[SALO]

Webber was the hottest free agent in the NBA last year, and he probably wouldn't even have taken a phone call from Jerry Krause. But that was before Krause traded for Jalen Rose last season.

It remains to be seen what impact Rose will have on free agents, but he helped lure some of the biggest names in the game for the inaugural Chicago All-Star Classic.

"If Jalen were here a couple of years ago, I know I would have looked at the Bulls,'' Webber said. "And I know other guys will look at them, just because of what kind of person he is.

"You know it's a great city and the organization has won, but you want to play with guys who have proven themselves to their peers. A lot of guys will want to play here solely because of him.''

"This is the biggest celebrity game this year, and I mean that,'' Webber said. "That speaks for itself, as far as the respect for Jalen.''

On Summer League Play :
Rose studied updates from each game and said he wasn't discouraged. He's also keeping abreast of the Bulls' free-agent plans, though he has his eye on next year's crop, which includes Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd and Jermaine O'Neal.

"If you look at the list of free agents this year, it's not in the same class as 2003,'' Rose said. "We probably won't sign any long-term contracts or anything significant until 2003.

"But hopefully, we can find a veteran who can help us.''


- Jalen just we won't sign anyone to a long-term contract this year. Does anybody know our cap situation for summer 2003? Will we be over the cap? I think Hoiberg / Bagaric will be off the books next year (assuming we choose not to pick up Dali's option, but I got a feeling Krause will ).

What difference will it make to have Jalen go out and woo free agents next year if we won't have any CAP SPACE?

 

[SALO]

Oops, forgot to post a link to the full story. I didn't just copy and paste the whole article, just small clippings that I felt were important ....

http://www.suntimes.com/output/basketball/cst-spt-classic28.html

 

[BullsNews]

It really makes no difference if we have any cap space next summer or not- I think we all saw in the summer of 2000 that cap space means nothing if players don't want to come to your team.

The important thing is that a few teams WILL have cap room, and hopefully there will be someone who wants to come to the Bulls. Most of the free agents who have switched teams under the new CBA have done it through the sign-and-trade route, threatening to go to a team with cap room and leaving their old team high-and-dry. Eddie Jones and Glen Rice used the Bulls' cap room to force sign-and-trades, I think that we could land a free agent the same way.

After all, we do have ERob and Fizer as cap filler for a sign-and-trade (and IMHO, that's all ERob is- cap filler, just like Mercer was).

 

[settinUpShop]

Originally posted by BullsNews
It really makes no difference if we have any cap space next summer or not- I think we all saw in the summer of 2000 that cap space means nothing if players don't want to come to your team.

The important thing is that a few teams WILL have cap room, and hopefully there will be someone who wants to come to the Bulls. Most of the free agents who have switched teams under the new CBA have done it through the sign-and-trade route, threatening to go to a team with cap room and leaving their old team high-and-dry. Eddie Jones and Glen Rice used the Bulls' cap room to force sign-and-trades, I think that we could land a free agent the same way.

After all, we do have ERob and Fizer as cap filler for a sign-and-trade (and IMHO, that's all ERob is- cap filler, just like Mercer was).

and to expand on this idea. if ERob actually has an injury free season and plays well enough to kind of deserve his contract, that could sweeten the deal a lot more a make such a trade all the more possible. I think we can see through the Indiana trade a very good ability by our team's managment to judge current personel and cut the fat contract. If ERob's ceiling is lower than we all expected, even when he is healthy, then we should try to move him.