fuels social media conversations. It's the debate that seems to never have a right answer because bias and pride will never concede. It's the question that continually swirls through the heads of not just Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls fans, but the basketball faithful across the world. That question, quite simply, is "Who's better: Jordan or LeBron?" To me, as a self-proclaimed educated NBA fan, it really shouldn't be an argument. The answer is Jordan and, quite frankly, I don't care who you bring up to combat MJ, there really is no argument.

Jordan's greatness will not be matched any time soon

Let's get the obvious statistics out of the way right off the bat. Michael Jordan went six for six in his Finals appearances while LeBron is now two for six. And for those that want to disregard this year's Finals loss on account of health issues for the Cavs, he would still be three rings behind Jordan and would still be .500 in his Finals appearances assuming Cleveland wins with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. And if you want to disregard this year's Finals entirely, he's two for five in the Finals, still three behind Jordan. For now, it's as simple as Jordan taking down Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer en route to a perfect six for six in the Finals.

Now let's get away from the team aspect and look at the individual stats. Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game for his career. No one has ever averaged more points in a career than Jordan did, and LeBron currently sits at 27.3 points per game. Now, LeBron has the edge in rebounds (7.1) and assists (6.9), so there's no arguing there and we'll stay away from the "Well LeBron's much bigger than Jordan so he should have more rebounds" argument too. It is what is is.

Going beyond that, individual accolades is where Jordan absolutely dominates LeBron. Both players won Rookie of the Year, but LeBron currently trails Jordan in the MVP honors by one, as Jordan ended his career with five and LeBron has four to his name at this point in time. Jordan also trumps LeBron in Finals MVP trophies with six while LeBron has two. Continuing with the offensive-oriented accomplishments, MJ claimed TEN scoring titles in his career. LeBron? He currently has ONE.

James' career has been great, but not great enough to match MJ's

Moving towards a more defense-oriented argument, all of these accomplishments led to Jordan's nomination to the First Team All-NBA ten times. LeBron on the other hand, has currently been named First Team All-NBA nine times, but has a chance to pass Jordan in that column. However, Jordan was named First Team All-Defensive nine times while LeBron has only made the cut five times. Jordan also captured a Defensive Player of the Year trophy once while LeBron has never won the honor and has finished second in the voting twice. Despite only winning DPOY once, Jordan led the league in steals three times while LeBron has never even finished second in steals per game.

At the end of the day, it seems obvious. Jordan has five MVPs, LeBron has four. Jordan has six Finals MVPs, LeBron has two. Jordan has a Defensive Player of the Year award, LeBron doesn't. Jordan has ten scoring titles, LeBron has one. Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game for his career, LeBron's averaging 27.3. It's not bias, it's not favoritism, it's not the dislike of LeBron. It's common sense and it's facts. And if you want to reference Jordan's records that LeBron is breaking, or how he may pass him on the All-Time scoring list someday, just remember that LeBron just finished his 12th season while Jordan played 15, one of which he only played in 18 games before breaking his foot, and one in which he only played in 17 games because he returned from retirement. So in all, Jordan really played about 13.25 seasons and will STILL have LeBron in almost every category by the time they're both retired.

In no way am I saying LeBron will not go down as one of the greatest players ever. In terms of physical dominance he will go down as one of the best. And yes, he has a different build/style of play than Jordan, but there's no way LeBron will boast the accolades that Jordan did. It's not a debate, it's not an argument, it's not a discussion, Michael Jordan is the best and always will be.

With Series Loss to Cavs, Bulls Season Ends Sooner Than Planned

They finally had it all together. They brought in their star rookie, they signed a 2-time NBA champion, and they had their MVP back to health. Everything was in front of them. Literally everything. And yet, the Eastern Conference Finals will not feature the Chicago Bulls. Why? It's quite simple really: the Chicago Bulls just didn't want a successful season bad enough. Were there individuals on the team that had high expectations? Sure. After all, Jimmy Butler played the best defensive series against LeBron James of anyone to ever guard the future Hall of Famer. Heck, every player in that locker room continually stressed their belief that this team could be great. And in all honesty, it could have been. It SHOULD have been. But the thing about great teams is that they're made through their play on the court, not by the names listed on the roster.

One of the many things that is so hard to believe about this enigma of a team is that they won over 50 games and can still be considered a failure. Is that "f" word too strong? Not really. Take a look at this season and what has transpired over the last 8-9 months: big-time wins over Golden State, San Antonio, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City. Horrific losses to the likes of Detroit, Utah, Charlotte, and the Los Angeles Lakers. If bipolar doesn't describe this year's team, then let me know if there is a more applicable word. The series of events can only bring up two simple, one-word questions: "Why?" and "How?"

