Here's a suggestion. It's not ideal (obviously I'd like to get Taj Gibson as well) and it assumes that we get the rights to Mirotic AND the Charlotte pick. Obviously the Bulls would prefer it if Boozer was the one going to Houston, (so this is a trade that both Chi and Por would prefer) but Houston's got to know they're likely to amnesty him anyway. But anyway, it acknowledges two facts: 1. Houston still needs to clear a bit of cap space to offer Howard the max, but 2. They're not going to just give Asik away for nothing. Why would they give up Lin? Because Beverley is better, and his balloon payment comes due next year.
Not an awful haul. Mirotic + Charlottes pick + Asik + Terrence Jones, for those of you who cannot open it.
Thibs is one of the best defensive coaches (if not THE best) in the NBA. So yes, we do know that. And, I'd probably switch out Gibson for Mirotic.
I'm warming up to an LMA/Brooke Lopez swap if Brooke's foot checks out okay. I think they'd be interested and PF's abound in FA while the C's available to POR suck.
You like Noah? He and most if the Bulls draft picks are from winning programs. Let's see if LMA gets traded at all. Like I said, I don't want him as badly as you think I should. Who is butthurt?
Why would Chicago trade Boozer? He's worth more to them as their amnesty player. Portland doesn't want that contract. Does anybody want that contract?
Tell that to the owner! If you amnesty a player all it means is that he's off the cap. But the team still has to pay all his remaining salary (provided he clears waivers, which they always do). Paul Allen is still paying Brandon Roy big $, and the Bulls' owner is not known as a spendthrift. The more I think about this: * Aldridge's denial doesn't mean squat (of course, neither does the rumor, but somebody had to put it out there) * Getting the rights to Mirotic AND Charlotte's pick would be pretty damn good for the Blazers. The question is, what else would have to happen for the Bulls to agree? I think (your comments about amnesty notwithstanding) that if the Blazers agreed to take Boozer, then the trade would happen. But the Blazers shouldn't do that except as an absolute last resort (Denny's belief that Boozer has value aside). Perhaps insist that they take Freeland as well if we do that? So: TRADE A: Aldridge + Freeland for Boozer + Charlotte's pick + rights to Mirotic Of course, if that happened, people would be calling for Olshey's head, and perhaps rightly so, in part because most people don't know about Mirotic and don't care about picks. Alternatively: TRADE B: Aldridge for Luol Deng + Mirotic rights + Charlotte pick I like this enough to be okay with it. Chicago would probably baulk, though. Deng is undervalued now (he's an elite defender still) because he's an injury risk with a lot of miles on him, but he's valuable to the Bulls. Plus it leaves them short on the wings. With that in mind, perhaps: TRADE C: Aldridge + Matthews for Deng + Mirotic + pick + Rip Hamilton Hamilton's contract is a millstone for them right now, so that might do it. They could start: Rose, Matthews, Butler, Aldridge, Noah. Pretty nice, and pretty elite defensively, not that they weren't already. Plus they can bring Gibson off the bench. And they'd still have Boozer in theory, although they could ditch him. Hamilton is a nasty pill to swallow, though, so my final suggestion is: TRADE D: Aldridge + Matthews + FREELAND for Deng + Rip + GIBSON + pick + Mirotic. But I doubt the Bulls go for that. Then, if we REALLY wanted Asik still, even with Aldridge gone, I bet the Charlotte pick would land him. If I had to rank the trades in terms of likeability for the teams, it would go: Chicago: A, C Blazers: D, B But I have a feeling that the Bulls would refuse to give up BOTH Mirotic and the pick at this point, and the Blazers shouldn't accept anything less than both (especially as we should've drafted Mirotic instead of Nolan fucking Smith.) Finally: I don't see anything happening any time soon.
