Courtney Lee UFA - Pg 33 rumor: Offered 32 mil by Houston

[Red Larrivee]

the offer is ridiculous in 3 years, not next year.

and the ridiculous part is only 1 year as opposed to the 2 years that Lin got.

Yeah, but that would still qualify as a ridiculous offer because of what you would be paying in year 3. People talk about what the Bulls were preparing for offer-wise, but there's no chance they were preparing for the scenario of their backup center being the second or third highest paid player on the team in 2014-15.

Regardless of how you feel about our chances of getting a superstar, the fact still remains this team will have offensive holes to fix over the next two-three years, and will need the all the money possible to do it once certain salaries are off the books. KC and other Bulls writers are frequently mentioning 2014 as a target date to retool, so I'm guessing there's a lot of smoke to that fire.

Why amnesty Boozer AND pay Omer $14M that summer? It's not really a gain of cost or getting bang/buck.

[boogydown]

I could really care less if the Bulls retain Asik or not though. I was the one who wanted to move him at Trade Deadline. Now I feel we're stuck. If the Bulls let go of Asik, then cut 3 guys, I feel the Bulls are going to completely destroy this team.

They should be thinking of a way to get out of this mess and actually upgrade this roster. Doesn't seem like they are though. Just waiting for free agents to come to them.

[Red Larrivee]

I could really care less if the Bulls retain Asik or not though. I was the one who wanted to move him at Trade Deadline. Now I feel we're stuck. If the Bulls let go of Asik, then cut 3 guys, I feel the Bulls are going to completely destroy this team.

And they should. Reality's been set in for me about that. It would sadden me players I like go, but it's the NBA. Players move all the time. The Bulls window with this group is closed. Rose's ACL injury took the two most crucial years of the title window off, and effectively shut it down. Aim for the next retool.

They should be thinking of a way to get out of this mess and actually upgrade this roster.

How can you upgrade if you're losing 4 players and already close to the luxury tax? i'm fine taking a step back to go forward in the long-term. It's the reality of the situation.

[transplant]

Gar said that they would match any offer that wasn't ridiculous. I think people just tuned out the ridiculous part and focused on the we'll match any offer. IMO the offer Asik got is a ridiculous offer.

Not according to Gar. He specifically said he wasn't surprised with the offer. Doesn't sound like he thinks it's ridiculous.

I agree. They knew Asik would get an offer from some team that would plan to start him. $8mil/year for a starting center is hardly ridiculous. As for the third year, I'm sure GarPax knew how to do the math on both a 3-year and 4-year Arenas deal.

My fear is that if Houston strikes out elsewhere, they'll up their offer on 7/11 and use $10mil of their cap space on Asik...4 yrs for $40mil with $15mil for each of the last 2 years. Since that's about as high as a team can go on an Arenas offer, I believe that this would fall under Forman's "totally ridiculous" caveat.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Gar said that they would match any offer that wasn't ridiculous. I think people just tuned out the ridiculous part and focused on the we'll match any offer. IMO the offer Asik got is a ridiculous offer.

Not according to Gar. He specifically said he wasn't surprised with the offer. Doesn't sound like he thinks it's ridiculous.

I agree. They knew Asik would get an offer from some team that would plan to start him. $8mil/year for a starting center is hardly ridiculous. As for the third year, I'm sure GarPax knew how to do the math on both a 3-year and 4-year Arenas deal.

My fear is that if Houston strikes out elsewhere, they'll up their offer on 7/11 and use $10mil of their cap space on Asik...4 yrs for $40mil with $15mil for each of the last 2 years. Since that's about as high as a team can go on an Arenas offer, I believe that this would fall under Forman's "totally ridiculous" caveat.

Which is why I hope both NY and Chi keep their mouths shut on what they plan to do, and just let those guys sign the sheets already offered to them.

[Bruteque]

Gar said that they would match any offer that wasn't ridiculous. I think people just tuned out the ridiculous part and focused on the we'll match any offer. IMO the offer Asik got is a ridiculous offer.

