ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 04:15 PM) I'm fine with giving them any player except Rose. I just don't want to box us in to luxury tax Hell at the same time, because then we'll be the team looking to trade Amare in a few years. The motivation for keeping TT is; if you give up TT and Noah, next year you have Amare at C and Deng at PF and you have zero space under the luxury tax to either add a C or to even keep Gordon, and the year you wind up getting space under that tax is the year you have to extend Amare. I don't get why you think this deal screws them over with the luxury tax when we'd have to do the same thing to add Amare (or anyone else) as a free agent anyways. They can't afford to keep Gordon if they want space in 2010 barring a total gut-job and may be over the luxury tax if they keep Tyrus as well since even his qualifying offer is over $6 mil. It really isn't any different. Their commitments for 2010-2012 are around $35 mil between Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni and Rose, still WELL under the salary cap. Even if you add Amare's $20 mil extension they'll be a hair below the salary cap much less the luxury tax. I realize that's only 5 players, but you'll also have a couple of cheap 1st round picks mixed in as well as an MLE or two, depending on which guys go of course. Hinrich and Nocioni will also be off the payroll when Rose gets his big extension, giving you about $14 mil of breathing room (assuming you don't dump them before that). Adding Amare is still a step forward because he's an actual elite player. Right now all they have is a young Rose and a bunch of decent but not stellar players. That's not going to get them anywhere unless Rose becomes a Chris Paul level PG, and even then they'd be hard-pressed to win it all without getting him some help.

I really don't see anyway we can get Amare without giving up Deng OR Thomas. Frankly, IMO anyone but Rose can go for Amare, none of these guys are exactly elite. You don't get the chance to get someone as talented as Amare that's still in his prime very often, and the team getting the star pretty much ALWAYS gets the better end when all is said and done.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 01:39 PM) The Bulls won't have cap space this offseason either way, but making that move is the difference between having the luxury tax space to make a matching/competitive offer for Gordon or not. I'm not particularly worried about Gordon, or anyone else for that matter, if they get Rose and Amare. It'd be nice to keep him as a sniper, but I won't lose sleep if he's gone, especially considering they haven't come that close to an agreement over the past two years. Rose and Amare would be getting the bulk of the touches anyways, Gordon would no longer be able to fire jumpers with impunity, making it a lot harder for him to keep his average up around 20 a game. I'm sure they can find a decent spot-up shooter that won't need the ball as much with the MLE if it comes to that, or possibly move Hinrich and/or Nocioni in another deal.

Do whatever it takes. It's not like the Bulls will have any cap space this off-season anyways, and they'd still have to move Hinrich or Nocioni for an expiring deal to make room for a max deal in 2010. They might as well just do it now, Amare is arguably the best offensive big man in the league, he's still only 26 and would likely be one of our main targets that year anyways.

Any idiot can sign up and get an account on Bleacher Report. Hell, I just wrote two articles.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 4, 2009 -> 02:30 AM) Hightower drives everyone crazy, and he is not a Big 10 only ref. Really? That's highly annoying then, because I've seen him doing NU games at least 4 times.

QUOTE (onedude @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 05:25 PM) yeah...that is pretty funny you were nominated...i posted all my sigs(most anyway) in help forum and i believe yours is in there. Yep, it is. I still love that one.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 01:25 AM) Zoom? WTF? I agree, who nominated me? I have no graphics talent whatsoever, people like Steve and Slav make all of my sigs on the various sites (I honestly am not 100% sure who made my Shoeless Joe sig. TheBlackSox8/OneDude maybe? My apologies to the artist in question).

QUOTE (4 points @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 03:12 AM) Well, Northwestern and Penn St. showed everyone how to beat Sparty, hoist up a boatload of threes, and hope 6 out of 10 fall. NU was 9-28 from the arc against MSU, that's not why they won. The 18 turnovers for MSU were a far bigger reason, especially when NU only had 7.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 05:08 PM) But that could actually make the Thunder a pretty good damn team. Duran, Westbrook and Griffin are a nice core to build around and Jeff Green, Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, and Nenad Kristic are nice role players. Id also imagine they would be in good shape salary wise to add an impact player, maybe Dwayne Wade. I have a hard time seeing Dwayne Wade leaving Miami to take less money to play in Oklahoma City, or any of the elite FA's for that matter (remember, the max deal is 6-133 to stay put and 5-105 in a new city). More likely if they try to use their cap space they'll get someone that's nearing the end of their usefulness like Camby or Redd or overpay a guy that isn't quite elite like Josh Howard or Tyson Chandler.

