ESPN NBA analyst Fred Carter hears it every year whenever a team is really, really bad. In 1972-73, our own Mad Dog was the best player on the worst team in league history, the 9-73 76ers. Here he talks about the current bad Bulls.

	If only the Bulls could get this guy back dunking again...

Chicago will almost certainly go on to win more than nine games this season, keeping our record safe for another year, but this Bulls team is not nearly as good as my '73 Sixers. We simply had more talent than Chicago has. We played in a time when the league was much tougher.

The league today, compared to when I played, is diluted. There is less talent on each team. The talent pool in Chicago, in particular, is extremely low. We had guys on our team who were very good players on other teams. Bob Rule and Tom Van Arsdale, for instance, were All-Stars. We had guys who could play and guys who could score.

The Bulls don't have that talent. And the talent they do have is very young. They have no veterans leading the way, and it shows. They will pick up enough wins against other bad teams to ensure they won't break our record. But we could beat them eight out of seven games.

Some bad teams look to dump talent in order to get more young talent that they might develop. I was traded to Milwaukee a few years later but the pressure on general managers to shake things up just wasn't there like it is now. Philly eventually came out of that deal with Maurice Cheeks and Clint Richardson, and probably a doghouse to be named later. The Sixers made out pretty well by trading me, but it didn't happen during the record year.

There is more attention given to teams today. General managers make deals because they have to. Ownership, fans and media won't stand for inaction. But even by today's standards, where player moves are the rule, I don't know that the Bulls are in a good enough situation to do this.

I don't think there are many takers out there for Elton Brand, their best player. He's an undersized power forward who can score because he has an offensive mind and they run the ball at him. He has a small forward's body with a power forward's mindset. I don't know what team would go after someone like that. It would take a special set of circumstances. If there was a team with a big guy who was an excellent outside shooter and Brand could play inside that would be fine. But there aren't many teams with that personnel. Brand won't be traded, like I wasn't in '73, but only because there won't be any takers.

The Bulls can't really improve themselves through trades. And they won't be able to go the free agency route either. You just won't get a player who will be willing to wait the four or five years it's going to take before they win. And the good young players they will get through the draft may be high school seniors or college freshmen or sophomores. That will just extend their current problems.

A possible solution would be a little complicated. If they could possibly put something together for Atlanta and get Dikembe Mutombo they could turn around and trade Mutombo to upgrade their talent level. Mutombo would get you two good players and the Bulls have the No. 1 draft pick to offer. If they aren't able to swing a deal like that, the Bull is going to get killed by the Matador often.

They better do something though. The fans in Chicago are spoiled. They're used to banners flying, tongues wagging and Dennis throwing his jersey into the stands after he's been ejected. They don't even see shadows of those guys anymore. There's no Scottie, no Horace Grant banging and no John Paxson or Steve Kerr swishing threes. It's not as bad yet as it is in other towns where there are more seats than people. But their patience is wearing thin and there will be more fallout eventually.

I don't think anyone, no matter how bad they are, is going to challenge our nine-win season. The league is diluted and there will always be games that bad teams can win. Chicago will probably end up with 12 wins. As for me, I wasn't good enough to make the Hall of Fame so I'll settle for the Hall of Shame.