Tyrus Thomas Options

[Bullerwinkle]

The Return of Tyrus Thomas has really help the Bulls defensively. At the end of the season alot of people were talking trading him. Tyrus Thomas is a bargain right now if you look at his pay vs what he brings to the team on both sides of the ball. He did take more time too develope but now he's a force!

The Bulls have won 3 straight with Tyrus. When he got injured they obviously missed his defense. They now have front line depth again, Noah can get some much needed rest and Gibson can come off the bench now.

It seems to me that the Bulls need to lock Tyrus Thomas up for at least 3 years, he's a great asset...TRADING HIM SHOULDN"T EVEN BE A CONSIDERATION!

[SoxFan1]

The Return of Tyrus Thomas has really help the Bulls defensively. At the end of the season alot of people were talking trading him. Tyrus Thomas is a bargain right now if you look at his pay vs what he brings to the team on both sides of the ball. He did take more time too develope but now he's a force!

The Bulls have won 3 straight with Tyrus. When he got injured they obviously missed his defense. They now have front line depth again, Noah can get some much needed rest and Gibson can come off the bench now.

It seems to me that the Bulls need to lock Tyrus Thomas up for at least 3 years, he's a great asset...TRADING HIM SHOULDN"T EVEN BE A CONSIDERATION!

No, trading him shouldn't be a consideration because he has very little value right now. Letting him walk in free agency should be considered heavily, however.

[Balta1701-B]

No, trading him shouldn't be a consideration because he has very little value right now. Letting him walk in free agency should be considered heavily, however.

He could be quite useful next summer in a sign-and-trade as well.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

I agree, Tyrus is too talented to let him walk in free agency. The problem is we need to clear space to sign a max free agent next summer and that is the #1 priority. I don't even know if there is a possible scenario that would involved Tyrus staying in Chicago even with a Dwyane Wade next year. Maybe if we got rid of Kirk or traded for McGrady?

[Balta1701-B]

I agree, Tyrus is too talented to let him walk in free agency. The problem is we need to clear space to sign a max free agent next summer and that is the #1 priority. I don't even know if there is a possible scenario that would involved Tyrus staying in Chicago even with a Dwyane Wade next year. Maybe if we got rid of Kirk or traded for McGrady?

What are the rules regarding re-signing a player after you've rescinded a qualifying offer? They're an unrestricted free agent at that point but do they still have Bird rights/

[ZoomSlowik]

So of course Thomas has one of his non-factor type games (thanks to some foul trouble) after a few solid ones and the Bulls win anyways against Orlando. He's a capable player, but at least part of the major improvement is that they don't have to play the awful Miller and Gibson as much. Rose has been a beast of late, that's at least as big a factor in their success.

There's no way you keep him around at the cost of a max free agent in the off-season, meaning you have to move someone like Deng, Kirk or Salmons to even think about keeping him. Even then, he's going to start making real money. The minimum qualifying offer for him is $6.25 mil and someone could easily offer him a lot more based on his athleticism if they whiff on the bigger names. That's a fair chunk of change for a guy that's good for about 12-7 right now.

[ZoomSlowik]

What are the rules regarding re-signing a player after you've rescinded a qualifying offer? They're an unrestricted free agent at that point but do they still have Bird rights/

If you renounce him to get his money off the cap, you lose his Bird rights.

[Balta1701-B]

There's no way you keep him around at the cost of a max free agent in the off-season, meaning you have to move someone like Deng, Kirk or Salmons to even think about keeping him. Even then, he's going to start making real money. The minimum qualifying offer for him is $6.25 mil and someone could easily offer him a lot more based on his athleticism if they whiff on the bigger names. That's a fair chunk of change for a guy that's good for about 12-7 right now.

Assuming that he doesn't spend the rest of the year putting up 25/10 a night, I'll eat my hat if anyone offers him a max contract. I could see someone potentially offering him 3/24 or something like that, and it being worth it to the Bulls to match on that assuming they could find a way to sign someone beforehand to play SG. Salmons could still opt out and everything could work cap-wise.

[ZoomSlowik]

Assuming that he doesn't spend the rest of the year putting up 25/10 a night, I'll eat my hat if anyone offers him a max contract. I could see someone potentially offering him 3/24 or something like that, and it being worth it to the Bulls to match on that assuming they could find a way to sign someone beforehand to play SG. Salmons could still opt out and everything could work cap-wise.

A couple of points:

1) I doubt Salmons opts out given his serious sucking this year (how many teams are going to offer $6 mil plus for a guy that can't start for the Bulls, especially with a number of WAY better options on the market?), meaning they would have to renouce Tyrus' rights to have enough cap space to go after someone major. If that happens, the only way they could bring him back is if they whiff on every other significant free agent, basically meaning the Bulls are screwed.

2) I never said anything about a max deal. There's a pretty major difference between the minimum qualifying offer (around $6.25 mil) and a max deal. $8 mil is quite a bit to commit for a guy that is probably the fourth best player on a non-contender right now. We've seen what happens when you sign non-elite players to fairly large contracts (see Nocioni, Hinrich and Deng).

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

We've seen what happens when you sign non-elite players to fairly large contracts (see Nocioni, Hinrich and Deng).

Don't forget Tyson!

[Balta1701-B]

(how many teams are going to offer $6 mil plus for a guy that can't start for the Bulls, especially with a number of WAY better options on the market?

There's one other big issue you're potentially missing here; the looming lockout. Let's say 1/2 the season gets locked out next year. Suddenly he's holding on for $3 million instead of $6 million. And beyond that, he hits next offseason, and the players union has been broken again and the next CBA is even less favorable to players since the owners are taking a beating in this economy. He opts out and gets a 3 year deal for some fraction of the MLE from some team and its entirely possible he comes out ahead in the long run.

[ZoomSlowik]

There's one other big issue you're potentially missing here; the looming lockout. Let's say 1/2 the season gets locked out next year. Suddenly he's holding on for $3 million instead of $6 million. And beyond that, he hits next offseason, and the players union has been broken again and the next CBA is even less favorable to players since the owners are taking a beating in this economy. He opts out and gets a 3 year deal for some fraction of the MLE from some team and its entirely possible he comes out ahead in the long run.

The CBA doesn't expire until AFTER 2010/2011, so there wouldn't be a lockout until after his contract expires.

I also doubt that too many players would rather take $9 mil for 3 years or something like that than $6 mil for one, even if the CBA blows you're going to end up getting more than $3 mil the other two years if you're even remotely useful.