There is a good chance that there aren't any more pre-2010 expiring contracts out there for us to Hinrich or Nocioni for, which would effectively put an end to the 2010 plan, unless we plan on letting Gordon walking, which would make the 2010 plan a lateral move at best. So here is an alternate plan for 2010...leverage all our assets, while moving Deng/Hinrich in post-2010 expiring contract deals. There are two things I see on this Bulls team. A superstar and another allstar. Derrick Rose being our superstar, on the Lebron/Wade type level, and Ben Gordon being our allstar once the team gets good, and Gordon finally gets is recognition. So ignoring what we could get for Hinrich/Deng, here is the main components of the plan: We are building around Rose/Gordon, and trying to put competent role players around them at ALL positions. Step 1: Trade Drew Gooden for something before the trade deadline this year. Step 2: Sign a free agent with the MLE. Step 3: Trade the expiring contracts of Larry Hughes, Thabo Sefolosha, and Tyrus Thomas So step 1: What do we trade Drew Gooden for? I'm not sure. He expires a little early, but I'm sure we could get something decent for him. If the Nuggets stall out, maybe a solid big man like Nene. Step 2: This is the beauty of the 2010 plan, there are a lot of good, but not great free agents available in 2009. These guys need to sign somewhere, so if teams are unwilling to sign them as they plan to go ahead with the 2010 plan, that will put them out there for the MLE. I expect the Heat to let Shawn Marion walk, so we could probably have Vinny sweet talk his Phoenix buddy into coming and playing with us. Step 3: Trade Hughes, Thabo, and Thomas' expiring. This is the beautiful part. I think a team like Charlotte might just want to blow things up if they continue to experience these failures. Especially if J-Rich for Kaman goes down, Okafor (or Kaman) could become available for them. Do something like Larry Hughes and Tyrus Thomas for Okafor (or Kaman) and Nazr Mohammad. That would give us: PG-Derrick Rose/Kirk Hinrich SG-Ben Gordon/Thabo Sefolosha SF-Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni PF-Shawn Marion/Joakim Noah C- Emeka Okafor/Nene We would have depth, with quality players at all positions. Omer Asik, our futures play on the way. Lots of talent. Big, bigs up front, who can protect the basket. We don't even have to necessarily do it like this. We could half ass it and let someone like Gooden just expire. But the 2009 free agency, getting one of those guys on the MLE, and then leveraging Hughes are the key.