I'm really starting to dislike the NFL. There's just so much mediocrity in the league that it makes for a lot of games that are hard to watch. What makes it worse is that it's REALLY hard to ignore as a fan of other sports, the sports media bashes you over the head with NFL coverage ALL YEAR whether or not something interesting is happening. I really don't care who's griping about getting the franchise tag in March or who's holding out of training camp in July, why don't you cover a sport that's actually playing games? I know a lot of people follow the NFL, but it really gets ridiculous.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 08:15 PM) Even with the rights of Thomas and Thabo not being renounced, the Bulls would have about 15 million to play with. They could backload the contract to account for when Noc would be let go off the books and Hinrich as well. Also, I think you will see Thabo, Tyrus and/or Noah traded by then. But yes, the easiest way would be to get rid of Kirk and Noc. They can't do that and still give the player a max contract. The maximum raise per year when signing another team's free agent is 8% per year, so their offer would only come out to 5-87 instead of the maximum 5-105, meaning they'd be EXTREMELY unlikely to get them. A max contract has to start at a bit over $18 mil in the first year (note:I'm fairly confident these numbers apply to Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Amare, but some others may be higher due to more service time and thus a higher salary). Again, I'm not saying that they can't go after a max contract guy under any circumstances, they just can't throw around money without careful consideration and still do that. Some guys are going to have to go.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 06:39 PM) For 2010, if Gordon isn't resigned, their salary is $35,869,696. Without including options being picked up, we're at $27,195,000. Which leaves more than enough to resign Gordon and also a max contract. The cap is currently at, $58,680,000. http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/da...aries/bulls.jsp Trust him, he actually spends thousands of research on getting that info. Hoopshype really isn't considered to be as accurate as shamsports, though some may think otherwise. I digress. I don't think Noah and maybe even Tyrus should be retained. Noah is part of the problem. He cares more about the grass, him and Tyrus can't seem to learn a playbook to save their lives along with Nocioni. And Noah really has frustrated the coaching staff already with his antics(from the inside). The $35.8 mil still doesn't count all of their "cap responsibilities". You can use whatever site you want, you still have to make sure it accounts for everything that affects their cap space. That number simply adds Rose's option (which will obviously be picked up) and Noah's option to the $27 mil from the guaranteed multi-year contracts. That doesn't factor in the qualifying offers for Tyrus and Thabo, and until we renounce the rights to those guys those totals will count against the cap (or sign them to an extension, but then it'd be more). Granted the team has total control over whether or not those stay there, but with their history on guys they've drafted and "developed" I wouldn't assume that they'll be renounced. And we really don't have "more than enough" to keep Gordon and still have room for a max deal, at least not without some dumping. Their guaranteed deals and Rose's option alone are at $32 mil, add $10 mil or so for Gordon and you're over that $40 mil threshold, making a max deal unlikely. Even if you can move Hinrich, the total for the remaining 4 is at almost $34 mil with plenty of roster spots left to worry about (6 mil for even the 8 active players is a stretch), or at $36 mil if it's Nocioni going instead of Hinrich. At least two of Hinrich, Nocioni and Tyrus have to go if they want any hope of signing Gordon and still getting a max contract player, and probably Thabo as well. I don't see how that's "more than enough room".

