JOHN used to post with us on another board. He is now at realgm http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1021538
I'm not sure I get any reason the Magic would want Deng. This deal works, but it costs about $1.5M of cap room in addition to trading one pretty good player for two ok players. If I had to guess, I'd say all talk
Idk how I feel about Gortat and Pietrus. Personally, I hate Pietrus because I had him on my fantasy team and he was wildly inconsistent. He's a legit 3pt threat, and hes a very athletic defensive stopper, but id walk away from this deal because it doesnt get us more under the cap.
Mabye its just me. I see this as dump trade to get James. Opens up the SF for him. Teams has more depth. Pietrus can shoot the 3, and gortat adds depth. Gives us more length. One thing it doesn't do is save us money. So maybe the Bulls are accepting the fact we can get just one major FA.
I feel like a homer, but do you really give up an 18 and 7 guy for a shoting guard who puts up 9 points a game on 43% shooting? I don't get it, especially since it doesn't provide much cap relief. The Bulls have to be able to do better.
Gortat is a pretty solid player stuck behind Dwight Howard there. Last year, Noah missed 10 games with plantar fasciitis and we went 0-10 those games - having a Gortat in reserve, we might have gone at least 1-9 Pietrus, IMO, is better than his stats. He might chuck up a few too many shots that hurts his FG%, but he sure seems capable of making big shots in big games. Even more appealing to management is that he's 6'6" and is known for being a defensive minded player. It would be ideal to S&T Deng for one of the top FAs and have cap space to sign another. However, consider: Rose/Pietrus/Hinrich Noah/Gortat/Miller LeBron/Taj/Johnson vs. Rose/Hinrich/Flip Noah/Miller LeBron/Deng/Taj
I think Mr. Johnstone is right. If I'm going to speculate, I'd guess this might be the sort of deal to do if we've already got Lebron and we turn out not to be able to deal Deng for say, Bosh. Because having Deng after we get Lebron doesn't make a lot of sense but having two quality "depth" players makes pretty good sense.
I would think that would be the case. You make this trade if you already knew James is coming, but from what I am reading from the source of the rumor, the Magic approached us.
I was talking to DMD about this trade. His point of view was you make this trade if both James and Bosh (s/t involving Noah and Hinrich) have committed.
It's a no brainer if Lebron is coming to chicago. All you need out of the 2 is spot up shooting and defense. Between Rose and LBJ, there are no shots left. Deng is a great fit with Orlando because his midrange game complements Howard. A three guard rotation of Rose and Pietrus with Hinrich coming off of the bench is versatile enough to match up with anybody. You could probably go a long way with a big rotation of Gibson/Noah/Gortat, and if Asik has any kind of game, the bulls might not need Bosh. Plus, Gortat is easily moved.
Sam Smith, sorry I dont have the link, scuffed at this rumor. Said if it was true the Bulls would have made the trade. (paraphrasing) I disagree. No need to jump the gun or tip our hand until July 1.
