Dirk isn't leaving Dallas, so everybody can forget about that. If the bulls manage to sign Bosh and hold on to Gibson/Noah/Asik I like our chance right there. Nobody in the East can match that front line. They'd still have more than $12 mil to sign a starting SG and the MLE to get a backup guard. Bosh is the key, and I have a hard time seeing Toronto turning down a sign and trade for somebody like Gibson. He's a solid player on a super cheap contract and the bulls can do that trade because they are under the cap. LBJ would be great, but he'd also complicate things. And if Phil Jackson retires, the lakers crumble. There's no way that team coexists without Phil. So the bulls have to be the pick in the east no matter who Miami ends up with since they will have to play guys significant minutes who are making either a minimum deal or part of the mle. Only NJ could really challenge the bulls any time soon if they can get LBJ and JJ maybe.
Bulls don't have an MLE. Neither does Miami. Only vet minimum type contracts or trades for 125% salary incoming work.
Toronto is over the cap so they can take back no less than 75% of Bosh's new salary. The Bulls would have to trade Deng, Taj, and Johnson to make it work.
I wrote Deng, Taj, and Johnson because I figure the Bulls wouldn't part with Noah (Deng + Noah works). http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-boshwade062910 Raptors look at Bosh sign-and-trade options Sources said the Raptors will try to acquire draft picks and young players in return for Bosh. They would likely ask for forward Michael Beasley(notes) and point guard Mario Chalmers(notes) in any deal with the Miami Heat. If Bosh were to go to the Chicago Bulls, the Raptors like forward Taj Gibson(notes) and center Joakim Noah(notes), though Noah could prove impossible to pry from Chicago.
I think it's different because the bulls will be under the cap at that point. It's like when the suns traded Kurt Thomas and two #1's to Seattle for a 2nd round pick because Seattle was under the cap and Phoenix didn't want to pay the luxury tax. Once Bosh tells Toronto he's leaving and going to Chicago, Toronto loses all leverage and either takes what the bulls are offering, or gets nothing. One reason this is so confusing is because none of the reporters know shit about the CBA either. Beasley and Chalmers make about $6 mil between them, so that isn't 75% of Bosh's max deal either. It's a question of whether Toronto wants something and whether the bulls need to get Bosh the sixth year to seal the deal.
You only get the MLE if you add the MLE to your salaries and you're over the cap. You don't start without it and then get it after making moves. Even if the Bulls had an MLE, they'd have renounced it for the cap space. All that's available is vet minimum. However, should we sign LeBron and Bosh, we may well be able to sign a guy like Ray Allen to the vet minimum. On the other hand, we'd be in much better shape right now if we had Gordon at $11M instead of Deng. One would start, the other is an $11M+ bench player, if we sign those two. Plus we have zero 3pt threats.
You're right about the MLE, that one always gets me. But I doubt the bulls will be able to sign Allen to the vet minimum, he'd stay in Boston for that if that was all he could get. We'd only be in much better shape if LBJ was a certainty and the bulls were in a three point contest. Deng with LBJ at the 2 is way better than BG/LBJ. It's not even close. And there is absolutely, positively, with 100% certainty nobody that would be willing to trade for BG's deal. I don't think you get Washington to swap BG for Arenas. Do you think the bulls could have gotten rid of BG like they did Hinrich? No way. The bulls might have to wait until the next trading deadline, but there will definitely be a market for Deng.
The only team with cap space signed BG the first day he was available. Hell yes, I think his contract could be moved. The Bulls have historically moved bad contracts, including Jalen Rose, Chandler, Wallace, Hughes, and Hinrich. Gordon can actually play. Deng at the 2 in your lineup is a neon sign - "Play zone against us." Bulls did bad enough against the zone last season.
Normally I would say you were right, but time is running out on Allen to win another one. The Bulls would give him another shot at a ring. A better chance than Boston IMO. So he would be one of the ring chasers we talk about
Bah...Raptors can take back less money then they ship out. They could trade Bosh to the Bulls for a second round draft pick. The bigger issue is how Bulls could trade out enough money to sign two players to max deals. JJ and Gibson doesn't do it.
They can, but they can't take back $0. It has to be like 75% (125% rule, right?) of Bosh's salary to match.
