That probably sounds like music to the ears of many Bulls fans, especially those who were disappointed with Noah’s play against the Miami Heat during the Eastern Conference Finals.

Noah averaged 11.7 points and 10.4 rebounds in 48 regular season games. But, in 16 postseason contests, the 6-foot-11-inch center averaged 8.7 points and 10.2 boards. That’s a significant drop off compared to last year’s playoff tear when Noah averaged 14.8 points and 13 rebounds in the five game series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Alas, Noah won’t be gone for good — much to the chagrin of a certain segment of Bulls fans.

Instead, Noah will be representing Team France in the European Championships in Lithuania.

With the NBA lockout in full swing, here’s hoping Noah can somehow heal form the injuries that slowed him down this season and recapture the form he had during the early part of the year when he was a double-double machine and a force on both ends of the court.

Problem is, we’re thinking about the wrong sport.

If you’re comparing LeBron James to Michael Jordan, you’re doing it all wrong.

If you’re looking for a fair comparison, look no farther than Barry Bonds.

Yes, that Barry Bonds.

The self-anointed King and the asterisk-ridden Home Run King have more in common than reaches the eye.

Both are world-class athletes whose talents didn’t necessarily translate into hoards of adoring fans.

Instead, because of what came out of their own mouths, James and Bonds both share the unique distinction of being the heel despite dominating their sport while possessing a once-in-a-lifetime skill set.

Much of it has to do with the words that somehow someway leave the lips of the respective athlete.

James makes constant references to his haters, a group that he said he was keeping tabs on throughout the season. Still, Hater Nation got the last laugh as James walked off the court a loser in the NBA Finals yet again.

And after Game 6 of the NBA Finals, James walked into a press conference and pulled the “I’ll wake up rich and famous and you’ll wake up and still have a crummy life” card when asked about The Haters in the postgame presser.

The problem is, James’ fan base probably exceeds his haters. Dude has 2 million followers on Twitter, a posse based out of a state that largely hates him that exceeds the number of people in my Chicago and Carbondale cliques combined and the No. 1 selling jersey at the NBA shop.

Team LeBron acts as if the world is against him. And that feeds his ego the way Dunkin Donuts feeds Jim Hendry on a Sunday morning.

If you’re a baseball fan, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Bonds didn’t have a team of yes-men at his beckon call. But he had Dusty Baker, who helped Bonds play the race card in regard to The Haters.

Despite heat coming from outsiders, James had an entire city act like a human shield as San Francisco acted as if The Home Run King* could do no wrong.

Bonds made ESPN’s Pedro Gomez his bitch in the latter years of his career in the way James owned CBS columnist Gregg Doyle after Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Like Bonds, James should be easy to root for because of his skills and pursuit of greatness.

That is, until he opens his mouth.

He used the Boys & Girls club as a human shield from criticism when he starred in an ill-conceived TV special to announce he was leaving Cleveland.

Who gives a shit about Cleveland, you ask?

Apparently, LeBron, a man who is on the record saying “He loves Cleveland” as recently as the Heat’s last trip there, does. He’s also the same man who said, on the record, in front of microphones, that he was going to win a championship in Cleveland and wouldn’t stop until the job was done.

Oh, then there’s his whole spiel about the NBA needing contraction. Never in the history of pro sports unions has a star player of said union openly said that contraction, which would result in a loss of jobs throughout the league (players, coaches, staff,etc.) is a good thing.

LeBron James will find himself in a compromising position in the 2011-12 NBA season — assuming it tips off in a timely manner.

In the mean time, James’ first step toward a new level of greatness should be hiring a PR firm that doesn’t consist of yes-men.

Next step is to drop the King James moniker.

Oh sure, maybe he didn’t give himself the nickname, but whose decision was it to get “Chosen 1” tatted on his back?

Maybe because of his group of enablers, the nickname is fitting. But if he wants to be adored as much as he feels he needs to, maybe he should put himself in the shoes of his noble followers.

In the end, it was poetic justice having the Mavs celebrate a championship in June in the same arena where the Heat celebrated winning one in July.

James is widely regarded as the NBA’s best player, and only someone as gutsy as say, yours truly, would dare question the self-proclaimed King’s greatness.

What you call piling onto James, I call a thorough takedown and analysis of the guy that everyone has been claiming will be the greatest basketball player ever since high school.

So, let’s get one thing straight. LeBron isn’t Michael Jordan, nor will he ever be.

Jordan’s teams were a perfect 6-for-6 in NBA Finals with MJ claiming six Finals MVP trophies. He averaged 33 points per game on 48 percent shooting.

James is already 0-for-2 in the Finals, averaging 19 points on 41 percent shooting.

And if that wasn’t enough, his first 10 NBA Finals games don’t measure up with Kobe Bryant (20.1 points per game, en route to two titles), let alone Michael Jordan (33.8 points per game, en route to two titles).

Remember, when Jordan led the Bulls in all stats across the board, he was a selfish bastard of a ball player who did nothing but pad his stats.

But for Team LeBron, it was the first line of defense after a Game 4 loss in the Finals.

Heck, I’d go out on a limb and say James isn’t even on Derrick Rose’s level.

For all the criticism Rose endured after the Eastern Conference Finals, including those who dared to suggest James should snatch Rose’s MVP before leaving the United Center after Game 5, you can’t say Rose hasn’t improved in every year.

Three years after missing a key free throw, costing Memphis a National Championship (that would have been wiped away anyway), Rose’s shooting percentage from the charity stripe has increased by 14.6 percentage points.

In fact, his shooting percentage from the line has bumped up in each year he’s been in the league.

After facing criticism for not taking enough drives to the hoop, Rose saw his free throw attempts increase as well from 250 to 338 as a second-year player to 555 in Year 3.

And at the risk of becoming a non-factor on the perimeter, Rose made more 3s this year than in his previous two years combined.

But this isn’t about Rose. Though maybe, one day it will be if he can’t get the Bulls over the hump, grows a beard, dyes it black and comes out to Vodoo Chile with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall manning the post.

What this is about is that eight years into what is already a Hall of Fame caliber career, basketball fans still find themselves asking when James will do the things we’re accustomed to seeing the great ones do.

Like, you know, get better from year-to-year.

When will he develop a post-up game?

Because if you didn’t notice by his epic fail of an attempt to post up J.J. Barea, it’s still not there.

At 6-foot-9, 270 pounds, James has the frame and the skill set to generate a low-post game like Jordan and Bryant.

(Damn it, there go those comparisons again. They truly are unavoidable, aren’t they?)

How goes that mid-range game?

Oh, do we even need to go there? Of course we do.

James reminds me of Dave Kingman in a way.

(What is it with all the baseball analogies? Nerd.)

LeBron is an all or nothing player eight years into his career. He’s either taking it to the rack for a monster finish (or at least some free throw attempts) or he’s loafing on the perimeter eyeing a 3-point bomb.

There is no 15-to-20 foot jumper in his arsenal. There is no dribble-drive and pull-up ‘J’ to keep defenders honest.

Where is the consistent perimeter game?

Analysts once joked that Jason Kidd should drop the ‘J’ from his name because of his non-existent outside shot.

Seventeen years into his career, Kidd being a factor on the perimeter helped seal the fate of James’ Heat.

For as hot as he was against Chicago and Boston, he was as cold against Dallas.

And because of his flaws, he simply shouldn’t be put on M.J.’s level until further notice.

If Jordan revolutionized the game by globalizing it, it would likely take LeBron to discover life on another planet and universalize the game.

And unless Swackhammer and the MonSTARS are posted up on Moron Mountain, it’s not happening.

So, at this point, James is left with nothing to do but pave his own lane in NBA history.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t involve steamrolling over fans, teammates or coaches. Though, if history is any indicator, that train won’t be late.

The silly Michael Jordan-LeBron James comparisons were out in full force after the Miami Heat’s big Game 3 win in Dallas.

Last I checked, you have to win four games in the NBA Finals to go home with the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Furthermore, some of the game’s greatest analysts cautioned those who thought Kobe Bryant was Heir Jordan to Air Jordan that Jordan was a six-time NBA Champion and six-time NBA Finals MVP.

Apparently, those don’t apply to the game’s self-anointed Chosen One.

James scored eight points and had four turnovers as the Dallas Mavericks tied up the 2011 NBA Finals at two games apiece.

After the jump, a fun-fact about Jordan’s scoring numbers in NBA Finals games.Michael Jordan averaged 33.5 points per game in six NBA Finals appearances — and did so without throwing a single-digit clunker in there.

Just for fun, we’ll highlight Jordan’s first NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991. A series which Jordan averaged (I repeat: averaged.) 31.2 points, 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds and shot 55.2 percent from the field.

Again, this isn’t to bring down the almighty King. There will be plenty of others who will do that in the coming hours and days leading up to a critical Game 5 in Dallas.

Though, I’d like to use this as a reminder that maybe we shouldn’t be jumping the gun to anoint a new greatest of all time until he achieves some things that the greatest of all time has already accomplished.

If you watched the last few minutes of the Dallas Mavericks victory against the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, you witnessed history.

It’s not every day a 15-point lead gets blown in a Finals contest. In fact, it has been 19 years since such an event took place.

The sentiment of many, especially in and around Chicago, was that Michael Jordan would never allow that to happen to him or his championship Bulls.

Well, they have a valid point.

The last time a team blew a 15-point lead in the NBA Finals was June 14, 1992, when the Portland Trail Blazers gagged it up to — you guessed it — the Chicago Bulls.

In fact, the Blazers had two (TWO!) 15-point advantages in the contest. Portland led 43-28 in the second quarter and 79-64 after the third.

With that said, can we please cool it with the James-Jordan comparisons?

As of now, the difference between the two is simple.

Jordan has six championship rings that came on two three-peats. Each three-peat featured its own unique cast of supporting characters with the only constants being Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson.

(And to take it a step further, Jerry Krause and Jerry Reinsdorf.)

Jordan also played in an era where cackling and blunt smoking would have commenced if one were to call for a hand-check foul.

The biggest difference (as of now) between two of the game’s revolutionary players is the killer instinct factor.

Did Jordan talk smack? Of course. Was he a jerk? You betcha.

But Jordan had the killer instinct from the opening tip to the last whistle.

There wasn’t time for a pre-game dance routine. Nor was there time to pose and let out primal yells after fast break dunks.

Sure, Jordan had his show-stopper moments. The Shrug comes to mind. As does the finger wave in Dikembe Mutumbo’s eye.

But in a world where everything is put on a pedestal and folks demand to know whether or not it’s the best of all time, James plays directly into the hands of those who demand instant satisfaction when it really isn’t necessary with every post-slam shimmy.

Now, Miami could very well come back and win Game 3, and this series.

But it won’t be without a fight.

And a reminder that he still has much to accomplish before he gets on Jordan’s level.

While Dwyane Wade and LeBron James led the parade after beating the Boston Celtics, the team which eliminated Wade and James last season, Bosh had a coming out party and slayed the dragon that was the United Center rim.

His 1-for-18 performance was seemingly erased when he went off last night with a 30-point performance against the Bulls. Yet, the Heat still lost.

Sitting around my roundtable of sports fans, I said something that raised a few eyebrows.

“Bosh getting his is a good thing for the Bulls.”

When asked to explain, the eyebrows raised higher — in a good way.

As I explained to Matt Spiegel via Twitter, Chris Bosh getting his means the Bulls wing defenders are cutting off driving angles for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Furthermore, when James and Wade were taking shots, at least last night, they were of a higher degree of difficulty.

