it's funny to see people talk about tmac as an allstar caliber player. that would be an interesting deal for the bulls. they don't have to give up any of their top 3 and clear huge cap space for next year. and if tmac has anything left to offer, they might even be able to stay in the playoff race in the east. not sure about it from the rockets end though. it gets rid of any cap space they would have next year and doesn't add any star talent to the team. instead it just overcrowds the roster. they'd have brooks, lowry, and hinrich fighting for pg minutes, ariza, battier, salmons, and budinger trying to get minutes on the wings, and have to try to find minutes for landry, thomas, scola, hayes, and anderson inside. i'm pretty sure the rockets would rather just let tmac expire than load their roster with guys who aren't upgrades over what they have now.
This would move $9M (Hinrich), $6.3M (Thomas), and $5.8M (Salmons) out - $21.1M total. Incoming would be TMac at $23.2M expiring. A net of -$2.1M, while the Bulls have about $1M in LT breathing room. They have 14 guys on the roster now, 3-1 gives them 12, but Jerome James is one of those 12. This deal puts the Bulls over the LT threshold. Thomas is expiring, so $6.3M of that $21.1M is a wash against TMac's $23.2M, leaving the Bulls with a net gain of $16.9M in cap space. However, there's also that ~$2M TMac puts us over the cap, so the real net is $14.9M. We have the Bulls with $13.8M in cap space for next season if the cap stays at $57.7M. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837 says the cap is projected to be lower, though, at $53.6M (-$4.1M) or even as low as $50.4M (-7.3M). So $13.8M + $14.9M = $28.8M but $28.8M - $4.1M = $24.7M in cap space. Not so fast. With Hinrich, Thomas, and Salmons (and TMac) gone, the Bulls would only have 5 players signed - cap hold time. 5 cap holds of ~$500K cuts the cap space down to $22.2M. The two FAs would negate the need for 2 more cap holds to make it to the required 12 man roster. But if we keep our draft pick, and it's about the same spot in the draft as Taj Gibson, knock off another $500K, down to $21.7M or so ($1M - $500K hold). Knock off another $3.2M if the cap ends up at $50.4M, and it's $18.5M in cap space. Joe Johnson makes $15M now, LeBron $15M ($16.4M next season), Wade $15M ($16.4M next season), Amare $16.4M ($17.7M next season), Bosh $15M ($16.4M next season), Boozer $12.3M... Am I missing anyone? So $22.2M for two FAs pays them $11.1M each, if split evenly. Why do those guys want to take a pay cut? It's looking like their best option is to play one more season with their current team and then resign for much more than the Bulls are offering at $11.1M. Johnson is in his 8th season, James his 6th season, Wade 6th, Amare 7th, Bosh 6th, and Boozer 7th. Max contract for a guy with 6 or fewer years of experience is currently $14M or 25% of the cap. Next season... 25% of $53.6M is $13.4M. 25% of $50.4M is $12.6M Max contract for a guy with 7+ seasons is $17.3M or 30% of the cap. Next season... 30% of $53.6M is $16.08M. 30% of $50.4M is $15.12M. "The Bulls are looking to clear cap space in an effort to sign two max free agents this summer, so the idea is to get expiring contracts in return for Hinrich's contract, which has two years and $17 million remaining." This is a move toward that, but doesn't accomplish the goal of being able to sign two max free agents this summer. And it doesn't seem likely the FAs will jump ship anyway. The Bulls would pay the LT, which would hit GarPaxDorf in the wallet. The only thing that even barely makes sense is for the Bulls to somehow trade for the two stars, then use the combination of bird rights and the delta between the cap and LT threshold next season to extend those players' contracts. The elephant in the room is that we have nothing outside of Deng and Rose and maybe Noah that would be attractive to another team in trade for one of those guys (listed above). If I were those teams, I wouldn't trade them, no matter what. Our expiring contracts are not better than Wade or Bosh or whoever, and if they walk as FAs, they're big expiring deals in their own right. Or we have to hope that one or two of those guys want to leave come hell or high water (like Gordon did) and the Bulls are their choice of teams with space to jump. DC - correct me if I have figured anything wrong here.
Yeah, I'm not sure something like this happens. I don't necessarily buy your thinking from the Rockets side. I think they would unload a guy like Lowry if they got Hinrich. On the other hand, it's actually a big risk for the Bulls. We're fighting for a playoff spot and we take three guys out of our rotation for basically, an unknown quantity.
i'm certain the rockets would prefer lowry over hinrich. and i don't think they trade tmac for guys who aren't upgrades in talent over what is already there. the bulls are fighting to lose in the first round of the playoffs. yeah, the team almost definitely gets worse this season if they make the deal, but there's a decent chance they could make the playoffs anyway. i don't see how it's a big risk. is losing in the first round really a big accomplishment that the bulls should try to protect?
If it's not such a big risk, why to the Rockets refuse to even play McGrady? We're trading three guys who play consistent minutes for one guy who's as big a question mark as question marks get. And yeah, the Bulls aren't going to tank the season. If they miss out on the playoffs, it hurts their ability to sign free agents. And they miss out on playoff revenues, which is a big no-no for Jerry Reinsdorf.
tmac doesn't play because battier and ariza both bring more value to the team and tmac has shown to be ineffective in a limited role with limited minutes, so giving budinger those minutes instead is better as well. the bulls would be trading 3 guys to get tmac's contract. that's it. the small chance that he might have something left that would help the bulls make the playoffs is a bonus. but they wouldn't be trading for tmac for his playing ability. no one said they should tank the season. but should the future and next year's free agency be more important than just barely sneaking into the playoffs this year? absolutely. having the money to sign guys is much more important than making the playoffs and not getting anywhere.
Sure, but the Bulls could deal Salmons and/or Hinrich to other places for a greater number and potentially greater quality set of players. I mean, you're basically just said that TMac doesn't bring enough value to the table to get minutes over a couple of nice, but not spectacular NBA players. He was ineffective in a limited role and there's no certainty he's going to start playing worth a damn if his role expands. In short, they might trade three guys who are better than him just to get him. We could always trade those three guys for someone else. As it stands, we just need to trade Salmons or Hinrich to insure we've got maximum cap space. No need do trade all those guys
sure. the bulls might be able to deal those guys for better players. but can the bulls trade those guys for more salary relief? that is why the trade would potentially be happening. like i said before, it has nothing to do with tmac the player. no, they would be trading 3 guys to get his contract and get rid of the contracts of those 3 guys. trading salmons, hinrich, and thomas gets the bulls more cap space than just trading one of them. even if the bulls won't have the space to sign 2 max guys, there are other good players out there who won't be demanding the max who could be signed. but like i said, the rockets wouldn't do this deal. there's no reason for them to. the bulls could do this deal because it clears away a lot of cap space.
