Pax needs to make moves. 

We've got a crowded back court, a crowded front court, and a glut of forwards.  We have very good players (Gordon and Deng) we need to sign, and good players (Hinrich and Nocioni) that we've signed for too much money.  We're also the youngest team in the league and we lack a viable, 1st scoring option.

Enter the New Jersey Nets.

It's no secret what the soon-to-be Brooklynites want.  They want LeBron in 2010.  They want contracts that expire in 2010, in order to collect the googolplex of dollars, pesos and euros it will take to woo his unstoppable greatness.  They also want a certain vein-bulging small forward, Andres Nocioni, according www.hoopshype.com.

I'm proposing Vinsanity and Stromile Swift for Andres Nocioni and Larry "This Way to Lebron!" Hughes.  The numbers works: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=356~2456~136~829&teams=17~17~4~4&te=&cash.  Stromile's contract is up in one year.  He's outta here, but might be a decent backup for Noah if the rumors about Aaron Gray's paramilitary summer prove to be false.

I know that Vince's numbers have declined.  And that he's oft injured.  But I'm saying the dude can still score, and you can still drop him the ball with the shot clock winding down.  At the very least, I'm saying he brings a heck of a lot more that Mr. Hughes. (Who brings nothing.)

Then trade Hinrich for Camby and here's what we've got:

Rose, Carter, Deng, Thomas and Camby as your starters, with Gordon, Sefolosha, Gooden and Noah as your bench. 

Commence flaming me now.

Honestly, if the Nets want so much Lebron James, I don’t understand why they are considering trade for Nocioni. But still, the NJ.com is reporting that the Nets are thinking about getting Noce (please God, make it happen).

The Nets' payroll restrictions are a bit more flexible than agents were led to believe when the free-agent market opened.

For example, the Nets believe they still remain in the running for the likes of Eduardo Najera and Keyon Dooling -- two of the very few players they agree deserve three-year commitments -- but not so much for guys they think are worth only two (Mickael Pietrus, etc.).

"I don't think the two years is a hard and fast rule," one agent said yesterday, remaining anonymous so as not to hurt the Nets' ability to compete in the market. "And that's especially true if they can make a trade."

They are pursuing that as well, with Andres Nocioni being one of their primary targets. The veteran forward is available, GMs throughout the league confirm, for one reason: Chicago needs to slash payroll in order to give Luol Deng the $55-60 million to re-sign.

Though Nocioni has four more years left on his contract, the numbers descend (from $8.0M to $6.6M), and he could be a catalytic practice element the Nets need in their gym.

If it's true, they would make us a favor, because Noce's contract is bad for someone that isn't a starter. So, what could we get from the Nets if they really want to make this trade? Vince Carter, or do you think he’s like McGrady and he’s already OLD (31) for us?

Let’s speculate again…

I am a new user to this site, but it is killing me why everyone thinks Ben Gordon and Luol Deng had an off-year.  I am trying to form my own opinion and every drop off I see in their production can be attributed to minutes (their PER 48 is almost identical to the year before)

Was everyone expecting more than last year (ie, continued development?)

Can anyone help shed light on the subject?

Many fans here at Blogabull seem desperate to trade away some of our assets (Noce, Hinrich, Gordon, Thomas, etc.) to bring in complimentary pieces for Derrick Rose and the evolving New World Order at the United Center.

Some want to trade for a veteran: A proven winner. Someone to push the Bulls over the edge (edge of what is my question).

Others want build around Rose: Bring in a young, rising forward. Someone he can play with for a career. A beautiful tag-team to guarantee six more banners over eight short years.

I’m of the opinion that Pax should do what he can to resign Deng and Gordon and then turn the phone off for the summer. Go play golf. Take Vinny to a barber. Chill.

My reasoning: First, the objective is to buy low and sell high. Almost without exception (I include Gooden, Noah and maybe Thabo as exceptions), everyone on the Bulls roster is coming off a crappy season and their trade value is low. Simply allowing our guys to return to their average (not even improve) would raise their trade value. Second, as great as we all hope Derrick Rose will be, there is NO WAY in my mind that he could handle full point guard duties for the Bulls right off the bat. He’ll need to split significant minutes with Hinrich, Thabo and Gordon in the backcourt. I know Kirk is quickly becoming Chris Duhon 2009, but we need him to provide stability at the point (when I think of Gordon and Thabo, I think of many things, but stability is not one of them). And yes, I know Kirk’s turnover ratio sucked last season, but I’m assuming a general return to average here. Third, I just don’t know who we’d go after. If it’s trading for a frontcourt big (which seems to be most of the proposals), I can’t think of a serious player out there who’s been mentioned as on the block. Brand seems like he’s staying home (or close to home) and I like the Lamar Odom deals, but they seem the realm of fanboi fantasy.

I’m really looking toward the All-Star break. With half a season under our belt, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re working with on our roster. Is Thomas the second coming (not helping) of Sean Kemp or a bust worth trading? Can we get by without Kirk? Can Gordon and Rose live in the same backcourt without it looking like the Big Brim Bar in I’m Gonna Get You Sucka! In addition, other teams will have had a chance to assess their talent in comparison to their conference and may be looking to pick up late-season/playoff defensive help (again, my dream scenario to shop Noce and Hinrich). Plus, Gooden’s contract is a pretty sweet expiring deal at the end of next season and we may catch some down-on-their luck squad willing to cash in their chips and make a Grizzlies-like move (warning, wild speculation: could Dallas realize they don’t have the mojo and look to move Dirk and want to shave cap space?).

