LOL at Tim Thomas coming back here! But seriously, Jerome James is effectively an expiring contract (tore his achilies, will be bought out, contract paid mostly by insurance, won't count against cap or luxury tax) so this is a great thing. Absolutely superb trade for the Bulls.
I believe this deal saves about $6M of actual cash the Bulls won't have to pay out, in addition to $7.3M or so in "team salary" for luxury tax computations. In short, it gives us lots of breathing room.
I dont' see how James is effectively an expiring contract. I don't see him agreeing to a buyout, and even if he does, he'll still be a hit against our salary cap for next year, and we're already in the luxury tax. Although I hear we could still make more deals today. (My guess would be Kirk to Minny/Portland/Utah).
Why have the Bulls' been so reluctant to trade Hinrich? The past few seasons he has been subjected to trade rumors, what is up with that? Are they expecting more back than they can realistically get or are they just reluctant to let go of him?
This summer, the excuse is "insurance for Ben Gordon if he leaves". Now we have John Salmons, so that's no longer a valid excuse. The excuse will end up being something like, "Kirk is the embodiment of what it means to be a Chicago Bull". It's nice that Kirk wanted to be the point guard for the Chicago Bulls when he was 5 years old. Ben Gordon was a Bulls fan growing up as well, and you don't see the Bulls throwing money at him just because of that.
Why did the Knicks get Larry Hughes? If he's still there in 2010, that's not gonna help the whole LeBron situation is it?
I understand this saves the Bulls money and all but dammit, we have the most boring trade acquisitions of time lol. It's so frustrating being a Bulls fan. I almost think that the other 28 NBA teams are making us pay for having too many glory years in the 90's.
Roberson. His contract expires this year. Saves the bulls 600k next year, although they pay some of that for the remainder of this year.
Also, and it may be RADICAL to even THINK this, but theoretically Reinsdorf could funnel the money the insurance covers back into the team -- thus allowing the Bulls to breach the salary cap. I know, I know. Silly me.
Roberson coming off the books this year saves the Bulls some money and puts them further under the LT, Jerome James will never suit up for us and is likely going to get a medical retirement, saving the Bulls from having to pay his contract, and Tim Thomas expires after next year. All in all...I like the trade. It also gets rid of Hughes, which is a success in it's own.
Roberson is making less than a mil, so it's not anything substantial. But I guess every penny counts during these trying economic times. I don't think the Knicks were getting insurance on Jerome James, though I could be wrong. If this is the case, why would the Bulls be able to get it?
I think a team has to wait a certain amount of games (41) after the injury is suffered to claim insurance.