Butler's ascension is one of the few highlights for the Bulls this year

This team had a 2-time champion and future Hall of Famer (Pau Gasol), a former (and now healthy) MVP (Derrick Rose), the reigning Defensive Player of the Year (Joakim Noah), a perennial 6th Man of the Year contender (Taj Gibson), the runner-up for Rookie of the Year (Nikola Mirotic), and this year's Most Improved Player (Jimmy Butler). All of these players, with a steady and more-often-than-not productive bench were under the influence of the former Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau. With that lineup, with that talent, with that depth, this team was a failure. And honestly, we now are forced to wonder how much they really care.


This is not about saying the Bulls had a horrible season and this is not to say that locker room is full of quitters. But when the lights were on, and the stage was set, this Bulls team never figured it out. Why? They waited three years for their point guard to be healthy. They got rid of seasoned veterans so that they could develop their young stars and they had arguably one of the best off-seasons in the league. Everything they worked for and everything Tom Thibodeau dedicated his time to building was ruined this season. The intensity and will to shock the world was gone, the defensive and hard-nosed identity vanished, and the sense of urgency never appeared present when it was needed most. To make it all worse, the players knew they lacked these things all year. If you read any articles or followed this team at all, every loss would be followed by quotes like "We didn't have the intensity tonight. They outplayed us." or "Our defense is not what it used to be and that needs to change." Okay, so it's not like the long-scoring droughts or losses where the opposing team scores over 100 points were sprung on them all of the sudden. This team knew what it had to do to be great and they never felt the need to execute. That is why this team was a failure.

I will give all the credit in the world to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. While the Bucks were ran out of their own gym in Game 6, they were never once intimidated by the Bulls. They saw their weaknesses and did everything they could to expose them. The Cavaliers on the other hand, were a different story entirely. It's no secret that any team led by LeBron James is an automatic title contender, yet this team was without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving was not his All-Star self due to a number of injuries. On top of that, LeBron did not have an exceptional series minus Game 5. Jimmy Butler took LeBron out of almost every game, as far as scoring is concerned, and forced him into a couple poor shooting nights. Jimmy Butler did his job, and yet his teammates let players such as Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellevadova out-work them.

The Cavs "Big Three" was not made up of James, Love, and Irving. It was made up of the three aforementioned players that came into the series knowing they would have to shoulder the load with Love being out, JR Smith serving a 2-game suspension, and Irving playing through injury. And to their credit, they showed out. But to look at this team of mediocre bench players that were thrown into the fire, and to look at the team the Bulls trotted out to contest them, it goes to show just how soft this Bulls team was. Again, the Cavs role players were phenomenal this series. But they shouldn't have been, not if the Bulls played like a typical Thibs team used to play.

Thibodeau will likely be fired in the coming weeks

So now it's over. It's finally over. There are no more nights of guessing which team would show up to play. There are no more injury reports to be released before tip-off. There are no more meaningless post-game quotes about needing to play harder. It's over, and to some extent that's a good feeling. It wasn't fun to watch this team under-perform and appear not to care. There is no reason this team could not have won 62-65 games with the lineup and coaching they had. In some regards this team had more to it than the 2011 team that won 66 games and went to the Eastern Conference Finals. But that 2011 team had an identity and they had a purpose. They knew they needed to perform every single night to chase that championship dream. They wanted to be great. The 2014-2015 Bulls did not want it bad enough, and it showed on an almost-nightly basis.

While it's sad to see a team not recognize its potential, it's even more aggravating that this is the way the Thibodeau era will most likely come to a close. Everything Thibs stood for, everything he built, is now gone. The players lost their fire, and with the rough relationship between Thibs and the front office, it appears that he will be gone very soon. And while Thibodeau is a top three coach in the NBA, I'm excited for him to coach for a new team. He deserves better from both a front office and from a team. He weathered the storm through all of the injuries and all of the doubt these past few years and still managed to make the Bulls a tough out in the playoffs. He had total buy-in from each and every player and gave the Bulls their best chances at a title since Michael Jordan left. Thibs did his part, he made this team, and yet he will be shown the door with nothing to show for it. Bulls fans will remember his successes, but the league and history will not. This team should have been the best in the East, but they weren't. The team that should have been the Incredibulls quickly became the Laughabulls when that final buzzer sounded in the Madhouse last night.