Well, here we are about half way through the NBA season and the biggest story isn't the Lakers, Cavs, Magic, Celtics, or any other team. It is what is going to happen this offseason. The free agent market is PACKED with Super Stars. You have:
Amare Stoudamire (If he opts out of his current contract)
D'Wayne Wade
Lebron James
Chris Bosh
Joe Johnson
Ray Allen
Paul Pierce
Dirk Nowitzki
Yao Ming
Kobe Bryant
Carlos Boozer
While many of these players do have player options or early termination options, this is still quite an impressive list. The Bulls easily have room to sign one of these guys, the question becomes if the Bulls get rid of Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, or John Salmons, will they have enough money to sign two of these guys?
I think yes. Ideally, with the group of players that they have already, which two should they sign? I don't know. If this was an ideal world, which it's not, I would hope they go with the two best players available IMO. And that is D'wayne Wade and LeBron James. I know, I know, the Bulls need low post scoring. However, you don't need anything when you have these two. That team would probably look like this:
Derrick Rose PG
D'wayne Wade SG
LeBron James SF
Joakim Noah C
Taj Gibson/Tyrus Thomas PF
However, if you are building a complete team than I think the Bulls should go Lebron and Bosh. Imagine if somehow a miracle occurred and the Bulls got rid of Hinrich and Salmons for expiring contracts. This would be their team:
Derrick Rose PG
LeBron James SG
Luol Deng SF
Chris Bosh PF
Joakim Noah C
That is a championship winner right there. There is way too many weapons on that roster. However, what I really think will happen is the Bulls will sign one max free agent and settle for someone like a Joe Johnson (which I have no problem with).
Derrick Rose PG
Joe Johnson SG
Luol Deng SF
Chris Bosh PF
Joakim Noah C
That is a team that can win the East if you ask me. However, I'm still going to hope and pray that the Bulls go balls out!
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Okay, here's the deal. Call me crazy, but I'd really like to hold on to Kirk Hinrich. With all the trade rumours swirling lately, and the fact that his contract is fairly large, I can see why he's constantly dangled like a minnow at a bass tournament, but he is THE leader of this team and has been for some time.
ReplyDeleteDwyane Wade coming back to Chicago is awfully tempting, but I have a couple concerns. 1) His injury history. 2) Could he and Derrick Rose coexist in the backcourt? Granted, it would be the most exciting guard pair since I don't know when, but there's only one basketball.
LeBron... I would go homeless for a month if it would help the Bulls land Bron. Bosh would be nice, but we already have a lot of athleticism in the frontcourt. That said, he is one heck of a scorer and an entertaining guy.
My options look like this.
1) Bron
2) Joe Johnson
3) Bosh
4) D-Wade
5) Boozer
Yeah, Lebron James would be the shit. I just don't know if the Bulls will bring him in though. When it comes down to it, I bet he lands in either Cleveland or NY, with my money on the later.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Kirk actual has a very friendly contract. It is one of the rare contracts that goes down in value year over year going forward. I see your drinking the Bill Simmons Koolaid with the Lebron/Bosh deal. I would love to see that. I hope it happens but it is a pipe dream. If it does happen, that will be the fastest bandwagon to fill up ever
ReplyDeleteTo an extent you're right Steve. But, next year Kirk is still scheduled to make 9 million, Deng 11 million. Our Payroll next year is set to be 37 million with a cap at around 70 million. Someone like Lebron will likely make around 30 million. So if the Bulls sign him that basically puts us at the limit. However, if the Bulls could manage to drop both of their salaries that would mean they'd have around 20 million to spend. That would probably be enough to sign someone like Bosh. Which would mean that our team would look like this:
ReplyDeleteDerrick Rose - 21
Lebron James - 25
Chris Bosh - 25
Joakim Noah - 24
Does it even matter who plays SG at this point? We would just draft one. There wouldn't be a team that could compete. If Lebron can't beat you on his own, Chris Bosh can beat you with his inside game. If somehow neither can beat you, Derrick Rose's speed will beat you. This would be a team that could legitimately threaten the Bulls' mark of 72-10 and could dominate for the next 6-10 years.
Yeah, but how do you pay all those guys for the next 6 to 10 years, with escalating contracts? I think Bosh will be offered max money by somebody else even if LeBron was on board with the Bulls...
ReplyDeleteDeng's contract has got to go, I don't think he would fit with either star and at this point it looks like he has hit his ceiling in the NBA - and it ain't an 11mill ceiling.
You have to think Rose will be looking for a huge contract his next time around, and Noah is playing his way into one as well.
Maybe the answer is to go after D-Wade and Bosh? Then, your hole is at the 3, rather than at the 2.
Rose/Wade/???/Bosh/Noah
Maybe we could get Noce back? Another interesting name to consider... Andre Iguodala.
I thought that teams were allowed to exceed the payroll space if the players were already on their roster. Thus, if we signed them, then we could give Rose a large contract. Also, paying Lebron 30 mil a year would make him the highest paid player in the NBA by 7 million. I'm not sure what the max is but I'm sure with that room we could sign two max players.
ReplyDeleteI think that we definitly should try and get Lebron (you'd be crazy not to) and in addition, go out and get Staudemire. He's still a quality player and you can play the "cant pay you taht much because of injury history" card and save some cash there. But if you start Rose, Lebron, Staudemire and Noah I don't think it matters who the 5th man on the floor is.
ReplyDeleteI'm terrified of Amare Stoudemire because he has that reputation as a "doesn't care" kind of guy. Incredibly gifted, but between attitude and injury, that's two strikes.
ReplyDeleteAnd with that, this is the most-commented thread EVER.
Rack 'em up!
ReplyDeleteRyan, I agree the Bulls need to dump Kirk's salary to make our Super Team, but I was trying to say it's a friendly contract for dumping salary. We just need to dump his contract and we can get Lebron/Bost and creat the SUPERBULLS! Like you said if we have ROSE LEBRON BOSH NOAH who cares if it's Deng or any playing the other spot, that's a gaurnteed 3 championships if everyone stays healthy.
ReplyDeleteIf we do trade for Amare Stod, he would have to be gone after this year (His Opt out). He's a good offense player, but is clueless on D. He's only 27 but his already.
Yeah, Bosh is the far better choice of the two (Stod and Bosh). Heck, even Lebron Rose and Noah would dominate. The only way a Bosh Lebron offseason could be better would be a Howard Lebron offseason. Now THAT would be unstoppable.
ReplyDelete