In the beginning(of the Pax era),Jerry Reinsdorf handed the keys to John Paxson. Paxson was charged with bringing the Bulls back to prominence and making the Bulls contenders after the final 6 seasons of Krause turned out to be futile and without direction. Pax started with a bang and drafted as many combo guards as he could get on the team. One combo guard gets injured,we replace him with another one and so on.....As the only major free agent signing in the Pax era,he acquired an aging big man with a reputation for destroying coaches and not promoting team unity. After that failed experiment,Pax looked to repair his mistake by getting a very good Pf in Gooden and a bloated contract and logjam at the Guard position in Larry Hughes to replace the fat contract from BW3. Prior to getting Hughes,Pax rectified his coaching problem by terminating Dictator Scott Skiles and replacing him with Some Guy...Some Guy gave Ben Gordon a nice Christmas present by returning him to the bench to play the 6th man role he thrived in earlier in his career. After securing Hughes,Gordon was not only relegated to the bench,he saw a decline in minutes and a role that was not fitting for a person that was your leading scorer for 3 of the 4 years he was a Bull!

So,now we have Larry Hughes. That obviously complicates our situation with BG. The Brass has leverage to only offer BG as much as they can without going into Luxury Tax level because they agree with him that they do have more than their share of guards. Hinrich is not the problem,Rose is the answer,and Larry Hughes is the main cog standing in the way of Bg not getting paid and playing his usual minutes per game!

There are several players within the realm of Hughes' huge contract...There are also some trade scenarios that could be had by the Bulls if they are indeed interested in moving Hughes in order not only to make a way for Gordon to get his minutes back,but also to get him a contract that will make him happy....I am assuming nothing but Deng money will make him happy,but I am thinking that if we give BG a Monta contract  and move a guard so that he feels secure he will get his minutes he will at least settle. That way at least his contract will be above Barbosa's and right with Ellis, both of whom are in line with his skill set.....

Here are some notable contracts that could be had if the Bulls are indeed thinking about welcoming back their leading scorer and moving the worst contract on our roster in Larry Hughes......

There are very few of these players that I think their respective Gm's would even consider getting rid of for a player like Larry Hughes...

But here's a list of the one for one players that are in the same financial bracket as Hughes...