Source: Bulls Looking To 'Exhaust' Assets To Improve Roster

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Chicago Bulls are actively searching to improve their starting lineup and reportedly list Derrick Rose as their only untouchable player in trade talks.

“They are looking to exhaust as many assets as it will take," one source said.

The Bulls are "doubtful" to put a possible Tom Thibodeau departure into play, according to the source.

The Bulls are expected to pursue Carmelo Anthony in free agency.

Via Joe Cowley/Chicago Sun-Times

[Grodoboldo]

Look, I'd love to buy it, but I'll believe it when I see it.
C'mon GarPax, stop being attached to blue collar role players and try to use your "flexibility" this time around.
You've sure had enough financial championships. Time to deliver another kind of trophy.

[TheBallDoLie]

July 11th, 2014 - Chicago Bulls agree to a 3 year contract with forward Luol Deng.

[Rated T By CBRA]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

[Kn1cksNation]

The fact that Derrick Rose is their only untouchable player is their problem.

[HotelVitale]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

[LApwnd]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

[puja21]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

Could just sell the picks a la Phoenix 2005-2010

[LApwnd]

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

Could just sell the picks a la Phoenix 2005-2010

sure but Chi fans are against that too and why do that when teams are willing to absorb Boozer if given those picks? Why amensty and have to pay out dead money and sell picks? Also Chi would probably need assurance that Melo will also come once all this is accomplished and they're not gona know by draft time so whether they sell the picks or trade the picks it will be for players that Chi picked and teams would have to be intersted in those players that Bulls picked. So no, not really all that straight forward.

[thinktellectual]

Look, I'd love to buy it, but I'll believe it when I see it.
C'mon GarPax, stop being attached to blue collar role players and try to use your "flexibility" this time around.
You've sure had enough financial championships. Time to deliver another kind of trophy.

Reinsdorf prefers seeing his name in Forbes to seeing his name (or the team's name) on ESPN in mid June.

IMO, any team that refuses to go over the tax is basically refusing to compete.

The tax line is a fake "line in the sand" that owners use to justify being cheap.
I would maybe understand if they said "I want to break even financially", but many (if not all) teams would still make a profit even if they were to pay a few million in luxury tax. That includes small market teams such as OKC, so sure as **** Chicago could go well into the tax and still roll in a ton of profits.

[thinktellectual]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

They will FAKE going hard for Melo, then turn around to their fans, lift their arms in the air and go "See ? We tried".
Then go for a few cheap FA's and have another decent season where they won't really have a chance at a title, but they'll give the fans just enough hope for next season. Wasn't this the Bulls mantra for over 4-5 years: "Next season we'll compete for sure" ???

[ozwizard8]

The fact that Derrick Rose is their only untouchable player is their problem.

by saying "untouchable" they mean "poisonous". no one should touch it.
i'm pretty sure he's touchable if they got offered d.lillard or sth. maybe for even less.

melo on bulls would be good.

sign&trade would be good for both sides. give up on this years picks+mirotic and its a deal. nyk may accept even lesser.
with mid level+veteran signings bulls would win 60+

[Ikeizm]

How much will Melo be paid? Could a team go after both Gordon Hayward and Lance Stephenson for what they would pay melo?

[I beg to differ]

The Bulls FO get the media to report that they're in play for every single goddamn marquee player looking to leave or be traded. And the Bulls fans eat it up over and over again.

Duncan, Grant Hill, Eddie Jones, T-mac, Garnett, Gasol, Kobe, Amare, LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Melo, Love ... fool me 24,892 times, shame on my entire species.

[LloydFree]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

All they have to do is trade Boozer, Brewer, MJames, Lou Amundsen and the #16 pick to the 76ers, and it would create a 20 million dollar trade exemption. After that they would just need to force a trade from the Knicks,with the Trade exemption. They could even delay the trade long enough to sign Mirotic with the cap space they created, then Send the Sacramento protected pick to NY for Carmelo... Done.

[dballislife]

but can rose still play? he didnt look good at all after 1 major knee injury, hows he gonna look after 2

[HotelVitale]

They will go hard to get Carmelo - but will have to be creative in their signings/amnesty if they want to stay below the tax luxury. Right now Houston + Bulls have a leading edge to snatch him up..

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

He would have to take a pay cut or else the team would be a lot worse. The only way that he wouldn't is if the Bulls get rid of Gibson (or Butler) which would make the team a lot less competitive. He can still start at around $21m with the moves I mentioned above. The two draft picks would be about $3m together, and the Bulls might well trade them for a pick around #10 that would be more like $2.2m; if Melo demands that extra $2-3m then I doubt they would have trouble moving the rights to those picks for future picks. But if Melo needs the max the Bulls would have to give up key talent to clear space. There's no way around that, no matter how you do the bookkeeping.

[LApwnd]

Not too creative. Amnesty Boozer, dump Dunleavy, sign Melo, fill out roster with $1-3m guys, arrive just below the tax. It's an open question whether or not that's the best path--instead of signing another solid guy or two, keeping Dunleavy and trying to bring Mirotic over--but the path itself is pretty straightforward. (At least for this year.)

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

All they have to do is trade Boozer, Brewer, MJames, Lou Amundsen and the #16 pick to the 76ers, and it would create a 20 million dollar trade exemption. After that they would just need to force a trade from the Knicks,with the Trade exemption. They could even delay the trade long enough to sign Mirotic with the cap space they created, then Send the Sacramento protected pick to NY for Carmelo... Done.

lou, james, brewer aren't even under contract and the draft picks will count immediately against the cap.

[LloydFree]

a few million short there bro....yes removing dunleavy/boozer removes nearly 20mill but then Chi has 2 incoming draft picks that probabaly add 2-3mill back to the overall cap, Melo still would have to take a paycut

All they have to do is trade Boozer, Brewer, MJames, Lou Amundsen and the #16 pick to the 76ers, and it would create a 20 million dollar trade exemption. After that they would just need to force a trade from the Knicks,with the Trade exemption. They could even delay the trade long enough to sign Mirotic with the cap space they created, then Send the Sacramento protected pick to NY for Carmelo... Done.

lou, james, brewer aren't even under contract and the draft picks will count immediately against the cap.

The Bulls signed all three to multi-year non-guaranteed contracts at the end of the year for the express purpose of using them to balance out trades. Their salaries don't show up on some sites, because they aren't guaranteed.

As for the picks, the #16 pick does not count against the Bulls cap, if it is moved the day of the draft, prior to the draft. The Kings pick is next year, so that doesn't count. Only the #19, if they keep it, would count. At what, 1million? Come on. The trade works.

[bearadonisdna]

Look drose just had the longest acl recovery of all time. His meniscus injury was the likely reinjury he would have sustained vs rehab. So now its basically like the acl never happened because he rehabbed for so long. NOw derricks knees are pretty well rested after finally completing rehab.