Bulls Trade Talk

Edit: The Bulls have since dealt Larry Hughes for Jerome James and Tim Thomas. All contracts expire in 2010, and 2010 cap space remains the same.

Welcome back Brad Miller. There is no doubt that you will continue to underperform. You are most definitely a less gritty veteran than Drew Gooden and will bring less fire than Andres Nocioni. Regardless, you are a beacon of light in the grim obscurity that is the Chicago Bulls. The same Bulls that gave us so much hope after a second round exit in 2007. Those days are a distant memory, as they followed up that season as Eastern Conference favorites who fell to 33-49.

That was probably a blessing in disguise as it helped us land #1 pick Derrick Rose. And yesterday you solidified our future by unloading a bad contract to take on a worse one. Sacramento is content to unload the $23.5 mil it owes Brad Miller to take on $7 million a year for Nocioni. It happily gobbled up Drew Gooden's expiring contract and threw in John Salmons for $5 something million a year.

Why all the numbers? Because this is what the trade is all about. The combination of Brad Miller and Larry Hughes produces almost $26 million that will come off the salary cap in time for summer 2010. For those of you who don't know, 2010 free agency is grounds for a bidding war to acquire the most coveted NBA players of this generation. A list of 2010 free agents can be found below:

http://www.realgm.com/src_freeagents/2010/

Historically the Bulls aren't known to be big spenders. Jerry Reinsdorf is the notoriously stingy owner of both the Bulls and the White Sox. He's a businessman, and the Bulls are a great business. Forbes ranks the Chicago Bulls as the third most valuable franchise in the NBA.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/32/nba08_Chicago-Bulls_321267.html

With the third highest revenue and 15th highest payroll, the Bulls generate the highest operating income of all NBA teams at almost $70 million. The GM, John Paxson, has been guilty of signing a number of bad contracts in the past, including Ben Wallace, Kirk Hinrich, and Andres Nocioni, but he's been very successful at unloading them to other teams.

The NBA's soft salary cap is based off a percentage of the NBA's income, and despite the poor economy, basketball's revenue has increased from last year. The salary cap this year was $58.68 million and can be expected to exceed $60 million in 2010. Assuming the team exercises options on Rose and Noah, their total salary for 2010-2011 comes in at $35.88 million. At this point, the Bulls will have Hinrich, Deng, Salmons, Rose, and Noah on salary. A max salary for any of the Lebron/Wade/Bosh combo will likely count as about $18 million against the cap. This leaves another $6 million to round out the roster.

How attractive is the combination of Deng, Rose, Noah, and Tyrus for these free agents? It's definitely up there with the rest of the teams who will have cap space available. The question remains as to whether Reinsdorf will spend to acquire a marquee player. It's easy to make the assumption that the Bulls could become such an attraction, that they will certainly make up their money in revenue. If Jordan allows Lebron to wear 23, imagine how many of those jerseys will sell.

There are still a lot of things that can happen before 2010. The Bulls could sign someone in 2009 to use up the cap space. They could forgo free agency in 2010 to simply save money. It's hard to definitively say that this move was meant to free up cap space. Paxson could have wanted to return Miller to Chicago as the inside presence this team desperately needs. He surely wanted to get rid of underperforming Nocioni.

Still this trade isn't as bad as the players in it. It's a move that's hopeful at heart, and hope is certainly what this team needs. Imagine if Paxson manages to unload Hinrich's de-escalating contract for another expiring deal. This frees up another $9 million, which the team would definitely need to resign Tyrus AND sign a max contract.

The Bulls still need a little work to be in place to truly compete in 2010, but with a couple of moves, they can retain a young core and have the cap space to be a championship contender the next decade. That being said, Paxson needs to make a couple more creative moves, and Reinsdorf needs to be willing to open up the checkbooks.

It'll be difficult to draw Wade and James away from teams that don't need to be under the salary cap to resign them. Chicago will need to compete with the New York Knicks, who might have enough cap room to sign two max contracts. Still there's not a huge amount of competition out there. Most teams under the cap are small market teams without the draw of large market advertising. Growing economy concerns mean that teams will likely focus on saving money.

There are only a handful of competitors, and this trade puts Chicago in the conversation. It'll be bleak for a while, but come 2010, the bulls may be back on the NBA map.

Bulls Salaries:

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/chicago.htm

Salary Cap FAQ:

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm