Offseason: Draft, Needs, FAs, Trades, Chicago Bulls Options

[ChWRoCk2]

Thought we could use a thread strictly for discussing the offseason. It will be a long one.

We have two first round picks this year. #16 and #26

Do we try to trade up? Draft players from both spots.

Save our money for 2010? Possibly go after say Boozer or Jermaine ONeal?

Just things to discuss and think about it.

I'd love to get Terrence Williams and DeJuan Blair. Doubtful we could get both though unless one falls.

[Sanitarium]

Kirk and/or Luol and/or Tyrus will be traded.

I would really hate to see Tyrus go... he has so much potential and, judging by how much he improved with his jumpshot this season and communicating with the team better, he's made a serious commitment to improving as a player. I have no idea why he's always on the bench.

[Balta1701-B]

Thought we could use a thread strictly for discussing the offseason. It will be a long one.

We have two first round picks this year. #16 and #26

Do we try to trade up? Draft players from both spots.

Save our money for 2010? Possibly go after say Boozer or Jermaine ONeal?

Just things to discuss and think about it.

I'd love to get Terrence Williams and DeJuan Blair. Doubtful we could get both though unless one falls.

Boozer is a FA this offseason. He will likely wind up with Detroit barring someone pulling off a miracle and finding more cap space, although a sign and trade could be possible if we could interest Utah in about $15 million worth of our current contracts. Jermaine O'Neal is not even close to a FA: he'd have to opt out of something like $20+ million for next season. He'll make more next year by not opting out than he would in his next 5.

The Bulls have no cap space this offseason to speak of. They could use the MLE for 1 season if they lose out on Gordon. In 2010, they're currently a couple million away from being able to offer a true max deal.

Trying to trade up would be an intelligent move if anyone wanted it...but it's a wide open offseason right now. We can survive without making changes for once. But some changes would be darn nice, and we're in a great position to make them.

[GreatScott82]

Well first off i would like to say that series with Boston was amazing. I never thought we would be that close. The reason i say that is- this team just doesn't play defense. . in game 7 we saw that as we gave up too many easy layups. With that being said i would say objective #1 is to either get a new head coach who stresses defense OR get a defensive specialist assistant to add to the coaching staff.
Objective #2 - I hate to say this but were better off just letting Gordon walk. Save that money for 2010 as guys like Bosh, Nowitski, Wade and Stoudemire will be available.

Objective #3- Make a deal. I would offer Toronto Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas for Chris Bosh. I would have said Noah, but it seems as if Noah has more basketball smarts than Thomas and Im sure Toronto would want a guy as athletic as Thomas if they are giving up there best player.

Objective #4- Draft an athletic guard to come off the bench to back up Rose. I would love if Stephen Curry would still be available at #16. Draft another big guy to come off the bench. BJ Mullens would be a great pick up. Hopefully he falls to 26- i highly doubt it, but you never know..

Your 2009-2010 chicago bulls:

Joakim Noah C
Chris Bosh PF
Luol Deng SF
John Salmons SG
Derek Rose

Bench:
Hinrich PG-SG,
Stephen Curry PG
Tim Thomas SF-PF,
BJ Mullens PF-C
Aaron Gray C (re-sign him to a cheap 1 year deal)
Lindsey Hunter G (re-sign him to a cheap 1 year deal- the dude is great as Rose's mentor)

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Trade Kirk, Tyrus, filler and our 2 First rounders for Amare. Then resign BG. A lineup of Rose,BG,Deng,Amare,Noah would be EC contenders. If that fails I'm pretty sure Kirk is going to be traded but I'm not so sure about expirings anymore. Our team darn near got to the 2nd round when we were expecting to barely give the C's a series. We need to restock on some good players. I'm a fan of Travis Outlaw and to me Kirk in Portland makes sense.

[GreatScott82]

Trade Kirk, Tyrus, filler and our 2 First rounders for Amare. Then resign BG. A lineup of Rose,BG,Deng,Amare,Noah would be EC contenders. If that fails I'm pretty sure Kirk is going to be traded but I'm not so sure about expirings anymore. Our team darn near got to the 2nd round when we were expecting to barely give the C's a series. We need to restock on some good players. I'm a fan of Travis Outlaw and to me Kirk in Portland makes sense.

The only way we re-sign BG is if we trade Hinrich. In that case your sacrificing solid defense and hustle for an inconsistent scoring machine. . . Would that be worth it? I guess in VDN's basketball world it would be. I would like Amare, but his injuries scare me. Bosh is a sure 20-10 every night.