Not according to Gar. He specifically said he wasn't surprised with the offer. Doesn't sound like he thinks it's ridiculous.

I agree. They knew Asik would get an offer from some team that would plan to start him. $8mil/year for a starting center is hardly ridiculous. As for the third year, I'm sure GarPax knew how to do the math on both a 3-year and 4-year Arenas deal.

My fear is that if Houston strikes out elsewhere, they'll up their offer on 7/11 and use $10mil of their cap space on Asik...4 yrs for $40mil with $15mil for each of the last 2 years. Since that's about as high as a team can go on an Arenas offer, I believe that this would fall under Forman's "totally ridiculous" caveat.

I doubt that they will do that. The way it's looking now, Houston will be looking to use Asik's contract to take advantage of their willingness to take on unwanted salary for contract in year three. Asik's value is simply higher to the Rockets than to the Bulls, because they will be starting him and they will be looking to take on unwated salary and assets in year three, unlike the Bulls. If the Bulls match, Morey will just shrug and move on to his next sensible deal.

Signing Lee may actually end up saving the Bulls money. Here is one young guard the Bulls can play 40 minutes a game and back up with a vet min player. Otherwise the Bulls may have to sign multiple good one-way players to the MMLE-MLE type money they will cost to let Thib throw at the opposing team depending on matchups. I mean, I cannot imagine having Mayo trying to guard Wade for significant stretches, for example. That'd be a fcxking disaaster.

[megamax]

The CBA is quite clear on the max offer one could expect on Asik

Year 1 = $5m
Year 2 = 4.5% increase or $5.225M
Year 3 = Max contract for a player on 6 years service is 25% of the salary cap or $14.5M
Year 4 = 4.5% increase or $15,125M

To think that Gar/Pax weren't aware of this is foolish. When Gar said he wasn't shocked by the offer he definitely wasn't, and I'm sure they had planned for this internally. I think it's safe to assume that a ridicules offer for Asik would be the 4 year max deal. Other than that deal, I don't know what else the Bulls would deem ridicules.

[BuffaloBull]

Which is why I hope both NY and Chi keep their mouths shut on what they plan to do, and just let those guys sign the sheets already offered to them.

Yeah. People get worked up when they don't hear any info coming out of the Berto, but that's a good thing.

With Dwight out there, and other possible deals too, you don't want to commit to anything until you see what the true playing field looks like when the moratorium ends.

The Bulls are waiting to see what the river card is before they commit or not on a lot of moves this offseason. I don't expect them to do too much: they've got a very good team now, and the kind of true franchise player you would blow up your core for (Dwight) has so far given you no indication that he'd be okay to come here. But who knows, he may see the Brooklyn window closing, decide he's not going to get what he really wants, and may decide that Chicago isn't so bad after all, if the alternatives are Houston and being Shaq 2.0 in LA. With Rose out he can be a knight in shining armor etc.

Noted, I don't think the above scenario will happen. But at this point, it still is a (remote) possibility. So until the big moves are made/not made, you want to keep your flexibility open, make contacts with players to cover your bases, and make a move at the right time.

[Bruteque]

The CBA is quite clear on the max offer one could expect on Asik

Year 1 = $5m
Year 2 = 4.5% increase or $5.225M
Year 3 = Max contract for a player on 6 years service is 25% of the salary cap or $14.5M
Year 4 = 4.5% increase or $15,125M

To think that Gar/Pax weren't aware of this is foolish. When Gar said he wasn't shocked by the offer he definitely wasn't, and I'm sure they had planned for this internally. I think it's safe to assume that a ridicules offer for Asik would be the 4 year max deal. Other than that deal, I don't know what else the Bulls would deem ridicules.

