AOL sports (whatever...) suggests Taj to Minnesota for Shabazz Muhammad and Chase Budinger. http://ipad.aol.com/article/2015/01/15/nba-trade-rumors-five-trades-that-should-happen/21130473/ 2. Taj Gibson to Minnesota Minnesota Gets: Taj Gibson Chicago Gets: Shabazz Muhammad, Chase Budinger While it would be very tough to see Taj Gibson go for the Chicago Bulls, it is a move that would help them this season as well as in years to come. Jimmy Butler is going to command a big contract extension, and the Bulls will need to make some space in order to give him that contract. Minnesota could send back a very talented young guard in Shabazz Muhammad, and could offer Gibson the starting spot that he was wanted for quite some time. The Bulls would be getting back a legitimate scorer off of their bench, and Nikola Mirotic has been playing well enough to take over Gibson’s role. Gibson is a fan favorite in Chicago, but moving him would be in their best interest both now and in the future. Chicago currently looks like a championship caliber team, and Pau Gasol has been a key part of that. Gibson has been a valuable bench piece, but trading him likely won’t change their season too terribly much. These two teams would both improve by making this trade, and the Bulls would have financial flexibility to re-sign Butler. Minnesota would get the talented big man that they need, and would be able to build around Gibson, Andrew Wiggins, and Ricky Rubio moving forward.
You know... I was a little skeptical at first, but I might actually consider this one. Shabazz is out right now with a 2-3 week injury. But he's 22 years old, averaging 13.4 PPG in only 23 MPG. He shoots .488 and .413 from 3pt. He's also got good size at 6'6". And the icing on the cake is he only makes $2M. Budinger is having an awful season, but he could play some SF for us if we're desperate enough. His career numbers are .432 and .356 from 3pt and a 13.2 PER (which is better than Dunleavy is for us now). He's got a $5M player option for next season. Cuts $2M off the payroll this season and makes room for Jimmy's MAX deal and The Chairman gets this:
So no snell? And McDermott sits the rest of the season? I like both the guys mentioned in the trade. And I think Gibson will be traded by deadline, but these two guys at the cost of not playing Tony and especially Doug..I dont know. Now if we play Moore at just SG and let Shabazz take Kirks minutes at pg, then you may be on to something.
Screw Kirk and the ridiculous amount of discussion he draws relative to his importance. 22 year old SGs are very easy to acquire, as are 23 year olds, 24 year olds, etc.
Who was easy to acquire that makes Shabazz not worth pursuing? Kirk is awful at this point. Any incremental improvement in the rotation is, you know, "improvement." Plus I think many of us want to see guys we have rights to develop.
I have nothing against S. Muhammed. He sucked his rookie season and is better this season. I'm not at all sure of his quality. I'm very sure of Gibson's quality. Either assassinate Hinrich or criticize Thibodeau for playing him. I've always only been a Hinrich fan relative to your irrational Hinrich hatred. Coaches keep playing him. I don't make those decisions. Hinrich-beating bores me. As for incremental improvement in the rotation, IMO replacing Gibson with S.Muhammed would be a net negative.
Every team he's been on has traded him once the man crush wore off. Including the Bulls once. You wouldn't be replacing Gibson with Muhammed in the rotation. You'd be replacing Gibson with more Mirotic minutes and replacing Kirk entirely with Muhammed. All this time, I figured the Bulls might trade Taj for a starting SG or SF to balance the roster. This deal brings them a starting quality SG and a backup SF. Improves our depth. The real win for this team is not having Kirk play big minutes in the playoffs, but a well acclimated Tony Snell.
If Noah's toast, you can't trade Gibson. I'm not sure that Noah's not toast. Net: I ain't trading Gibson.
Noah has an ankle injury keeping him out. Not sure that's a sign he's toast due to the knee surgery. My take is he's not a great fit on a team that plays uptempo.
Neither of us have seen Noah's full medical reports and I know I wouldn't know what to make of it if I had. Noah's my favorite player, but I'd trade him before I'd trade Gibson at this point.
Noah's knee has been good enough to miss fewer gams than Taj has, so far. His minutes are way down, but that could also be a combination of "no point in overplaying him" and having the luxury of Taj, Gasol, and Mitotic to fill the difference in minutes. Last season, we didn't have scoring or a quality PG. So Thibs ran the offense through Noah. The result was a really high assists/game number. This season, he's not the focus of the offense, and his numbers are way down. Taj is putting his numbers up against 2nd units of opposing teams (a lot of the time). But Noah is not having as good a year, by any measure, as he's led us to expect. I suspect he's covering opponents' PF a lot more this season, which may have a lot to do with his numbers' decline.
My eyes tell me that Gibson's playing better than Noah. I don't trade either for a wing that's not a cinch to start ahead of a healthy Dunleavy (which is a much tougher hurdle than Denny C. believes).
Sacramento is looking to move Nik Stauskas for a defensive-orientated four. Taj would fit the bill. I would love to see Paxson put together a trade that involved first rounders. There might be something there. New ownership doesn't look like it has a ton of patience. Stauskas and two firsts? I might do that.
So... The team as constituted is not a champ, amiright? If that's true, then you can lose with Taj and you can lose without him. If nothing changes, the team as constituted isn't going to win it.