[Balta1701-B]

The only way we re-sign BG is if we trade Hinrich. In that case your sacrificing solid defense and hustle for an inconsistent scoring machine. . . Would that be worth it? I guess in VDN's basketball world it would be. I would like Amare, but his injuries scare me. Bosh is a sure 20-10 every night.

I would vastly prefer BG to Hinrich.

And I'd vastly prefer Bosh to Amare. If you allow me to factor in their contract status, and you assume the coach will play them equal minutes, I pretty much value Tyrus and Amare the same right now, given age, injuries, defense, the Suns offense, and how much more expensive Amare is going to be for the next 6 years. You can laugh at me for that if you want.

[Bullerwinkle]

As I see it Tyrus Thomas has made excellent strides and will stay. He will either start or be 6th man but for the Bulls to trade him now would be a mistake.

I hate to see Hinrich go but it appears that may gonna happen. He can start at PG or SG for too many teams. If Gordon stays the Bulls are looking good

I'm not so sure you go for Bosch with 2 first round picks. With Noah and Miller in the middle the Bulls are set.

Aaron Gray can play but doesn't fit with the Bulls up tempo so he's gone as is Tim Thomas and Lindsey Hunter.

I think your starting 5 will be what it is now next year: Rose, Gordon, Thomas, Noah, and Deng. Salmons is the 6th man

If Hinrich goes you need another guard and you need another PF. As I see it, you don't mess too much with the chemistry. If you can get Amare I favor him over Bosch.

Gotta watch the cap too folks....these are some salaries for those who will/may be here next year:

* Brad Miller - $12,250,000

*Kirk Hinrich - $9,500,000

*Luol Deng - $10,370,425

*John Salmons - $5,456,000

* Derrick Rose - $5,184,480

*Tyrus Thomas - $4,743,598

*Joakim Noah - $2,455,680

[ZoomSlowik]

The way I see it, one of the following two things has to happen for the Bulls to make any kind of progress next year:

1) Acquire a big man that can actually create their own shot

2) Retain Gordon

If one of those two doesn't happen, their offense, and in effect the team as a whole since they're not a good defensive/rebounding team, is screwed. The lineup works reasonably well right now because Rose, Gordon and Salmons are all capable of going off at times, but replace Gordon with Deng in the starting lineup and you have problems. We've seen what happens when Deng, Tyrus, Noah and Salmons when he's not hot try to create shots, and it isn't pretty.

In an ideal world you trade anyone not named Rose for Bosh and re-sign Gordon, giving you a pretty nasty scoring trio. The defense would be a bit soft, but they're not exactly shutting people down anyways and Bosh can at least rebound. I'd take Stoudemire too, but I'd prefer Bosh mostly for effort/consistency issues, though age, contract and injury issues all lean a bit in his favor too (Amare has the big microfracture injury and the fractured orbital bone, but Bosh tends to get more minor ones that force him to miss about 10 games). Obviously depending on trade scenarios and Gordon's demands we may have to settle for well less than that.

As for the draft, this class BLOWS. Getting someone useful with either of those picks would be a serious longshot. Someone like Jordan Hill would normally go in the late lottery/mid-first and he's a likely top-5 pick. There are some guys I like (DeRozan, James Johnson, Henderson and Patterson), though none are more than role players. Taking a project like Mullens and Holliday might not be an awful idea.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Terrance Williams and Dujuan Blair are my two choices in the draft. I think those guys would fit good on our team because of their versatility and defense.

[JDsDirtySox]

As much as it pains me to say it... I think we have to let BG7 walk.
He is lookig to get a big pay day, and I don't want to give him what I think other teams will.
If he could be had for 9... I would do it, but he turned down 11, and there are talks that he is looking for 12 to 15.

I would rather roll with a lineup of Rose, Salmons, Deng, a Stud Big Currently not on the team, and Noah.
If I had my choice, I want to keep Kirk to have as the 6th man off the bench. Kirk is the heart of this team IMO.
He isn't Chauncey Billups, but I think he is that type of important to our team.

that means we have 2 first rounders, Tyrus Thomas, and Brad Miller (and his huge contract) as trading chips.

If I had my choice... I want Bosh.
If he can't be had in a trade... don't panic and make a move just to make a move.
Wait for 2010 and land him then.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Well if there was one player to pay last year if you had to decide between Deng or Gordon I would have said Gordon. We signed the wrong dude. Gordon will be better than anything we can possibly get next year, we HAVE to resign him or look for a sign and trade to get a star player in return.

[GreatScott82]

As much as it pains me to say it... I think we have to let BG7 walk.
He is lookig to get a big pay day, and I don't want to give him what I think other teams will.
If he could be had for 9... I would do it, but he turned down 11, and there are talks that he is looking for 12 to 15.

I would rather roll with a lineup of Rose, Salmons, Deng, a Stud Big Currently not on the team, and Noah.
If I had my choice, I want to keep Kirk to have as the 6th man off the bench. Kirk is the heart of this team IMO.
He isn't Chauncey Billups, but I think he is that type of important to our team.

that means we have 2 first rounders, Tyrus Thomas, and Brad Miller (and his huge contract) as trading chips.

If I had my choice... I want Bosh.
If he can't be had in a trade... don't panic and make a move just to make a move.
Wait for 2010 and land him then.

Awesome post and my thoughts exactly. Make a push for Bosh! He would be much more valuable than Stoudemire. I think Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas with a first rounder should be more than enough for Bosh. If not, he is a free agent in 2010 with the rest of the star studed free agents. I don't want Pax to make the mistake of giving Gordon a big deal and holding us hostage into not being able to make splash to significantly improve our team in the summer of 2010.

[rockren]

It looks like this thread has hit exactly what Bulls management is going to try to do...make a run at Bosh.

Tyrus, Miller and the two 1st Rounders will be offered to the Raps before the draft for Bosh IMO. After Colangelo sat down with Bosh a few weeks ago, the first thing Colangelo said to the media was, "We're not trading Bosh." That just goes to show Colagnelo's meeting with Bosh actually went...not well for Toronto. Colangelo will look to build around Bargnani from here on out. Putting Tyrus next to him would match better with Barganani than Bosh did anyway. Not that Tyrus is half the player Bosh is, but Tyrus wouldn't take the low block away from Bargnani like Bosh does. Tyrus playing with a big man in the post would help maximize his potential as well...he'd be great next to Bargnani.

The Raps would get the cap relief from Miller they would've gotten from Bosh anyway while picking up 2 1st Rounders and a RESTRICTED Tyrus Thomas. The Raps would be crazy not to pull the trigger...but they may put the pressure on themselves to let Bosh walk for nothing before the 2010 season...which he'll do.


As for Gordon is concerned. Let him go. The Bulls don't currently have the roster to facilitate him in maximizing his potential. Gordon needs to play with a team that has players who demand multiple double teams. The Bulls don't have one. A team that will creep into the Gordon sweeps (if there are any sweeps for what he actually wants) will be Portland. It has been no secret Portland has been eyeing Gordon for years and have all of the sudden been rumored to have wanted to clear cap space to go after a FA. It may take as much as 5/65 to bring in Gordon. Only a rich owner like Paul Allen may be able to stomach that kind of money for Gordon...but Gordon could reach is max potential in Portland next to Roy. If you watched that Houston series...Portland's best long range shooter was Travis Outlaw. Portland has an embarrassment of riches, which would make a sign and trade deal easy.

Gordon for Outlaw, Webster and Rodriguez. Webster would serve as Gordon's long term solution and is a much better fit to Rose being a 6'6'' G who can shoot from anywhere. Outlaw and Rodriguez contracts would be off the books after '09, but would provide depth and energy for next season. If Portland were interested in adding Gordon to their young/crazy talented roster at 13mil for the next 5 years...they'd make this move. If the Bulls couldn't facilitate a sign/trade deal like this for BG...let him walk for nothing.

A deal that I believe MUST happen...trade Hinrich. I don't care what for. Trade him to Milwaukee for Ridnour and Elson. Both of their contracts are off the books for the 2010 season and would save the Bulls 17 million for the 2010/2011 seasons on a guy who is no more than a backup on our team. Elson can give 10-15 quality minutes a game for any NBA club.

My ideal roster for 2009/2010...it'll never happen:

Rose, Salmons/Webster, Deng, Bosh, Noah....Rodriguez, Salmons/Webster, Outlaw, Elson, Ridnour, Tim Thomas, Jerome James

[dasox24]

If Pax doesn't think we can move any of our bigger contracts (e.g. Hinrich) this off-season, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Bulls sold one of their draft picks (or traded for a future pick) to keep money off the books for 2010.

I really hope they make a run at Bosh this off-season, though I doubt anything will happen. We'll probably have to wait until the trade deadline next year to get some action. I just think Toronto will want to hold on to him as long as possible in hopes of either working out a new deal with him or getting more in a trade for him.