WrigleyField 22

While I agree with you and hate to nitpick... Noah is actually older than Deng. Feb 25, 1985; April 16, 1985. Also I think Deng is a pretty good finisher. He isn't explosive but he picks his spots very well and is effective. Ball handling, again he picks his spots well and although he looks akward as all hell, he was pretty effective this year. I do agree he can be more easily replaced though. Mostly because of position.

Rebounding too. Especially for Noah who's strength is offensive rebounding. What better defense than to make sure the other team doesn't get on offense? I think you have to wait out a Deng for Ellis trade, at least a bit. I don't think picks would need to be involved, so I don't necessarily see Ellis situation being played out prior to the draft. After the new CBA is settled, we'll have a mcuh better idea on what the makeup of the new-look league will look like and how we'll want to be allocating our resources.

Yea having Noah and Boozer play to their supposed talent level could have arguably been just as helpful in that series.

Well it would ultimately depend on the exact deal, but no. But thats because Carmelo is not the guy people claimed he is. Overrated.

I could live with losing Noah in the right deal, but I cringe when people (lots of RealGM posters) suggest Asik as the guy to start at center. Asik is worse on offense then Ben Wallace with the Bulls. Just think about that.

Deng for Ellis fill one hole to create another. There are several SG options that will be available that would be an improvement to what we had. I like the Bull's core group of guys. Any trade should be a clear talent upgrade consolidation trade, IMO. Now that could change within reason. If you thought you had a SF lined up in which you could say mystery SF/Ellis > Deng/SG we might obtain in FA, then you go for it. I'm not sure theres a SF like that whos available. I know Ellis wows with offense, but that is inflated in the GS system. Plus him and Rose is a small backcourt.

No I believe its a year from the date the contract is signed, or following the July moratorium, whichever comes sooner. So basically not until July of 2012 for Noah. Although not sure what you mean by new season. In CBA terms a season is July 1 - June 30. Whereas from a fan standpoint we usually mean new season as end of October. Edit, looked it up: http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.html (for any NBA CBA questions)

Probably Deng or Noah. Deng would work salary-wise. Noah is probably who GS would want. He'd be a great fit for them. After July 1st, Noah matches up salary-wise. No he'll be BYC so his outgoing salary is only worth 50% of his incoming salary for GS. Essentially you'd need a package deal. Of course any rule existing now is subject to change with a new CBA.

If the Bulls have to move all three of Noah, Boozer, and Deng for Howard, its likely to put us at the same talent level, at least as concerned with getting past Miami. However, even if it is "lateral" in that sense, you still make the move because it will be easier to find a fringe All Star player as your # 3 than it would be to find a top 5 two way player. Not sure the Bulls could find the #3 guy this offseason, but with enough time, they could. I'm not sure what Orlando would want, but here's probably the best Howard deal Chicago can offer: Deng, Noah, Brewer, Asik, Lucas (needed as filler), #28, Char pick for Howard and Hedo Bulls try to sign Tayshaun Prince, resign Thomas and Bogans, try to trade Hedo for something else, draft Charles Jenkins # 30 and hopefully Jujuan Johnson falls to #43 Rose-Watson Korver-Jenkins-Bogans-Hedo(?) Prince-Hedo(?) Boozer-Taj-Johnson Howard-Thomas plus Hedo or whatever we can get for him. SG is weak defensively, but oh well. Magic: Nelson Arenas-Brewer Deng-Brewer Bass-Anderson Noah-Asik All that being said, I don't see it happening.

Absolutely dreaming. Bulls aren't too far from the Heat's level. Beat them by 20 one game. Lost in OT one game. Blew a flukey 12-point lead in the last 2 minutes in another. All with a star player who's just 22 years old. The Bulls probably would have won games 4 and 5 of the Heat series if there was someone else the Heat had to guard. LeBron and Wade can only guard 2 players (Rose and Deng, and Rose schooled Wade when given the chance in the series). Get another perimeter guy in there that can make plays and Miami has a decision to make. Miami is bound to get better, though. I think they need more than another perimeter player. They also need Noah and Boozer to play better, particularly when in the game together. That could reasonably happen. Boozer will likely decline as he ages, and they'll both miss time with injuries, but they can definitely approve.

Yea, people in Chicago want Tony Allen dead. When he travels here he gets special security.

So Jamal Crawford isn't even in your top 8 options?

Another thing to think about is that Monta Ellis is about as a bad a fit you can find for Derrick's style. Dominates the ball, takes too many shots, high usage rate etc. He does that now, but I think the expectation is that his role will change when he is next to the MVP of the league. Sure he may dominate the ball a bit from Curry, but Curry is not Derrick Rose. And those skills of his that allow him to do that will be a great asset for when Derrick is out of the game or teams double Derrick hard. Maybe Ellis is a cancer who will try and take away from Rose, but I don't think its totally unprecented for a player to change their role to accomodate the better player. It's a chance some would take.

Smart thinking. Never mind on the Crawford stuff -- I want the Bulls to go after Ellis. Ellis will cost more assets and money than Crawford, which is something to think about. Ford threw out Deng for Ellis, which I would not do.

