Interesting tidbits. We've heard about the offer sheet and deal with Houston, yet I've not seen anything lately about the Bulls being on the 3 day clock to decide to match. http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago...on-rockets-chicago-bulls-offer-sheet-contract Houston Rockets' Offer Sheet To Omer Asik Will Likely Become Official On Friday Chicago Bulls backup center Omer Asik signed a three-year, $25 million offer sheet with the Houston Rockets on July 1, though the deal has been held up the even more highly publicized "poison pill" contract Rockets' GM Daryl Morey gave out this month, a similarly structured deal to point guard Jeremy Lin. The Knicks announced they will not be matching the contract to Lin on Tuesday night, meaning after Houston waives a player and waits 48 hours, the offer to Asik becomes official. It will then be presented to the Chicago Bulls, who will have three days to decide if they want to match. The offer sheet has certainly put the Bulls in a precarious position. Most polls show more than 70 percent of the fans hope Chicago lets Asik walk, though the team has maintained all along they plan on matching. If the Bulls match the offer sheet to Asik, it will be them into the luxury tax for the first time ever. *** Asik averaged 3.1 points and 5.3 rebounds for Chicago last season. The offer sheet from the Rockets signed by the 7-footer is set to pay him $5 million in the first two seasons and close to $15 million in year three.
OT: I can't believe NYKs were so stupid. With their roster, I would definitely take Lin and 2 min guys vs. Kidd, Felton and Camby.
Apparently even the Buy a Round for Everyone James Dolan fears the repeat offender lux tax escalation in the new Cba.
Torch and pitchfork time? http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...9-bits-bulls-chicago--20120719,0,973614.story Signs point to Bulls letting Asik go to Rockets They're looking at lower-priced big men because matching offer to backup would trigger tax By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune reporter LAS VEGAS — The next time the Bulls face the Rockets after Wednesday's summer-league contest, Omer Asik will be in uniform. Though Asik won't sign his three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet until likely Friday, more signs developed that his uniform will have "Rockets" on the front. Marc Cornstein, the agent for Darko Milicic, confirmed the Bulls have expressed interest in his client, who was a recent amnesty cut by the Timberwolves. League sources also indicated the Bulls are casting a wide net for other lower-salaried big men in free agency. Though management isn't commenting publicly, these moves would suggest the Bulls won't match Asik's offer, which contains a so-called "poison pill" third-year salary of close to $14.9 million. ... Collective bargaining agreement rules allow the Rockets to spread Asik's salary cap hit evenly over three seasons, at roughly $8.33 million annually. The Bulls would be charged salary-cap hits of $5 million in 2012-13, $5.2 million in 2013-14 and $14.9 million in 2014-15, a season in which they already have $18.9 million committed to Derrick Rose and $12.2 million to Joakim Noah. Carlos Boozer, due $16.8 million that season, likely will be an amnesty cut by then. Matching Asik, then, would take the Bulls into luxury tax territory for the first time for at least next season and 2014-15 in a new CBA in which penalties are more punitive, particularly for repeat offenders. ... That said, general manager Gar Forman repeatedly said last season the Bulls would match an offer for Asik. On draft night, he added this offseason would be dictated by "basketball decisions, not financial decisions." The Rockets are testing that theory seriously.
Lot's of smoke, but where's the fire? Not sure what this all points to. But KC sure seems convinced that this is an all-out attempt to "duck and cover" before the tax bomb hits. What they do with Asik will seal the deal, for sure. It would signify they have decided to ride out this year of recovery for Derrick, put out a "fairly decent" product for the fans, and then jettison Boozer and perhaps Noah or Deng and retool in 2014.
It's looking that way (if this report is true). If that was always the plan I wish they would have dealt Deng for Barnes and Biedrins. We could let Asik walk without losing any sleep, and having a productive player on a cheap contract for 4 years would make it easier to manage the rest of the roster. When Mirotic comes over you have Rose, Barnes, Mirotic, Noah, the Bobcats pick in the fold, and maybe a replacement for Rip.......that's pretty good for a re-tool. Simply letting bringing back a watered down version of the previous year's team is disheartening.
