Stolen from Soxtalk, quoted from The Sporting News:



If that's out there, he'll be a Blazer in very short order.

i hear u but i doubt pax will do anything

The problem the Bulls have is that they can pretty much make the 2nd best offer no matter what the Suns want. If the Suns are big time after cap space next season to get under the luxury tax, the biggest contract we can offer is Gooden, and he's only $8 million while LaFrenz or Marion are 1.5 to 2 times that. If the Suns want a big time big man, the best we can offer is Tyrus or Noah, while other teams can offer Beasley or Aldridge or Yi. If the Suns want a PG, they'd have to take on Hinrich's contract from us, which may be unpleasant.

I'm just not sure exactly what the Suns are going to want for him. But whatever way they want to go, it seems like the Bulls can only put together the 2nd best offer.

Honestly, I don't think Portland should have any business in this trade. They shouldn't get rid of LA. They have a great young nucleus that should be kept together. By making this trade I honestly think they have a setback. However its just a rumor that Portland would deal LA.

As long as he doesn't go to the Pistons or Heat I'm fine if TT keeps playing out of his mind. Do I want Amare? HELL YEAH! But with each passing day the more I think he's not coming to us. Portland would be crazy to trade for him but Phoenix would be crazy not to accept their offer. If we can get Stoudemire we could have a chance at getting the #5 seed in the East which would be good and we might even be able to sneak past the first round. Without Amar'e, we continue to build up our team in the offseason and keep TT and Noah as our future front court (Assuming Tyrus plays well throughout the rest of the year).

The Portland one blows it out of the water, but other than that it seems like the Bulls have the edge. Yi blows and is currently out with a broken finger, and Phoenix seems to prefer Tyrus to Beasley even though the latter seems to be a better fit IMO. True, we don't have as big an expiring contract as the others, but Tyrus seems to be a major chip in the Bulls' favor.

I find it hard to believe that Portland would really do that, Phoenix should take that deal in a nano-second if it's offered. Aldridge gives them a relatively comparable player (obviously not as good a finisher as Amare and doesn't draw as many FT's) that's younger and cheaper, a huge amount of cap space (and I think insurance is also paying most of LaFrentz's contract, not sure if that transfers) as well as a high ceiling prospect. Yes, Amare is a better player than Aldridge right now, but monetarily it doesn't make sense at all. Then again, Paul Allen owns the team, and if anyone can ignore the financial issues he's on the short list.

Right now I'd like less and less to give up TT as well, but this team needs to make a move. They're in that netherworld right now where they will be just below the level of cap space they'll need to offer someone (Bosh/Wade/Amare) a max deal in 2010, they won't be able to match anyone who does offer Gordon a Max deal next offseason, they have 2 salary cap assets in the next 2 seasons (Gooden/Hughes), and they have more guys than they have minutes for. They have 2 guys who are being paid starter money who could start for a number of teams in this league but who are stuck on the bench or out of position because of how the lottery balls have fallen.

Something has to give. If it's not Amare, then damnit create some extra cap space or an extra draft pick or something.

The problem is that no one wants any of our veteran players that we're trying to move, they want Tyrus and to a lesser extent Noah. Those are probably the only guys that can actually bring in value.

Here's the solution then...take less value than they're worth. For Gooden, or Hughes, or Hinrich, or Nocioni, I'd be happy to part with them for less than they're worth if it gave us an appropriate piece for the future. For Noc, I'd take a guy who never plays but who's contract is cheaper than Noc or expires sooner than Noc. For Hinrich, an expiring deal and a late 1st rounder would be just fine.

With the roster the Bulls have, they have no choice but to make some moves. Standing pat right now is just suicide because it leaves us in salary cap and luxury tax Hell.

If Portland actually offered that deal, which also apparently included picks and the rights to Joel Freeland, and Kerr DIDN'T take it, I'd be shocked. That's an incredible offer by Portland and is great for PHX. While it's a steep price for Portland, I think it's a great deal for them as well. Amare gives them an incredible duo paired with Roy and as Oden develops more, they could be an even more amazing team in the near future. If they could just get a good, consistent PG who can distribute the ball and hit the open shot, they'd be making some noise in the west.

By "value" I meant ANYTHING useful, not just things we can actually use. Most likely we're looking at getting comparably bad contracts back, if not contracts that are longer. I seriously doubt that Hughes would still be here if we could have done that, and I would guess that it's similar for Hinrich and Nocioni considering they're not even starting for us.

Yeah, but Amare's stats are trending downward. Tyrus's are trending up.

Its another Wallace/Tyson situation. Do you think Amare can put the Bulls over the top in the next 1.5 years? Go for it.

If you think it will be about 3 years before Rose is ready to take the Bulls on a deep playoff run, hang on to the young guys and hope they can develop some chemistry.

Which way to go? I'm not sure.

You're kidding, right? I mean...you have to be. Amare is 26! He's not some veteran who is on the decline. Ever since PHX has changed their philosophy, he has "struggled", if you want to call 22/9 a night struggling. Either way, like Zoom said, Tyrus's upward trending stats still don't sniff Amare's averages. And I can nearly guarantee Tyrus will never amount to what Amare has amounted too.

It sounds like that Portland scenario is coming from the Phoenix end an awful lot more than from Portland.

I don't want to argue the general point, but I'm curious about where you get the 22/9 since they changed philosophy, because this season he's averaging 20.8/8.2, and I can't figure out how that would come out to 22/9 with any rounding technique.