http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9278

Interesting, I've seen a bunch of articles recently talking about how the Bulls would absolutely love to get Brand. I think either of this deals would be more than fair in my eyes. Well, as long as Brand passes the physical they are fair.

I like it A LOT assuming the achilles isn't a lingering issue.

Do. It. Either deal...do it.

if it is hinrich and gooden for brand do it. im not giving up on tyrus yet, i think this will be his year.

That would make me so happy to see Brand back in Chicago. I've been talking about wanting to bring him back for a long time now, and I really hope it happens.

He was on the radio the other day talking about how he'd love to come to Chicago if it ever happened!

nice. we are trying to bring everyone home. lol

Tyrus will NEVER consistently produce like Brand. That is a guarantee. If all it takes is Tyrus/Hinrich, you do that deal and run away laughing like little girls.


Get his ass on board!

Yeah you are if it gets us Brand, lol.

I guess the question is do the Bulls believe in Tyrus Thomas and if so, what do they expect the Bulls timetable to be. Is a low to mid 30's Brand better than Tyrus Thomas in 3 years time when the Bulls are probably going for the title? Obviously Brand is superior now and there is a good chance he'll still be superior than, but if the Bulls believe in Tyrus than that is the only legitimate reason I could see passing on the proposed deal (assuming Elton is healthy).

I'd prefer Gooden/Hinrich simply because it enables the Bulls to keep there youth and I have no problem giving Tyrus one more year, however, if it took Hinrich/Tyrus I'd have absolutely zero problem doing it.

Before we got Rose I was thinkin that Gordon was going to be the odd man out, but the more I hear Pax talking about how Gordon will become a better player because of Rose the more I think less that he will be traded. I don't know how much I should be reading into this but, Paxson has mentioned Gordon, Tyrus, Joakim, Thabo, and Larry as players that will become better because of Rose, yet he hasn't mentioned Luol's name once (That I have heard). Maybe its Deng that is becoming the odd man out?

The only way that Deng being the odd man out makes sense is if you've targeted a young, potentially better SF as his replacement, because no one wants Nocioni holding down that spot. Interestingly, I think Denver might well be shopping one of those.

There is also a guy named Andre Iguodala out there. However, I've seen where Paxson has indicated that Rose will make Deng better and I fully believe Deng is still in the Bulls plans despite a down season.

AI is of course just an RFA and Philadelphia is a team with cap space. If AI really wants out of Philly, then we'll see him signing his 1 year tender offer. Otherwise he's going to get locked up for a few years.

Elton Brand back to the Bulls... HELL YES! Bring him back here Pax.

I wouldn't read too much into what Pax says about Deng and Gordon when he talks about how Rose will affect the current roster. That way I see it, Pax is talking about the current, up to the minute roster, with no regards to possible trades or future plans at all. Even if he knew he was trading Deng tomorrow, he'd still talk about him as a Bull today.

I agree. Not very often are you going to here a GM say "Well, we're looking to trade player X so we're not worried how player Y will effect him."

Secondly, Welcome Aboard!

I gotta prefer a Hinrich-Gooden for Brand deal over a Hinrich straight up for Camby. I like Camby but Brand would bring more offensive punch. Do it, Pax!!

First off, welcome aboard!!!

Secondly, I agree with you to a point and I think part of what Paxson has to comment on allows him to gain further leverage (or keep existing leverage) in any trade discussions he has with other teams. However, at the same time I've found it very interesting that we've heard very little discussion or mention of Kirk Hinrich the past couple weeks and that is either because the Bulls have absolutely zero intent on trading him (thus as of now they aren't concerned about putting out his market value, yet at the same time they want to be able to throw out that reference to any team that is in fact interested in Deng or Gordon (as Pax can say, well we aren't forced to trade anyone as we could move Hinrich). But thats less likely.

Bottom line you always have to take GM speak or coach speak with a grain of salt (to a certain extent) but I haven't heard anything about Duhon or Hinrich and I think there is a reason why. The funny thing is, if the Bulls pulled off a deal for Brand (centered around KirK) or the rumored deal for Camby Duhon could actually have value to Chicago (as a quality back-up point guard). This point guard crop is thin too so the Bulls won't have a ton of options to bring in a veteran backup (which could mean they use Hughes or Ben Gordon as a backup point and that isn't a good idea).

I definately agree with you. I also wonder if the Bulls could work a draft pick into the equation in the Camby deal, but clearly if all it took was Hinrich/Gooden to get Brand you do that instead of the Camby deal.

Elton Brand officially opted out of his contract today, so this means any deal with the Clippers would be a sign & trade. Should mean you are able to work out a deal without necessarily giving up equal value (since the alternative is him walking for nothing). However, with so few teams under the cap the Clippers could have a bit more leverage than would be typical in a sign and trade.

But at the end of the day if Brand wants to go to a specific team, the onus will be on the Clips to get things worked out. Maggette also opted out and if the Bulls moved two of Hinrich/Deng/Gordon/Hughes, you could make a case for going after Maggette with the mid-level exception (although that may not be enough to get him).