No easy buckets.

On top of that, the Bulls defense also cut off passing lanes James and Wade usually have to get the ball to open 3-point shooters.

This is all a product of head coach Tom Thibodeau’s defense. Always has been. And I assume it always will be.

The main concept of the Coach of the Year’s defense is to funnel the ball to the middle where it will be met by the team’s best interior defender.

In New York, it was a snarling Patrick Ewing.

In Houston, it was the 7-foot-6-inch presence of Yao Ming.

In Boston, Kevin Garnett was the intimidating presence in the paint.

In Chicago, Joakim Noah lurks in the back.

Thibodeau’s defense is one of the primary reasons why Boston knocked off Cleveland and Miami in the postseason last year.

And it might be why the Bulls beat the Heat this year.

Jeff Teague has taken the NBA Playoffs by storm.

A non-factor in the Atlanta Hawks series win against the Orlando Magic, Teague, a second-year guard out of Wake Forest has taken his game to another level against the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.

Teague is averaging 17 points, 4.4 assists and is shooting 55.9 percent from the field in the first five games against the Bulls’ highly regarded defense.

For most, Teague’s coming out party has come out of nowhere.

That’s not quite the case for Southern Illinois University Carbondale head coach Chris Lowery.

Lowery recruited the 6-foot-2-inch guard coming out of Indianapolis, and nearly had him according to Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports:

Imagine Jeff Teague playing at Southern Illinois. It nearly happened.

Teague was one of those late-bloomers. There were always one or two guys that came out of nowhere at the ABCD Camp in New Jersey – and Teague was one of those guys a few years back.

“I was about to commit to Southern Illinois before ABCD Camp,” Teague said. “But my dad talked to me about it and convinced me to wait.”

Teague, who would eventually commit to Wake Forest, would be a junior had he stuck around in college.

But considering the questions SIU will have in its backcourt coming into the 2011-12 season, there’s no doubt Teague would look good in Saluki maroon.

I guess you’d have to credit Lowery for having an eye on this kid, planting the seed early and nearly getting him on campus.

Of course, there’s no such thing as “almost” as far as recruiting goes. Only horseshoes and hand grenades, if I recall correctly.

Still, that might be the most frustrating thing about SIU’s recent downfall.

It’s not as if talented players aren’t coming through the doors of the SIU Arena.

And it’s not as if Lowery doesn’t have an eye for quality ball players.

It’s just another reminder that the inability to get them on campus and keep them for four years is the root of what has plagued the Saluki men’s basketball program.

As a Bulls fan, Teague is making my head hurt with the way he has been able to easily attack the basket. And because he was this close to being a Saluki, it hurts that much more.

Unfortunately, our attempts at global domination have fallen short. Way short. Then both of us grew up, took big boy jobs and scrapped the world domination via sports blog chit-chat.

And while Hartwig has retired from the blogosphere, I’m still chugging along. As is this blog.

With that being said, I’d like to say thanks to this blog’s fanbase. I appreciate you all the same, but bless the Saluki fans for really putting me on the map and trusting me as a source for analysis and news.

I’d also like to give a shoutout to the contributors we’ve had over the years.

Johnny Sole. Jon Iaccino. Stile Smith. Brian Feldt. Jeff Engelhardt. Mike Carter.

Here’s hoping I didn’t forget anyone.

(Though I probably did.)

So, how will we celebrate another year of this blog’s existence?

Well, if it was up to me…

And if you’re note already doing so, follow this fine blog’s editor on Twitter @lcm1986.

Maybe it was his thoughts on the LeBronathon. Or the candid way he tackled social issues.

Whitlock, a polarizing columnist with a knack to start a forest fire in a place with no trees, was back to his old tricks on Monday night.

“Bulls/Lakers screwed up not calling in some heavyweights to do national anthem…. Someone call Alicia Keys please,” Whitlock tweeted last night, shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers trotted out a 14-year-old singer to to The Anthem prior to Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Maverics series.

