http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....sk-for-15-million/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs He’s not bitter. And despite reports, he never asked for $15 million a year from the Bulls, who traded Deng to Cleveland on Monday in a financial move to create flexibility for the future. “My thing is in the summer, I never came with a number,” Deng told the Tribune. “I heard on the radio that I asked for 15 (million). I would never ask for a number. We came to (general manager) Gar (Forman) last summer and we wanted to sit down and talk. And Gar didn’t want to talk. They felt like they wanted to wait and see how everything goes with Derrick (Rose). “Three days before the trade, Gar called me upstairs and put three years, $30 million on the table. Take it or leave it. No negotiation. I said no and that was it. But 15? That’s the only thing that upset me. I’m not upset with the organization. I want everyone to understand that. If I was a GM, would I make that move? Maybe.”
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-luol-deng-bulls-20140108,0,4985454.story INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Wearing an unfamiliar No. 8 on his practice jersey, made even stranger by the fact it said Cavaliers on it, Luol Deng wanted to make two things clear Wednesday. He’s not bitter. And despite reports, he never asked for $15 million a year from the Bulls, who traded Deng to Cleveland on Monday in a financial move to create flexibility for the future. “My thing is in the summer, I never came with a number,” Deng told the Tribune. “I heard on the radio that I asked for 15 (million). I would never ask for a number. We came to (general manager) Gar (Forman) last summer and we wanted to sit down and talk. And Gar didn’t want to talk. They felt like they wanted to wait and see how everything goes with Derrick (Rose). “Three days before the trade, Gar called me upstairs and put three years, $30 million on the table. Take it or leave it. No negotiation. I said no and that was it. But 15? That’s the only thing that upset me. I’m not upset with the organization. I want everyone to understand that. If I was a GM, would I make that move? Maybe. “I wanted to be in Chicago. I thought I was going to end my career there. Not talking during the summer, did that hurt me? Yeah. And then you come back with 10 (million). Who knows what I would’ve taken in the summer? That’s the part that is really bothering me. Other than that, I have no issues at all.” In fact, Deng’s memories of nine-plus seasons with the Bulls are incredibly fond ones. “They paid me,” Deng said, referencing the $71 million extension he signed in 2008. “I can’t be mad at that. You don’t have to tap me on the shoulder every day. That’s not me. That’s not my personality. “I had an opportunity to play for a great organization. I’ve been very lucky to play 10 years for the only team that I ever knew as a kid. I only knew Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Bulls when I was 7 years old and in Egypt. For me to be the fourth-leading scorer on that team, did I ever think a refugee kid in Egypt would even play for the Bulls? There’s a lot of amazing things that have happened.” Deng saw the comments his teammates made in the wake of his trade, the ones that made it clear he’ll be remembered for more than being a two-time All-Star. He appreciated those. “I wish (the trade) was face-to-face so I could say good-bye to my teammates,” Deng said. “I had to call them and talk to each one. There are workers at the stadium, people at the Berto, I wanted to say good-bye face-to-face. After nine or 10 years, those are not just people you work with. Some of them, I’m closer to them than teammates. The way I went down, I wish it wasn’t a phone call.” For a person who grew up in war-torn Sudan, lived as a refugee in Egypt and then found asylum in Great Britain, Chicago always will hold a special place to Deng. “I’ve never lived anywhere else longer,” he said. “I grew up in Chicago. I had just turned 19 when I came in. I was just a kid. There are so many things that I’ve learned in Chicago. I’d watch the news and see what’s going on on the south side and then I’d travel and people would talk about Chicago, and I’d feel like they were talking about my home city. It got to that point. It’s really hard to leave. But I’m excited at this new opportunity. This is a great opportunity too.”
