Hopefully Kirk Hinrich has better trade value than we all assume.

This is intriguing. Any of those players would definitely help the team. Obviously, Brand would be great b/c he's that true low-post scorer we need and he has been here before. For one, I'm not too worried about his injury b/c he relies on talent, not athleticism to be effective.

And then 'Melo would be great b/c he's 'Melo. 'Nuff Said. People like to point out his 4-20 record in the playoffs, but he led Syracuse to a National Championship as a Freshman, so I'm not too worried about the leadership side of things with him. Regardless, I'm not sure he'd be my first option. I'd rather have Brand and keep Deng.

Okafor would be pretty good too. He would be a big upgrade down low on both ends of the floor, that's for sure. He would provide a true low-post presence for us to stick next to Noah as well as give us a bigger frontcourt than we've had since the Curry/Chandler years. One thing that worried me a little is that other than this past season, he was injured in parts of his 1st 3 seasons. Though, since he started and played in all 82 games this season, I'd have to imagine his injury problems were more just bad luck.

I'd take Melo but I highly doubt Denver would even consider trading him for what the Bulls have to offer.

I'm really torn on whether I'd want Brand or Okafor. I really like Okafor and I think in the right system he'd put up better numbers than he has in Charlotte. He's never really played with a PF for any consistent period of time. I think him and Deng/Noah/Okafor could be the best defensive frontcourt in all of baskteball. And Rose/Thabo could be the best defensive backcourt eventually (if Thabo ever improves enough offensively to become an everyday starter). We would be a sick defensive team capable of running the floor with our PG wing players and Noah.

I also like Okafor b/c he's only turning 26. Brand on the other hand just turned 29. If Rose takes 2-3 years to develop into a superstar PG then that means Brand will be 31-32 and the window with which he can lead us to a title would be short. While Brand doesn't necessarily rely on athleticism to dominate he will need to retain what little athleticism he has into his 30's. I'm not sure that will happen especially if he goes through any more injury rehabs.

The one are I really like Brand more than Okafor is with the FT shooting. Okafor is a liability at the line and we need a player that can knock down free throws in the playoffs especially when you consider that Rose struggled from the line at times. I personally think Rose will bring his FT% up to the 80% mark in the NBA but you never know.

Okafor is more of a center than Brand which is also a plus. I think Noah still needs to get a lot stronger to maximize his potential at center. I think he could be a very effective 4 playing next to Okafor (much like Tyson was next to Curry).

Either way, we need to get some help for Noah. I like Gooden but I'd like to see us get a great PF like Brand that demands a double team and frees Noah up to grab more offensive boards or a very good C like Okafor who allows Noah to guard the smaller 4's and also improves our chances of grabbing every rebound.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8841

Quote:
An informed source confided last week that if Chicago really wanted Carmelo Anthony, it would take Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Chris Duhon and the number 1 pick this year, and a future number 1 in the next two years.


Apparently, that is the asking price for Anthony. Thanks...but no thanks.

Replace all the picks with Gordon/Hinrich and then you may have something that works. even then, that seems like it's pretty steep.

There are 4 players in the league I would swap the #1 pick for. James, Paul, Bryant, and Wade. And then I'd only be willing to add enough guys to account for the cap space, and I'd expect a nice bit back in return. So they're asking for anything involving this year's #1, HA.

Dwayne Wade = Too ouchy to give up the number one pick. Games played per year:

1- 61
2- 77
3- 75
4- 51
5- 51

I'm starting to fear that with all his injuries, Wade is going to end up going the Penny Hardaway route.

Howard

I'm not sure if I'd give it up for him, honestly.

You're freaking insane and completely wrong.

Thank God you are not my GM!

I wouldn't do it for Wade. He's already been injured waaay too much for my liking and its not like its going to change, he plays one way and one way only. I'd rather just wait and pry him over here when his contract runs up.

I would take Wade off the list, and add Stoudemire, Deron Williams, and Dwight Howard.

Regardless of who's on your list, Carmelo clearly isn't (especially not with plenty more added). But just for fun, I'll add Chris Bosh. That's an iffier one though, you know you're getting a very good big man but he's not quite as dominant as Howard.

I think Howard is a guy you can build around. Bosh is a supplemental guy who can be a piece of the puzzle, but not the center piece. He doesn't rebound or block shots well enough for me to be the guy for the number one pick.

But a guy like him makes Deng much better, and Gordon makes Bosh better.

