How Far Can We Go Next Season?

Here's the Insider's take on Baron's situation:

Baron Davis, PG, Hornets
Again, the Hornets aren't technically shopping Davis, but they too don't want to pay him a max contract extension this summer. If the Hornets can get ahold of Williams, Davis could end up with the Bulls, Warriors, Clippers, T-Wolves or the Nuggets. ODDS on trade: 5 to 1.

The Wolves are reported to be offering Wally and Marc Jackson as a package. Crawford and Fizer ought to do the trick.

Malik Rose would get most of our mid-level exception which could go as high as $4.5 million.

Travis Best has stated before that he'd be very interested in re-signing with the Bulls.

Starting the 02/03 season with the roster I proposed is not that far fetched when you think about it.

One of the things I like about this roster is that Baron, Wally and Jalen would take all kinds of pressure off Tyson and Eddy to put up big numbers offensively right away. From my perspective we'd now have a threesome that would rival the Bucks big three without the bad attitudes.

Oh, BTW, anyone remember how Isiah Thomas made such a big deal about the Pacers being the youngest team in the league? Well with the roster I've suggested the Bulls would replace them as the youngest team with an average age of 24.9 to the Pacers 25.2.

Dickie -

I LOVE THAT TEAM -- The fact is, the additions of Baron and Wally is very possible -- I'm assuming your trading JWill straight up for Baron Davis and you're moving Crawford and Fizer for Wally -- Although I hate trading JC, if we can add a Baron Davis and re-sign Travis Best, Jamal's expendable. And if we need to kick-in a future No.1 to go along with JWill for Baron, I'm up for that too.

So, to answer your question, IMO, if we get Baron and Wally, 50+ wins is not out of the question and obviously we're in the playoffs. With those additions, we're a threat to win the Central Division crown and quite possibly the East. Trading a future No.1 would be no big deal either, because with that talented young group, our future No. 1s are going to be in the high 20s for a very long time -- so fire away my man!

But, let's say we can't pull-off either of those deals -- I'm still very optimistic.

Jay Williams will be there for us at No. 2 -- No matter what Sam Smith writes, Yao is a lock to go to Houston at No. 1 and we've got our man at No. 2 --

Give us a healthy ERob -- and besides the addition of Jay Williams, we add a quality role playing frontcourt player (Malik Rose, or don't laugh, this guy could help us in a limited role, Popeye Jones) and the kids continue to improve, we could be very nasty, very soon.

Starting line-up
PG: Jay Williams or Jamal Crawford
SG: ERob (yes, he can play 2)
C: Eddy Curry
SF: Jalen Rose
PF: Tyson Chandler

bench:
PG: Travis Best / Jay Williams / Jamal Crawford
SG: Trenton Hassell / Fred Hoiberg / Jamal Crawford
C: Dali Bagaric, Popeye Jones (Malik Rose? more a PF)
SF: Fred Hoiberg / Trenton Hassell
PF: Marcus Fizer

Obviously, some of our players can play multiple positions --

ERob can play the 2 and 3. So can Rose and Hassell.

Crawford can play either the point or the 2 and some believe Jay Williams can do so as well.

Hoiberg isn't going to give you goosebumps, but he's going to give you everything he has night in and night out. His savvy and willingness to play a role away from the spotlight is a plus for our team.

Curry and Chandler, depending on matchups, can flip-flop between the 4 and 5.

Fizer and Dali are really the only limited players we have -- Fizer's only a 4 and Dali is only a 13th man on a 12-man roster -- but, what are you going to do?

The bottom line is, we're a very athletic team overall. We obviously need experience, good health and a little luck, but I feel positive that next season, with this team, we could be somewhere between the Clippers of 2000-01 (31-51) and the Clippers of 2001-02 (39-43), climbing fast. Come 2003-04, the Bulls would be a serious threat to recapture the East.

:grinning: