/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-080626-kirk-hinrich-chicago-bulls,1,2185810.story Kirk Hinrich seems vulnerable in Bulls' guard logjam By K.C. Johnson Tribune reporter June 27, 2008, 12:35 AM CDT Larry Hughes' contract appears impossible to move. By turning down a five-year, $50 million extension last summer, Ben Gordon, who must approve any sign-and-trade scenario, announced to the NBA he wants $10 million annually — at least. With an overloaded backcourt that also includes Thabo Sefolosha, Kirk Hinrich has to be the most viable trade candidate and odd guard out, right? Bulls general manager John Paxson downplayed any imminent trades until the restricted free-agent status of Gordon and Deng is resolved. And Paxson suggested the Bulls would take a "cautious" approach with top pick Derrick Rose, likely bringing him along slowly. With Chris Duhon out of the team's plans, Hinrich is the only remaining point guard. Reached Thursday, Hinrich declined to comment. But the veteran guard has said consistently he wants to remain with the organization that drafted him as Paxson's first lottery pick in 2003. Staff scribblings The Bulls are negotiating with at least two experienced coaches to fill Vinny Del Negro's first staff, sources said. Former head coaches Bob Hill, Paul Westphal, Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff have interviewed. Harris and Bickerstaff are considered the leading candidates. Holdovers Ron Adams and Pete Myers aren't expected to remain on the bench, although Paxson has maintained they both will have front-office roles. Layups The Bulls extended qualifying offers to Deng, Gordon and Demetris Nichols. … Rose is the first guard to be the top overall pick since Allen Iverson in 1996. … On the team roster at www.bulls.com, Del Negro is listed as the interim head coach. Surely the error can be attributed to not removing the text from Jim Boylan's title. And given the precarious job security of any professional coach, it isn't entirely wrong. But still …
Thats crazy that he has to approve any sign and trade, so I think if pax is gonna trade him, trade him to a team that will be puttin ben in a winning situation, but also a team that we can get something decent or just as good in return
Well, if we want to go with a bigger backcourt, pre-draft was the time to try and move assets. Portland had a need for a PG to pair up with Roy, Martell Webster was available.... he could have replaced some of Gordon's shooting if Gordon were to leave. Hinrich, Nocionu for Webster, LaFrentz made sense on many levels. Now with Raymond Felton being available, Hinrich's stock has to drop a bit.
The CBA rule is that no player can be traded in the last year of his contract (Gordon and Deng are in their last year). The exception is Sign and Trade. The "Sign" part obviously requires the player to sign a new contract, so he in effect has the veto.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tim @ Jul 2 2008, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>What type of player would the Bulls be looking for in exchange for Hinrich?</div> You know what we could really use are a few undersized shooting guards. Does Minny have any of those? But yeah, I honestly don't see a lot there that floats my boat. Love or Jefferson, obviously, but we'd have to include more than Kirk. I'd be moderately interested in swapping Kirk and Mike Miller, because then we get a nice tall shooting guard who would be of some benefit, and who has a shorted contract.
I'd rather go after a big man, because if we trade for another guard, we're still gonna be logjamed at that position. I wanna get a true C to teach Aaron Gray and Joakim (since he's our resident C)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Jul 2 2008, 10:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tim @ Jul 2 2008, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>What type of player would the Bulls be looking for in exchange for Hinrich?</div> You know what we could really use are a few undersized shooting guards. Does Minny have any of those? But yeah, I honestly don't see a lot there that floats my boat. Love or Jefferson, obviously, but we'd have to include more than Kirk. I'd be moderately interested in swapping Kirk and Mike Miller, because then we get a nice tall shooting guard who would be of some benefit, and who has a shorted contract. </div> I think a Kirk for Mike Miller deal would make sense. I actually think Kirk still has pretty good trade value. I guess it depends on whether you view last season as an aberration or not. His contract is frontloaded, so it will be about MLE level or less by the time it expires, and if he plays like he did before last season, his contract would be a moderate bargain.
