Bulls will try tapping international market

[dasox24]

Bulls will try tapping international market

By Mike McGraw Daily Herald Sports Writer

Posted Tuesday, July 13, 2004

 

While trade talks involving Jamal Crawford going to the New York Knicks collapsed on Monday, the Bulls set their sights on a sought-after international free agent.

 

According to the Clarín newspaper in Argentina, 6-foot-7 forward Andrés Nocioni will arrive in Chicago today to meet with the Bulls and discuss a contract. A team source confirmed the story.

 

The 24-year-old Nocioni, described as an athletic, aggressive wing player, was never drafted and is free to sign with any NBA team. He played for Tau Ceramica in the Spanish league last season, averaging 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds during Euroleague play.

 

Nocioni made a name for himself at the Tournament of the Americas in Puerto Rico in 2000 when he dunked over Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. He did the same thing to Ben Wallace at the 2002 World Championships when Argentina became the first team to beat a U.S. squad filled with NBA players.

 

Back then, some NBA scouts viewed Nocioni as an undersized power forward, which might explain why he was never drafted. Observers say his perimeter skills have improved dramatically and Bulls general manager John Paxson was impressed during a visit to the Copa del Rey, a Spanish tournament, in February.

 

Nocioni has an expensive buyout clause in his contract with Tau Ceramica and has said in the past that he would only join an NBA team if he were assured ample playing time. The Bulls can offer all or a portion of their $5 million mid-level exception and told Nocioni he will be their sixth man next season, if not a starter at small forward ahead of rookie Luol Deng.

 

Meanwhile, the heavily-rumored Crawford trade has fizzled. A league source said talks regressed over the weekend and the two teams were never close to working out a deal.

 

The Bulls were willing to take Shandon Anderson, Dikembe Mutombo, Othella Harrington and Frank Williams from New York for a re-signed Crawford, Eddie Robinson and Jerome Williams.

 

It would have been a money-saving move for the Bulls, since Mutombo, Harrington and Frank Williams all have one year remaining on their contracts. Robinson and Jerome Williams are signed for two and four years, respectively.

 

The Knicks reportedly refused to include Mutombo, offering guard Moochie Norris and center Cezary Trybanski instead. But the Bulls were adamant about not taking on either player.

 

Crawford, the Bulls' leading scorer last season at 17.3 points, is a restricted free agent, which means the Bulls can match any offer he receives from another team.

 

Crawford's agent, Aaron Goodwin, has maintained his client is worth more than the mid-level exception, which is all the Knicks or any team over the salary cap can offer without a sign-and-trade agreement.

 

The Bulls remain interested in signing Crawford to a new contract but don't want the starting salary to be any higher than $5 million. They've suggested that Goodwin find a concrete offer from another team if he thinks his client is worth more.

 

The Denver Post reported that Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe has expressed some interest in Crawford, but the Bulls have not discussed trading the 6-foot-5 shooting guard to any team besides the Knicks.

 

The Crawford saga is likely to carry on for a few more weeks. It's still possible that New York could sign Crawford to a six-year, $37.5-million offer sheet and see if the Bulls are willing match.

 

Click on the link for Nocioni's scouting report:Link

Here's a scouting report on another foreign guy that the Bulls are looking at:

Arvydas Macijauskas

6-4, 214, Shooting Guard, TAU Vitoria (Ltihuania), Age: 24

Written by Luis Fernandez

 

One of the best pure shooters in the world, Arvydas Macijauskas is very close to accomplishing his dream of playing at the NBA. Born 24 years ago, he's another product of the unbelievably talented Lithuanian pool. He made his debut in his domestic league at age 16 while playing for Neptunas Klaipeda. After three seasons, he was signed by Lietuvos Rytas, a powerhouse club in Lithuania. He spent four years there, winning two championships from the almighty Zalguiris Kaunas in 1999/00 and 2001/02 and earning MVP honors in 2001/02 and 2002/03. But international stardom came for him at the 2003 European Championships, when Macijauskas led his National team in scoring (15.8 per game) en route to wining the golden medal, along with his performances in the Euroleague with his new team, TAU Vitoria, where he has played for the last season averaging 19.4 points in the competition (second overall total after leading first stage with 21.50 ppg) and 18.5 points in the ACB League this season.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses:

 

Macijauskas is a world-class shooter. He's right there with the best of them. Not only because of his reliability, but also because of the tremendous speed in which he gets his shot off. Any momentary lapse on the part of his defender and he fires. He can be dribbling in motion or coming off a screen, and in no time he balances himself to shoot. He can practically shoot the ball asleep from anywhere on court. His free-throw percentages are usually over 90%. Arvydas is also a decent penetrator, finding ways to finish in traffic in spite of his height, as he shows a good stroke in any situation or distance.

 

The main problem for Macijauskas is that he's a shooting guard trapped in the body of a point guard. Not only because of his size, but also because of his thin frame and poor athleticism for a shooting guard. His defense is not even average at the top levels of European. His attitude looks OK, but the results aren't there. He gets abused by stronger and faster match-ups. On the offensive end, he's not always patient and occasionally makes bad decisions, especially when he's not getting good shooting position. Sometimes he insists on dribbling in front of his match up, trying to find room to penetrate or to shoot, and risks excessively the possession of the ball. In fact, when playing against decent defenders who are familiar with his game and typical body fakes and moves, he can barely create his own shoot due to his average ball-handling and explosiveness.

 

Why sign him?

 

As you can see, Macijauskas is a very unique player, with some amazing weapons to play the game, but also with some very noticeable flaws. That's why his potential to play at the NBA level remains a mystery. The main problem is of course his defense. If he already suffers in Europe, what will happen in the NBA going up against faster, taller and stronger opponents? It's quite probable that if he does make it he becomes a one-dimensional situation type player in the NBA, because given his height and athleticism it won't be easy for him to score on anything more than jumpers.

 

Therefore, I don't think he has the proper tools to become a starter at the next

level, but his wonderful stroke could make him a valuable off-the-bench player. He will need a coach that believes in him and knows how to take advantages of his great strengths while masking his weaknesses as much as possible.

 

What seems pretty clear as of right now is that he's on his way. His $200,000 buyout is a

bargain these days, and he seems pretty eager to try the next level. The Chicago Bulls are rumored to be his destination, but that was before they drafted a much more athletic version of himself in Ben Gordon. Considering the field goal percentages that we saw this year in the NBA, there are quite a few teams that could use such a pure shooter, but the initial speculation about a 3 year, 9 million dollar contract seem a little far fetched even though it wouldn’t be the worst contract handed out this summer.

 

I hope that we sign this Nocioni guy; he could be like our "Ginobli." And, I doubt we'd have $$$ left over to sign Macijauskas, but if we did, I'd love to sign him to be a shooter off the bench like Kerr or Pax.

[AngelasDaddy0427]

I'll be happy if the bulls don't suck ass this year...