Explain it to me. You basically need 3 or 4 superstars to win in this league anymore. I look at the S2 salaries pages and see: Rashard Lewis $18M, Vince Carter $16M, Dwight Howard $14.5M. That's $48.5M in salaries for the 3 superstars Orlando hopes can get them a championship. 18-6 record. The Bulls might pay those guys that kind of money, but they'd only have ~$20M left to pay the rest of the roster (9 more guys required). Those 9 guys are pretty much going to suck. Pierce $20M, Allen $19M, Garnett $16.5M. 20-4 record. Shaq $21M, LeBron $15M, Ilgauskas $11.5M 18-7 record. Melo $16M, Martin $15.5M, Billups $12M, Nene $10.5M 18-7 record. Kobe $23M, Gasol $16.5M, Bynum $12.5M, Odom $7.5M. 19-4 record. Amare $16M, JRich $13M, Nash $13M. 16-8 record. The not paying the LT is a guarantee we can't contend. The best the Bulls can do is sign one guy in that class this summer and hope to have guys on rookie scale contracts being in that class (at that level). But hey, Jordan didn't win a ring until his 8th season. So much for the rookie scale contract idea. Do tell. What is the plan?
So let me ask all Bulls fans, do you believe Rose and Deng are 2 good pieces to start with or do they need better pieces that fit together? I've heard how Rose needs someone to spread the floor a little more than a Luol Deng can at this point.
That they do. That's the point I'm making though. Year after year, the Bulls are #1 or #2 in profitability. Last year they made $55M in profit, yet they refuse to pay the LT at the expense of making only $35M in profit. Given they won't pay the LT, how can we ever expect to compete?
The fact that the bulls haven't had anybody worth spending the money on also plays a small role in that. If the bulls do manage to sign a big free agent in the offseason, in two years they'll be over the luxury cap with a max mystery free agent, Rose's extension, Deng at $12 millionish, and probably Noah around $10. That's over $50 million right there. That leaves about $20 million to sign 8 guys minimum. Unless they get 8 d-leaguers there's no way they don't go over that cap. And by then the C's will be done, Atlanta may be in rebuilding mode, and the Orlando owners will be bankrupt, so the timing is probably good too.
The pattern is that we'll have expiring contracts like the several we have now, including players who are unable to play. Not that we'll be over the cap. MAX is between $14M and $15M. We certainly don't pay our best players that, and we don't even pay our best player $11M or even $9M to stick around. Hey, MikeDC - add "the other teams will suck by then so we'll be champs by default" to your list of plan items.
I think you mean the bulls don't overpay mediocre players who might be their best players just to stay.
I think Gordon makes less than any of those guys, except Odom who's coming off a bigger contract, and that Brad Miller, Kirk Hinrich, and especially Jerome James and Tim Thomas are terribly overpaid.
I'd agree they are all overpaid, but they were signed in a different market. And I think we'd agree that Odom is a more valuable player, being a versatile sixth man on a championship team. Given that Odom is better and the market has changed significantly, BG might be the most overpaid out of all of them since BG is going to be the sixth man on a team that has to scramble to make the playoffs and was signed when everybody knew what the market was going to be.
He's being paid like a 6th man. No matter how you spin it, it's pretty clear that the return of Deng is a loser for us with Gordon gone. Deng was rather easily replaced by Salmons, yet Salmons can't play the 2 like you claimed and is half the player Gordon is at half the price. You get what you pay for.
Salmons is more like 80%. BG is only averaging ~19 now, and with BG you get nothing else but scoring, and he's a liability on defense. At least with Salmons the defense is better. Plus, Salmons can take an ill-advised three in the last 10 seconds every bit as well as BG can... And are you saying BG is being paid like a sixth man? He's the third highest paid player on Detroit, and only makes 1.5 mil less than Rip and will make about as much in the third year. He's getting paid like a starter and his deal is within a million of Deng's deal.
Maybe that is why JR is so happy with the mediocre mgmt. Seems like adding Gasol and retaining Gordon while moving Deng and Hinrich would have been a heck of a nice way to spend some money.
