Bulls Not Willing To Pay Amare

June 27th, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald, the Bulls aren’t willing to pay Amare Stoudemire around the $20 million a year that Amare would likely be seeking in an extension.

By adding to their pile of assets and expiring contracts, the Bulls are hoping to be in position to get Toronto’s Chris Bosh at the trade deadline or next summer. There may be other targets, such as Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire.

That raises another question: If the Suns have discussed moving Stoudemire to Golden State or Houston, why aren’t the Bulls getting involved? They probably would if Stoudemire agreed to a contract extension worth $14-15 million per season. The Bulls don’t want to make the trade and then pony up $20 million per when Stoudemire becomes a free agent next year. They’d feel better paying Bosh that kind of money.

This is disturbing news, as Amare Stoudemire is the type of player that could really improve the Bulls and propel them to contender status. This is a player, who last year, in what critics are calling an AWFUL year, scored 21.4 points on 61.7 TS%. This is better than anyone one the Bulls.

The financial part is a little confusing as well. What does it matter if we are paying Amare Stoudemire $15 million or $20 million a year? If we make a trade for Amare, we aren’t going to have cap flexibility. We will have made a commitment to trying to win a championship with Rose, Amare, Deng, and hopefully Gordon too. The difference between $15 million and $20 million would have no bearing on the Bulls as far as building their team, but rather, just saving ownership some money.

It’s time for the ownership group to step up, and pay for a winner. That means making a trade for Amare if available, giving him a lucrative extension, and re-signing Ben Gordon.