I was listening to the ESPN1000 interview with John Paxson and when mentioning the Andres Nocioni situation Paxson said we will keep him or trade him and that losing the basketball asset was not an option. He went on to indicate they would match any offer sheet.

I just wanted to say that while I expected this to happen, it is still good to hear it. We can obviously move him but I think Pax is planning on having him back unless he gets a good offer that would provide the Bulls with additional low post help.

In the interview Pax also mentioned the draft debate was between Yi/Hawes/Noah and with Yi out, Noah won out due to the intangibles and athletism.

An interesting part was he did mentoin he had talked with the Lakers but wouldn't go any further than that.

To me Noc is a frustrating player. For all the great he does with his hustle and way he frustrates opposing players, he just doesn't have the lateral quickness to guard small forwards and the offense starts to stagnate when he's in the game.

We'll lose something if he goes, but I hope for a sign and trade. I think our team and offense will flow much better with Tyrus in there. But I've been drinking an awful lot of Bulls Kool Aid as of late, so I could be way off.

I remember prior to Noc getting hurt that he was really having his best season. He was moving the ball very well (him and Deng really had something going early in the season) and defensively he's still solid as can be (and a very good rebounder).

Noc extends the opposition and is able to provide scoring at minutes coming off the bench (he's almost like a starter) and had the Bulls had a firing at all cylinders Noc I think they beat the Pistons.

Noc is an asset when he is on the floor. He brings so many intangibles, on top of his talent. I imagine he will get dealt, but I will be thrilled if he comes back.

We can agree to disagree then. I think the prior year was truly a better year for Noc. I think he took a step back. For my tastes he's too turnover and foul prone and is truly more of a 4 than a 3. I just think he dominates the ball too much on offense.

And now that he's a FA, if he wants to come back at the 4-5 million a year range I'm ok with it. But if he starts to go to the 7-8 a year, well...it's time for him to go. He can't affect our ability to keep Gordon or Deng.

Makes no sense, Nocioni is not a part of our future. Besides he's not going to play SF for very long now that Deng has risen up as our franchise player. We need to trade him and Duhon for a low post scorer this offseason.

If we get rid of Noc, we have zero bench scoring. None. I would not be upset at all with keeping him. Deng isn't going to play 48 minutes a game anyway and Nocioni's versatility makes him a great asset. How is it in any way a bad thing to keep Noc?

You can't have a team full of 22 years olds and expect to be huge contenders. You need the experience with guys like PJ Brown, Andres Nocioni, or Ben Wallace. And if thats how you truly feel, why not get rid of Wallace too? He's not part of our future.

Yeah thats true, I just think Nocioni woudl rather play for another team knowing that he has no shot at beating Deng out at the SF spot, he could get bigger money elsewhere. Idk why Pax would match a pretty substantial offer but who knows.