John Paxson Options

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Where do you think Stephen Curry fits in the draft? Not that he'd fit the Bulls. He is a small dude but the kid can ball! I love watching him.

[Steve9347]

Honestly, I don't think that's an effective strategy this year for two reasons:

1) There are several VERY bad teams out there, it'd take quite the tanking effort to get into OKC/Minnesota/Washington territory and we're still 5 games up on several other teams already. I don't think we can get higher than 5th in the lottery order, and even that would take some effort.

2) Outside of Griffin, this draft appears to be a crap-shoot at the moment. It doesn't look like there will be a whole lot of difference between #5 and #15 (honestly, outside of Griffin and Harden the guys I like are projected in the late lottery), though there's obviously plenty of time for that to change.

I don't give a spiff. I have checked out of Bulls season until Paxson does something to fix this mess of spiff other than lucking into Derrick Rose.

[ZoomSlowik]

I somehow forgot about Shawn Marion being there, he did average 10 or so a game.. I wonder how Paxson would have went after players this summer if D'Antoni would have been the coach to get those type of players that fit his system.

Probably about the same as it did without D'Antoni, Pax has rarely shown the desire to make a big move and part with "core pieces" and we have few high-demand pieces. Maybe D'Antoni could pressure him into making one move like the Harrington one, but I still doubt he'd have the guts to do what he had to and move Deng or Tyrus on the cheap (hard to move Deng anyways, BYC status). I certainly wouldn't trust him to make a major overhaul like that. That's the one draw-back of getting Rose, it probably bought Pax at least one more season after this one unless I'm totally misjuding the situation.

See, back on topic.

[ZoomSlowik]

Where do you think Stephen Curry fits in the draft? Not that he'd fit the Bulls. He is a small dude but the kid can ball! I love watching him.

It depends on what the needs of the teams that fall in the 4-14 range are and whether or not those organizations buy him as a PG at the next level. Up until this season when he slid over to the 1 he was considered a horribly undersized 2-guard, which meant relegation to the end of the 1st round. Now that he's shown some ability at the point it looks like he'll probably go somewhere in the lottery, though probably not in the top-3 since he's still kind of small even at the point and doesn't have stellar athleticism. Without seeing the draft order, I'd guess somewhere in the 5-10 range.

[Balta1701-B]

Where do you think Stephen Curry fits in the draft? Not that he'd fit the Bulls. He is a small dude but the kid can ball! I love watching him.

Well, I guess if we have to replace Gordon...

[SoxFan1]

Well, I guess if we have to replace Gordon...

Or we could be smart and trade the pick with some of the crap on our roster for a bigger SG who could complement Rose a la a Michael Redd or a legitimate low post player a la a Carlos Boozer. But Paxson is too freaking stupid to do something like that.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

This is from KC Johnson's mailbag on Paxson and possible trades..

We've seen some big trades go down already and there are some rumored trades I'm hearing, like Eddy Curry to the Bobcats. Why am I not hearing any trades involving the Bulls? I think it's obvious we need to make one. Do you know of any Bulls trade rumors circulating? Is it possible for the Bulls to trade for Boozer? --Danny, Kildeer, Ill.

General manager John Paxson confirmed the obvious Wednesday night, saying he's working hard trying to finalize a trade. As stated in this feature many times, one problem is the relative lack of value of the current roster. That said, I'm hearing Joakim Noah and Andres Nocioni have drawn minor interest around the league and that Drew Gooden is a very possible target to be traded. Don't forget Gooden, beyond being a serviceable if unspectacular starting power forward, has an expiring deal of $7.1 million this season. Package him with, say, forgotten man Thabo Sefolosha and perhaps you can get something.

Brad Miller is available. Chris Kaman, reportedly, isn't yet. Would you take a shot at either of those guys? I would, and that's as close as I'll get to playing Sam Smith for a day.

[SoxFan1]

Sign me up for Kaman, but as Zoom and I discussed the other night, what we're looking to deal makes little sense for the Clippers. They don't need Tyrus, as they have Thornton. They don't need Gooden, as they have Randolph and Skinner. They don't need a guard as they have Davis/Hart/Taylor/Collins/Davis/Novak, they don't need Noah because they have Camby and Jordan. The only players I could possibly see them having interest in are Ben Gordon (though they have a younger version in Eric Gordon), and maybe Luol Deng.

[ZoomSlowik]

My comment on the Kaman thing was that they'd have to be pretty desperate to send him to us, we don't have anything that would drastically improve their team with the exception of Gordon (who would have to waive his Bird rights), and considering that they have Eric at a much lower price even that doesn't make much sense. Our best bet is probably something like Gooden (save them 7 mil) and Tyrus or Noah to give them a backup forward with SOME upside. I would have to think someone will be able to beat that.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

My comment on the Kaman thing was that they'd have to be pretty desperate to send him to us, we don't have anything that would drastically improve their team with the exception of Gordon (who would have to waive his Bird rights), and considering that they have Eric at a much lower price even that doesn't make much sense. Our best bet is probably something like Gooden (save them 7 mil) and Tyrus or Noah to give them a backup forward with SOME upside. I would have to think someone will be able to beat that.

Apparently they turned down Gerald Wallace.. That's probably our best deal to offer realistically (Gooden and Tyrus or Noah) but it looks like they're set on keeping him. He'd be a great fit here with his rebounding and scoring from the center position.

[ZoomSlowik]

Apparently they turned down Gerald Wallace.. That's probably our best deal to offer realistically (Gooden and Tyrus or Noah) but it looks like they're set on keeping him. He'd be a great fit here with his rebounding and scoring from the center position.

I agree with that entirely. However, one never knows with the Clippers, and when he gets back they're going to have a heck of a time splitting up those minutes up front.

[Balta1701-B]

Or we could be smart and trade the pick with some of the crap on our roster for a bigger SG who could complement Rose a la a Michael Redd or a legitimate low post player a la a Carlos Boozer. But Paxson is too freaking stupid to do something like that.

You may think it's Pax's fault, but I really don't see why either of those teams would help us out like that. Do the Bucks want to dismantle and rebuild when all we can offer them is Skiles's old guys or draft picks? I can see why the Jazz would prefer a sign and trade with Boozer over losing him outright, but I get the feeling more teams will be having cap space this year than last, and for example, I don't know why Boozer would choose a sign and trade with the Bulls over signing with a team like say, the Heat, who have this pretty good 2 guard and should have the cap space to make him an unrestricted offer this summer.