NBA Free Agency has kicked off and so far I don't see any team making the leap. The 76ers signed Elton Brand to make them interesting in the East, but no better than the Cavs, Magic, or Pistons. They're still well behind the Celtics. The Clippers have a good starting five in Baron, Gordon, Thornton, Camby, and Kaman. It's going to be interesting to see the Rockets, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, and Clippers fight for the final 2 playoff spots out West. The Trail Blazers should get one of those spots with Aldridge, Oden, Roy, and Bayless, but they are also still very young and may fold under the pressure. The Rockets have T-Mac, the Nuggets have Iverson and Anthony, and the Clippers have the deepest starting 5. I would like the Rockets but who knows if T-Mac is sticking around?
Anyway, I was completely uninspired, as usual, by the moves made by NBA GMs. It is absolutley preposterous how bad the majority of these guys are at their jobs. So I decided to step in to John Paxson's shoes and come up with a game plan to build a winner.
Bulls plan:
1. Sign Luol Deng and Ben Gordon to qualifying offers. At this point, nobody has the cash to offer them significantly better money and they have little to no leverage. Unless the Warriors let Monta Ellis go, the Hawks let Josh Smith go, or the 76ers let Iguodala go, nobody can sign Deng or Gordon. And if one of those teams decides to spend their money on Deng or Gordon, fine. Take the RFA they passed on. As they stand, Gordon's qualifying offer is 6.4 million and Deng is being offered 4.4 million. I think it's funny that they passed on a combined 100 million dollars worth of contract and now will probably only get a combined 10.
2. It's time to make that splashy trade the Bulls have almost made for the last 5 years or so. They have 17 million in the expiring contracts of Deng, Gordon (qualifying offers are only 1 year), and Drew Gooden. They also have Hinrich and Noc who have sizable, but not unmovable, contracts. Then there are young guys like Noah, Sefolosha, and Thomas. That's too many assets not to make a deal. Here are the moves I would make if I were in John Paxson's shoes:
Bulls get: Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, cash.
Lakers get: Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni.
The Bulls get another scoring option, a good rebounder, and a guy who can play multiple position in Odom. Derek Fisher is a veteran presence and can tutor Derek Rose. The Bulls can go with a lot of different looks with Odom out on the floor and this tightens the rotation we have from 10 guys who need lots of minutes to 9. Doesn't sound like a lot but it is. The Lakers pull the trigger because they get a younger better PG who can defer to Kobe as well as the tough guy they desperately needed in the playoffs last year. Vujacic is annoying, not tough.
Bulls get: Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver.
Jazz get: Rasheed Wallace, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah.
Pistons get: Andrei Kirilienko, Marvin Williams, Salim Stoudamire.
Hawks get: Tayshuan Prince, Jazz 1st round pick, Pistons lottery protected 1st round pick in 2010.
There is so much going on in this trade so let me post the teams' new rotations:
Bulls- PG: Rose/Fisher, SG: Korver/Hughes, SF: Odom/Sefolosha, PF: Thomas/Gooden, C: Boozer/Gray.
Jazz- PG: Williams/Price, SG: Gordon/Brewer, SF: Deng/Harpring, PF: Wallace/Milsap, Okur/Noah.
Pistons- PG: Billups/Hunter, SG: Hamilton/Stuckey, SF: Williams/Hayes, PF: Kirilenko/Maxiel, C: McDyess/Samb.
Hawks- PG: Bibby/Law, SG: Johnson/Childress, SF: Prince/Childress/Smith, PF: Smith/Horford, C: Horford/Pachulia.
Why they do it:
Bulls- Finally a low post presence. Size and a shooter at SG. A true PG. A SF who can score and play multiple positions. Thomas playing in a system that maximizes his potential. Combine with a multiple position, defense guy like Thabo, a good bench post player like Gooden, and a championship vet like Fisher and you have a contender. The Bulls become a tougher more athletic version of a Jazz team that reached the Western Finals and Western Semis the last 2 years, only they have a legitimate third scoring option in Odom.
Jazz- Boozer is leaving in a year and you aren't one one of the top 3 championship contenders. With this deal you get a young nucleus as well as Wallace who can replace some of Boozer's production. The team is really no worse off for next year and much better off for the future. This team can shoot from anywhere on the floor and has hard-nose guys like Brewer and Harpring off the bench. A would-be contender out East, they unfortunately play in the West. They're a playoff team with a young nucleus and lots of cap flexibilty for the next few years.
