Paxon blew it but the Bulls were just a year too late. The Grizzlies had no intention of giving him away last year but obviously the ownership just wanted his contract off the books by next year and the Bulls had no big expiring deals.
I remember last year there was a group of people exclaiming "Gasol's going to be given away just like Iverson was. We don't need to give up Deng. We should be able to get him for Nocioni, Duhon, and PJ Brown!" I thought they were completely unrealistic homers at the time, but damn if they weren't eventually right.
The bulls could S&T PJ Brown He and Duhon would be $12M in expiring deals. Our next year's draft pick is going to be a good one. The lakers' 2 picks probably won't be lotto even.
The Lakers just committed highway robbery. Plain and simple. They just vaulted from 2nd round team to contenders.
If I was a GM I would lobby David Stern to investigate and make sure there isn't money changing hands under the table.
I wonder if the Grizzlies plan on going after Gordon or Deng in FA. Probably not since they have Conley and Gay - Iguodala and Okafor are much more attractive from their POV.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GM3 @ Feb 1 2008, 03:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Paxon blew it but the Bulls were just a year too late. The Grizzlies had no intention of giving him away last year but obviously the ownership just wanted his contract off the books by next year and the Bulls had no big expiring deals.</div> As Pax has been fond of saying, there's always talk going on even if it doesn't amount to much. So it's very likely he had some sense of where Memphis would want to go if it traded Gasol. Not saying Pax should have made a trade in anticipation of what they want, but if you know maybe you can have a contingency lined up. Such as ... it seem likely to me the Bulls could have turned Noc or Smith into expiring contracts (think we couldn't have sent him on down to Miami) if they really wanted to, and then sent them on to Memphis. Beyond that, there are other alternatives, like taking on Cardinal, who, while expensive, still probably wouldn't kill us tax-wise. So I tend to think it's a cop-out to say "the Bulls didn't have any options given the circumstances". There were might have been a lot of things that could have been done with sufficient creativity. Or, stepping back in time, hey, maybe signing Noc to a 6 year $38M deal wasn't all that smart. It's easy to say "there's nothing we can do now because of the circumstances", but ultimately the Bulls are somewhat responsible for the circumstances. Saying the circumstances just always happen to work out against the Bulls' favor I can buy once or twice. But when seemingly every trade that goes down is just a matter of "bad timing" for the Bulls, well, I think it's fair to ask why the Bulls have consistently bad timing.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rwj @ Feb 1 2008, 03:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I wonder if the Grizzlies plan on going after Gordon or Deng in FA. Probably not since they have Conley and Gay - Iguodala and Okafor are much more attractive from their POV.</div> Yeah, I'd tend to agree, although I could see them making a run at Deng just based on the fact they think he's good. ----------------- C'mon, the Bulls have gone after every player traded in the last 3 years. And it's not that the Bulls didn't have better players to give up, it's just that, due to circumstances, they were better but didn't happen to be what the other teams conducting those 178 trades wanted. You know, just a coincidence. Just bad luck. Like the time you broke up the girl and said "it's not you, it's me". Well, Pax seems to hear that one a lot.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Feb 1 2008, 04:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Or, stepping back in time, hey, maybe signing Noc to a 6 year $38M deal wasn't all that smart. It's easy to say "there's nothing we can do now because of the circumstances", but ultimately the Bulls are somewhat responsible for the circumstances. Saying the circumstances just always happen to work out against the Bulls' favor I can buy once or twice. But when seemingly every trade that goes down is just a matter of "bad timing" for the Bulls, well, I think it's fair to ask why the Bulls have consistently bad timing.</div> As long as we're stepping back in time, let's trade PJ Brown for Kurt Thomas. There are thousands of ways this deal could have happened.
This could make free agency free. Emeka Okafor HAS to be #1 on their list. If Jordan doesn't feel like losing Okafor for nothing, but doesn't want to pay Okafor's contract that Memphis is giving him, we should get in on a sign and trade with Jordan. We could do something like Thomas, Smith, and filler for Okafor. (Bobcats should be under the cap, so it makes the BYC easier to deal with). Nocioni would be the obvious throw in if Bobcats were willing to take him. Come on Jordan, get r' done!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rwj @ Feb 1 2008, 05:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Feb 1 2008, 04:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Or, stepping back in time, hey, maybe signing Noc to a 6 year $38M deal wasn't all that smart. It's easy to say "there's nothing we can do now because of the circumstances", but ultimately the Bulls are somewhat responsible for the circumstances. Saying the circumstances just always happen to work out against the Bulls' favor I can buy once or twice. But when seemingly every trade that goes down is just a matter of "bad timing" for the Bulls, well, I think it's fair to ask why the Bulls have consistently bad timing.</div> As long as we're stepping back in time, let's trade PJ Brown for Kurt Thomas. There are thousands of ways this deal could have happened. </div> but... fiscal responsibility! :|
