Jermaine O'Neal deal

by Jobu on Feb 16, 2006 9:17 AM CST

In this week's "other" Sports Illustrated there's a huge picture of Jermaine O'Neal in a Bulls uniform. On page 57, under "5 Potential Summer Moves" is Hinrich and the Knicks #1 for O'Neal. Dealing with Donnie Walsh hasn't exactly worked out for the Bulls but if Pax wanted he could deal Tim Thomas, Hinrich, & the Knicks # 1 straight up for O'Neal tomorrow.

But here's the thing, the writer Ian Thomson neglects to mention that without Thomas' salary the deal is almost impossible. Regarding Hinrich, he's a restricted free agent in the summer of '07 and I'm not sure if teams ever do extensions prematurely. I'll gladly defer to Matt on this one.

All this aside, is Jermaine O'Neal a risk the Bulls should take? My Hinirch man-crush and the fact that O'Neal has torpedoed my fantasy hoops team this year doesn't allow me to look at this deal objectively. On the negative side, he's only played 78 games the past two years and is owed a WHOPPING $82 million over the next 4 years. On the plus side, he's the low post scorer this team desperatly needs and a Chandler/O'Neal/Deng frontcourt is pretty awesome.

Weather-wise, it's a crappy day here in Chicago so let's get the BlogaBull burning bright!

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Hinrich

I think the way it goes is that this summer is the first chance the Bulls have to give Hinrich a contract extension. Otherwise they must wait until he's a restricted FA following next season.

For instance, the 2002 draft class had this option last summer, and Yao and Stoudamire got max extensions and therefore won't be restricted FAs this summer. Obviously the Bulls haven't done this recently, but then again Curry/Chandler/Crawford weren't players they obviously wanted to lock up like Hinrich. (you'd think)

(That had me thinking why the Bulls 2002 draft pick hadn't resigned yet, and then I rememebered it was Jay Williams ::sigh::)

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Feb 16, 2006 10:15 AM CST reply actions

Williams

any word on his comeback? I know some of his doctors and have spoken to other orthopedic surgeons that know his doctors and they all find it impossible to believe that he is doing well enough to consider a comeback. they were just hoping he'd walk with a limp.

in any case, i hated the draft pick and don't think he would hve amounted to much anyways. but i'm glad he's at least ambulatory with a nice buyout in his pocket.

Dalibor and Dragan

by FAQ on Feb 16, 2006 11:03 AM CST up reply actions

It's all BS

I've haven't been convinced yet that all the jay williams comeback talk is anything more than his agent floating out stuff. No NBA scout has deemed him ready yet.

It gets on my nerves when fans of shitty teams say they should give him a chance, "why not?". Well maybe he has one working leg, that's a good reason why not. (at least from what I've read very few Bulls fans are open to the idea of Williams coming back)

Also, he was a whiner when he was playing here, longing for the Duke 'family'.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Feb 16, 2006 11:07 AM CST up reply actions

Jay Williams

I have a friend who's currently playing on the same team as him in a NYC league. His description of his game is: "....his shot is great and his game is really efficient... he's strong with the ball, a great passer and looks to be in great condition especially in the upper body.
i think he still has a ways to go as far as flexibility and explosion, but you have to expect that.. the other night, he hit about 10 threes and had 40 or so points in a game."

by Jobu on Feb 16, 2006 11:42 AM CST up reply actions

what kind of league?

a rec league with fat guys or a more competitive league. i don't see him guarding anyone in NBA without really embarassing himself. i'm sure his upper body is strong - his legs are shot.

Dalibor and Dragan

by FAQ on Feb 16, 2006 12:11 PM CST up reply actions

I knew that would be the next question

It's a 10 team league in NYC that's very competitive. Each team has about 5 D1 guys on it and the rest are D2/3. For what it's worth, there are very few white guys. It's not like he's taking on the Kappa Sigs in intramurals.

by Jobu on Feb 16, 2006 12:38 PM CST up reply actions

What D1 players?

Can we get some names to get an idea?

by Moses Taylor on Feb 16, 2006 2:08 PM CST up reply actions

I have no idea

I'll ask my buddy. I wish I could say it's a league filled with all the busts who didn't make it like Fizer, Trajon Langdon, Scotty Thurman, Casey Jacobsen, etc. I know it's not though.

All I know is that it's definitely guys who can really ball and not guys who "like to play basketball every now and then."

by Jobu on Feb 16, 2006 2:24 PM CST up reply actions

tough call

i think that o'neal would definitely give us a first class front court and if we just managed to land a shooting guard, we'd have a fierce team. o'neal's pretty young, so i think that he can turn it around and stay healthy. I'm not sure though, that would strap us for the long haul. it's a tough call. i'm beginning to think that we can keep hinrich and do it with a very reasonable contract. something that would allow us to maintain flexibility in the future. if we managed that, i think that it would definitely be the way to go.

by CookDing on Feb 17, 2006 7:14 AM CST up reply actions