Bulls/Sixers, Bulls/Heat trade ideas

Ed Stefanski, the new GM, is clearly trying to cut cost and Andre Iguodala's will be a RFA this summer up for a new contract. Under the CBA rules, even before he signs a new contract, Iggy will eat up $8.4M in cap room. That's not the end of the world since that's something close to what he'll probably get anyway. But...

... if the Sixers want to maximize their cap room and long term savings, a player with a couple years left on his rookie deal (ahem... Tyrus) would make pretty good sense then. Since they aren't winning in the short run, perhaps exchanging Iggy for a high potential player on a cheap contract for a couple more years. Plus, they need a PF and have a plethora of swingmen.

So, they trade a soon to be expensive guy who's not going to help them win now for a cheap guy who might help them win down the road. And they pick up another $4.6M in cap space this summer.

Tyrus for Iggy works straight up via the checker. I have no idea if the Sixers like him or not, or if they'd want anything else to do a deal like this, but it could be done CBA-wise.

For the Bulls, there are a few hiccups to consider. First, can the Bulls play everyone?

In my longterm vision, yes. Iggy helps in several ways. First, he's a slasher who brings a seriously needed new element to the Bulls offense. Second, he's a solid ball handler, and could probably facilitate the offense with Hinrich or Gordon, since we know they're both imperfect.

Third, Iggy can play either swing spot, so you can get him on the court with pretty much any other combo of guards.

Fourth (here's the one that'll be controversial), I've always seen Deng's long run best option as he fills out (I expect he will) as playing the 3 and 4, not the 2 and 3. His lack of quickness already gets exposed a fair amount on the perimeter, but in the past he's had some success matching up against 4-5s like Sheed and Dirk. He's not exceptionally tall, but he's got long arms and relative to most of those guys, he'll still have a quickness advantage if he fills out a bit and adds strength.

Alternatively, if Gordon is truely destined for sixth-mandom, then we've gotten ourselves our starting SG.

So put all that together and you can, in the long run, go for stretches with Deng, Iggy, Hinrich and Gordon and be pretty well set. You get a lineup with a lot of flexibility and options at the very least

Second, will the the Bulls resign everyone? Without another move, no, they'll go over the luxury tax signing three quality players and I think there's a snowball's chance of that happening. However, I think there are deals available to get to where they need to be. Essentially the Bulls problem is they'll have a lot of money locked up in part-time players. Smith and Nocioni are the most obvious ones. I'd think a salary dump of those guys would be doable and necessary.

I'd look for something like a second trade, with the Heat:
Chris Duhon, Andres Nocioni and Joe Smith to the Heat for Udonis Haslem and Jason Williams. This deal seems like it might be worthwhile for both teams.

The Bulls would get the luxury tax breathing room to re-sign all of Deng, Gordon and Iggy (thus committing their cap room to the guys who are actually playing big minutes) and also end the crazy log-jam of similar 3/4 type players on the team. Haslem is a younger player than Smith and a relatively strong player (more of a true big man than Noc) who can help us control the boards heading into the future.

1- Hinrich, Williams
2- Gordon, Iguodala
3- Iguodala, Deng, Thabo
4- Deng, Haslem
5- Wallace, Noah, Gray, Haslem

For the Heat, I think they'd at least consider such a deal. Duhon would be an upgrade to their PG situation at this point, his scoring deficiencies would be minimized next to Wade and Shaq, and Noc would bring some toughness and shooting they need in a bad way. Smith is a perfectly solid fill in for Haslem (although too old of course) on a reasonable contract. I don't think they do any really major damage to their cap structure and they get a lot of help.

 

This is one of the few deals that I would consider. I like Noc though he has been our best overall player this year. You have a nice line up there. Haslem is pretty good, but needs a resurrection. Same for J Williams.

A deal I would think about, wouldn't close it right away, but think about it for sure.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Jan 3 2008, 11:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>It seems a tad optimistic to think we could get Iggy for Thomas. Iggy's a budding star while Thomas can't get PT on a team that's 12-18 and badly needs a starting PF.</div>

That would be the fatal flaw in the plan, wouldn't it?

I think they might ask for a draft pick as well, but still. Iggy is one of those guys who I think is somewhat underrated and overrated at the same time. A bit like our own guys.

By that I mean I don't think he's so good it should be some sort of huge trade to get him even though he's a good player. He is a good player, and a good fit for us, but he's not Kobe either.

I think what it'd largely boil down to is whether Stefanski is still tantalized by Tyrus. He may very well turn around and say he'd do it for Noah (to which, I hope, Pax would tell him to get bent). But that's based on my personal evaluation of the players. My hopes rest on some GM out there liking Tyrus a lot more than me.

So yeah, it comes down to what we think of Tyrus.

 

They need a scoring big to complement Sam Dalembert and Jason Smith , ultimately , may be it

I can't see the Sixers trading AI in a month of Sundays and certainly not for Tyrus Thomas when they are developing Thad Young and Rodney Carney that will slot into the SF slot and Jason Smith at the PF spot. What they need at the forward spots is further short term vet help. They have Reggie Evans and that's it

Its all about bums on seats - the revenue side - as much as it is about the costs and AI helps keep the paying customer come back

The contract that I believe they will try and move is Andre Miller which will see them shed around $10M + next season and put them $20M under the salary cap ( before their draft pick )

Andre Miller is an upgrade over Chris Duhon and a Miller / Hinrich backcourt works heaps better than Duhon / Hinrich.

He is a genuine dribble penetration point guard who can break down, create and run an offense. Hinrich playing off the ball with Miller running the show , I believe , would see a drastic improvement in not only our offense but also our defense given that Hinrich would be freed from this point responsibility that I don't believe he is equipped to handle full time . Miller is also more than equipped to handle most point guard covers defensively

It also covers us for the possible loss of Gordon who may play out his RFA contract and then go UFA

If Gordon goes down this path we would then have Miller/Hinrich/Curry as the 3rd guard if he can grow into it plus a likely mid 2008 1st round pick to bolster the guard rotation. If Curry can't grow into this 3rd guard and /or we can't get anything good from the 2008 draft then there would always be exception free agency to bolster the guards

Barring any major trades ( and I don't think we can realistically unload Ben Wallace ) then our front court rotation is set for the next 2 to 3 seasons with Wallace,Smith,Noah,Gray and Thomas

Therefore the expiring contracts of Duhon,Khyrapa, with Sefolosha might be sufficient to get Andre Miller to the Bulls

I do like the Heat as a possible trading partner and if we could swing a trade for Andre Miller I would seriously consider dealing Ben Gordon to the Heat for Daequan Cook and the Heat's 2008 Unconditional 1st round pick . Smush Parker and Earl Barron would have to be thrown into the deal to balance it up ( cap wise )

This would then give us Miller and Hinrich at guard with Daequan Cook as the 3rd guard ( pure scoring guard ) off the bench . Parker could augment the guard attack battling minutes out with Jameson Curry ..Barron gives us a scrub big body that is an expiring contract

The money that we pay to Dre Miller,Smush and Cook is slightly more than what we would have to pay Gordon next season but would be declining thereafter with Miller's contract up for reneg in 2009 and Smush expiring with a player option next season

This deal also gives us two likely fringe lottery /mid first round picks in 2008 ( ours and Miami's )

Miami gets Gordon to pair with Wade ..Gordon the outside shooter to complement Wade the slasher

 

Abe, what the hell are you talking about? <span style="color:#2E8B57">Don't you know Tyrus is going to be an elite scoring power forward?</span>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Jan 3 2008, 08:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Abe, what the hell are you talking about? <span style="color:#2E8B57">Don't you know Tyrus is going to be an elite scoring power forward?</span> </div>


Heh

I did say they also have the promising Jason Smith at strong forward

 

3l1t3!