Bulls,Bobcats, in talks about Stephen Jackson

The Bulls and Bobcats have discussed an 8 player deal that would send Stephen Jackson to the Bulls and James Johnson and Taj Gibson as the key players heading to Charlotte. The Bulls want to keep Taj, but seem willing to pull the trigger if they can’t get OJ Mayo or JR Smith without giving up Taj.

The Bulls and Grizzlies had discussed a Mayo to Chicago deal, but the Grizzlies are asking for Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, James Johnson, and the Charlotte draft pick. The Bulls will not do that trade, but have considered doing a Gibson, Johnson, Bogans for Mayo deal, which Memphis wouldn’t do at this point.

If the Bulls are to give up Gibson, then they must ask for Darrell Arthur in return. Arthur has had an overall good year, but is best suited coming off the bench, while Gibson is a starting caliber player. Since the deal isn’t enough for the Grizzlies without Arthur involved, the Bulls should add 2 1st rounders to the deal to give reason to Memphis for Arthur being included. The Bulls don’t have the playing time available to develop a prospect and those two picks could be nice depth for the Grizzlies, and who knows, they could possibly find a gem in the late 1st. The trade would then be Arthur and Mayo for two Bulls 1sts, Keith Bogans, Taj Gibson, and James Johnson. If the Grizzlies won’t bite on that, then the Bulls shouldn’t deal Gibson for Mayo and move on.

Read more: http://www.rumorpress.net/

 

These pass the smell test. I wouldn't give up Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, James Johnson, and the Charlotte draft pick for OJ Mayo, but that's not too far off if they take Asik out of the mix. I would do Gibson, Johnson and the Charlotte pick.

 

me too SST. Too much for Mayo imo

 

I am completely shocked that Memphis doesn't want Bogans.

Jackson is 32 years old, so I don't see that it makes sense for us to trade good young guys for him.

Mayo and Arthur for Taj, Asik, JJ, and a pick would rock for us. Mayo's got a long career ahead of him and we'd have a solid back court for years.

Do the trade?

Starters:
PG Rose (22 years old)
SG Mayo (23 years old)
SF Deng (25 years old)
PF Boozer (29 years old)
C Noah (25 years old)

(Not a weak spot in that lineup)

Bench:
Arthur (PF)
Watson (PG/SG)
Korver (SF/SG)
Brewer (SG/SF)
Thomas (C/PF)
Bogans (at the very end, in street clothes, preferably)
Scalabrine (why the hell was he put in the game with under 1 minute in Q4?)

I would do it. Mayo would be an SG that opponents would actually have to guard, and he's a solid 3pt shooter which helps spread the floor. I figure him to get 18 PPG (or more), 4 RPG, 4 APG, 1.5 SPG. He's good enough to be a #2 option, though he'd be our #3. He can create his own shot, so we'd actually have 2 guys on the court who can do that.

The missing piece, IMO, would be a backup PG, though Mayo could probably do it in a pinch.

The downside is we may end up seeing Boozer at C and Deng at PF while Noah mends.

We still have a draft pick to draft some big stiff who can give us some boards and fouls, and the MLE.

 

I think Jack would make a huge difference on the Bulls. Hes old but still playing quite well and not that reliant on athleticism. Hes won a championship before, hes regarded as one of the best teammates anyone could have, hes very tough/mean/nasty, hes a leader, he plays good defense, and although hes been thrust into being a #1 option kind of guy in Charlotte and post-Baron in GS he knows how to fit in on winning teams (SA championship team where he actually started and Manu came off the bench, those early 2000's contending Pacer teams, the Warriors team that beat the Mavs he was their #2 and hit 6 3's after Baron got injured to win game 6 and win the series).

Seems like you guys think Mayo is the sexier pick up but IMO adding Jack makes you much, much better than adding Mayo in the short term. Mayo is a bit suspect as hes been demoted to 6th man and had his minutes cut this season. His development doesn't seem to be going very well, his defense is questionable, for whatever reason hes falling out of favor in Memphis and hasn't carved out a big role on that Memphis team even though hes got the tools to be better than Conley, Gay, Xavier Henry, etc. There are big time red flags with him. I think many of the intangibles that Stephen Jackson provides would be extremely beneficial to the Bulls this year if you're looking to contend right now. Hes got the toughness, swagger, leadership, experience, etc. that the Bulls lack compared to the Celtics, Magic, Heat. He seems to add exactly what you guys need IMO. I think adding Jack increases your chances of beating those eastern powers. Adding Mayo doesn't really make the Bulls that much better. Hes dynamic and hes got potential but I just don't see him making much of a difference going up against those great teams.

 

Great post!

I love Jackson's game, but he's so old. He'd be a major upgrade for us at SG, but for this season and maybe next.

I watched the Memphis game last night and they were in a close game with the Raptors, mostly playing without Mayo. When they played Mayo from mid Q3 until the end of the game, they broke it open.

I wasn't impressed with Mayo except for a few plays. The guy can clearly shoot and score, especially in the open court, but Memphis doesn't really design plays to use him. A lot of his play is standing in the corner waiting for a kick out for a 3pt shot on the weak side. On the strong side, the Grizzlies played a sort of triangle with Gasol and Gay and ZBo. That triangle was more effective for them because Mayo's defender had to stand in the corner with him. They also ran a lot of plays for Tony Allen off the bench.