First thing I want to say is that until the Bulls tell me that they're not matching Asik, I'm leaving it an open issue. For the sake of speculation (what else do we have to do...work on rationalizations for why the Radmanovic signing is way cool?), let's say they don't match Houston's offer. To me, unless there's some other magnificent move still to be made, it's a clear sign to me that management has decided to write off next season. If this is the case, I'd just as soon they don't pay the tax next season. Why up the odds of having to pay the "repeater tax" down the road? However, while the Trib article claims that matching Asik will put the Bulls' in tax territory, the truth is that they're there regardless of what they do with Asik. Assuming Hinrich's first year is $3.0M as reported, they have 9 players signed for $68.3M. Four vet minimum guys to round out the roster cost $3.4M for a total of $71.7M...$1.4M over the tax threshold. They're going to give up on next season AND pay the tax!?! The only way out appears to be to salary dump Hamilton, but they've been trying to do this with no success. That they've been unable to pull this off isn't surprising...the market for Hamilton at this point is so shallow it appears to the naked eye to be bone dry. Maybe they could trade down on Deng, but that sure as hell ain't no gimme. Net, they could find themselves in a kind of no man's land here. You guys know me. I've always had a sense that I had a feel for where Bulls' management is coming from. While it's put me at odds with the critics, I've almost always (VDN was a rare exception) seen the rationale for the decisions that they've made. When they signed Hinrich to an MMLE-sized contract, it made sense to me and signaled that they intended to match Asik, pay the tax next season and hope that Rose came back soon enough and well enough to make a run at the title. This was a strategy that the critics could certainly argue against, but it was reasonable to me. If the Bulls don't match Asik, and then fill out the roster with minimum guys, I have to ask the question...why the hell did you sign Hinrich to $3M when you could have avoided the tax by just signing one more player to a vet minimum (or thereabouts) contract? Whether it's the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do, matching Asik will help me make sense of the situation. If they don't, you can color me confused.
The key thing is "when" the Bulls are over the LT threshold does the LT actually kick in. Meaning, it's not at the start of the season, and not at the trade deadline. I think they can go pretty late into the season and somehow get under the LT threshold and avoid the tax. That could well be their thinking. Maybe Hirnich's deal is for $1M, unlike what's been reported.
It's the team salary at the end of the season so yeah, they have time. However, this doesn't change the dynamics I wrote about...if they don't match Asik, they still need to do a salary dump of someone, Hamilton being the most logical candidate.
Yeah, as you'll recall, I mentioned Deng as the secondary dump option. The thing is, it takes two to tango and the Bulls may be unable to control their 2012-13 LT fate. It's really not smart to put your team in this position.
The risk isn't that bad. Here's one thing to consider. Much of the Chairman's profits came from the LT pool paid by the over the threshold teams. Given the new CBA, if every team is close to the threshold, the Chairman's take might be, say $1M. At that point, is the $1M worth it, or is it worth paying $1M over the LT, $2M in tax, and maybe selling me or K4E a couple of tickets to make up the difference? What's the downside? $1.4M in tax. Ouch! But we get to keep Deng (or whoever the dump would be).
The downside is the repeater tax. It's something to be avoided if possible. Paying the tax in a season when you've put together a team that you don't believe can seriously contend is senseless if you can easily avoid it. If the Bulls aren't going to match Asik, they could have avoided the LT by not signing Hinrich. That's my point.
I got your point, but I figure the Bulls think they can dump salary somewhere along the way to get under the LT. Or maybe Kirk took less so they're already under.
Figuring you can dump salary and actually dumping it are two different things. Reports surfaced a couple weeks ago that Hamilton was on the block as a salary dump. Nothing but cricket noises since then. Not a fan of "Management by Wishful Thinking."
Right. Now, though. If Rip plays some games and looks good, by trade deadline a team with an actual chance at competing might see him as a valuable addition.