If you trade the #1 pick, the only players you better be looking at are:

Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard. Even still, you'd have to give up probably Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Gordon or Hinrich, so I'm not sure that would really help the team much. I'd rather just wait for the 2010 free agency period and try to clear cap space to sign LeBron, 'Melo, or D-Wade.

But since that's not too likely, I think our best option is trading for a 2nd-tier player (i.e. Brand, Okafor) that would work really well with our #1 pick, Deng, and Noah. Everyone else on the roster would be available for trade.

Maybe I missed it, but I hadn't seen this anywhere yet.

Knicks: Only guy I'd be remotely interested in is David Lee.

Nuggets: Iverson, Anthony, Camby

Clippers: Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Corey Maggette (Hinrich, Gooden, Tyrus, Gordon for Brand, Maggette, Knight would be sick)

Sonics: Bulls probably like Collison, but other than Durant (who they'll never deal), Watson is a nice player.

Suns: Obviously Nash and Stoudemire, but they aren't moving. Barbosa, Diaw, and Bell are intriguing.

Magic: Don't see anything feasible.

Hinrich will be on the Clippers.

Thankfully those teams must not have the NBA package, because if they saw Kirk play every night there's no way they'd want him!

If Shaun Livingston is healthy, Hinrich is a great counterpart to him. He can do some ball handling, but he moves better without the ball and can guard a PG. Just get his Brand in return.

Exactly.

One other alternate path if you do move Hinrich is to look for a big expiring contract within the next 2 years.

If you can move Hinrich's deal out of the way, then hypothetically, you can move into the 2010 offseason with Gordon, Deng, and Nocioni as your 3 big contracts, since Gooden expires this year and Hughes expires in 2010.

And of course, 2010 is the Wade/Melo/Lebron/probably others year where the 2003 draftees all expire. Move Hinrich, and we may well be able to pull off a deal. The Cap by then should be somewhere in the neigbhorhood of $60 million. Nocioni at about $8 million, Deng at about $12, Gordon at about $10, that's only $30 million. Throw in a couple million for each of the draftees and such, don't sign Tyrus or Thabo until after that offseason, and there's potentially $15-$20 mil in cap space.

I'd rather go for Kaman instead of Brand

It would be nice if We can do Gordon/Tyrus/Fillers for Joe Johnson

Why would the Hawks do that? A Bibby/Gordon backcourt would be small and terrible.

hence the 'would be nice' (meaning on our end) . I know they would not do that. If they didn't have so many young pieces already I'm sure we would have a package that would consider for Johnson.

I'm trying to imagine Hinrich on each of those teams. Denver? Hinrich would look silly in that lineup. I don't think Hinrich could play a Phoenix offense, other than those two fast offenses, the rest seem logical for the other team. Well as logical as wanting Hinrich on your team gets.

I think any and all of those teams would be looking to reform the style of play they went with if they picked up Kirk.

I've long thought Kirk's best qualities were his half court defense, even against guys bigger than him, and his solid if not spectacular offense. If you put him next to a guy, say, like AI or Nash, he might work pretty well, because he doesn't have to be the main guy, he can handle the ball some, he doesn't have to worry about creating shots for himself because the other guy is doing that for him, and he takes some of the defensive pressure off of the other guard.

I really believe this is the way to go. We can still be competitive with who we have without breaking the bank with current guys, allowing us to pursue some of the big time players that should be available in 2010. And, in a huge market like Chicago and with the tradition our franchise has (plus the talent), it wouldn't be terribly hard convincing Lebron or Wade or Bosh to want to be the star here.

Can you imagine this team?
PG - Rose
SG - LeBron
SF - Deng
PF - whoever
C - Noah

Now that Isaiah isn't running the Knicks... I have a feeling they are going to have the pick of the litter in 2010.

Lebron's going to wind up facing the same type of choice Kobe had a few years back. Stay with the team that drafted you, get a little more money from them in the process, or take a slightly shorter deal in exchange for a fresh start...except Lebron will have the whole "New York media market money" to factor in to the equation. Something tells me Nike would be willing to chip in a few more bucks to make that happen.

He could well wind up being the first NBA star who decides what city to play in based on what Nike wants.

What does the Charlotte Hornets have to do with this?

reminds me of shaq's Orlando to LA situation.

Huh? I'm afraid I'm too dunce to get that one.

The Hornets drafted Kobe and sent him to LA for Divac in a draft day deal

Oh, ok. I thought the deal for Vlade happened before they made the pick. My mistake.