I wouldn't be surprised in the last if Mayo's fall from favor in Memphis is entirely based upon finances. At 18/4/3 from the SG position, he's likely to command a $9M to $11M annual contract. They've already committed big bucks to (chose between him and) Rudy Gay who gives them 20/5/3 from the SF position. Guys like Xavier Henry make $2M to $3M.

We badly need an upgrade at SG. Against Detroit at the start of Q3, Ben Gordon lit Bogans up for 5 points in the first 90 seconds before drawing his 4th foul and heading to the bench. Rip Hamilton came in and scored on him the next play. TMac had an amazing game...

With Noah out, we are playing Kurt Thomas and Bogans so opponents can easily double team two of our guys. Even with Noah in at C, he's not much of a threat more than a few feet from the basket.

The bottom line is that Jackson is a very short window, win now, kind of guy to pick up. Mayo could be our starting SG for the next 10 years alongside Rose. We're talking about the #1 and #3 picks of the 2008 draft.

 

Is he really 'too old'?

Look at all of the old men playing for Boston. Jackson on this team would be great! Gives us size, toughness, scoring. Teams will have a hard time deciding on who to guard! Deng, Rose, Boozer, Jax??? Throw in Korver with Deng at the pf and man....offensively we would have the potential to be awesome!

I think he would help us in the playoffs as well.

That being said, it looks like his contract would be a concern. It wouldnt be if he was the missing piece and we win it all.

Remember what he did at GS! That team was hard to handle with him there.

With Jax we would be in win now mode, but weren't we there already when we signed Boozer? Why not put the explanation mark on it and go for Jax?

Mayo has been up and down. True he can be a starting SG for years, but would he give us the toughness that Jax gives us?

Mayo, 44% and 39% in 3's for career.

Jax, 42% and 37% in 3's career. Slightly more rebounds and assists than Mayo had. 4 pts more per game, but also about 6 minutes more a game than Mayo for his career.

I want Jackson on the Bulls, but my world would not end if we get Mayo instead.

 

He's the same age as Ben Wallace was when we traded for him, and appealing in the same way (former greatness). But Jackson never really was that great a player (14.8 career PER, 16.1 highest ever), and like Wallace, he's on the decline.

Last 3 seasons
PER 16.1 -> 15.6 -> 14.6
REB 5.1 -> 5.0 -> 4.3
AST 6.5 -> 3.7 -> 4.2
PTS 20.7 -> 20.6 -> 17.5

He basically should be the goto guy on the Bobcats.

His 3pt shooting isn't so great either. He's shot 36% just 3 times in his career, this season being his best. His career 3pt % is .341, not .370.

Maybe we can do better than Mayo, which would be fine with me. If someone has a guy in mind, speak up

(The celtics have 3 "old" guys with very high career PERs and are HOF candidates, plus Rondo who's a top 4 YOUNG PG)

 

Ha. I watched Mayo as well. I was impressed, like you, by his refinement. He is a scorer along the lines of exactly what the Bulls are looking for. Mayo's fall from favor may be partially due to finances, but there was clearly something else also going on. He doesn't seem to have the spark that you would hope for, especially on defense. It was strange because he has really solid instincts and abilities on the defensive end and did a rather stellar job of denying Barbosa the ball. But then he would have a serious lapse and Barbosa would swing in for the easy bucket. I was disappointed by the inconsistency of it all. I wonder if there is something going on in Mayo's personal life that is causing his inconsistent play. Regardless, I'm reconsidering the Asik, Gibson, Charlotte pick swap.

 

In Thibs' team defense system, I bet Mayo does great.

I watched him on defense, and he stayed in front of his guy, fought through screens, chased his guy wherever he went, etc.

I bet he's completely unhappy to be playing in a "small" town like Memphis. He pretty much could choose whatever college he wanted and went to a big city (LA). I think Chicago is big enough.

Also of note, Marc Gasol is a huge slow stiff. He may have put up decent numbers the past few seasons, but he's nowhere near his brother's athleticism or skills. ZBo was a beast and he actually played hard at both ends of the floor.

 

Just a side note- Jack is a much better outside shooter than his numbers suggest. Hes money spotting up and his bread and butter shot is the fast break trailer 3 pt shot. When hes set up by a PG hes a great shooter. But he takes a LOT of 3's and many are bad shots which makes his %'s look worse. Hes also pretty damn clutch.

And give me Marc Gasol over Z-Bo every day. Z-Bo is a sefish, no defense playing fatass. Marc is no Pau but I'll take the 7'0 280+ lb. C over a 6'7 PF who has zero defensive impact. Marc is a space eater and well rounded, hes fairly skilled and pretty intelligent. Hes got great size. I guarantee he impacts the wins column infinitely more than Z-Bo and good legit C's are hard to find.

 

Yeah, I could see him being better with the Bulls. If the rumors are true, I think you make that trade, unless their are ancillary salary cap considerations. You have to wonder if the reason the Bulls are making the move is because they are not ready to commit to giving Mayo a second contract.

 

dp.

 

It's really kind of stupid argument isn't it? I'll take either.