above all places ? That makes you so positive about the 2010 plan ?

If you could make this happen, the fans should have a coup and call you our GM. Great Post, and thanks for the hope…..God I hope it’s true….it’s all on BG now………

No offense. But between arjoseph’s request for Ricky Davis and this post which is pretty much orthodox thinking that 50% of the people on this board share, people have gone crazy with the discovery of the rec button. i mean, are these really the only teams that will have cap money in 2010? And i’ve seen each of these trades (or the equivalent) posted before.

I’m not saying it was worthy of a post. But rec?

I whole heartedly agree. We should do everything in our power to be the major player in the summer of Lebron(2010). Without Rose, nobody would take us seriously, with him everybody should be lining up to play with him. The only teams that can compete with us on the Rose level, will be The New Orleans Chris Paul’s, the Utah Deron Williams, and the San Antonio Tony Parker’s. Don’t know what kind of cap space those teams will have in 2010, but none should have as much as the Bulls since each of those top flite point guards are will be making max type money in 2010, while Rose will be making only $5.5 million.

It usually takes 3 really good or 2 great players and a good specialist to make a champion. See Jordan’s Bulls, the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, last seasons Celtics, the 80’s Lakers.

If we play our salary cap cards right we could make a run at getting 2 of the big 4. Either Wade or Lebron, and either Bosh or Amare.

In 2010 only Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni and Rose will definately be under contract. Gordon, Thomas, Thabo, and Noah are all optional, with only Gordon up for a new contract by then. Trading Hinrich for an expiring deal probably makes sense and is necessary to go after 2 of the big 4.

It doesn’t make any sense to sign Gordon to the type of contract that he has already declined twice. At most he should get Nocioni money($6.85 million in 2010), although even at that number we have to dump Nocioni to pay for Gordon. As a bench player I might like Nocioni (although by 2010 Nocioni will be entering his 30’s) better than Gordon, who is never going to be a starter on a championship caliber team, I repeat never, period, exclamation point.

Thomas is probably a goner, because he will soon be a certified bust. That leaves Thabo and Noah, who have options for about $7 million combined in 2010, we can afford them, especially if we don’t sign Gordon.

That puts us at $30million with Nocioni, $23 million without Nocioni, or with Nocioni but without Thabo and Noah, and $16 million with only Rose and Deng. If we strip it down that bare we definately can sign 2 of the big 4. Given the mediocrity of the rest of our team it might be worth the risk.

Another option, but with more risk, is to keep some these players to offer in sign and trades to teams which know that they are going to lose their star, but can offer him the biggest deal, and want to salvage something from the loss. It would take a combination of a Deng and Hinrich/Nocioni/Gordon contracts to match a max offer for Lebron for instance. Obviously Deng would be expendable if we landed Lebron, and Cleveland would have to be happy to salvage Deng out of the Lebron loss.

Lebron is the transcendant talent, however, our 2 biggest needs are shooting guard and power forward. So Amare or Bosh in combination with Wade would be a better fit than Lebron position wise.

So what do you want in 2010

If you are over the salary cap you don’t get to refill all your expiring contracts, you only get to replace them to the extent that you don’t exceed the cap again.

You state that the Bulls would have $30 million coming off the books in the summer of 2010, however they would be considerably over the cap prior to expiration and would not be able to spend the whole $30 million.

It sounds like you would have Deng, Rose, Gordon, and Noah under contract into 2010. I would replace Gordon with Thabo. Gordon has already turned $10 million per twice, so you have to pencil him in at least at $10 million in 2010(which I think is way too much for him, Nocioni money max($6.85 million in 2010). So that puts us at over $30million with a cap of $55-60 million (depending on the economy). With only 4 players under contract, you would need at least 8 more plus a free agent to have the NBA minimum roster of 13. Those other 8 guys are going to eat up $10 or more, which would leave you with less than $20 million left to sign a free agent, which is less than the max contract. Essentially, this is why you cannot sign Gordon(this and the fact that he sucks), better off to just keep Thabo at $3 million, then your plan works.

If you do indeed sign Gordon, who is not a starter no matter what you pay him, then the remaining hole is at power forward, so Bosh or Amare is your target. This plan is plausible, but probably not optimal.

Lebron is the premier talent by far. The question is who is the second talent in this group, Wade, Bosh or Amare. Is there a right answer, or does it depend.

The dream scenario is to sign and trade for one of the big 4 and then sign one of the remaining 3 as an outright freeagent. First preference, sign and trade for Lebron using Deng and either Hinrich/Gordon/Nocioni, and then sign one of the other three as an outright free agent. “Dumping” Deng in a sign and trade allows you the opportunity to go after 2 of the big 4.

If I had my way we would end up with Rose and Noah, with Thabo and maybe Nocioni as our bench, plus 2 of the big 4 free agents.

Leaving us with either

Rose, Lebron, and Wade (probably not enough basketballs), or

Rose, Lebron, and Bosh, or

Rose, Lebron, and Amare, which is way better than
 
Rose, Gordon, Deng, and any one of the above

Let the dream begin