[spongyfungy]

Blazing a new trail to help Bulls?

Do Chicago fans have short memories? He keeps putting the same names up over and over again.

Abdur-Rahim deserves better. He's regarded as a hard worker and a good teammate. He's an unrestricted free agent coming off a huge long-term contract that paid him $14 million this season. It seems as if he has finally had enough of the losing and losing teams.

"I'm frustrated, and I'm probably at my end with it," he told Portland reporters last week. "My tolerance level is probably at its low point. At this point in my career, I really want to feel like I can win or have a chance to win for the next six, seven or eight years."

Abdur-Rahim is one of the few true pros on the Portland team that is now 2-11 under interim coach Kevin Pritchard. The Blazers have gone back to playing more veterans since their insulting use of extras and rookies after the firing of Maurice Cheeks. But it's still a franchise in disarray, and it's unlikely Abdur-Rahim will re-sign. Not if he wants to be in the playoffs in this decade.

Enter the Bulls. They won't have a No. 1 draft pick this season and won't be under the salary cap. How do they get better? It's likely there will be some kind of veteran's exception of about $5 million in the new collective-bargaining agreement, as there is now. What a perfect marriage.

The Bulls have one true fourth-quarter scorer in Ben Gordon, and he's only a rookie. They need a big shooting guard and a power forward who can score. The 6-foot-9-inch Abdur-Rahim averaged 20.1 points and 8.2 rebounds entering this season. Despite the chaos in Portland, he is averaging 20.8 since Cheeks was fired. He recently had 25 points and 13 rebounds against first-place Phoenix and a nice 22-point, 10-rebound audition when the Bulls were in Portland earlier this month.

And he's only 28, having entered the league after one season at Cal.

The Bulls are a franchise headed in the direction Abdur-Rahim never has been. He's not about to get a huge contract from a team under the salary cap; the hot free agents are shooting guards Ray Allen, Joe Johnson and Larry Hughes. The teams that are well under the salary cap figure to be losers. He could be one of those next-level pieces for a team like the Bulls.

As Curry said Saturday, smiling on the way to his first playoff: "Every now and then I take a look at the standings. You don't want to put pressure on yourself, but you can't help looking to see who's where and who you might face in the playoffs. Especially for me going through so much [losing], it's amazing to see the position we're in."

 

[Rhyder]

Shareef would be nice to pair with Chandler, if and only if, Chandler bulks up and can play Center full time.

That said, I'm not willing to take that bet. I'd much rather resign Curry.

If Smith thinks that we should use the full MLE on Shareef, that is another interesting perspective.

1) I think it would take more than the full MLE to grab him. He could be a target on Atlanta's list for example.
2) If he could be had for the MLE, this would be our lineup:

Curry/AD
Chandler/Shareef/Othella
Deng/Noc
Gordon/Pike
Hinrich/xyz

Even though Othella is a lot of duplication for Shareef, we would almost have to resign him just to have enough bodies. I doubt we get a better option than Othella for the vet exception or a minimum contract.

A Shareef signing just doesn't make sense to me at all. I'd rather resign Tyson, Curry, and Othella, and use part of the MLE to keep Duhon.

 

[mr.ankle20]

I wouldn't mind signing him ,but no trade

 

[ViciousFlogging]

if it's possible to sign SAR to midlevel money, you have to consider doing it just from the standpoint of asset acquisition. He could be a decent fit on the court as a scoring PF to pair with Chandler/AD, as well, but I'm not so sure about that. But if you can sign a guy who can get you 18/8 fairly efficiently for $5m, you have to at least consider it. I'd hate to lose Duhon, though.

 

[spongyfungy]

Shareef would be nice to pair with Chandler, if and only if, Chandler bulks up and can play Center full time.

That said, I'm not willing to take that bet. I'd much rather resign Curry.

If Smith thinks that we should use the full MLE on Shareef, that is another interesting perspective.

1) I think it would take more than the full MLE to grab him. He could be a target on Atlanta's list for example.
2) If he could be had for the MLE, this would be our lineup:

Curry/AD
Chandler/Shareef/Othella
Deng/Noc
Gordon/Pike
Hinrich/xyz

Even though Othella is a lot of duplication for Shareef, we would almost have to resign him just to have enough bodies. I doubt we get a better option than Othella for the vet exception or a minimum contract.

A Shareef signing just doesn't make sense to me at all. I'd rather resign Tyson, Curry, and Othella, and use part of the MLE to keep Duhon.

That guard rotation sucks. Duhon is crucial to this team. I'd rather have Duhon than a bargain basement guard with the LLE. (did we use the LLE this year already?)

 

[Sith]

I think SAR would want to sign with teams like the Heat or the spurs. he will win the 6th man of the year if signs with either day and willing to come off the bench.