Kidd missed 14 games and played 28 MPG when he did play. He had a 13.1 PER, too. We'll still need some significant PT from someone at PG if we sign him. All things being equal, I'd surely rather see CJ play and get the chance to improve. Nash missed 4 games and played about 32 MPG. He's obviously the one I'd want of the two. Then there's the salaries... Shamsports says we're at $82.8M with cap holds. If we match a $5M starting offer for Omer, it's more like $85M. Work your way backward from that figure, and... Lose Korver, Brewer, and Watson and that's $12.6M. Basically at the LT with 4 roster spots to fill. I bet there's a few teams that would trade $5M in cap space to have Rip, but then our starting SG would be Butler. I'm really not seeing it. Someone like Boozer, Deng, or Noah traded gives us a lot of flexibility.
Sam Amico@SamAmicoFSO While Heat & Celtics play in EC finals, Bulls weighing free agent options. Potential targets said to be Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller Sam Amico@SamAmicoFSO Also, don't be surprised if Bulls make run at Nick Young (Clippers) and Carlos Delfino (Bucks)
Nash would mean a championship, right . . . Reinsdorf said he'd pay for a championship. I think Rose and Nash would work together well with them both on the court at the same time. I think this could be the unmitigated win we've been looking for.
I mean, I don't think the Bulls would sign Nash at 3 years 10M per. But I have to imagine they'd do it at 5M per, and perhaps higher than that. If he wants to play for the Bulls, there may be a deal.
Nash would be one of the top few Bulls ever, to be fun to watch play. However, even when he was younger and in MVP form, his teams put up big wins in the regular season only to disappoint in the playoffs. They did make the WCF three times, but had guys like Marion and Amare and excellent years from Barbosa, or Amare + JRich + Hill. More talent than the Bulls have, IMO. The Bulls are really dinged up. Deng needs surgery, or he's going to have to learn to play well through the injury. He had long stretches of poor shooting games post injury this year. And he's going to play for GB in international ball this summer? I think that puts at risk any hope of a full recovery for early in the season, and it could mean he misses a lot of games for us. So does a lineup of a 38 year old Nash, Boozer, Rip (if he can be healthy enough for meaningful minutes), Dinged up Deng, Noah, and Boozer with a bench of Taj, Asik, Butler, and Lucas III seem like a championship contender to you? How about if Deng and Rip miss 30 games each? Our lineup would be Nash, Boozer, D-Leaguer, Butler, and Noah. I don't know what it would take to get Nash to sign with us. $5M for 2 years? That would be my guess as to what the Bulls would be willing to do. He's likely to want 3 years or more, and more dollars. The path to a championship with Nash is there, though. The scenario I see is: Nash and a patchwork of the remaining Bulls roster manage to stay above .500 while Deng recovers from his surgery. Rip has to be healthy so our 38 year old plus 34 year old back court can make up for Deng's loss. Then they play well enough to land a mid-level seed in the playoffs so they aren't facing the #1 seed (Heat, whoever) in the first round. Meanwhile, Rose comes back in March and gets enough PT to get close to his MVP form (first round against an easy-ish opponent helps), and also to learn to play in the back court with Nash. In theory, we go into the playoffs with a surgically repaired and healthy Deng and Rose, to go along with Noah, Boozer, Nash. Our bench looks good with Rip playing all the minutes Nash and Rose rest, with Asik and Taj. I wouldn't count on the Bulls' #29 pick to contribute all that much. We hit a home run with Taj at #29, but he put up 9/7 with a 13 PER on a 41 win team that management gutted to make cap room to go for 2 max FAs. Maybe the Bulls can work out an S&T involving the pick to move up, and one of CJ, Korver, or Brewer. Is this a risk the Chairman is willing to gamble on? The upside is championship, but a lot of things have to fall into place. The downside is that it costs $10M to pay Nash because of the LT, and he loses the LT disbursal from the league on top of that. All of a sudden, the Bulls $60M profit looks more like $30M. That said, I hope it's true.
The disbursal is a lesser issue in the new CBA. First off, the league now completely controls the LT pool and doesn't have to make a disbursal to non-tax teams if it doesn't want to. The most it can distribute to non-tax teams is 50% of the LT pool. Overall, I take this report with a whole bunch of salt, but would also much prefer Nash. In fact, I'd prefer Watson to Kidd because I think Kidd's pretty much done. Coon's CBA FAQ
Starting in 2012-13, 50% of the tax revenue will be used as a funding source for the revenue sharing program, and the remaining 50% will be distributed to non-taxpaying teams in equal shares. To understand the consequence of crossing the tax line, consider a team just below the tax line that suffers injuries and needs to sign a replacement player. This team would pay the player's salary, pay tax on the amount by which they are now above the tax line, and forfeit any tax distribution they otherwise may have received.
