Rumors: Bobcats, Bulls, Kings three-team discussions

[League Circles]

Really? It makes the Bulls so much better. Mirotic isn't close to coming over and Thompson is a taller Taj type player. 11/7 on 50% shooting and he's listed at 6'11.

How could you not want that? There is no such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to your front court IMO

Thompson isn't nearly the defender Taj is, and Boozer is better than both of them. We have big money slated to Boozer and Taj for years to come. I think a serious multi-year commitment to three separate PFs when you have an extremely promising 4th one on the way in about 18 months IMO (Mirotic) is just asking to destroy the value of one or more of them.

On the contrary, we have no long term SG, and no wing players at all under contract past next year. If we're going to deal that Bobcats pick, I sure as hell want it to be in a package for a player either better than Thompson, or at least a wing player.

[Ralphb07]

Not interested in Thompson while we have Taj and Mirotic on the way.

Nikola is not coming over until Boozer is gone and when he does he'll make around the MLE. So Thompson and Gibson deals don't hurt that..

Thompson is 6'11 and 250lbs. He is a legit big and is pretty good. Our front court would be just sick and we can lower Noah back to 30-32 minutes a game of high energy.

Just thinking of being able to throw out combinations of Noah, Boozer, Thompson and Gibson makes me a warm and fuzzy inside

Yeah, none of that is worth a potential #1 pick in a couple years.

That pick is very likely not being the #1 pick also. It could end up being the 15th pick. How would you feel then? The thing we need to find out is what pick Charlotte's willing to give up? Is it theirs and a Top 3 protected? Is it Portland's Top 12 protected?

The Bulls could feel Thompson and Taylor are both good long term pieces and the potential pick is another plus adding to our team.

[AAU Teammate]

So some of you are willing to take a chance on a future (random) pick and sacrifice this season?

Thompson would not play in the playoffs. Noah would get almost all the minutes.

Meanwhile, losing Rip makes the current SG depth a good amount worse.

Why wouldn't he play? He's better than Taj in a lot of ways.

Thibs loves Taj. Thibs loves Noah.

It's just odd to me that this would be seen as a win-now deal. Thompson makes more sense as a value contract that provides future payroll comfort, in that 6M for a big is decent value. That said, would we really be happy going forward spending 20M a year on Noah plus Thompson? I like Thompson as an asset, not as a 2013 savior of some sort. Don't get where that idea comes from.

[Ralphb07]

Agreed. That would be a fantastic haul for Rip + that Cha pick imo.

I don't really see the King's incentive to this, unless they are just incredibly high on Gerald Henderson.

Kings would essentially be salary dumping.

From a value standpoint, Thompson, Fredette or Taylor and a pick from this year is good value. But Thompson's contract runs through 2017 (last year unguaranteed). He makes around 5-6 million a year throughout it.

Which the Bulls were willing to give Omer. For those going to the straight comparing, I'm not doing that. I'm pointing out that Jason Thompson contract is something the Bulls feel okay with paying for a good back up big.

[MVP Rose]

Thompson is certainly an intriguing player but at best he's just a reserve player, same with Jimmer. Are two reserve players worth giving up the Charlotte pick for? I've stressed in my posts in the past not to overvalue the Charlotte pick, but we certainly shouldn't undervalue it either.

[Ice the knees]

Really? It makes the Bulls so much better. Mirotic isn't close to coming over and Thompson is a taller Taj type player. 11/7 on 50% shooting and he's listed at 6'11.

How could you not want that? There is no such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to your front court IMO

Thompson isn't nearly the defender Taj is, and Boozer is better than both of them. We have big money slated to Boozer and Taj for years to come. I think a serious multi-year commitment to three separate PFs when you have an extremely promising 4th one on the way in about 18 months IMO (Mirotic) is just asking to destroy the value of one or more of them.

On the contrary, we have no long term SG, and no wing players at all under contract past next year. If we're going to deal that Bobcats pick, I sure as hell want it to be in a package for a player either better than Thompson, or at least a wing player.

Is it a huge leap to think that if a Thompson trade went down that it would be to solidify our biggest advantage vs the Heat this season while allowing the Bulls to amnesty/move Boozer in the offseason?

I mean, as much as I love Taj, he's putting up 7/5 in 20 minutes of play. Him being better than Thompson on defense counts for sure, but again, what's wrong with having 4 bigs?

Thompson is younger and cheaper than Taj and he's at 11/7 on 50% shooting in 29 minutes of play. Couldn't we play both Thompson and Taj together?

I just really have a hard time finding reasons and excuses why having too much front court depth this season is a bad thing.

[BuffaloBull]

So some of you are willing to take a chance on a future (random) pick and sacrifice this season?

Thompson would not play in the playoffs. Noah would get almost all the minutes.

Meanwhile, losing Rip makes the current SG depth a good amount worse.

I don't think this is true. Thib's systems are really hard on bigs, and you have to give a lot of effort. Having 4 guys in the rotation is ideal.

I understand why Charlotte would want their pick back, and I can also understand why the Bulls would want to accelerate it's value into now if they feel like they can get pieces that help them compete over the next 3 years. Who knows if they pull the trigger, but it makes sense that they would be sniffing around something like this.

[Red Larrivee]

Thompson is certainly an intriguing player but at best he's just a reserve player, same with Jimmer. Are two reserve players worth giving up the Charlotte pick for? I've stressed in my posts in the past not to overvalue the Charlotte pick, but we certainly shouldn't undervalue it either.

I don't think Thompson, Fredette or Taylor + a first rounder from this year is undervaluing.

