The gist of the rumor is the Bulls would dump Luol Deng, Tim Thomas and big Snacks (Jerome James for those of you outside my nickname loop) for Shaq. With a backup plan of possibly moving Hinrich for Camby or Kaman.
For those unaware of rumorpress.net, the author has broken several Bulls trades in the past far before they've become public.
The Shaq trade is interesting, but believable. John Paxson acted
swiftly in moving Tyson Chandler after he underperformed his new
contract and to do so with Deng shouldn't surprise anyone. For a team
that wants to retain strong financial sensibility this is a good move.
The Bulls send 23 million in salary out with this trade while taking 20
million back. The Suns, in the luxury tax area already, would have to
pay out an addition six million because of the trade. If James gets
insurance coverage, that number would lower to slightly less than one
million and could be made up with cash.
The move frees up a lot of money for the Bulls to try to sign Ben
Gordon under the luxury tax threshold, but they'd still land about two
million short, and losing James insurance would actually make payroll
higher if they barely go into the tax than if they went deeper into it
but had James insurance money giving them five million back.
In the future, the Bulls would free up a lot of salary room. Assuming they keep their two draft picks this year, their draft pick next year, John Salmons opts in, and the Bulls bring back Gordon a reasonable salary estimate would be 36 million. Enough money to fit an uber-max contract guy under the salary cap in free agency with a core of Rose, Hinrich, Gordon, Salmons, Noah, <max FA>, and two 2009 1st round picks, and the 2010 1st round pick.
The Bulls would need to get someone who could play out of those picks, because the rest of the roster veteran minimum guys.
As for the Kirk Hinrich for Camby/Kaman rumor, I'm not sure how this
fits with the Bulls. Kaman's trade kicker (15%) makes him an
albatross unless he agrees to waive it. Camby doesn't seem like he'll
do much other than further delay the learning curve for Tyrus and Noah
and potentially an incoming big draft pick.
Niether move with the Clippers really frees up salary space to keep Gordon which would be a necessity if Hinrich is moved.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: chicago bulls, chris kaman, kirk hinrich, marcus camby, rumorpress, Shaq
Shaq-Daddy in Chicago! Interesting!
Doug I agree with you completely. I think this trade makes us better plus saves us money and I think could be ECF finals bound next year. Shaq at 37 is still a pretty good low post player...
I also think Phx does this trade based on getting young talent back to build around Amare. This deal IMO clearly indicates that the Suns keep Amare in the fold. The team I'm not so sure about pulling the trigger is Chicago
If we were to do this trade and having picks 16 and 26 as well, I think it would be smart and try to trade Kirk to Portland for Outlaw and Blake. That saves us additional money plus both aren't guaranteed contracts so we could even not pick up the option on them if we needed to save more money but we really shouldn't have too. The Shaq trade plus the Portland trade should give us enough money to keep Gordon plus stay under the Tax
I agree with you Doug but I still have my doubts that the Bulls would do it... I like Deng a lot too but both Gordon and Salmons will earn cheaper contracts and make a nice SG/SF combo in the process.
I think that's the big problem going forward with signing Gordon and keeping Deng. Do you want 22-24 million locked up at the SG/SF positions knowing you'll have to max Rose out plus land a big.
As much as I like Deng this trade is just too good to pass up
What I'm saying is when you sign Gordon at his 9 million like I think we should with Deng making 12million it's alot invested in the SG/SF spots when you'll be maxing out Rose plus you need a legit big....
Gordon must be signed no matter what because like you said at 9 millions it's a great value contract... The point I'm trying to make is Deng should be dealt because IMO Gordon/Salmons both will be value contracts allowing us to make further moves...
I just don't feel at the 1-2-3 spots is where all your money should be invested which with keeping Deng is how it will be. I'm a big Deng supporter but from what we saw this year with Gordon and all of Gordon's 5 years he is more valuable to this team
Yeah and I like Deng and been fighting for him staying for a while now but just looking at the big picture it doesn't make sense to me keeping him...
Who knows hopefully when the Toronto GM comes out of the meeting with Bosh agent he's in trade Bosh mode and they take Deng off our hands....
I would do this Shaq deal but it would be after we get rejected for Amare or Bosh. IMO with the Suns right now if I was Paxson I'll be telling them he'll only trade Deng in a Amare package and see what comes out of that...
This is a pure salary dump of Deng. While I agree that he got overpaid. he will "only" make $10.3 million in 2009-10, add about $1million per after that. Shaq is not a fit for this team going forward, even for one season.
Deng is probably a better trade chip to keep for a potential offer for Amare, Bosh or Wade. You have to give back something of value if you are going to trade for any of those guys. Shaq will be gone after this season, so we dump Deng's long term money, but lose a tradable asset.
I would love to get out from under Deng's contract but not as a pure salary dump.
Also, the only reason that I resign Gordon, is to retain him as an asset for future trades, and at something less than $9 million per.
Almost forgot, the only way I even consider the Shaq deal is if we get Phoenix's #1 pick also, only #14, but at least it is an additional asset, or player for future use.
There has to be a cost to Phoenix for us taking Shaq's salary off their hands and giving them future salary cap relief. At a minimum that cost should be this years #1 pick, #14.
This would put us in much better position to move up into the 4-10 range, and target DeMar DeRozen to eventually replace Gordon. Although, I would just trade Gordon to the Wiz for the #5 pick and Etan Thomas's expiring contact, then take DeRozen.
I also like Austin Daye at either #14 or #16 to replace Deng, at least in a couple of years when Salmon's is done.
If we stay at 14 & 16 maybe we can get Daye and BJ Mullens. That would give us a ton of length and athleticism in the front court, and both of those guys can make a jumper, Daye from just about everywhere.
All of these moves put us in great shape for the summer of 2010. We would have 5 guys on their rookies contracts, Rose, Noah, DeRozen, Daye, and Mullens, plus Hinrich, Tyrus as a restricted free agent, and Salmons on an opt out.
If you bail on Tyrus and Salmons, you might have room for 2 free agents that summer, plus we add Asik(from Europe) and another #1 pick. That could be one hell of a talented team, and you could still make a move with Hinrich for some value.
We can give them a better deal than Cleveland. Somebody not doing their job right.