http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130527/sports/705279818/print/ By Mike McGraw Seventh in a series Marco Belinelli’s introduction to the NBA was memorable. In his first game playing for Golden State at the Las Vegas Summer League — less than 48 hours after traveling to the U.S. from his native Italy, on 7/7/07 — Belinelli poured in 37 points, knocking down 14 of 20 shots from the field against the Hornets. The ensuing months and years were much quieter. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard spent two uneventful seasons with the Warriors, then two in Toronto and two in New Orleans. He made the playoffs once, averaging 9.7 points in the Hornets’ first-round, six-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2011. When Belinelli, 27, signed with the Bulls last summer, he talked about how happy he was to join one of the NBA’s best teams. Then he took the “dream come true” theme to another level by spending the next half-hour with a friend, posing for pictures in front of Bulls logos on the walls. Belinelli got his chance to play on the NBA’s biggest stage, starting seven of Bulls’ 12 playoff games. He had some big moments, too, scoring 24 points in the Game 7 win at Brooklyn, then hitting a couple of late 3-pointers to help the Bulls pull off a win in Miami against the Heat to open the second round. Looking at his season as a whole, Belinelli turned out to be a bargain after signing a one-year deal worth $1.9 million. He averaged 9.6 points overall and showed some versatility, playing point guard at times and also driving to the basket with success. He got off to a terrible start with the Bulls but responded well when Richard Hamilton went out with a foot injury. In 27 games as a starter this season, Belinelli averaged 13.0 points. It didn’t take long before the Bulls started wondering internally if Belinelli was playing so well that he’d priced himself off the team. Unless they clear salary somehow, the Bulls can offer Belinelli no more than their taxpayer midlevel exception of $3.18 million. If they offered that over, say, three years, Belinelli might consider staying in Chicago. But should the Bulls even try to bring him back? Belinelli had plenty of good moments, including 3 game-winning shots, but he was very inconsistent. He wasn’t great coming off the bench (7.6 points, .386 field-goal percentage), and he’s probably not a starting-caliber two guard on an elite NBA team. So with the Bulls leaning toward keeping Jimmy Butler in a starting role, maybe the best avenue is to simply thank Belinelli for a job well done and wish him luck with his next NBA team. He’s a nice guy to have, but the Bulls will be reluctant to offer any multiyear contracts this summer. They’d like to open some cap room in 2014, and there are a lot of unknowns lying ahead … Will the Bulls trade Luol Deng’s expiring contract? Will they use the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer next year? How much will it cost to bring Spanish league MVP Nikola Mirotic to the NBA? If the Bulls could bring back Belinelli with another one-year, $1.9 million deal, they would. They couldn’t have asked for a player with a better attitude. He figures to get a better offer, though, so his dream of playing for the Bulls probably was brief.
Why do so many people think Belinelli will get a better offer? He's pretty much a one-way (offense) player who put up numbers that were below his career averages. In what ways is he so much more attractive than he was a year ago? I don't get it.
I love the ridiculousness of this article: Marco Belinelli's dream of being a Bull will soon be crushed because he's going to make generational wealth. Poor, poor, Marco. Everyone deserves a shot at their dreams. It's like when a Powerball victory strikes some poor unsuspecting soul.
I think you raise a fair point. I'm working under the assumption that Belinelli and Robinson are gone, because under the old CBA, that caliber of player usually would sign at around 2-3 years and 2M-6.5M per. I have no handle on the new agreement though. I wouldn't be completely shocked if the reality of the new CBA is that average veteran starters are devalued as teams gun for stars. We'll see . . .
Belinelli wasn't a star player on a bad team. It was really hard to judge his worth. Now he's demonstrated he brings real value to a playoff caliber team. Not only that, he started 7 playoff games for a team that made it out of the first round.
1). It's good to see you around! 2). I get the impression that the new CBA indirectly imposed a hard cap on teams with the apron and repeater taxes, and effectively wiped out the MLE type contracts given to middle of the road veterans. They've basically been pushed down to mmle territory. Marco's a 28 year old "offense-first" player with a career PER of 10. We'll see how it plays out, but I suspect he was a 3yr/$9mil player who got pushed down into the 1-2yr/2-3 mil range. I actually think the Bulls might look to see if they can find better players at the same price before making him an offer. Nate's a little harder to forecast. He's clearly a dynamic player, but also hard to stick on a roster due to his unpredictability and height. Like Marco, his performance this season wasn't far off from his career averages. I hope we keep him. Maybe a 2year/6million dollar offer with a team option after year 1. He won't play as much because of Derrick, but it seems inevitable that we'll have lots of moments when teams are boxing in Derrick and we'll need a second shot creator, and there's no one better than him at his price.
I'd love to bring him back but I agree that he hasnt really played himself into a bigger contract when his numbers are below his averages. I also think the team is gonna try and find better players for similar prices before making an offer tho. I'd also like to bring Nate back but I def think he's gone.
Mike McGraw brought up a good point he was much better starting than he was coming off of the bench. With the much improved play of Butler, the chances of him being our starting SG, barring any injury is slim.