[NW7]

Agreed. That would be a fantastic haul for Rip + that Cha pick imo.

I don't really see the King's incentive to this, unless they are just incredibly high on Gerald Henderson.

Kings would essentially be salary dumping.

From a value standpoint, Thompson, Fredette or Taylor and a pick from this year is good value. But Thompson's contract runs through 2017 (last year unguaranteed). He makes around 5-6 million a year throughout it.

I guess I don't see the reason to salary dump here for the Kings, but this is the kings so who knows.

Ultimately I'm a fan of both Jimmer and Thompson and think them (along with practically the entire Kings roster ) could improve greatly just by playing in a new organization and in a new culture.

[waffle]

I floated the idea of CHar. wanting their pick back a while ago, I believe it.

The proposed trades are pretty meh, though

[League Circles]

Nikola is not coming over until Boozer is gone and when he does he'll make around the MLE. So Thompson and Gibson deals don't hurt that..

Thompson ruins our 2014 cap space options, which are numerous. Once we let Asik go, I became strictly against any adding of 2014 salary for a non-star type player. Thompson isn't worth possibly missing out on a great player.

Thompson is 6'11 and 250lbs. He is a legit big and is pretty good. Our front court would be just sick and we can lower Noah back to 30-32 minutes a game of high energy.

Agreed, but we can scale back Noah now by playing Taj more, and I'm sure we will once Rose is back and Thibbs doesn't feel the need to overplay Deng and Noah.

[NZB2323]

I wouldn't do it. Of course you want the Bulls to be in a better position to win it all this year, but you don't mortgage the future for a backup who will play 5 minutes per game in the playoffs. The Charlotte pick could be the number 1 overall pick in 2016 and we could land a superstar with that pick. Charlotte made the trade figuring that they'd be good by 2016, but they're still bad. Also, we have Mirotic coming over and our best player is a 23 year old coming off of an ACL tear. I'd be willing to trade the pick, but not for this.

[Ice the knees]

Gar do you have a contingency plan if Taj's plantar flares up or Noah/Boozer go down? The season is over if one of those 3 gets hurt. I like all 3, a lot, but it's like walking on eggshells knowing that the Bulls are so thin upfront.

[Ralphb07]

Jeff Taylor can also play the two and three off the bench and can shoot the three ball. He is no starter but he does look like a solid perimeter player off the bench and helps us spreading the floor.

Having Noah, Boozer, Gibson and Thompson is really good. Having Deng, Butler, Taylor, Marco and Cook on the perimeter is nice too and all but Butler provide the three ball. I really like that potential rotation.

[patryk7754]

OMG please this has to has happen

[League Circles]

Is it a huge leap to think that if a Thompson trade went down that it would be to solidify our biggest advantage vs the Heat this season while allowing the Bulls to amnesty/move Boozer in the offseason?

Well, it wouldn't strengthen our already biggest advantage by much, seeing as how Thompson wouldn't be one of our two best bigs. Then it would screw us out of flexibility in 2014, we'd lose our #1 or #2 long term prospect (Mirotic and bobcats pick are our biggest hope for the second half of Rose's career). Then why would we want to amnesty Boozer this offseason? He's better than Thompson without doubt IMO. Then further we might be losing RIP, probably our best SG this year AND next, just to upgrade our 4th big when the three we have now are the best 3 man big rotation in the league?

No thanks.

[League Circles]

Gar do you have a contingency plan if Taj's plantar flares up or Noah/Boozer go down? The season is over if one of those 3 gets hurt. I like all 3, a lot, but it's like walking on eggshells knowing that the Bulls are so thin upfront.

Are you kidding me? the Bulls are thin upfront? Name me a team with a better 3 man rotation than the Bulls. But since you asked, if one went down, I'd play Deng more at the 4 (with Jimmy more at the 3), give Nazr about 4 minutes if needed, scour the waiver wire, and look to trade Robinson, Teague, or Kirk for a big instead.

[Sonny_D1]

Seems weird to want your pick back... like saying you know you'll suck.

This.

First of all, the pick in consideration HAS to be the Blazer pick because Charlotte currently has the 2nd worst record. It makes absolutely no sense to try so damn hard to get back your 2016 unprotected 1st when you're giving up what is currently 199 combinations this year at the #1 pick, regardless of how poor the draft class this year is projected to be.

Now giving up Portland's top 12 protected pick this year makes a lot more sense. But even so, trying so damn hard to get your pick back just screams "We suck. We suck so bad and we'll continue to suck." That could be the case, but I highly doubt management is looking at the situation that way. If that were the case, the better approach is to just get rid of everyone not named MKG and be assured of lottery picks in 2013, 2014 and 2015 along with plenty of money to sign some FA's.

That, or sell the team.

[AAU Teammate]

It feels like if we're willing to do this, why wouldn't they instead have matched Omer and kept that Charlotte pick?

I understand the poison pill aspect...but a deal like this means amnesty, which means paying some money for nothing....which is akin to tax paying, in a different name.

[League Circles]

I wouldn't do it. Of course you want the Bulls to be in a better position to win it all this year, but you don't mortgage the future for a backup who will play 5 minutes per game in the playoffs. The Charlotte pick could be the number 1 overall pick in 2016 and we could land a superstar with that pick. Charlotte made the trade figuring that they'd be good by 2016, but they're still bad. Also, we have Mirotic coming over and our best player is a 23 year old coming off of an ACL tear. I'd be willing to trade the pick, but not for this.

Very well said. I don't think enough people remember that Rose is 23 and that we need to think just as much about what his team will look like from age 28-32 as we do about what it will look like during his current contract.