http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2925284

After signing Lewis, the Magic withdrew their offer sheet for Darko, thus making him an an unrestricted free agent. The Bulls are said to have interest in him. I wonder how much he is asking.

The article says that the Bulls could free the cap room to sign him if they renounce the rights to Andres Nocioni. I wonder if they'd ever do that.

I hope not. Darko hasn't done crap in this league yet.

Darko is easily the best big man on the market this year, and is easily the best big man the Bulls would have. Great defense, blocked shots, rebounds, hustle, and the guy can put the ball in the bucket. He averaged 12 points in the playoffs coming off the bench and when he starts, he and Hoawrd made a great duo.

People think he's garbage because they just remember him averaging 45 seconds a game in Detroit. Have you seen him play in Orlando? Have you seen one of his starts? The guy is talented and solves just about all of our big man problems. You give him 30+ minutes and he has a very legitimate shot at 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

It's not to far off to think he could average close to those numbers. I think the 1st and 3rd are realistic but I don't see him averaging 10 boards on the Bulls. Especially with how Skiles fucks up the rotations. I love to get him if we could get him in the $6-8 million range. However, I think that's a longshot.

After Wallace leaves, if Milicic was still here and starting at C, he would get 10 boards a game relatively easily.

between bobcats, grizz, and bucks, i gotta think we have to be the preferred destination.

Unless a darko for Yi trade happens....what's Orlando's asian population? Nevermnind, they have that thing at Epcot

ESPN said darko is looking for 9-10 million. Can we afford him without it affecting our ability to resign deng and gordon

Chicago and Milwaukee are 1 and 2 no doubt. Both cities have a pretty large Serbian population.

I'd love Darko... but could we afford him?

Unless he takes the MLE, no. But, we could do a sign and trade using Noc or Brown.

$9-10 is too much. That would seriously hurt our chances of signing both Deng and Gordon. Maybe $8.0 million but even that is high. A Darko for Yi trade isn't happening. Darko is now an unrestricted free agent. Milwaukee has enough cap room to sign him without a sign and trade so they wouldn't even consider giving something up when they could get him free. However, I think they are trying to save that money to make a push for Billups although his agent has said he is receiving a 5 year $60 million offer from Detroit. I think he leaked that so that other teams might consider paying more.

As for the Bulls, I think Jerry wouldn't mind going over the cap to keep Deng and Gordon as long as we are close to a championship appearance. We'd only be over the cap/luxury amount for 2 years until Wallace's contract comes off the books. By then, Darko/Noah/&Tyrus more than likely would be enough on our frontline. Tyrus will be looking for an extension around that time as well.

Darko $9
Wallace $14.5
Hinrich $10
Gordon $10
Deng $12
Sefolosha $1.9
Tyrus $3.75
Noah $2
Griffin $1.7
Curry $800K
Gray $800K

= $66.45 + 2.8 million (4 roster spots at $700K) = $69.25 for the 2008/2009 season. That is really not that bad. There were 4 teams last year with payrolls way higher than that and one team (t-wolves) that were a few thousand off of that number. The Bulls ranked 26th in terms of total payroll. They saved money and still sold out the house during the "horrible years". It's time they spend the money and prove they are for real about winning titles again.

As I've said a billion times before, let's just forget about all these trade scenarios, packages, and salary complications and KEEP OUR TEAM THE WAY IT IS!!!

Folks, we got to the second round of the playoffs and lost in SIX games. That isn't exactly a bad thing. No need to trade away guys or spend unnecessary money to bring in guys. Either directly address our need of a scoring power forward, or work with the boundless young talent we already have. Develop Tyrus and Joakim, and we won't need any Kevin Garnetts, Kobe Bryants, Pau Gasols, or Darkos on our team to win a championship.

I think we should try and get Darko. I really don't think Nocioni fits into our future plans, especially with Deng taking up minutes at SF and with Tyrus able to take up the backup SF minutes. I think Darko would be perfect for the team and it would only involve losing Nocioni b/c we'd have to free up his money to sign Darko. I'm not saying we need to go overboard and trade for Bryant, KG, or Gasol.

All I'm saying is that even if we do get Darko at $8-9 million that shouldn't be a huge deal b/c Jerry shouldn't worry about paying a little luxury tax by going over the cap. Several teams in even smaller markets have been in worse financial shape and with less to show for it on the court.

I agree with you that we were good last year and that we were that close to making it to the eastern finals and possibly further. But you can't just say that almost making it is okay. Sure we might get further next year with the same group, or maybe next year the teams we beat like Miami might be better. You can't just assume we are going to get over the hump with natural progression. If we add Darko we'd be adding a player that although he is not the best offensively in the post, he's a hell of a lot better than what we have. He also is another shot blocking presence. Can you imagine a frontline combination of Noah/Wallace/Tyrus/Darko. All 4 are shot blockers. Darko/Noah/Tyrus or Wallace/Darko/Tyrus in the game at the same time would be rediculous in terms of shot blocking ability.

I think with Darko we'd have to be favorites going in to next year. However, with just Noah (who may need surgery on his shoulder if it doesn't heal) and Gray, I really don't think we'd be much closer. Especially if we lose Nocioni for nothing. Having Darko for the next 4-5 years gives us enough big men to not have to worry once Wallace's contract is up. And, with the exception of losing Nocioni, we virtually KEEP OUR TEAM THE WAY IT IS!!!

Perfect opportunity to sign and trade either Noc or trade Duhon for Darko, just figure out a way to make him a Bull. If we go into this season gaining Darko and only losing one I dont care actually if we lose both ill be happy. And we still would have a lot of depth.