I know nothing about the 14-year-old girl, but thinking Jim Cornelison isn’t a heavyweight in regard to anthem singers is a gross oversight.

In a later tweet, Whitlock would call Cornelison a “local lounge singer” who was “overmatched on a national stage.”

Overmatched on a national stage?

Over the last 365 days, Cornelison has done the National Anthem at the Stanley Cup Finals, the NFC Championship game and the NBA playoffs.

Each of those broadcasts were carried nationally, backed by a roaring crowd and followed with heaps of praise from outsiders  that have never encountered such an atmosphere for the singing of a national anthem.

Cornelison is so known nationally, FOX gave the heave-ho to Lee DeWyze, a product of FOX’s very own American Idol and Chicagoland native, in favor of the bellowing tones of Mr. Cornelison.

Again, I ask: Overmatched on a national stage?

Fact-checking is a hell of a drug.

In a final tweet addressing what seemed to be quite a response by Chicagoans, Whitlock said, “This is y New York and LA don’t take Chi serious”

Oh, how I loathe the New York and Los Angeles comparisons.

The only thing that churns out more disappointments than the New York music scene’s hype machine is Steve Spurrier’s offense, in regard to quality quarterbacks. And the only thing more fake than much of what comes out of the LA music scene is the cup size of some of its starlets.

Somewhere, Whitlock probably thinks Kanye West is just a Jay-Z lackey.

It isn’t the first time Whitlock has gotten under the skin of Chicago sports fans. His mis-informed take on the Jay Cutler injury situation and the flip-flopping that followed turned into Whitlock taking on the battle-tested Terry Boers and argumentative Dan Bernstein.

It didn’t end well for Whitlock, if memory serves me correct.

If Whitlock has something to say about the Bulls, I might listen. If he wants to jot down something critical, I might analyze it.

But next time the bloated blow-hard disses something he knows nothing about, I won’t be afraid to hit him with the #LOLblackpeople hashtag — again.

Yes, Stacey King has got himself quite the popular catch phrase by teaming everyone’s favorite condiment — hot sauce — with everyone’s favorite white boy, Kyle Korver.

Yet, it took FrankRod to put it all together.

The next step is for some Chicago hot sauce manufacturer to link up with the Chicago Bulls 3-point sniper.

And because Korver is involved, the proceeds would likely go to charity.

Surely Bernstein celebrated with a glass of wine and one of those fancy learning books with big words in ‘em.

As for yours truly, there was no celebration. Just a nod of the head and an acknowledgment that the Chicago Bulls have gotten a steal with Asik.

It would have been easy to trade Asik to upgrade the two-guard slot. But as the days grow closer to the NBA playoffs, it’s time to credit John Paxson and Gar Foreman for doing what was best for the team — and that’s not make a trade everyone thought should have been made.

With the season winding down, the importance of big men who can control the paint increases.

While the Miami Heat sizzles with a dazzling display of transition offense and highlight-reel dunks, it’s intriguing to see a team prep for a playoff run by simulating the postseason experience which features a slower tempo and has teams relying on execution in the half-court.

That’s what makes a ho-hum Bulls-Nets game that much more important as head coach Tom Thibodeau was able to sneak in a different look in a game Chicago controlled much of the night.

With Carlos Boozer sidelined again, the Bulls debuted a new wrinkle to their defensive set by putting Asik and Joakim Noah on the floor at the same time.

There aren’t many teams in the NBA that can match up with that kind of size in the post. Sure, neither Noah nor Asik inspires anyone on the offensive end because the offense simply can’t run through them. However, their collective value on the defensive end more than makes up for any offensive deficiencies.

Even then, Asik’s nine offensive rebounds are just as valuable as any post move he lacks as of this point in his career.

And as difficult as the Bulls offense is to watch at times, knowing the team can overcome Derrick Rose having an 8-for-23 shooting night because of the presence of imposing defensive figures in the paint quiets those concerns.