Lots of restrictions on Bulls' free-agent plans

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...246,print.story

Lots of restrictions on Bulls' free-agent plans
Talks with Deng, Gordon keep Paxson from acting quickly on roster moves
By K.C. Johnson
Tribune reporter

July 16, 2008, 10:57 PM CDT

More than two weeks have passed since NBA free agency began. Do you know where your 2008-09 Bulls roster is?

General manager John Paxson has stated publicly that no moves can be made until the organization has cost certainty regarding restricted free agents Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. Paxson also has said establishing the team's salary structure would be a priority he would like achieved sooner rather than later.

Yet while high-profile movement such as Baron Davis from the Warriors to the Clippers, Elton Brand from the Clippers to the 76ers and Corey Maggette from the Clippers to the Warriors has transpired in the unrestricted market, little, as usual, has happened among restricted free agents.

Just ask Hawks forward Josh Smith, who was the 76ers' priority until Brand signed and then the Clippers' priority until they traded for Marcus Camby late Tuesday. That move also limited options for Deng, who had been mentioned as a possible Clippers target.

Negotiations between the Bulls and representatives for Deng and Gordon are ongoing, professional—and far apart.

Deng and Gordon have slightly more leverage than last summer, when they turned down five-year extension offers for $57.5 million and $50 million, respectively. They can solicit offer sheets, although only Memphis can currently offer more than the midlevel salary-cap exception, and Grizzlies ownership is in cost-saving mode. They can threaten to sign one-year tender offers and become unrestricted free agents next summer, when the Bulls could lose them for nothing.

Yet there's a reason the restricted free-agent market typically moves slowly. With the team holding the right to match any offer, players have some leverage, but not much.

One reason Deng and Gordon gave for rejecting last year's extensions was that both planned to have greater individual and team success last season. That didn't happen. To pin the blame on Deng and Gordon is wrong because the train wreck involved one and all.

But statistics don't lie. And any way you slice it, both players' statistics dropped. That's one reason the Bulls remain intent on making sure negotiations don't travel higher than the average salary both players turned down last off-season.

With the two sides far apart financially, sources said shorter-term deals have been discussed. Such contracts often are negotiated to bridge differences. They allow players to have security but also to re-enter the free-agent market quicker, presumably, in the players' minds, after a strong performance over the life of the shortened contract.

The Bulls are said to be amenable to such ideas—again, merely seeking cost certainty before making their next move.

Indeed, there's a reason Paxson didn't start shopping Kirk Hinrich for a proven frontcourt player immediately after drafting Derrick Rose. Imagine this scenario: The Bulls trade Hinrich, fail to sign Gordon to an extension and then lose him as an unrestricted free agent in 2009.

Suddenly, a crowded backcourt becomes a crevice. And the Bulls, in that scenario, would be left with Rose, Thabo Sefolosha and Larry Hughes.

When Joe Smith signed as an unrestricted free agent last July 18, the 2007-08 roster was set. No such tidiness will be achieved as quickly this off-season.

 

I think part of this was posted before, but it's still a good read.

Things couldn't have worked out better for the Bulls, if their intent is to squeeze the players on their contracts. On the other hand, if I were Deng or Gordon, I'd be signing the tender offer.

 

Funny. Who do we now have to show for all those guys?

Tyrus Thomas, and maybe Noah depending on how you view the pick swap.