Taj will recruit. He'll be at Melo meeting (with Noah)

[WhiteM0nkey]

I'm not sure if Rose is acting like a Diva or if his ego is to fragile and he must be the only star on the court.

[VolumePoster]

Rose is really looking like a diva ...

It does look very odd. There's no luol deng anymore that rose would be selling out. And with all that's been written...

[Polynice4Pippen]

Seriously. Like how awkward is it when the best player decides not to show his face?

Can't be anymore awkward then when he's the only all-star on the East not to dance during pre game intros. Seriously, it's not breaking news that Derrick is shy and awkward and standoffish.

Nah, the All-Star thing was awesome. And it was a spur-of-the-moment reaction, like shyness. Not recruiting is a planned decision. It's nothing like the character trait of shyness or awkwardness. It's lack of common sense.

It's consistent with his character and social awkwardness and anxiety. It's why he never goes out to the club, why he's never on social media. It's the same Derrick we've known since high school. Just glad we have a guy like Jo to step up in that department.

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[Shill]

Just when I was hoping they would offer a trade including Taj for an elite player.. The Bulls go out and let him recruit. This can not get any worse. This off-season is looking more and more like we will not sign any relevant FA.

So basically the Bulls are damned if they do, damned if they don't?

LOL I read that as if he was a Knicks fan.

[kdapiton]

GarPax: "With these two behind you, you got nothing to worry about"

[coldfish]

Worth recalling, the Lakers let Dwight walk away 'for nothing' and that was despite Houston even gave him a legit max relative to what they were able to do.

So this would be no small thing for Melo to take the plunge and be willing to come for what's available.

IMHO, it will end up being a sign and trade. A lot of this is just jockeying for negotiating leverage.

I think the reason why the Bulls are so confident about the money is because they have a 3rd team lined up.

The key is to sell Melo on him walking onto a championship roster and the scenario with sign and trade, with Taj still here, is that. What few like to discuss is that while trading Taj and giving up the MLE makes the money situation easier, it cuts pretty hard into the reason why he would join in the first place.

All speculation on my part.

[Shill]

Worth recalling, the Lakers let Dwight walk away 'for nothing' and that was despite Houston even gave him a legit max relative to what they were able to do.

Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss are dumb-dumbs.

They could've gotten assets back.

[bad knees]

Because with Boozer amnestied we will be about $11.2mm under the cap. The Bulls can take back salary in a S&T when under the cap equal to the amount they are under the cap + outgoing salaries upto an amount that puts them $100k over the cap. Deeks just wrote an article about this and posted it to his twitter account.

So it turns out that you're referring to Mark's Anthony Randolph article. I hadn't read that b/c I'm not so interested in Randolph. But as it happens, he put a lot of stuff in there about a Boozer S&T. He should change the title of the article, b/c he's really burying the lead.

I thank you for pointing us to this, and I want to note one point from the piece:

The downside to this is it costs the Bulls the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, their best chance at signing Nikola Mirotic. It is, however, a possibility.

So, we could do it but couldn't bring over Niko this year unless he'll take the BAE. Or might have to trade him to someone else for whom he'll play this year. Which would be OK with me if we're getting Melo.

Yea, we lose the exceptions which is the only downside, but like you said it we are getting Melo, I don't care if we lose the exceptions.

I feel like standing on top of the RealGM Bulls forum and shouting this S&T scenario as loud as possible so people know it's a possibility and IMO the most likely S&T scenario.

Maybe a mod like yourself, could sticky this S&T scenario to the top.

I think you are overstating the significance of Mark's article. First of all, you don't get $11.2 milion in cap space from amnestying Boozer unless you also waive the unguaranteeds. And if you do waive the unguaranteeds, then you don't have them for purposes of the S&T.

Second, if the Bulls are keeping Taj in their FA deal, there is little incentive for them to do a S&T. Why give up picks if you already have Taj? To keep MDJ and bring Mirotic over one year earlier? The possible window of mutual agreement between the Knicks and the Bulls gets much smaller if Taj is staying.

Third, Mark's S&T hinges completely, as all S&T's do, on the Bulls and Melo agreeing that Melo would otherwise come as an FA. So unless Melo is willing to sign on the dotted line for $15.8M, we are out of luck.

[Polynice4Pippen]

Seriously, it's not breaking news that Derrick is shy and awkward and standoffish.

It's unfortunate that people mistake introversion as some kind of sign of disrespect.

Noah's always gonna be turnt up, and Rose is always gonna be subdued. That's just their personalities. It's kind of a weird comparison, but it reminds me of the "Bernie & Ernie" 30 For 30. When they played together at Tennessee, Ernie Grunfeld was the outgoing guy and big man on campus, even though Bernard King was the best player on the team. He was just a quiet dude who kept to himself, in large part due to the trauma he endured growing up.

What matters is Rose on the basketball court.

