If only this were true. The Bulls getting the third best player in this draft would be a dream. I have a feeling you believe that as well which is the reason he "fell" to them.

If the Bulls could get Brewer, Conley or Wright, I would be very, very happy. I think they are all potential stars, particularly, Wright and Conley. But the specter of Joakim Noah haunts my dreams....

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He reminds me of Mikki Moore from the Nets

I like Conely a lot. I think he has a natural feel for the game and how to run an offense.
I completely agree with you on Noah. I had no use for his old man either, back in the day.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

The dad always reminded me of Milli Vanilli.

That between the legs shot with his back to his opponent always made The Sports Machine on Sunday night.

I would take Conley in a heartbeat as well, but it might set the team back a bit, similar to the Curry trade. Drafting Conley would likely mean moving Kirk, which I have no objection to, but trading Hinrich is very impractical until next summer. You’d probably keep him around one more year, let Conley get his feet wet, and then ship Kirk in July of 08 when his contract (BYC) has full value – both outbound & inbound.

As for Noah, I think there’s a bit of an overreaction. Staying in school another year when he was clearly a top 5 pick in ’06 really put his game under a microscope. I did not like him at 2 last year, and would not draft him top 5 this year, but I do think he presents good value at 9. There are players I would rather have ahead of him, but I will not be upset if he’s Pax’s guy next week.

Personally, I wouldn't expand the list that far unless you were certain you could move Nocioni for a solid big later this summer. Had they kept Aldridge instead of Tyrus, though, then I’d definitely be interested in those combo forwards. I also feel that Noah & Hawes have very similar draft value. Hawes has a higher ceiling and a lower floor. If you meet in the middle, the value is comparable.

Not that much flexibility, no matter what position they draft, they’re going to be bound by financial limitations.

As for the Kobe proposal, I doubt they’d want Kwame involved in the package. I also worry about giving up that many pieces. Even with the MLE and the possibility of keeping the 9, your rotation is still thin.

PG - #9 or MLE
SG - Kobe
SF - Luol
PF - #9 or MLE
C - PJ or Kwame

G - Thabo
F - Nocioni
C - PJ or Kwame

Maybe if you could swing a 2nd deal, perhaps a S&T involving Duhon, Viktor, and your pick in ’08 for another big man (especially if PJ retires), that might help. In any case, I’d still prefer an offer of Wallace, Gordon, and the 9.

I don’t think that team beats Detroit or Cleveland.

I tend to think the team Nas presented could beat Cleveland. Bryant and LeBron are for the most part going to cancel each other offensively, and you could even have Deng guard LeBron. The remaining surround cast the Bulls would have is still better than Eric Snow, Varajaeo, Illgauskas, Gibson...

Yeah, if you want LeBron to score 50.

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Where do you guys think Tyrus would have fallen in this draft? Would he even be a top 10 guy?

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

He wouldn't have gone top 2, but I think he'd go 4-6.

Not necessarily. Basically, it means that the team, as a whole, is still a few years away from its prime. You’d be left with an odd mix of players if you offered so much for Kobe. Hawes wouldn’t be ready to play more than 20 minutes a night, Nocioni is a nice player off the bench but is nothing special as a starting PF, Deng is 22 and 3-4 years away from his best years, and your PG situation would be pretty sorry.



Maybe, considering they’d be getting multiple top-prospects, but I’m sure they’d rather not. That’s why I’ve been complaining for a while that Pax hasn’t left himself in a good position to make a move this offseason. Since they passed on making a trade the last 2 years when they held large expiring contracts (and didn’t acquire another one at February’s trade deadline), I’m inclined to believe they’re not going to make one now, when they’d have to pull off a ridiculous circus move to make it happen.



I’d say between 4-8.

I agree. I like Kobe as a player, but given the Bulls' contracts, they would have to give up way too much to make a deal work. The already have something good going (by the East's standards), so they might as well stay the course and hope to make something out of the MLE and the 9th pick. It's not sexy, but they don't necessarily need sexy.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Nas,

When you look at the 4-year window of the Bulls’ payroll, the signing fits in like a glove. Had they kept Chandler and not signed Wallace, they would have only had a small amount of cap space this offseason (due to Hinrich’s extension kicking in). Perhaps not enough to make a serious run at Billups, Rashard, Carter, etc. Maybe Gerald Wallace, but not much more. Then in the following offseasons, they’d have none at all (due to Luol and Gordon’s extensions kicking in). As it stands now, Wallace comes off the books before Tyrus, Thabo, and the 9 pick will be due extensions, which means they have the opportunity for another cap window in 2010 – without removing core players (they might have to let a 31 year old Nocioni walk that offseason, but Kirk, Gordon, Luol, Tyrus, Thabo, and the 9 would all be around).

Wilcox & Gooden? I’d still go with Wallace. I like Al Harrington, but that signing would have been contingent on them drafting Aldridge, and apparently they didn’t like him a whole lot.



And only Wallace & Hinrich have descending contracts. Nocioni may, if the Bulls try to write in a team-option in year 4, but for Luol & Gordon it won’t matter. They’ll both be in year 3 of 5 year extensions. Whether they’re ascending, descending, flat, they’d be the same rate in the middle year.



I figured you already had that feeling. The guy had the most beautiful arrangement of tradeable assets for 2 straight years, and sat on his hands. That’s why I’m not expecting a crazy offseason. Noah or Hawes at 9, and perhaps an MLE (perhaps not even full MLE) signing to back up the kid.

So, it sounds like we're looking at a front line next season of Ben Wallace at C, Tyrus Thomas at PF, and Luol Deng at SF with Nocioni able to play both F spots, possibly the draft pick of either Hawes/Noah off the bench, and then maybe a mid-level free agent.

Wallace will probably continue his slow decline, but they have to be careful with his minutes as well. It would be great if they can keep him in the 30-35 per game so he's fresher later in the season, but Tyrus Thomas is really going to need to be consistent for this team to take the next step.

this is some of the best bulls analysis I've read online in awhile, thumbs-up guys! Too much cheerleading going on in the Bulls forum at RealGM

I check out that site a lot, but 90% of it is filled with ridiculous trade rumors that will never happen. You have to look long and hard to find good information within some of these threads.

There are some good posters there, but lots of junk to sort through, I agree.