Hoodey

Yeah, I was thinking "is that who it is" but also, "it couldn't be because didn't LA lock him up as a condition of the deal?"

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I'm just here to talk about basketball. Feel free to exchange ideas with me, disagree or debate. I'm not interested in what you think of me as a person and/or large posts about this. Debate the ideas, or don't. If you have something about me like a really weird post of a link of me on the radio, just PM me.

jnrjr79

Right. I have a hard time seeing Howard not re-up in LA.

Rhyder

I don't either, but assuming the Lakers re-sign Howard and amnesty Artest, their payroll is going to be in the upward of $90 million next season. That will result in ~$80ish million in luxury tax. They might opt to pay that for one year for another championship run, but they might trade Pau or S&T Dwight to lessen the blow if they don't come together next year.

Rhyder

I'd give it two offseasons. We could move Deng and be aggressive next offseason depending on who is available. If not, I'd prefer signing Gibson to 7-8 million per year to hopefully be a cheap starter or super third big depending on who we land the following year. Guys like Cousins, Gay, Monta Ellis, Carmelo, Favors, or anyone who signs one year deals because they couldn't find enough under the cap money to sign long-term deals are among the potentially available that offseason.

Firefight

Toni Kukoc...

Hoodey

I guess by "any real way" I mean this.

Take another "type" of player. Say, the athletic, 6'11"+ 250+ true center. That TYPE of player has impacted championship basketball in a real way. You've seen that type of player start and usually play a top two role for over 20 NBA champions.

Toni Kukoc was a sixth man..

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I'm just here to talk about basketball. Feel free to exchange ideas with me, disagree or debate. I'm not interested in what you think of me as a person and/or large posts about this. Debate the ideas, or don't. If you have something about me like a really weird post of a link of me on the radio, just PM me.

Hoodey

But I think what we've learned from Bulls fans here, many of whom who have ironically defended Deng, is that he has no value at all to anyone, anywhere at any time, and that any thought that he might ever have value is ridiculous and classifies you as someone who belongs in a padded room. No?

Breaking down your list, only Cousins has the potential to be a title winning #2. Carmelo is getting up there in age. He turns 29 next year. He dominates the ball too much, becomes a black hole and can't take it straight to the hole like a guy with his talent should. He can't force the issue and ends up taking shots that the other team is happy to have him take. He's a volume scorer.

Cousins I like, but I really feel the time to trade for him is now. He's had his mental issues, he just shot 44%, but the rest of his stat line is great. He just put a 21.7 PER up at age 21 on 30.5 MPG (so now cry that it's just because he plays low minutes).

If he comes out this year and goes up even to 23.0+ with a FG% more in line with his talent, it's going to be a lot harder to trade him. Then, you'd be talking about Noah, Gibson, the pick and other Chicago first rounders. Now it could be done for Noah and the Charlotte pick, maybe less.

The reason I was so fanatical about Bynum is that he is DEFINITELY a title #2 going forward, and there are very few guys who are that now and will still be that in 3 years like Bynum. And, if Philly locks him up to an extention, that's gone now.

The problem with making a list of other guys is you find out that there are very few sure things as a top scoring #2, and I mean scoring efficiency more than volume, but also volume. You find out that there are so many guys who could hurt you more than they help. And when I think of guys who are prototypes of "hurt more than help" I'm talking McGrady, Iverson, etc.

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Rhyder

A lot of that is knee jerk, which has been Deng's whole career. When he's healthy, he's knocking down wide open 18-20 foot jump shots, an excellent rebounder for his position, and an elite defender. When he is not, his shot suffers signficantly and he becomes more of a defensive role player.

Player A is wonderful to have. Player B, especially at his contract, not so much.

When I said move Deng this year in aggressive manner, I mean it for cap space, and/or for a guy who is about to command a big contract that is unlikely to sign with the current team.

I would like to keep Noah around unless that trade or FA signing is for a C. I don't think Noah complements too many C's out there to slide over and be the starting PF.

jnrjr79

They won't trade Dwight if he'll stay. He's the centerpiece of the new era of their team. Pau can go, and even perhaps Kobe depending how much longer he wants to play.

Bogg

It's more about having two or three elite players and surrounding them with talent than it is about needing a certain archetype at each position. I mean, James Posey played a huge role as an undersized four for the '08 Celtics that won the title when they shifted KG to center and went smallball on teams. I agree that the ability to control the paint with a big center is very important, and that aside from your absolute core players(and for the Bulls, that list is Rose and only Rose), everyone should be available if you can make the team better. However, it's worth pointing out that Miami was able to win the title with a finesse four and a whole bunch of bums as their bigs because they had three elite players and dictated the pace against a bigger OKC team(also, Westbrook self-destructed and OKC got screwed by the refs, but that's ancillary).

Rhyder

I agree, and it certainly seems like Dwight is open to the idea.

Pau certainly looked like he had some giddyup left in the Olympics. Deng would also fill a need for the Lakers. Perhaps this yearly discussion will finally come to fruition.

LAKERS
Nash
Kobe
Deng
Someone Cheap
Howard

BULLS
Rose
MLE
Butler
Gasol/Gibson
Noah/Gibson

Assuming Butler develops. That would actually balance out both rosters quite a bit, save the Lakers some $$, and give us a #2 for 2-3 seasons until the legs fall off.

jnrjr79

I'm all for it.

yodurk

Latest word on the street is that Andrew Bynum might miss the entire season: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...adelphia-76ers

Hope the Sixers enjoy negotiating the max contract he will demand this off-season.

Even more so, I hope this serves as a reminder why we should be careful what we wish for. Certain Bulls fans were clamoring for the front office to trade valuable assets for this guy in spite of his pending free agent status and troubling injury history.