Absolutely. And again, players around the league know how Derrick is. They know it's not disrespect or ego, he's just an awkward, shy dude.

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[Neusch23]

Will Noah be up that early to be at the meeting? He doesn't seem like someone who can stay up like that....

[MalikJoakim24]

GarPax: "With these two behind you, you got nothing to worry about"

"With these two behind you, don't worry about trying on defense, they got your back, you just focus on getting buckets...If they can cover for Boozer, they can do it for anyone"

[Rerisen]

Worth recalling, the Lakers let Dwight walk away 'for nothing' and that was despite Houston even gave him a legit max relative to what they were able to do.

So this would be no small thing for Melo to take the plunge and be willing to come for what's available.

Not sure I understand your point here. Can you elaborate?

The point is that if the Bulls have a believable option to trade Taj, the amount of money we can still give Melo if he walks to us for cap space is believable to make NY blink.

Taj coming to the meeting gives a very strong signal that he isn't going to be moved to create the space to land the very same player he is recruiting.

Which means for the Knicks to be sufficiently scared they are going to lose Melo for nothing, they have to believe he is willing to walk for a massive massive pay cut. I'm not sure that is believable and they might just say "do it" like the Lakers did. Except unlike that situation, Dwight still got paid a boatload, Melo will swallow hard at what he'll be taking and it could turn him right back to NY.

[Trm3]

I will be pretty upset if our instance in keeping Taj Gibson costs us Carmelo Anthony. Hopefully we can convince Melo to take less or NY to do a sign and trade.

Did u ever think maybe Melo wants Gibson to be here as well...

[IWannaGoHIGHER]

If true, most positive story we've heard on the Melo front for awhile. Glad to see the FO learned from the summer of 2010, it was reported we were the only team without players in the room.

Really doesn't make Derrick look all that great.

[Ctownbulls]

I will be pretty upset if our instance in keeping Taj Gibson costs us Carmelo Anthony. Hopefully we can convince Melo to take less or NY to do a sign and trade.

Did u ever think maybe Melo wants Gibson to be here as well...

He definitely does. Why wouldn't he? He is our enforcer. Strongest and toughest player. The league respects him.

[WIN]

Still blows my mind that Rose wouldn't be in that room, what a weirdo.

[Rerisen]

I think the reason why the Bulls are so confident about the money is because they have a 3rd team lined up.

The 3rd team only had great relevance if it was taking on Taj to allow us to give Melo 20m or so.

The Bulls are sending out the signal we have no intention to trade Taj if he is coming with Noah to recruit Melo.

It makes our hand look weak. Like we won't go all the way to bring Melo in by paying him the first four years nearly what NY can.

Melo has said it isn't about the money, but it always is to some extent.

[khufure]

Haven't read through the thread, but Noah and Gibson are expected to be at the sales pitch tomorrow for Melo, according to ESPN radio.

So much for trading Taj for space now.

So... sign and trade with NY? This seems like how Phil works.. win-win for both teams. What will it cost? Counting real assets & liabilities

Melo
JR Smith
Filler(s)

Boozer
Butler or McDonalds
1st round pick
2nd round pick
Filler(s)
<something else of value?>

Presumably NY goes on full rebuild if a S&T happens.

[Payt10]

Hell, maybe the Bulls and Knicks have already came to some agreement regarding a S/T, so they can feel confident about Taj coming to the meeting. Gar did seem rather confident in the press conference last week. Now they just have to convince Carmelo.

[northbrookrich]

Frankly, there is a lot of hand wringing and splitting hairs about things that aren't going to matter in the long run. Melo is going to have to decide how valuable money is in his overall decision and what team he wants to play for that would give him the best shot to win. His decision will center on the most important things like moving his family, how much they like living in New York and he likes playing in New York and what his likelihood of winning on a team run by Phil Jackson is in the short and long term. He will certainly consider the talent and coaching of the teams that want to sign him and their likelihood of winning in the long and short term.

This decision is unlikely to be influenced by whether he gets a text from Rose or who attends the meeting. In reality, Melo has likely already made up his mind. But, even if he hasn't, he simply needs to collect the information about how much the non-New York teams will pay him, whether they are willing to go into lux tax territory and how they will surround him with suitable talent to win. Having Taj in the room for the initial conversation does not mean that the Bulls can not ultimately include Taj in a sign and trade if getting max money is a pre-requisite to getting Melo to sign. Melo said himself that he would take less money to have a better shot at winning. The Bulls can simply show him what the Bulls could look like (including Taj) if he follow through on that suggestion. If, when push comes to shove, Melo says he is not willing to leave that kind of money on the table, they can quickly pivot their pitch to let him know that they can do one of several things to increase his package depending on what type of other talent he wants around him.

Also, Taj does not need to sit in on all of the meeting and can simply move out when the details of compensation start being discussed. People please stop OVERREACTING!!