I agree mostly, but we don't want a Ronnie Brewer level shooter either. I don't think 34% is that much to ask for a 2G to hit from 3 (along with being a good playmaker obviously).

We really need both. Obviously a guy who excels at both is not going to be attainable, but they need to meet a minimum expectation in both. Throwing a number on it, 34% from 3 while equally adept from midrange is the minimum you'd want to see from a shooting perspective. Shot creator isn't something you can put a number on, but you'd hope he's at least Watson level shot creator.

Well yea, its a pretty huge caveat though. Keep in mind though, using the 10/11 MLE figure with Max raises come out to the following per year averages for 5, 4, and 3 year deals respectively: $6,687,400.00 --- $6,456,800.00 --- $6,226,200.00 If we assumed similar rules, we'd need S&T's to get any of those guys more than the MLE. I personally think most of those guys aren't worth the Full MLE, but they will get it if the market dictates it. Of course with new rules, salaries could be cut up to 20% and the new average salary may be something like $5M.

Ha. I agree, but was just being all inclusive. I'd rank the options as follows Crawford Afflalo (will get matched) Mayo (if Memphis will trade with us) SJax (if available) Thorton (will get matched) Richardson Smith Chandler (will prob get matched) Lee (not giving up Asik or Taj) West Williams (maybe matched) Hamilton (only for the min salary) Give up Draft guys I don't even consider as filling the hole. Not that I wouldn't draft them if they were BPA, but not counting on them to upgrade the SG spot. Is your ranking based on realistically who we might get? Or who you want the most? I'd really like to end up with Richardson. I don't know how that would happen, unfortunately. Just who I'd want most based on fit and skill. Pretty much all the RFA guys you can strike off the realistic list because they'll be matched. Trade target guys are pretty much speculative and it would of course depend on asset cost to acquire (as well as salary cost for FA) My realistic-based list: Jamal Crawford (3-4 years at 6-7/year) OJ Mayo (Salary filler-Bogans,Pargo,Lucas, & picks, incl Charlotte pick- would maybe consider Asik instead of Char pick) SJax (if available, something like Brewer & Watson- provide Charlotte salary relief in 12/13) Jason Richardson (3 years, 5-6 per) JR Smith (3 Years, 4-5 per) Chandler (Probably matched, but 4-5 years, 6-7 per) West (2 Years 2-3 per) Williams (maybe matched, but 3-4 year, 4 per) Hamilton (only for the min salary)

Ha. I agree, but was just being all inclusive. I'd rank the options as follows Crawford Afflalo (will get matched) Mayo (if Memphis will trade with us) SJax (if available) Thorton (will get matched) Richardson Smith Chandler (will prob get matched) Lee (not giving up Asik or Taj) West Williams (maybe matched) Hamilton (only for the min salary) Give up Draft guys I don't even consider as filling the hole. Not that I wouldn't draft them if they were BPA, but not counting on them to upgrade the SG spot.

SG targets: RFA: Arron Afflalo Marcus Thorton Reggie Williams Wilson Chandler Nick Young Marco Belinelli UFA: Jamal Crawford Jason Richardson Vince Carter (if waived, likely) JR Smith Delonte West Marquis Daniels Rip Hamilton (if bought out) Draft: Klay Thomspon (trade up) Alec Burks (trade up) Marshon Brooks Josh Selby Charles Jenkins Malcolm Lee Bojan Bogdanovic David Lighty Nolan Smith Trades(speculative): OJ Mayo Courtney Lee Stephen Jackson Ben Gordon

Also, if Ricketts is smart he knows this team wasn't really in a position to win this year. Nothing is wrong in the sense that we had too much salary committed to not good enough players to really put a good roster together. In that sense, we were hoping to be around a .500 team and all those injuries have us below that mark. When you consider the expectations going into the season based on what we had to work with, injuries are the biggest problem.

Last time Rose missed a clutch FT like that he immediately improved like 15%. I'm not saying its for sure, but don't be surprised if Rose hits 105% on FT next season.

Sure its possible he doesn't match this season, but it isn't likely.

Gonna be a tough hurdle to get over though. The Heat are scary and should get better when they can add mid level guys. The Heat are certainly scary going forward. Are they as scary as an improved, more poised Rose with a better supporting cast? I don't know. Unlike you guys I'm not as sold on Rose improving a lot going forward. I just don't see a lot of room to get better. He has room for improvement. You won't see another dramatic increase like he had this past year, but he will mature and refine his skills. He'll get more consistent with his shot too and can get a lot more efficient. Basically he has plenty of room and ability to improve the little things, but yes this is basically his game. Those little things can really add up though.

Its hard to even be too made about that. Yea Rose had the dumb foul and missed FT's but if Wade and James are gonna make shots like that, they deserve to go to the finals. Luckily Dirk is my favorite non-Bull in the NBA and before the playoffs I said Dallas was my #2 if the Bulls didn't make the finals. So it will be easy to continue my disdain for the Heat and their ugly faces, big foreheads and receding hairlines.