My plan Z is looking pretty good right now. Then there's plan JR. That would be to sign everyone else at minimum deals as possible and profit by $70M instead of $55M this year.
I'll pat myself on the back when the Bulls end up with an SG who's not as good as Gordon. If Detroit would give him back to us for the TPE, we'd be solid.
Tonight's the night to trade Derrick Rose and Luol Deng for Chris Paul The night of the long knives ! Rose and Deng or Paul and James ? Who you got ?
I would trade Rose for Paul, but we still need a SG. And only if we get James, of course. CP3/nobody James Noah Boozer
What if we end up with 33 year old Rip Hamilton instead? I'm pretty on the fence about that Rip's contract is pretty awful and he's got a high likelihood of falling apart. Maybe we should talk to the Rockets (K-Mart? Ariza?), Bucks (Redd?), Sixers (Iggy?), Kings (Garcia and Udrih?) That's off the top of my head. Yes, I know Redd makes a lot more than Deng, but if you send out Deng and James Johnson after we do the other signings, maybe it's close enough to work? I haven't had the chance to check yet
I looked through the salaries page and the only guys that make any real sense for us are Iggy (and the penalty to take him, Brand), and maybe Ginobili (who's 32 years old). I think we're more likely to do plan JR.
After looking at shooting guard options I came away with two observations: -- Joe Johnson signed a monster deal because there really is a dearth of remotely adequate shooting guards in the league. -- It may be time for a return of a former Bull. Jamal Crawford and Ben Gordon are most likely on the trading blocks, and both players are better than many of the options out there. We could even go back on our Hinrich offer so as to revive the Hinrich v. Crawford threads. Oh yummy.
Rip plays off of the ball and hits open jumpers and plays defense, but he is old. And it helps the Pistons more than anything. There's got to be other options better than Rip. Pietrus and Gortat would seem like a better option. Gortat could be moved for another shooter.
And this trade would seem to be contingent on signing LBJ, it needs to be for a player who recognizes he's at best the fourth option and ready to stand in the corner, shoot 3's and play defense. That excludes everybody's favorite former bulls.
Without signing LBJ, we still need a 3pt shooting SG. Rip had a 14.9 PER last season, TS% of .505, eFG% of .437, 1.4 win shares (.043/48minutes). Gordon had the worst season of his career and had a 14.0 PER, TS% of .534, eFG% of .470, and 2.1 win shares (.059/48 minutes) Crawford had an 18.4 PER, can play both guard positions, is 6'6", etc. He's not getting traded.
Crawford has one year left on his deal and I can't see how they would retain him after the contract they gave to Joe Johnson. They will probably end up letting him walk if they can't trade him. Stranger things have happened, that's all I'm saying.
With that extension they gave him after trading Chauncey, Rip can still shoot the Mid Range, has some 3pt range, not much. He plays good team defense, but he's old and that contract is regan mcneil ugly
At this point, I'd like to see us sign Haslem to an MLE sized deal, maybe even a bit more than that. He's the best player available, and it keeps him from resigning with the Heat.