Asik for $25m/3 is by no means a ridiculous offer. It's actually a very good contract for a team that wants to either keep/start him or trade him for unwanted salary and assets down the line. Unfortunately, that's not the Bulls unless they plan to move Noah. Asik's contract will be an albatross in the later years, but it will be a "shorter" albatross you can trade for even worse moeny contracts to teams looking to shed even worse commited money. If the Bulls keep Noah, then they won't won't want to keep Asik at that price, and it will be quiet unlikely to want to take on even more unwanted salary for Asik. It would really hurt the Bulls' ability to sign Lee or similar plugs at other positions.

[boogydown]

Which is why I hope both NY and Chi keep their mouths shut on what they plan to do, and just let those guys sign the sheets already offered to them.

Which is why Gar hasn't said a word about his plans and I don't expect he will until Asik has officially signed.

[FORMIDABULLS]

Which is why I hope both NY and Chi keep their mouths shut on what they plan to do, and just let those guys sign the sheets already offered to them.

Yeah. People get worked up when they don't hear any info coming out of the Berto, but that's a good thing.

With Dwight out there, and other possible deals too, you don't want to commit to anything until you see what the true playing field looks like when the moratorium ends.

The Bulls are waiting to see what the river card is before they commit or not on a lot of moves this offseason. I don't expect them to do too much: they've got a very good team now, and the kind of true franchise player you would blow up your core for (Dwight) has so far given you no indication that he'd be okay to come here. But who knows, he may see the Brooklyn window closing, decide he's not going to get what he really wants, and may decide that Chicago isn't so bad after all, if the alternatives are Houston and being Shaq 2.0 in LA. With Rose out he can be a knight in shining armor etc.

Noted, I don't think the above scenario will happen. But at this point, it still is a (remote) possibility. So until the big moves are made/not made, you want to keep your flexibility open, make contacts with players to cover your bases, and make a move at the right time.

Lee, Mayo and Nick Young they are all unrestricted, I would not be surprised to see them snapped up with verbal agreements while we wait around for Howard to change his mind. If Howard puts Chicago top of his list... awesome, but we could just as well end up with no Howard, no Lee, no Mayo and no Young... What I do not understand is that instead of waiting, we can just announce that we won't match Asik and proceed with other moves of interest while keeping an eye on Howard's status. I'm sure the two can be done independently as long as the main trade pieces to send Orlando are still there.

Or wait... is all the hush hush secrecy a sign that we actually intend to match Houston's offer?

[Worthy1ne]

Well there goes that

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA
RT @VALANTIS_X: any chance bulls get both lee & billups? ---> hearing CLee has an offer from Houston for $32 mill... Bulls can't get close

[fleet]

Well there goes that

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA
RT @VALANTIS_X: any chance bulls get both lee & billups? ---> hearing CLee has an offer from Houston for $32 mill... Bulls can't get close

what in the world? Houston, the parallel universe where normal Einstein physics don't apply.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

As i said in the other thread - why did Houston rescind the QO?

[boogydown]

As i said in the other thread - why did Houston rescind the QO?

Free up cap space for Lin and Asik

[Magilla_Gorilla]

As i said in the other thread - why did Houston rescind the QO?

Free up cap space for Lin and Asik

They'd have to renounce Lee to do that - which they clearly didn't do, and they wouldn't need to do it until Chicago/NY declined to match the offer sheet.

[boogydown]

Kyle Lowry just traded to the Raptors for Future Lottery Pick

[boogydown]

Bulls won't be getting Mayo

@RicBucher
Source: teams still w/ a shot at Mayo (Mavs, Rockets, Pacers, Clippers, Knicks and Suns) + Kaman (Mavs, Pacers, Spurs, Kings and Jazz)

[Benedict Miller]

Bulls won't be getting Mayo

@RicBucher
Source: teams still w/ a shot at Mayo (Mavs, Rockets, Pacers, Clippers, Knicks and Suns) + Kaman (Mavs, Pacers, Spurs, Kings and Jazz)

It hurts....It hurts.....

but it is Bucher reporting still have a little faith

[MrFortune3]

lol, Houston is just throwing money around and hoping someone takes it. gonna be hilarious when they do all that and end up with Asik and Lin getting matched.