It'd be nice, but I REALLY think he's Heat-bound.

Man, I sure hope not... Why do you think that? Are there rumors out there saying that or just a hunch?

there are rumors going around that if brand were to be traded it would likely be to the heat.

The initial reports seem to indicate that Brands preference is to resign with the Clippers. Ownership and the coaching staff loves Elton in LA so I wouldn't be shocked at all if he signs a long term extension. In fact, I'd put the odds at around 90% that he stays.

However, its not to say that another team couldn't make things interesting or that Donald Sterling gets cheap (something he has a history of doing).

What I don't understand is how we traded him to the clippers because he didn't want to sign an extension with da bulls. He was looking forward to leaving. Now he wants to come back? I don't know how credible this source is.

The Bulls sucked considerably more back then than they do right now.

As much as I'd love for this to happen, I just don't see it.
Brand's comments on the radio can be attributed to the fact that he's a nice guy, and he'd never publicly badmouth a team, especially the one that drafted him, ESPECIALLY on a local radio show.
Secondly, he's in the movie business, a professional schmoozer. When talking to him about future deals, one should expect nothing less than a smile and a handshake and that's exactly what he gave listeners during that interview.

All the talk right now has it where Brand WILL most likely re-sign with the Clippers, esspecially if Baron Davis heads over there which reports have indicated to be his #1 destination. I highly doubt Brand will be a Bull again. Will Pax once again go through an offseason where he fails to aqcuire a true Post player?

In Paxson's defense, this team is more than a post-season player away from the title, especially now that they are committed to the development of Noah/Tyrus/Rose. The reality is its pretty much impossible to contend for a title (I said title, not playoffs) with that many guys in need of development. Also, Paxson was able to get a quality post-scorer in Drew Gooden. People clearly underestimate his offensive ability and just overall ability. Gooden is a pretty damn solid player, the only question is how he'll fit in with Del Negro's offense (which apparently will be much more fast paced).

Well, unfortunately, you can all but rule out a sign-and-trade for Brand. Guess he's re-signing...

I know Brand would have looked nice here, but I'm glad for him. I'll always root for Elton because he's been nothing but class and I think he's finally going to get rewarded for that because LA finally looks like a team that can make some noise in the west. They have as good of a big men combo as any team in the NBA (Kaman/Brand), a rock solid PG (Davis) and a pretty solid scoring guard in Mobley (who has quietly had a pretty good couple seasons in LA) and a really really good young player in Thornton (he came on very strong late in the season).

They'll have to improve the depth of the bench and it would be huge if they had an exception to go out and offer a deal to a legit role player (but I don't know if they do have the MLE).

They do have a couple of other useful pieces there as well...Tim Thomas isn't anything to write home about but he's a decent scorer off the bench...they're holding Eric Gordon now who can give them depth at both guard positions and who knows how much scoring yet...they may well still bring Livingston back just to see if he can give them anything come training camp (who knows though). They need a little more depth in their front court behind Kaman and Brand, that's their biggest need, since Thomas could move over and play SF for a while if they needed.

Livingston could turn into a nice asset, but they didn't offer him up a qualifying offer and my guess is with Davis there he'll find another team to go in as a backup (which may not have that good of a starter) where he'll be able to compete for a starting job if he can show he's past his injuries and still possesses similar quickness. One thing about Livingston is that he has tremendous court vision and I mean tremendous vision.

The Clippers' season will probably come down to their wings. Davis/Brand/Kaman is pretty huge, but you can't really count on the other guys to do anything but score a bit, and their shot attempts will go down now with Brand healthy (Davis basically just replaces Maggette's shots). Good wing players should have a field day against them, the D at those spots isn't very impressive. They should make the playoffs because of that PG/PF combo (won't be easy, though Denver can be passed and Dallas/Phoenix could be vulnerable if their limps down the stretch continue), after that it gets a lot tougher though.

Don't forget about Al Thornton, he's a beast and has the capability of putting up big numbers next season at the 3 spot.

Eh, he's decent. He's a solid athlete but isn't a terribly efficient scorer. He could definitely struggle to get 11 shots a game again. He's also not much of a defender and he's a lot older than most rookies (already 24, 25 in December), so he probably doesn't have as much room to grow, especially when compared to people from the same class like Thaddeus Young.

I think they got a steal with Gordon... Before he messed up his wrist he was taking over games.

I think if he didn't have to deal with the coaching garbage and wasn't hurt he would be in the argument with Beasely and Rose.

Well, early on in the season the competition also kind of sucked. Both of those contributed, but his shot selection was a pretty big culprit as well. For a guy that has been reputed to be an awesome shooter 34 percent isn't very good at all, and shooting contested 3's several steps past the arc didn't help with that. It is kind of hard to figure out exactly how big an impact the wrist had, but I still wouldn't bet on him shooting a high percentage or taking care of the ball. He did look like another Monta Ellis early on with good range, but there wasn't a whole lot of a sample size. I have a hard time seeing him make a major impact in his first year or two.