I don't think this counts as newsworthy. Given the Bulls' financial situation the only way they would've resigned Deng is if he came on a discount, and Luol's gunning for the money. I would've been very surprised if he was resigned this offseason.
If they amnesty Boozer and don't sign Deng, they are $2M under the salary cap. They pretty much get the $2M or MLE to try to replace Deng. If they sign Deng to a $12M deal, I think they're under the LT. At least for the one season, it seems to make sense to sign him. Who are you going to get that can replace what he gives us for $2M or $5M?
On the other hand, the FA list for next summer is packed with enough stars that teams may dump lots of salary to try and sign one or two. One LeBron and the other top FAs are gone, a big deal for Deng might be there to be had.
I think the odds are very good that some team will be willing to give Deng the 11-13 million he's looking for, and that the Bulls won't be able to sign someone better than him if he leaves for nothing. Luol Deng's going to be an all-or-nothing deal.
I don't doubt it rosenthall. I just think it is in the Bulls' best interests to resign him. They're not going to be able to trade him unless he agrees to re-up with the destination team.
Denny, I don't see any advantage to signing Deng now. I can't imagine that there going to get any kind of hometown discount, especially on what will be Deng's last big money deal. Gar doesn't really know how this team is going to shape up on the court apart from the questions about financial structure. I feel like there are more unknowns on this team than there has been in maybe 3 seasons. I'll say it again, we have no idea what we're getting from Jimmy Butler. Uber athletes at the beginning of their careers are notoriously hard to project. You can say the same for Teague, although he hasn't yet shown that he can be productive in the regular season. The only way drafting a raw athletic player at the same position as your franchise cornerstone is if you thought he could prove that he would eventually be a top ten player at his position while he was still on his rookie contract; that is, a player who developed quickly, showed his value early, and you could trade for areas of need. Gar must have thought Teague would be that good. And to his credit, Teague looked vicious in the summer league. Let's see what happens to him this season, and more particularly, whether Foreman is able to move him for a position of need. Then there are the two rookies, one of which as a first round pick, you should get some future production from. And I'm approaching this as if Rose coming back and eventually playing at full health is a sure thing *gulp*. There's going to be a lot that happens on the court that impacts whether the Bulls should bring back Deng.
This is almost exactly how I look at it. What if Rose isn't full strength and the team is clearly not a title contender? (What if Rose is?) What if Deng still has nagging injury problems that have followed him the last 3 years and is putting up a 15 PER to go along with it? (I don't write this to denigrate Deng's non-statistical contributions, but maybe this means his best years are behind him). What if Jimmy blows up and shows himself to be an equal player? (I consider this possible, but not likely, at least for next year).
You get the chance to sign him now, when no other teams are bidding for his services and before he embarks on a season where he risks his big FA contract if he sustains an injury. If you don't sign him, you can't trade him. Maybe the Bulls could do a S&T in the summer... not sure how good that would turn out.
Is it really an advantage to avoid negotiating against other teams with a player like Deng? I get it with a younger player: differing GMs will show different levels of interest. It also probably makes sense with a player who many perceive hasn't played up to his potential, like Josh Smith. Deng though . . . I mean, he's going to get an offer somewhere between Smith and Iggy right? Even if it deviates from that spectrum, it probably isn't going to deviate by much. Maybe his salary will be a million higher if they wait until the off season? Isn't losing that money worth the additional flexibility at this juncture?
The scenario I see is this. "n" teams dump salary to afford a MAX FA. Something less than "n" sign FAs and then Deng becomes the next best available one. Given the use it or lose it nature of cap space, he may well get a MAX offer. You get bidding wars going on, which is good for Deng. He is, after all, a 2-time NBA All-Star, and he could be a 3x all-star after the season.
I see what you're saying . . . another Boozer situation where there's a bunch of teams who've sold their fanbases on hoarding capspace for a chance at Lebron and co. When they GMsstrike out, they feel the need to bid up Luol Deng so as not to leave completely empty handed. The only thing is, I'm sure Deng's agent has planned for this scenario. That's why Herb Rudoy went public about how the stalemate in negotiations with the Bulls both before the draft and now. He wants to ensure that other teams feel comfortable preserving cap space. I guess what I'm trying to say is that these are smart people who have a very solid idea of where Luol Deng's contract is going to fall next season -- probably within a million per year of the deal. I haven't sat down and projected it out but I'm sure we'd come pretty close too. What we don't know, what nobody knows, is how the Bulls are going to fare this season; whether they'll look like actual contenders or a team in need of a rebuild; strengths; weaknesses; and needed personnel moves.
Dude, Two morons masquerading as GMs were prepared to give Hinrich, coming off two sub 10 PER seasons, a $4M contract. Any GM worth his salt would have paid him $1M for a year to let him prove he could play 60+ games. We won that bidding war!
One moron, not two. Well John Hammond is a moron but not for making the offer to Hinrich. The future of the Bucks at that time was tied to Ellis and Jennings, two players who struggled to consistently make good decisions. Meanwhile Hinrich may have played some role in assisting the development of Derrick Rose and John Wall, two of the best young point guards in the league. If you're Hammond, I don't think it's stupid to make that offer, just desperate. As to the Bulls making that offer, I think that had to either have come from ownership, in which case it was a dumb move, or a request from Rose, in which case you do whatever it takes to make your star happy. Any way, I think paying for veteran leadership to mention a young star is a very different situation than we should expect for Deng. I mean, who would that be? Sacramento or Charlotte? I don't see it from either franchise.
The excuse we were given for paying Hinrich so much was that he would have taken that same offer from the Bucks. So I'd count it as two morons. Seems to me both Wall and Rose took giant strides forward when Kurt left the teams. Teague in Atlanta proved to be pretty good when Kurt got hurt and missed the series. You pay vet minimum for vet leadership. That's what guys like Nazr should be for. I think Cleveland would be all over the chance to sign Deng. In Sacto, he'd have to beat out Salmons. He'd be a perfect fit for the Clippers. Just 3 teams off the top of my head.