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli This org didn't deserve Lou.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli Its funny, out of all the Core 4 jib jib jibby jib era guys, Deng was the one that was the total package. Jib and talent. Guy has been busting hump for the Bulls for years and they want to give him a below market value contract in both years and $ (and a substantial pay cut vs what he's currently making BTW). Hinrich on the other hand got an above market value contract for his production level (he's really hauling in 4 million this year?). Just doesn't sit right. The only real upside I see to this deal is that we can go over the MLE to sign Mirotic now, yes? We would not have been able to do that if we signed deng to say 4-5 years, 12.5 mil and amnesty Boozer? This whole Mirotic thing has entranced GarPax. He better be good.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli Getting Deng's or Boozer's salary off the books would only get us under the LT threshold. In order to have cap space, they need to be under the salary cap. If over the cap, MLE or MMLE can be used, but not $1 more. Getting Deng and Boozer and Kirk off the books gets us below the cap with about $12M in room. Factor in our 1st and Charlotte's 1st and we've got maybe $7M to sign Mirotic. We could not have signed Deng and remained under the cap. The cap hold to maintain his Bird Rights would have been $19M. Without bird rights, we could not exceed the cap to sign him. The Bulls did some strange things to hurt their cap situation. Dunleavy at 2 years is $3.3M in cap space we could have had. Using the stretch provision on Rip costs us $333K in cap space for three seasons. I think Mirotic comes over this summer, or the Bulls lose the chance to get him. If not by draft rights technicality, it would be for lack of cap space in 2015. Jimmy needs to get paid. More interesting is why the Bulls offered Lu even the $10M. Only that he'd be a bargain of a value to trade.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli I was under the impression that Hinrich was Rose's idea. That's not the worst reason to sign a particular free agent. I agree, though, still strange.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli And I wouldn't offer Mirotic a cent above the MLE. The big money is on this side of the pond on a second contract. If Mirotic doesn't believe in himself enough to chase it, then that says something about him.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli There is one thing to want him on the team, another to give him 2 years at the price they are paying him. I'm sure if they asked Derrick he would have said he wants to play with Luol too. At one point he said "I'm rolling with Keith (Bogans)." Derrick seems like a good guy who likes his teammates, but he's not breaking out the Excel spreadsheet and doesn't have at the Larry Coon site in his bookmarks I would imagine.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli At this point, after dumping Deng, I think you have to do what it takes to get him over here. Expensive for a lotto pick though. Will be interesting.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli http://www.blogabull.com/2012/7/8/3...where-team-stands-after-signing-of-ex-captain
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli What if he waits a year? Can he sign with someone else? From his perspective, his buyout becomes a year less expensive (and it's coming out his pocket, mostly). The math may be tricky enough that you need to set it up on a spreadsheet to see how the variables work.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli I think they made an offer that sounded sorta OK, but that they were confident Deng wouldn't take. In other words, I think they made the offer to say they made an offer...purely a PR move. Speculating further, the team's recent Mirotic talks may have disabused them of their assumption that the $5.3mil full MLE would be enough to get Mirotic over. At the same time, the Cavs were dangling Bynum's "magic" contract that would make $20mil of luxury tax disappear, but only if the button got pushed almost immediately. They made Deng an offer he couldn't accept and then made their CFO grin ear-to-ear. My opinion is that under pressure, Bulls management used the "ready-fire-aim" method and made a mistake that will likely hurt their on-court product.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli I actually agree with most of this. There was a chance Deng would sign, though. Then what? Also, the last bit is fine, it's your opinion. Though I've been seeing a lot of analysts writing that the Bulls are now in a position to retool on the fly without having to suffer a total rebuild. That, and the team as constructed had its window close two seasons ago.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli Did you hear the Paxson press conference? He waxed poetically for like ten minutes about how it was completely reasonable for Deng to reject their offer -- you could tell he was relieved.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli No, the Bulls have his draft rights for forever. Though, there's something funky where a first rounder counts as a cap hold, so you can't carry top many. That could actually affect this off season. Anyone, my broader point is that, from Mirotic's perspective, an offer from the Bulls has very little to do with the Bulls. If he's good, it's primarily an offer to be able to be an unrestricted NBA free agent in three years. The Bulls could be any team.
Re: Luol Deng says Bulls made take-it-or-leave-it offer, he did not ask for $15 milli This is the best I could find: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm 49. What if the team and their drafted player can't agree to a contract? What options does the player have? How long does the team keep his draft rights? The player's options are limited. What happens depends on a number of factors: If the player is already under contract to, or signs a contract with a non-NBA team, the team retains the player's draft rights for one year after the player's obligation to the non-NBA team ends. Essentially, the clock stops as long as the player plays pro ball outside the NBA. Players are not included in team salary during the regular season while the player is under contract with a non-NBA team. If the player goes on to play college ball after he was drafted, then the team retains the player's draft rights until one year following the draft the player would have entered had he not declared early. For example, if a team drafts a college sophomore in 2012 and he returns to college and plays intercollegiate basketball, then they retain his draft rights until the 2015 draft. Note that the NCAA rules state that players lose their NCAA eligibility if they are drafted, so the player currently cannot return or go on to play college ball. This rule exists in the CBA in the event the NCAA rules ever change. If the player was eligible to play in college before he was drafted but does not go on to play college basketball, then the team retains the player's draft rights until the draft the player would have entered had he not declared early. For example, if a team drafts a college sophomore in 2012 and he does not return to college and play intercollegiate basketball, they retain his draft rights until the 2014 draft. For all other players, the team retains the player's draft rights until the date of the next draft. In any of the above cases, if the team does not sign the player in the allotted time, the player can enter the next draft. If the team that selects the player in the next draft doesn't sign him either, he becomes a rookie free agent on the date of the following draft. When a team signs a first round draft pick within three years after he is drafted, they use the salary scale for the year in which he signs (usually the player signs in the same year he is drafted). After three years they have the option of either using the salary scale or signing him as if he was a free agent -- using their cap room or any available exception, with the standard raises. They can only do the latter if the player did not play intercollegiately in the interim. Such a contract must be for at least three seasons, and the salary in the first season must be greater than 120% of the applicable rookie scale amount.