Personally, I'd be most worried about Miami in the 2010 FA derby. As things stand right now even with all of their options on young guys exercised AND Dwayne Wade's $17 mil player option factored in their cap total for the 2010 off-season is around $35 mil. They can easily afford to bring in another max player besides Wade. They have an awful lot of things going for them: a top-5 player in the league, another potential stud with Beasley, a popular warm-weather destination and IIRC no income tax. Of course that's moot if they go after Boozer this year, but who knows. Cleveland is in a similar situation where they can afford Lebron and another stud, and if Portland waits until 2010 to pay Aldridge and Roy as well as let some of their young guys go (Outlaw, Blake, Frye and Diogu) they can have enough room for a max deal too. Personally if I'm a FA I take all of those places over New York, and probably Chicago too if Rose does what we all think he will, and they're a well-supported team in a major market too.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 01:32 PM) Yeah, I just caught that too with the 27 Mil. We are still in a decent position for 2010. The salary cap should be at about 60 Million. we may not have 50 Million to spend like NY or Det (but how much do you really need for 1 major signing) . If we deal Noc and/or Kirk, it puts us in position for a 2010 run especially if we let Gordon walk. I still think we can re-sign Gordon (it would have to be no more than 10 mil per) and make a run. If we can't deal Noc or Kirk for cap space, then we should just let Ben walk. You need 18-20 mil for a max signing depending on where the max salaries end up (I'm not entirely sure how to figure that out. I know the max overall offer is 5-105, but I don't know how cheap you can make the first year to make it fit). They'd have to REALLY clean house to be able to afford both Gordon and a max player. Deng, Rose, Gordon and a max player alone is about $45 mil (assuming 10 mil for Gordon and 18 for the max player), two first round picks the next two years is about another $4 mil. That means you can only have another $10-13 mil in salary and/or cap holds on the roster at the time of the max signing, which means at most one of Hinrich, Nocioni and Thomas. I really doubt that this organization would strip down the roster to that point, they'd really have to scramble to fill in the other 7-9 roster spots on the cheap (15 player rosters, 12 active, right)? It's definitely feasible that they can have enough cap space to make a run at a max contract FA, but they have to be fairly careful with the salary commitments from here on out.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 12:32 PM) Where do you get your Numbers from Zoom? Gooden and Hughes come off the books the next 2 offseasons and I mentioned trading Noc. How would we be in salary cap trouble? Only 27 Mil is on the books for the summer of 2010. I'm assuming you were looking at hoopshype just like me. You have to figure out what is actually counted in the yearly totals when you're doing the cap math, it doesn't automatically count the team options (though I think it does for player options). The $27 mil only counts the multi-year contracts of Deng, Hinrich and Nocioni, it doesn't count the $5.55 mil "option" for Rose, the $3.2 mil option for Noah, or the qualifying offers for Tyrus, Thabo and Simmons ($6.23 mil for Tyrus, $3.86 for Thabo and $3.74 for Simmons). I'd hope that they just out-right Simmons at that price, but I have a hard time seeing them do the first two given our history with core players.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 11:21 AM) all the Bulls have to do is unload nocioni for a 2010 expiring and they could be Major players (that includes also re-signing Gordon). I really don't think that is all that far fetched. I don't understand how you could assume the Bulls won't sign a 2010 FA and the knicks will. That is very unfair and unrealistic analysis when comparing the 2 franchises. Anything can happen in the next 18 months. They have zero chance at a 2010 FA if they re-sign Gordon. If the Bulls let everyone walk, pick up the obvious options on Rose and Noah and choose not to renouce Tyrus and Thabo, their total payroll/cap hold going into that off-season will be around $50 mil when you also factor in their next two 1st round picks, leaving them roughly 9-12 mil in space depending on where the cap ends up. That DOES NOT include Ben Gordon. Gordon would be at least another $10 mil on the payroll, so unless they cut about $20 mil in contracts as well (basically two of Deng, Hinrich and Nocioni, plus another small one if it's the last two) they'd have zero cap space. If these contracts were so easy to move for expiring deals, it'd probably be done by now, especially since neither one starts for the Bulls. Everyone has been talking about clearing up the logjam in the backcourt since the off-season and it still hasn't happened. Very few teams are looking to add contracts past 2010, and even fewer are willing to do it for marginal players. With the state of the economy an awful lot of owners are looking to cut long term costs, not add more. Hinrich and Nocioni both have 3 years and over $20 mil left on their contracts, that's a lot to swallow for guys that wouldn't start on a lot of teams. It's not impossible, but it'll also take some effort to get expiring deals back instead of some other team's trash with bad contracts (now if they'd simply renounce the rights to Tyrus and Thabo that year it'd be A LOT easier, that takes off about 10 mil in cap holds).

Northwestern with the HUGE upset in East Lansing.

The problem is that the Bulls may not even have enough space to go after one of the studs. Even if they let Gordon, Gooden and Hughes walk and out-right Cedric Simmons, they'll still need to find someone to give them a comparable expiring deal for Hinrich, Nocioni or Deng (even then they may be a few mil short depending on where the cap/max salaries end up), which likely won't be an easy sell since damn near everyone in the league is going to be trying to do the same thing. Or alternatively they can simply out-right Tyrus and/or Thabo to save a bunch of money, but I would think that's not terribly likely. Either way, it'll take a lot of maneuvering/cost-cutting just to be one of the 16 teams or so trying to convince a good free agent to sign with their team, and some of them may re-sign/not opt out/pick up their option by then. It will probably be a lot easier in this market to get someone to give you their talented-but-overpaid player for expiring contracts like Hughes and Gooden.

I think the salary total for the Bulls actually has to be between Steve's number and DBaho's (unless the Bulls take someone back). Tyrus/Noah/Thabo comes out to about 10 mil (I'm not sure how the pick is factored in the salary totals), Noc/Gooden/Noah comes out to about 17.4 (again, not counting the pick). Brand makes around 13.8 this year, so I think one of Noc/Gooden needs to be included to even up the salaries (more likely Gooden since he's expiring anyways).

I like the idea because it's a potential impact move that doesn't rely on us waiting until 2010 to go after a FA that we may/may not be able to make a max offer for anyways. That said, it's risky. Brand hasn't played well this year, he's not finishing at his usual rates inside and is shooting far more jumpers. He also has 4 more years left on his deal (not counting this year) at an average around 16 mil a year. If he doesn't get back to his old form (or worse, regresses as he creeps up over 30) that can be a hell of an albatross on the salary cap.

There's a difference between "dumbing down" the offense and doing what the Bulls are doing right now. Their offensive basically consists of 3 guys standing on the perimeter while a big that can't run the pick-and-roll sets a pick for Rose, then if he doesn't get to the basket it gets kicked out to someone that generally passses it around the perimeter or takes a long jumper. They really run more of a quasi-DDR offense than D'Antoni's system (though with picks), they don't really do the "7 seconds or less" thing and they don't shoot anywhere near enough 3's. Plus if that's really what their goal was then either Del Negro is an idiot for forcing a system that they know they're not suited for or Paxson is an idiot for not bringing in different players that can run the system (if they knew that was the system they were going with than yes, re-signing Deng was not smart). Either way it's a serious mess. Skiles at least got it to work with most of the same core for a while and they played better defense too. I'm more inclined to believe that Del Negro isn't quite sure what he wants to do or how to do it and that the players don't respect him at all than anything else.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 11:24 AM) One thing about Deng right now...the offense we're running currently isn't really tailored to him any more. His job in the current offense is to sort of sit outside and wait for a shot to come to him rather than generate anything. Yeah, his performance is down, but if he's not in position to do what he's good at, we ought to expect that. That's what annoys me, numerous people on this board realize that Deng floating out around the perimeter is a bad thing because he's not quick enough to consistently get to the basket from there nor a good enough shooter to hit the long 2-pointer regularly, and yet they still put him out there. What he can do is move well without the ball, finish when he does get around the basket (he's regularly been around 60% in the basket area) and hit a pretty good number of mid-range jumpers. Is it really that hard to set up a curl or pin-down for him once in a while? It's not like your other players are lighting it up with their current system, especially if Rose and/or Gordon is having a rough night.

Basically everything has gone wrong since the end of the 06-07 season except for winning the lottery. I can't blame him for some of it. Wallace made sense at the time even though it completely backfired (and JR supposedly pushed it anyways), he had a great Gasol deal on the table but it got nixed, Hinrich's play fell off a cliff after they gave him an essentially market value extension, and though he did overpay for Deng it wasn't totally obscene given that Prince and pre-breakout Butler and Howard all got around $10 mil a year. However, buying into the post-NCAA Tyrus hype instead of taking the much more polished Aldridge was brutal, Nocioni got an extension comfortably over what he's worth, he's done nothing to solve the immense logjam in the backcourt, the froncourt is a joke and Gordon may well walk at the end of the year because of how they've mis-handled that. Also, JR played a role in it, but the Del Negro hiring was awful, he has no clue what he's doing and I've seen grade school teams that run more complicated and well thought out offenses. This roster is a mess and I really don't trust Pax to fix it.

I knew that BS 5-point possession where Hightower called the intentional/flagrant/technical/whatever was going to come back to bite the Cats. Still, they simply can't make shots when they need them.