The Nash scenario is really hard to forecast. It entirely depends on what motivates him and how he sees his career playing out until he retires. If he wants money he'll stay in Phoenix. If he wants prestige and max playing time until he turns it in NYK and the Nets seem like good bets. If he sees himself settling down soon and wanting to take a backseat in a year or two then I think we have a shot. We can be title contenders and let Nash be Nash next year, and he can play 20-30 mpg off the bench in years 2 or 3. He could do that in Miami too, but he'd probably be relegated to more of an ornamental role since LBJ and Wade need the ball in their hands. Again, it really just depends on what he wants. Kidd is the lesser option of the two, but we could probably have him for CJ money, and maybe less. If I had to choose between the two, I'd prefer Old Man Kidd. I like CJ, but when I watch him I really just see a lifelong backup PG. IMO he just doesn't have the talent to run an offense as a starter over the long run. Old Man Kidd is hobbled and broken down, but he would still be better for Deng, Boozer, Noah, and Rip than CJ. And he seems like he's at a point in his career where taking a reduced role wouldn't be much of an issue for him, thus less problems when Rose comes back. We can bring back JL III to shoot off the bench.
Denny, I understand your concerns, but I see the issue as such: 1). I've decided that fans overestimate the benefits of youth. I'm much more comfortable with having a team full of old people than I was 5 years ago. A team brimming with really talented geezers is usually better for your championship hopes than prodigous youth. Jordan's Bulls, Reggie's Pacers, Stockton and Malone's Jazz, Duncan's Spurs, Dirk's Mavericks and the Celtics have made me a believer. Nash and Rip are still very effective players, and no one else on our team is old enough for it to really be an issue. 2). Talks of title aspirations for next year need to be centered around what our team will look like at the end of next season, not at the beginning and middle. Derrick's injury assures us that we won't have the record of a typical contender if we make it that far. The relevant question is does a team of Nash, Rip, Deng, Boozer, Noah, Asik + Taj, and a 75% Rose compete for the championship? I'd say yes. I'd say yes if you replace Nash with Kidd as well.
Well to an extent it doesn't matter. The Bulls are competing against the 2012 Heat, Thunder and Spurs and all the rest is gravy. I do disagree with you though. I look at Noah, Taj and Deng as being perfect compliments to Nash -- and a healthy Rip ain't half bad. You add in a gimpy Derrick Rose, and if this season taught us anything it's that a gimpy Rose is pretty damn good, and I think you have the best team in the NBA. This all goes back to whether Nash wants to play for the Bulls and whether ownership is looking for reasons to ante up or reasons not to ante up. So apparently the Bulls are forced to make a decision on Brewer's and CJ's contracts before free agency, so they couldn't be included in a trade where Phoenix would immediately cut them. That takes a way a little bit of flexibility but there is still a deal if the Bulls are willing to pay for it. The Bulls could do something like Korver + a resigned JL III (~2-3M) for Nash (at anywhere between 7-10M) + some money to cover JL III. There 's a ton of flexibility if management is willing to pay up.
Wouldn't a Nash signing remind you guys of a little bit of the Bulls' signing of Ron Harper: Acquiring a veteran even though you already have someone to man their position on the theory that sometimes talent upgrades are just worth it.
Another thing that merits repeating is that the Bulls' offense is as close to D'Antoni offense as you're going to get. John Lucas III is a decent point guard, but the reason he had so many break out games -- similar to the reason that Lin had so many solid games -- is that the Bulls' offense is built around the point guard as instigator. I'm sure Toronto and Brooklyn would be more than happy to institute any offense that Nash wants, but you can't say the same for either the NYK or Miami. There are system advantages that favor Nash in Chicago.
This is from Poops World, so take it for what its worth. It looks like the Suns may be willing to facilitate a sign-and-trade, which I had presumed but haven't previously seen in print.
As much as I dig the idea of Nash or even an aging Kidd coming in to babysit the PG position and then share time with D. Rose (and Kidd might not mind playing second banana at point when Rose becomes healthy again but Nash has plenty enough in the tank left to not want to spend a lot of time on the bench for 2 1/2 if a 3 year deal -- maybe a Bulls ring would be enough to entice him to burn bright with the Bulls and then fade away but somehow I doubt the back to back MVP would really be able to stomach that even as the September of his Years approaches. Really, I'd rather spend money on J. Crossover if bridges weren't burnt on his departure and he remains content to play 2.
I think Nash would play as many minutes as he can handle, physically. I picture him at PG and Rose at SG, both in the back court at the same time. Rose is 1" shorter and about 15 lbs lighter than Wade, who's played SG most of his career. Rose would get at least 18 MPG at point with Nash getting his bench time. It works offensively. Defensively, both G positions would be a sieve.
How do you get there? That makes no sense. How about a trade involving Korver and Watson + Cash (they could immediately cut Korver)? How about a S&T with Asik -- Phoenix is looking for interior defense in the draft? There are tons of ways to make trade. Why do you say that the only thing that makes sense is a S&T for Noah, Deng or Boozer?