Sometimes winning in the NBA is about being at the right place at the right time (see Lakers, L.A. and Celtics, Boston) and I think the Bulls are in the right place (lots of nice young players that could be moved) but I think next season’s trading deadline is the right time. With the squad we have, I think we could make some noise in the East, continue to accumulate experience for our talented young guys and be in a championship position down the road. Being on the cusp of the Finals with Larry Hughes’ contract coming off the books for the 2010 season could be a great place to be.

Does anyone else get the feeling that pax is truly truly gonna fuck this one up. I mean seriously he looks again as if hes gonna stand pat with our roster. Now my question is whether thats a good thing or a bad thing? I think in order to asses that we have to asses what overall acheivement we are expecting out of these Bulls next year.  If they are truly rebuilding, then holding onto all our assets while they gain market value might be the best option.  However, if these Bulls plan on making the playoffs they might want to reconsider standing pat. They have the pieces to nab a star, and it would only make sense to grab a big man. By grabbing a big man it will still be eating up Tyrus's minutes which seems to be a no-no to most of you. In my opinion i think pax needs to reasess the front court. We will never have a championship caliber team with Tyrus and Joakim manning the front. Its just not realistic. None of those players will ever pose an offensive threat unless its the alley-oop. What pax needs to do is trade gooden and hinrich and even a 1stRd pick for some sort of big man. Its that simple. with a lineup of Rose, gordon, deng, _____, and noah the team could contend right away. But that ____ needs to be filled with a star-studded post scorer. Someone that will make the other teams big man commit. With tyrus and joakim together other teams bigs can play basically carefree defense. Its something that noone has brought up. But im a tyrus lover too, but do you really think that tyrus and joakim can be a formidable frontcourt?

I decided to make this a FanPost even though it's a link, because it's the best link to NBA salary information I came across. Unlike many others, I am a novice when it comes to managing the cap in trade rumors, and this is a great spreadsheet that succinctly lays out every NBA team's salary situation for the next five seasons.

There are other sites like HoopsHype that have the same information, but this is a direct link to the same salary info on Blog-A-Bull, which saves me and others the precious seconds it takes to open another window.

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/08-09salaries.htm

Credit for the link goes to the pagan cult of Blazers Edge.

Via the MyBulls Newsletter -

Bulls add 26-plus years of head coaching experience

The Chicago Bulls announced today that Del Harris, Bernie Bickerstaff and Bob Ociepka have been hired as assistant coaches on Vinny Del Negro's coaching staff.

In addition, Pete Myers will remain in his current role as assistant coach. In accordance with club policy, terms of the contracts were not announced.

What about Ron Adams? No news on him? Hopefully Harris will bring his vast knowledge from being with Championship teams to this young group and rise the level of professionalism because that's something that I really think needs to be addressed amongst our young guys (Noah, TT, Gray).

Posted here early last year about how much I liked the Lakers approach, and, assuming the signings of Deng and Gordon, it looks good again this year for a different reason, along with some of the same ones 

Irregular rotations left confused roles, intersquad rivalries, morale issues, etc.  Knowing that being on the starting squad only insures PT if your squad performs creates a good dynamic for energetic starts to games.  And being on the bench as a squad that knows it's going in with the opportunity to stay in longer with good play also has a great dynamic. 

Best nights?  Both squads perform, the system works, Bulls win easily.  Worst nights?  Nothing works on those nights anyway.  Normal 50 or so games a year?  One of the squads has it in gear and gets the heavy minutes, and we are in position to win 30ish of 50 games because we had the hot unit on the floor longer, or at least didn't stagnate with a lineup that just didn't have it.

This approach keeps the emphasis on team success, not individual.  The key to better minutes is for your squad to play winning ball, period.  And the only thing keeping you on the bench longer is winning play by the other squad.  It's all about winning.  Like I said, it worked out great for LA until too many parts went down with injuries.  Kobe and LO were real cheerleaders when the 2nd unit went in, and the bench won a LOT of games for the Lakers.  The additional benefit of logging fewer minutes for Kobe while still winning didn't hurt either. 

The different reason this year is that we need to shop some of the players.  No way they can afford everyone if TT, Tabo, Noah etc all materialize in their roles.   

[From the FanPosts. There's reasons to have all these rotation players in the summer league, but it also has me expecting them to win by 40 each night. Otherwise my hemming and/or hawing will start to increase. -ed.]

The full list is here.

Interesting additions: JamesOn Curry, who apparently hasn't pissed away his NBA career [zing! -ed.], Cedric Simmons, a former lottery mid first-round pick with good size and athleticism, Will Daniels, who's a good athlete and had some pretty good numbers at Rhode Island.  Interesting omission: the Swiss Mister. 

Still, with Noah, Tyrus, and Rose, we may be looking at 3/5 the starting lineup and the debut of VDN.  Should be exciting.

I'm just throwing this out there, but it seems relatively fair to me.

Chicago trades:

Kirk Hinrich

Andres Nocioni

LA Trades:

Lamar Odom

Coby Karl

I know the Lakers were frustrated by Odom in the finals this year and are looking for some defensive toughness to surround Kobe with. Nocioni and Hinrich seem to fit the bill. This trade works under the cap rules while Kirk is still in his BYC. Players and picks could obviously be added, but I think the core of this deal makes a lot of sense for both teams.