Also, if there’s going to be a sign and trade agreeable to the Bulls, I’d guess it’s to move a bigger salary off the books (Noc, Hughes or Hinrich?). Otherwise they’ll be taking back close to luxury tax levels for players they don’t want in the first place.

I doubt Bill Simmons will feel this way:

Dan (DC): Igoudala, Deng, Okafor, Bogut – they’re all getting $12 million+ a year under their new extensions. None of them are all stars, and in all liklihood none of them will ever be. Yet they will all be paid something like 25% of the team’s salary cap figure. All of these were either extensions or restricted FA deals, with no other team on the marketplace offering competion. John, my question is this – why are all GMs crazy?

SportsNation John Hollinger: They’re not crazy, they’re managing risk. The risk of having a player of their skill taking the QO and flying the coop isn’t worth it. And from the player’s end, the difference between the QO and the first-year salary in a lot of these cases isn’t THAT large, so if the offer came in much lower they might as well play for the QO. That’s what we’re seeing in Gordon’s case actually, which is why they’re at an impasse.

(ht: sixerssoul)