Sportsunplugged's twitter which hasn't yet predicted anything related to the Bulls correctly has this to say:
Source: Nuggets, Bulls, and Jazz personnel had discussion last week at an NBA event
Were they discussing coffee? A trade? We'll never know.
They couldn't even be bothered to name the NBA event.
I suppose this gets back to their Denver likes Deng rumor earlier, the Bulls want Boozer, and the Jazz get what exactly from the Nuggets? Who knows. I generally have a pretty high amount of faith that journalists don't just make crap up and throw it out there, but these guys may be straining my belief system.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: chicago bulls, Denver Nuggets, trade rumors, Utah Jazz
Forget the Nuggets, why don't the Bulls send Deng and Hinrich to the Jazz for Boozer, rookie Eric Maynor, and Matt Harpring. Harpring and Boozer are both expiring contracts. IF Harpring retires as expected then the Bulls save that money or if Utah prefers they can include Kyle Korver instead of Harpring. The Bulls get a back up point guard and Boozer. Utah gets Deng and Hinrich, both of whom, they were said to covet.
Utah lineup G: Williams, Brewer, Hinrich, F: Deng, Millsap, Kirilenko C: Okur, Koufos
Chicago lineup G: Rose, Salmons, Pargo, F: Thomas, Boozer, Johnson, C: Noah, Miller and the Bulls, if they want, have a lot of expiring contracts at the end of the season.
Utah is trying to get under the LT, why would they take on a lot more salary. We needed a team like Portland that wanted either Deng or Kirk so that they can absorb salary and we could take Boozer. Niether the Nuggets, Jazz or Bulls want to be in the LT, no one can take on more salary and both Utah and the Nuggets are trying to dump salary. A trade can't work.
Yeah, I don't see how that works.
That being said, there's a key Nugget of info that's worth noting here. Denver has a $9.7M trade exception from dealing AI. That could facilitate a deal with the Jazz, who I'm sure don't want to take much salary back.
Unfortunately, you're right, the Nuggets are right at or above the tax threshold themselves, so I don't know that they would want to take back salary by using that exception either.
So it's interesting, but probably nothing.
But who knows, maybe they're just gonna say "screw it, lets spend this year and see what it gets us".
Really like Eric Maynor, would have loved to see him at 26.
He will be a great 3rd guard and cheap while he is on his rookie contract.
Can't see this as part of Utah's plan(financially), although Deng and Hinrich are Utah type players(good citizens).
Bulls become extremely weak at the wing positions, basically just Salmons and hope that a rookie(Johnson) makes an instant impact.
Although, Tyrus almost has to play the 3 in this scenario, which he might like alot, but we the fans and the coaches will probably be pulling our hair out.
Also, removes 2 of our 3 best assets for 2010 sign and trade deals, Tyrus being the third.
A win for Utah, they might even do it if they weren't stuck with Kirolenko's insane contract.
It seems the best deal at this point is sending Deng and Hinrich to Utah for Boozer, Eric Maynor, and either Matt Harpring (who probably will never play again) or Kyle Korver. Boozer, Harpring, and Korver are all expiring contracts. Maynor's is a rookie contract. Utah gets 2 players they have coveted, and it sets them up with decent rotations: G: D-Will, Brewer, Hinrich F: Deng, Millsap, Kirilenko C: Okur, Koufos
The Bulls get tons of possible cap space in 2010 and their lineup is G: Rose, Salmons, Pargo, Maynor F: Thomas, Boozer, Johnson, Gibson C: Noah, Miller. While I don't think this is a great lineup, I do think it would get them to the playoffs, and then comes the summer of 2010, and the Bulls would have lots of options.
Sorry for the double post!! But, from what I am reading, Utah is looking to obtain quality for Boozer. They can't get quality and do a salary dump. Perhaps they are committed to paying luxury tax. The Kirilenko deal and the Millsap deal pretty much asure that is the case. They have 36$Mill tied up in Boozer, Kirilenko, and millsap, all power forwards. Unless they dump Boozer for nothing they are going to pay luxury tax, and I have not heard that they are opposed to that idea, we are only assuming they are.
I do agree that length of contract may be a problem, but Utah is not a 2010 player, and they might prefer to have their players locked up. I can't really say for sure but they have given long term contracts to Boozer, Kirilenko, D-Will, and Hinrich's contract does not extend that far and it declines in value, such that the Hinrich and Deng contracts together stay pretty level and do not get much more expensive over time.
