When the Bulls decided to let Ben Gordon walk to the Detroit Pistons this past offseason, they signaled that they were going to pursue 2010 free agency. The Bulls face one major problem, which is that they will not have enough cap space to sign a max free agent if John Salmons opts into his contract. So at the trade deadline this year, the Bulls should first look at trying to move either John Salmons or Kirk Hinrich, to ensure that they can sign a max free agent in 2010 free agency. But the Bulls shouldn’t stop there, the Bulls should work to move all three of Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, and John Salmons for expiring contracts. Moving all three would make the Bulls the biggest power player in the biggest free agent year in NBA history.

First, I would like to clear up some misconceptions. A recent RealGM 2010 Free Agency primer said that the Bulls would have $21.1 million in projected cap space using a $52.5 million even with Salmons opting in. I am not sure where the author got this number, but he either doesn’t quite understand all the subtleties of the CBA, has bad salary data, made some mathematical errors, or a combination of all three.

If Salmons chooses to opt in, with a $52.5 million cap, the Bulls would have approximately $11.468 million in cap space, well short of the $15.75 million needed to sign a max free agent in 2010 free agency using the $52.5 million cap. If Salmons chose to opt out of his contract, the Bulls would have $16.803 million in cap space, enough to sign a max free agent. This of course doesn’t include the Bulls draft pick, which would further reduce the Bulls’ cap space, although if the Bulls were to trade their draft pick, they could have these cap space figures.

If we were to choose to go with the 2010 plan for one max free agent, moving either Kirk Hinrich or John Salmons would ensure that we have the proper cap space for 2010 to sign a max player. Luol Deng could also be moved, but he would be a better piece to keep here to try to attract a max free agent than either Hinrich or Salmons.

However, an even better plan for the Bulls would to move all three of Hinrich, Salmons, and Deng. This would allow the Bulls to sign two max free agents, even if they were to be blessed with the salary commitments that come with the top overall pick in the draft.

How would the Bulls accomplish this feat? They could target a few separate deals moving these players for expirings. But there are two teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks, who could trade for all three in a single trade.

The Cavaliers could do so in a trade based around Shaquille O’neal’s massive expiring contract. Shaq has only produced 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per a game for the Cavs this season, and moving Shaq in a trade for talent to help the Cavs win a championship this year would probably please Lebron more than if the Cavs were to trade his good friend, Zydrunas Ilgauskus, who Lebron promised to win a championship ring for.

The Mavericks also are a championship contender who could use an injection of talent to better their chances at winning the rings. With the window closing on the Dirk Nowitzki era of Dallas Mavericks basketball, I think Mark Cuban in particular would consider such a deal to try to win a championship with Nowitzki. A trade with the Mavericks would include Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, and Kris Humphries going to the Bulls, as well as some more of the Mavericks small expiring contracts.

If the Bulls were to pull off such a trade, they would only have salary commitments to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and James Johnson.

The Bulls would take a major stepback talent wise this year, and would probably slide into a top seven draft pick. The Bulls main selling point to the 2010 free agents would be that they would be able to play with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, a top 7 draft pick, as well as another max 2010 free agent.

Here is how the salaries would work out, using the dream scenario of the Bulls winning the top overall pick.

The salary for the #1 overall pick will be $4.287 million for the 2010-2011 season. Therefore the Bulls would then enter free agency with $33.398 million in cap space.

After they sign their first max free agent, starting at $15.75 million, they will have $18.085 million in cap space.

After they sign their second max free agent, starting at $15.75 million, they will have $2.808 million in cap space.

The Bulls could use that left over cap space to either sign another established NBA player to build depth, or bring Omer Asik over from Europe. The amount of left over cap space would grow depending on how

If the Bulls are able to sign any two of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, and Carlos Boozer, using this plan, I think they will have a pretty good team. I think signing any two of these players would make the Bulls title contenders. Of course, which two out of these six players they sign is important, because the Bulls could be left anywhere from being a lower level contender to an absolute juggernaut, but I think they will be contenders none the less. How their 2010 draft pick pans out also would play a role into what kind of contender they become, as will the continuing development of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Coming out of the offseason, the Bulls main components would be Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, 2010 Max Free Agent 1, 2010 Max Free Agent 2, 2010 Leftover Cap Space Free Agent, 2010 Top Draft Pick. I think just this here could leave the Bulls ready to compete for a championship in the 2010-2011 championship. They will then have to try to convince veterans signing for the minimum that Chicago is the place they should sign, in order to add depth. I think Brad Miller is one of the expiring guys from this year’s team who would return next year on the minimum salary.

Otherwise, during the 2011 offseason, the Bulls would be able to add depth using the MLE, LLE, and their 2011 draft picks.

This is the plan that will give the Bulls the best bet at winning a championship anytime soon. The Bulls finally need to go all in for a championship, and the best way to do that is going all in for 2010 free agency.

The Chicago Bulls have been blownout in two consecutive games. First Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 101-87, and then last night against the Toronto Raptors

Cleveland Cavaliers 101 vs. Chicago Bulls 87

In this first game, the Bulls held tough with the Cavs in the first half, trailing by only 1 point at the end of the first half.

The Bulls were able to hang tough with the Cavs because of a strong first half from Taj Gibson, who finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

In the second half, it was all Cavs as they went on to the easy victory. The victory was so easy for the Cavs, it caused Lebron James to begin dancing in the middle of the game.

This caused a verbal altercation between Joakim Noah and Lebron James, in which Noah shouted to James, according to Ric Bucher, “This is so ****ing old, you’re a b**ch.”

It is good to see this type of fire in Joakim Noah, and to stand up for his team.

Lebron James had a good game as usual, finishing with 23 points and 11 assists. James made it difficult for Deng to find open shots, limiting him to 11 points on 4-9 shooting.

Daniel Gibson finished with 15 points on 7-9 shooting.

There were bad games all around for the Bulls. John Salmons finished with 12 points on 5-12 shooting, Derrick Rose had 13 points on 5-16 shooting, and Joakim Noah had 7 points on 2-7 shooting and 10 rebounds.

For the Cavs, Shaquille O’neal had 8 points on 4-5 shooting, Mo Williams had 15 points and 7 assists, and Anderson Varejao had 10 points.

With the loss, the Bulls fell to 7-10 on the season.

Toronto Raptors 110 at Chicago Bulls 78

Vinny Del Negro rested his starters in the fourth quarter against the Cavs, but that proved to be useless as they were getting outplayed badly from the get go by the Toronto Raptors.

Joakim Noah played well, scoring 9 points on 3-3 shooting and grabbing 7 rebounds in 18 minutes. He was ejected in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul.

I think this will be a hard season for Noah, as the Bulls are going to get embarrassed in a lot of their losses as a result of a lack of ability to score the ball, and I think Noah is going to take it hard.

John Salmons was solid too, scoring 13 points on 6-12 shooting, but the rest of the team played poorly. Derrick Rose had 9 points on 3-9 shooting, and Luol Deng had 9 points on 4-9 shooting.

Chris Bosh was dominant for the Raptors, posting 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Four other Raptors scored in double figures. Demar Derozan finished with 11 points, Marco Bellinelli with 15 points, Antoine Wright with 10 points, and Rasho Nesterovic with 12 points.

The most embarrassing moment of the game came for the Bulls at the third quarter, when Jarrett Jack decided to pick up the ball and tie his shoe. None of the Bulls made any attempt to steal the ball from Jack.

With this embarrassing loss, the Bulls fall to 7-11 on the season.

Closing Comments

This season looks like it is going to take a dip towards the ugly. The Bulls are a team that does nothing well on the basketball court. They can’t score, and after a strong defensive start, their defense can no longer stop anyone. Following the loss to the Raptors, the Bulls were ranked 27th in Offense and 19th in Defense, down from 15th in Offense and 18th in Defense last season. In losing Ben Gordon, the Bulls made themselves one of the worst offensive teams in the league while also making no improvements on the defensive end. That is a recipe for disaster, and that is the exact word that can be used to describe the Bulls season thus far.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 86-85 in Cleveland last night.

The game looked like it was going to set up for a Cavs win. Luol Deng missed a shot, which the refs ruled to be an airball, which led to a 24 second violation and the Cavs getting the ball back with a few seconds remaining. The replay showed that the shot probably hit the rim. We were going to see the same story we’ve seen many times before, Lebron drives to the basket, refs call a foul, and the Cavs win.

So on the very next play, Lebron James drives left to the basket, being bodied up by Luol Deng. Joakim Noah then came over to help, and Lebron lost the ball out of bounds.

This was defense executed to perfection. You had Deng not giving into Lebron, staying between himself and the basket, leading Lebron into the defensive wall, preventing Lebron from getting to the rim in Joakim Noah.

It is defense like this for why the Bulls beat the Cavs, and defense like this for why the Bulls are 3-2. The defensive improvement has come entirely from the front court. Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Brad Miller have been making smart rotations on defense, and have played the pick and roll well.

Derrick Rose had an alright game tonight, scoring 14 points and dishing 11 assists. His passing was impressive, and he set up many of his teammates for easy looks. However, he is still scoring the ball very poorly, as he took 15 shots to get his 14 points tonight.

Luol Deng finished the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds. He had a rough night scoring the ball, taking 16 shots to score his 15 points, but he did a good job on the boards, and did a solid job of defending Lebron James, which is no easy task.

John Salmons scored 14 points in the game on 6-13 shooting. Again, efficient scoring was a problem with him, as he didn’t make a lot of three pointers, and didn’t get to the line much. Additionally, John Salmons last point came with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter.

Taj Gibson gave the points 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Joakim Noah put up 7 points and 11 rebounds.

Kirk Hinrich had a solid 9 points, 6 rebound, 4 assists game and Brad Miller added in 10 points.

For the Cavs, Lebron James continued his excellent play, finishing with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Anderson Varejao put in 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Shaquille O’neal had 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker had 11 points a piece.

The Cavs offense just hasn’t been the same ever since they lost their offensive guru, John Keuster, to the Detroit Pistons this offseason.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 3-2 on the season.

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Orlando Magic
3. Boston Celtics
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Miami Heat
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Toronto Raptors
8. Washington Wizards
——————-
9. Chicago Bulls
10. Philadelphia 76ers
11. New York Knicks
12. Milwaukee Bucks
13. New Jersey Nets
14. Indiana Pacers
15. Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference

1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Dallas Mavericks
4. Portland Trail Blazers
5. Denver Nuggets
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Utah Jazz
8. New Orleans Hornets
——————-
9. Golden State Warriors
10. Los Angeles Clippers
11. Memphis Grizzlies
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
13. Minnesota Timberwolves
14. Sacramento Kings
15. Houston Rockets

Eastern Conference First Round

1. Cleveland Cavaliers over 8. Washington Wizards (4-1)
4. Detroit Pistons over 5. Miami Heat (4-2)
3. Boston Celtics over 6. Atlanta Hawks (4-2)
2. Orlando Magic over 7. Toronto Raptors (4-0)

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals

1. Cleveland Cavaliers over 4. Detroit Pistons (4-2)
3. Boston Celtics over 2. Orlando Magic (4-3)

Eastern Conference Finals

3. Boston Celtics over 1. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3)

Western Conference First Round

1. Los Angeles Lakers over 8. New Orleans Hornets (4-0)
4. Portland Trail Blazers over 5. Denver Nuggets (4-2)
3. Dallas Mavericks over 6. Phoenix Suns (4-3)
2. San Antonio Spurs over 7. Utah Jazz (4-1)

Western Conference Semi-Finals

1. Los Angeles Lakers over 4. Portland Trail Blazers (4-2)
2. San Antonio Spurs over 3. Dallas Mavericks (4-3)

Western Conference Finals

2. San Antonio Spurs over 1. Los Angeles Lakers (4-2)

NBA Finals

San Antonio Spurs over Boston Celtics (4-3)

Coach of the Year: John Kuester (Runner Up: Gregg Poppovich)
MVP: Lebron James (Runner Up: Dwight Howard)
Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans (Runner Up: Blake Griffin)
Sixth Man of the Year: Manu Ginobili (Runner Up: Leandro Barbosa)
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard (Runner Up: Ron Artest)
Most Improved Player: Brook Lopez (Runner Up: Michael Beasley)

The 2009-2010 NBA season is quickly approaching. Therefore, here are five bold, specific, quick hit predictions for the 2009-2010 NBA season.

1. The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals behind a 17 rebound performance by Dejuan Blair. Tim Duncan wins the Finals MVP, while Manu Ginobili hobbles his wa through the Finals, retiring at their conclusion.
2. Brook Lopez makes his first Allstar game appearance and emerges as the top player from the 2008 Draft Class.
3. All four of the conference semi-final matchups (Cleveland vs. Detroit, Boston vs. Orlando, LA Lakers vs. Portland, and San Antonio vs. Dallas) will be epic playoff series.
4. Ben Gordon takes over the starting shooting guard spot from Richard Hamilton in November. At that point, Joe Dumars simultaneously trades Richard Hamilton for a center (it will be either Chris Kaman or Andrew Bogut). The Pistons combine one of the top producing back courts in the NBA with good interior defense to claim the fourth seed in the East. Ben Gordon has a better season than Derrick Rose and makes his first Allstar game. Gordon goes on to knock the Miami Heat out of the playoffs in Game 6 on a buzzer beating leaner along the baseline. The Pistons give the Cavs a hard fought series in the second round before being eliminated in six games.
5. Michael Beasley puts it all together as the Heat win around 46 games. Miami becomes the clear cut top free agent destination. Dwyane Wade re-signs with the Heat on the first day of free agency. The Heat also sign Lebron James or Chris Bosh on the first day of free agency.

The New Jersey Nets will have a promotion this season where they will be giving away reversible jerseys when you buy a 10 game plan to the 10 hottest games of the year. Instead of the reversible jerseys reversing from a home jersey into an away jersey, like we are used to from when we played basketball as kids, the Nets jerseys reverse into an opposing team’s player.

It appears that the five jersey combinations will be Jarvis Hayes - Lebron James, Courtney Lee - Kobe Bryant, Brook Lopez - Dwight Howard, Devin Harris - Dwyane Wade, and Yi Jianlian - Kevin Garnett.

It is a bold marketing decision by the Nets.  As a Bulls fan, I don’t think I would want a Derrick Rose jersey that reverses into a Dwyane Wade jersey or a Joakim Noah jersey that reverses into a Dwight Howard, or a Kirk Hinrich jersey that reverses into a Ben Gordon jersey.  Okay, maybe I’d take that last one.

The Chicago Bulls introduced James Johnson and Taj Gibson in a press conference today. Here is a rough recap of what was said during the press conference today.

Gar Forman: We are very excited about how things turned out.  Think with both players there is great versatility, both for the roster, but also as far as their games are concerned.  James can play inside and outside.  He can play at the 3 and the 4.  Taj is a skill player, who brings length and activity to the floor that will really help us.

James Johnson: Chicago is a great city, going to be happy to play here.  They’re a great young team.  Going to be fun running with Derrick and the rest of the guys.

Taj Gibson: I feel the same way.  I’m blessed to be here, a great city, a great team.  Looking forward to filling any need the team has, looking forward to the season.

Reporter: Do you liken yourself to anyone in particular or the kind of style of play?

James Johnson: I watch everyone.  I have a couple guys, inside and out.  Try to take everyone’s game who makes great moves, and make them in my game.

(more…)