For those of y'all who are more familiar with the bulls salary cap situation, i was hoping you could answer this question. If the Bulls were able to get rid of a Hinrichs contract (or by some miracle, Dengs contract) would they have enough space to offer 2 max contracts next summer or something close to it?

Thanks in advance for any info!

The answer is...it depends on a number of factors we can't answer. Step 1 is to go to this thread and go to the Hoopshype link.

The first thing it depends on is how bad the NBA's revenue situation really is. We've heard possible cap numbers anywhere from 56-50 million for next year, it could honestly be anywhere in that range. If it's $55 million or so, the Bulls can offer a single max contract if they rescind the qualifying offer to Tyrus Thomas or if John Salmons opts out of his contract (it's been reported in several places that he has an opt-out clause but Hoopshype never reflected that and I'm not quite sure why).

Secondly, it depends on whether or not the Bulls are willing to rescind TT's qualifying option and let him walk as an unrestricted FA. There's a lot of other things that could be done with him in terms of sign-and-trade deals that could complicate things.

Third, it depends on whether or not Salmons actually has an opt-out clause and whether or not he actually opts out. Right now, he's been fairly sucky, and he's on tab for $5.8 million next year that he may not match in FA unless he seriously picks up his game.

If you assume that Salmons does not opt out, the cap is about $53 million, and the Bulls rescind their Q.O. to Thomas, then the Bulls will have about $16 million in cap space, without the draft hold. If the Bulls draft a player who does not stay overseas, he holds something like $1 million in salary, and that means the Bulls will have only about $15 million in cap space.

If the Bulls have $15 million in cap space, they likely will not have room to offer a single max deal; they'd be probably about $1 million below able to offer the max deal.

To get up to 2 max deals, one of a number of things could happen. If Salmons opted out, that makes everything easier because it frees up $5.8 million. If he were to opt out, or you were to trade him, and you also were able to trade Deng, and you did not take on any salary next year, that would free up $17 million under next year's cap, and in that case the Bulls could likely offer 2 max deals or at least be very, very close to doing so (to players who had not been in the NBA 10+ years). The answer again depends on where exactly the cap sits.

If Salmons doesn't opt out, then you need to Trade Deng and free up another $6 million or so somewhere. You could do this by trading Salmons as noted, by Trading Hinrich, or by trading a combination of Rose and either Johnson or Gibson. Basically, you want to offer 2 max contracts in the real world, you need to trade Deng and either Hinrich or Salmons, get back only an expiring deal (no 2010 draft picks either), and let Tyrus Thomas walk as an unrestricted free agent. It is also possible that the cap could be so low that trading Deng + Salmons for an expiring deal will not clear enough room for the 2nd max contract; in the case of a low cap, you have no choice but to move both Hinrich and Deng.

(Trading Rose for an expiring contract may not be the most intelligent move).

thanks for all the info. very helpful. so basically it boils down to having to trade deng and either salmons/hinrich to have any shot and getting 2 max contracts. seems practically impossible but man that would quite inticing for free agents next year. "Here Lebron, come play in a big market with Bosh and Rose." Ohhh what could have been.

That's why I'd love to be able to get McGrady and have his 23 million come off the books after this year. Problem is I think Houston is over pricing McGrady's value right now and want a young asset. The asking price almost always dies down when the trading deadline gets closer.

As I noted...it only really works if you can trade both Deng and Hinrich for McGrady. And then there's the whole luxury tax threshold matter for this season.

not to mention the fact with a starting lineup of Noah, Thomas, Salmons, Tmac's Corpse and Rose we may not win a single game

Deng & Kirk for T-Mac & a pick. This is the ideal situation. The Bulls won't be winning any titles this year or in the next few years without some drastic changes. Paxson said he was going to rebuild the lineup around Rose and players that work playing next to Rose. If that's the case than Kirk and Deng both need to go. To a lesser extent Tyrus has to go as well. If Paxson can pull the Deng/Kirk for T-Mac/& a 1st round pick it will set the Bulls up for unlimted possibilities this summer or next summer. Plus, if T-Mac is as bad as everyone thinks, we'll tank the rest of the year while being able to give Taj & JJ big minutes to hopefully improve for next year.

If we can dump both Deng and Kirk we'll be at about $17.3M if we let Tyrus walk. If we decide to sign Tyrus to a reasonable deal we could still have an overall salary below $25M. At $17.3M we'd likely have enough to sign 2 max free agents. At $25M we could sign one max and a couple of 2nd/3rd tier free agents.

Either way, I think the Bulls will be better off long term if they make the move and tank this year. Having another high 1st round pick will help ease the rebuilding process and align talent to Rose's strengths. Only problem with that is the Bulls typically don't draft the right players.

Rose & Noah are the cornerstones of the franchise. After that we need to get a dominate low post PF, and either a superstar SG or SF that plus a guy at either SG or SF (whichever position we don't get our superstar at) that is a lockdown defender and great 3 point shooter. In addition to that we need to strengthen our bench by adding more outside shooters/defensive toughness.

If we pair Noah & Rose with the right combo at PF and the right superstar plus a good defender we'll have a championship caliber team for the next 7-9 years.

heard there is a rumor floating around about a hinrich/thomas/1st round pick for bosh swap. My buddy said he heard about it on the score. Anyone know anything about this and if there is anything to it?

Sounds like it was just a hypothetical floated on Boers & Bernstein.