The simplest thing I can figure is something like
Kirk to Denver (he'd make some sense for them)
Linton Johnson to Utah
Boozer to us.
I know the Jazz say they want quality, but my guess is there's some amount of savings at which they'd just say ok, that gets us under the luxury tax, saves us $20M, we didn't think we'd get a deal that good.
On the other hand, I'm still not at all sure the Bulls would do this, because even keeping Tyrus is somewhat problematic. There's no PT to go around up front and there's not enough player to go around in the backcourt. We'd be an injury away from big Pargo minutes.
And oh yeah, it'd put us over the luxury tax. So I think the Bulls would turn down this deal, despite the fact that it's basically Kirk for Boozer straight up. Maybe they'd consider it if it were Salmons for Boozer straight up, dependent on whom in management really calls the shots and loves their guy the most, but they'd still have serious depth and LT issues.
Denver could use Korver, so maybe Denver gets Korver, Utah gets James and Tyrus and Bulls get Boozer. That saves Utah 7 mil
Or to save 5 mil they can send Miles to Denver. I don't know if report is true or not but Denver with the TE makes sense for the Bulls and Utah. It has to be a player Denver wants or could use and only Miles and Korver make sense
If reports are true we turned down Portland offer for Kirk how does sending him to Denver make any sense? The only two things that make sense is what I just send in my prior two post. Miles or Korver going to Denver
I guess it kinda makes since Kirk would be their starting SG like carter was but much better. They could acquire him but I don't think puts them over the top and certainly isn't worth paying the tax for but he would fill a need at starting sg and backup pg.
I don't think they do it either as I said but I can see the idea. They don't like JR Smith starting and Anthony Carter is not a starting SG, Kirk is a huge upgrade and will allow them to scale back billups minutes in the regular season to keep him fresh. They also just lost Jones and that has opened up another 18mpg in addition to carters 22mpg, so they definitely do get a significant improvement and have a need for a defensive guard like kirk. Is it worth paying the tax? Only if Denver thinks Kirk will really help them, its not like it costs them talent.
Update from them is they talked Utah-JR Smith and Thomas, Denver gets Miles and Jerome James and Bulls get Boozer.... Seems like it works out well for everyone but Denver
My guess from all these reports is finding a team to take on James. I think Utah is sold on Tyrus but wants a 2nd player back. Denver trading Smith for Miles makes no sense to me.
I played around a little bit, and sending Steven Hunter from the Nuggets to the Jazz might work, sort of
This
Puts the Jazz on track to save about $4M vs. their current situation. Which isn't a huge savings at all, but it's something, I guess. And if you're a big believer in Tyrus and JR Smith (and/or Jerry Sloan's ability to get really, really mad at them), it's not a horrible deal for them talent-wise. Probably the sort of middle ground deal they might be looking for. Some young talent that fits on reasonable deals, some financial help.
Puts the Nuggets on track to save about $4M vs. their current situation too. (because they're replacing Smith/Hunter's salary with James' insurance paid salary and Miles.
On the court it looks iffy, but if they want to save $4M then this does it.
Unfortunately it gets the Bulls an extra $1.3M, which probably puts them over the LT, especially when you figure in the need to add another body or two. Still, that's a low enough amount they might be able to scrounge around it somehow.
No, but I think it's at least somewhat possible that they could figure out how to make a peripheral move or two and get under the tax. Example: trade Taj Gibson $1M for two rookie second rounders $458k each.
I don't know exactly what Thomas's buyout is for, which is a bit of a problem, but I could see a couple moves that could get us to 13 guys and far enough under the cap we might be able to sign one more in an injury pinch. Which is pretty much what they did last year.
I'd take Smith over Kirk. I know I am in the minority but he would would be a great fit next to Rose. Defensively, I know they are the worst back court in the league but I think our front court defense kills us more. Might as well run and gun and I can't think of anyone that would do that better than Smith for his deal.
It matters but so does dollars and cents, espically to this management group. Smith is owed less than half of what Kirk is and will clear an additional $3 mill in valuable cap space in case the cap number plummets. If the cap goes down drastically, it could mean the difference between getting a max player and not having the money.