Pistons- Time to blow this thing up. They just aren't a real championship team anymore. Wallace really was not prodcing at the level of a super-star (13 and 6), so getting a talent like Marvin Williams back is a big plus. If you don't plan on going for a title, there really isn't much of a reason to have Tayshaun Prince around. He's a glue and defense guy who can hit the open shot, but you wouldn't want him as your scoring option. Kirilenko can replace Sheed's numbers and may find a bit of a revival out East. They don't have a center, but they didn't before the deal.
Hawks- Williams is a good player but this team would have all the pieces for a championship. Prince is the lock-down defender and glue guy. Johnson is the elite scorer. Smith can change a game with his athleticism. Horford is a low post presence. Solid point play. Law, Childress, and Pachulia are solid off the bench. The team has a clear 8 man playoff rotation that Mike Woodson can't screw up. They also get late first round picks the next 2 years which they can package to move up.
Compare these Bulls to the world champion Celtics:
-The Bulls have a significantly superior PG.
-They have a poor man's version of Ray Allen. And next year, he may not even be that much poorer of a version.
-They get beat bad at SF. Odom played poorly in the Finals, while Pierce was excellent. Odom would again be the third option on the team, but I think the Bulls have a better low post presence, a strong perimeter threat in Kyle Korver, and a ballhandler who makes his teammates better. Kobe is a dominant scorer but he does not make his teammates any better.
- Garnett vs. Boozer in the post would be a great matchup. The Bulls would likely put Boozer on Garnett on the defensive end only because Thomas is too small to guard Garnett.
- Perkins has the polish, Tyrus has the energy. They don't play similarly but they benefit their teams about equally. I think with significant minutes and a good coaching system, Tyrus could become like Kenyon Martin circo '03-'04. That year K-Mart average 17 and 9.
-The current benches are about equal.
Not a bad matchup, eh? And before you say it won't happen, it's not my job to make it happen. It's my job to write moderately interesting sports related articles. Also, your probably right.
5 comments:
You are wrong on all accounts and I will delete your posts as being so worthless to humanity as I feel that it is unfair to waste the small amount of space on some server with their information. However, I will address all the points you made and why they are all wrong.
1. Size does not and has never ever mattered in the low post. A 7 footer who can rebound is nice. However at 6'7" and 6'6", Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley averaged 13 and 11 rebounds per game over their careers. Technique is what matters for rebounding and low post scoring Wingspan is what matters for blocking shots. Boozer has a 7'3" official wingspan. He can by the measurements that matter and statistics play center. You are wrong.
2. The Pistons are coming out ahead in this trade. At 21, Marvin Williams averaged 15 and 6 and was considered a dissappointment. Since he's still improving and was the number 2 overall pick, I wouldn't be surprised if he became a 20 and 8 guy in 3 years. Tayshaun Prince is a good player but he's not a 20 and 8 guy. Sheed will be 34 next year. Kirilenko is 7 years younger and putting up comparable stats in every category. The Pistons immediately replace the stats, only with younger players who have the potential to improve. You are wrong.
3. Shut the fuck up and seek psychiatric help.
4. I like Bill Simmons, he's the first internet sportswriter to be imensely successful. The differences between him and me being that I wrote more articles this week than he has in a month, so excuse the fact that I put 1 links post in during a dead period of sports. If you can point out where I overuse, that would be appreciated. Please point out other similarites.
5. If you don't like it don't read. Actually, just don't read it. You are pathetic coming on to this and trashing it.
6. You don't know anything about basketball. And you're an asshole who is not welcome on here anymore. Those are the 2 things I want you to take away from this post.
1. Al Jefferson and Al Horford both have similar heights and standing reaches and performed well at the center positions last year. There is currently only one good true center, Dwight Howard, and he won't be stopped by just about anybody. I'm not worried about Zydrunas Illgauskas having such a height advantage because he's a finesse player as are a lot of other center in the NBA because so many are foreign. Who's going to make the Bulls pay for being undersized at center? In a big matchup Boozer would be taking on the Duncans, Howards, and Garnetts anyway.
2. "The NBA spends more time scutinizing things like wingspan and standing reach than they do actual heights. How big a player is with his hands above his head and with his arms outstretched means much more on the basketball court than a static height." -Chad Ford ESPN's draft expert.
Link: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Measurements-080603
3. Sheed is being called a cancer in Detroit and is 7 years older than Kirilenko. AK cannot possibly be as big a cancer as Sheed, he is younger, and he could become a very good player. Even if he fails, they move him to the bench and wait for him to become an attractive expiring contract. A move to the bench would do AK good, in my opinion. But even if AK completely fails, they still have Marvin Williams who is already better than Tayshaun Prince and should become the NBA star he was thought of when the Hawks picked him over Chris Paul.
4. Go watch some more Dane Cook. I'm in no way surprised you're a fan of him because he's loud and there's enough movement to keep you entertained.
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