Omer Asik and Rockets agree to deal 3 years 25 million

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Excuse my ignorance but can we just restructure his deal later and spread that $15M over 2 seasons ad tack on 2-3 more season while we are at it?

Sorry to be a pest can someone answer this,,,

Short answer is no.

[AAU Teammate]

I think what's underlying a lot of this anti-Omer sentiment (not the anti-match sentiment, but specifically the anti-Omer brand of comments)......... is the poster's dislike for being a defensive team.

Sometimes you have to grin and bear what you are. We are an elite defense. To that end, we're losing Brewer (at present) and not that much else as far as defense.

So I hate to break it to people, but next year are going to have to be an elite defense again. Pains me to be the bearer of bad news, but you have to try to be elite at something, and I don't see us being an elite offense in the near future.



We're set up to be an elite defense and at best a solid offense. Decent-to-solid. With Rip healthy we operated on the upper end of that, but of course it was fleeting.

I think we are beyond what happens in the regular season at this point, but we don't know what we saw last season. Rip and Derrick were not on the floor together enough to make any intelligent observation about the upside of this makeup.

I don't lose sight of what defense brings and I agree, but eventually, we need one person not named Derrick Rose to score. Investing so much money in "15 minutes" as you pointed out is good business if you have the structure in place to make up offensively what we lack. That structure, is not in place.

I value defense as much as you do, but I KNOW in the end, without a SuperHero Rose or a flashback Rip, we won't be able to score enough to win a championship. And make no mistake, matching this offer, is a testament to the win now mode.

This is reasonably stated. I think no matter what we do, either way, we need to score a hit with a draft pick or two, be it Charlotte's or not...in the next few years.

And a hit with spending some of our exceptions. There's no question our framework isn't perfect but in the new NBA we could see lower deals and odd deals for guys of Taj's caliber. One of the union's gripes was that the NBA middle class would be shrunken down the road. People would either get big money or small money. Lets hope that happens.

[DJhitek]

And again, if you ok with trading Noah then I'd suggest you say so.

I'm firmly in the camp where you can't pay your center position 15-25 million a season without getting semi-good offensive contribution from that position. Not when we only have two scoring threats that can create offense for others and one of them is a 19 year old rookie that plays the same position as your star.

[WinCity]

Excuse my ignorance but can we just restructure his deal later and spread that $15M over 2 seasons ad tack on 2-3 more season while we are at it?

Sorry to be a pest can someone answer this,,,

Short answer is no.

Well that sucks. Thanks though.

[Mech Engineer]

Excuse my ignorance but can we just restructure his deal later and spread that $15M over 2 seasons ad tack on 2-3 more season while we are at it?

Sorry to be a pest can someone answer this,,,

Short answer is no.

Somebody had posted an ESPN insider article yesterday about that in the thread before it was taken out. I saw something about a Stretch contract which does what WinCity is saying in a way. I am guessing it is not applicable in this case.

[PistolP]

We've already seen plenty of instances where Noah couldn't finish games.

Is it Noah who can't finish games, or the Noah/Boozer combo that can't? Maybe I'm remember it wrong honestly, but I thought Noah/Taj played pretty well together when Boozer was injured the first two months of 2010.

[PistolP]

Why do we automatically assume those 15mpg are going to some scrub? We have three good bigs. Why can't Noah, Taj & Boozer all play 30mpg? I'm fine with a vet min guy playing the extra 6mpg at the PF/C spot if it means we use the extra salary flexibility elsewhere.

Noah & Taj can finish games.

Have you watched the games to know what Thibs thinks of Boozer at the end of games? The point is replacing Asik with a player like Chris Richard means the Bulls will keep winning against the Bobcats and the Wizards but never win close games against elite teams. Elite teams require elite player and specialists even if they play for a few minutes to make an impact.

I have a hunch about what Thibs thinks of Boozer at the end of games, which is why I specifically said he wouldn't be finishing them. We already have two high energy defensive bigs, both with more offensive talent than Asik.

Are you trying to say that we will never win close games against elite teams without Asik? Are we worse off if Taj has to play more minutes, even though according to Rerisen's thread he is statistically our most impactful big?

[bullsnewdynasty]

Boozer is and has always been the problem. You can't have him on the floor at the end of the game and his contract pays him $15 million. He is a sieve on defense and his offense isn't good enough to make up for it.

[Jimako10]

Boozer is and has always been the problem. You can't have him on the floor at the end of the game and his contract pays him $15 million. He is a sieve on defense and his offense isn't good enough to make up for it.

Don't we solve all our financial problems by amnestying Boozer this year?

[Ron Harper]

We've already seen plenty of instances where Noah couldn't finish games.

Is it Noah who can't finish games, or the Noah/Boozer combo that can't? Maybe I'm remember it wrong honestly, but I thought Noah/Taj played pretty well together when Boozer was injured the first two months of 2010.

It was both Noah and Boozer that sat games.

[Mech Engineer]

Why do we automatically assume those 15mpg are going to some scrub? We have three good bigs. Why can't Noah, Taj & Boozer all play 30mpg? I'm fine with a vet min guy playing the extra 6mpg at the PF/C spot if it means we use the extra salary flexibility elsewhere.

Noah & Taj can finish games.

Have you watched the games to know what Thibs thinks of Boozer at the end of games? The point is replacing Asik with a player like Chris Richard means the Bulls will keep winning against the Bobcats and the Wizards but never win close games against elite teams. Elite teams require elite player and specialists even if they play for a few minutes to make an impact.

I have a hunch about what Thibs thinks of Boozer at the end of games, which is why I specifically said he wouldn't be finishing them. We already have two high energy defensive bigs, both with more offensive talent than Asik.

Are you trying to say that we will never win close games against elite teams without Asik? Are we worse off if Taj has to play more minutes, even though according to Rerisen's thread he is statistically our most impactful big?

No, I think Taj is overall a better player than Asik. The point is Asik brings something to the team which nobody else does it so well and also does other things on defense pretty well. Against elite teams, the margin of error is very less and that's where Asik will have an impact. Off-course, nothing is a fact. It is all about building the best possible solution.

[PistolP]

It was both Noah and Boozer that sat games.

I know they both sat, but is it because Noah can't finish games, or because he looked worse playing with Boozer than Omer did playing with Taj? I can recall several games where Noah has made huge plays for us down the stretch (backdoor pass to Deng against Suns and block on Lebron during reg season come to mind off the bat)

[transplant]

Excuse my ignorance but can we just restructure his deal later and spread that $15M over 2 seasons ad tack on 2-3 more season while we are at it?

Sorry to be a pest can someone answer this,,,

According to Larry Coon, contracts for fewer than four seasons cannot be renegotiated.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59[url][/url]

[qianlong]

Match if we have a possible deal for Noah, otherwise we will have to say by to our beloved turkish wall.
Sob

[musiqsoulchild]

Excuse my ignorance but can we just restructure his deal later and spread that $15M over 2 seasons ad tack on 2-3 more season while we are at it?

Sorry to be a pest can someone answer this,,,

According to Larry Coon, contracts for fewer than four seasons cannot be renegotiated.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59[url][/url]

Transplant, I read the link ( thanks for deopping some knowledge, btw!).

How does this apply to restrucruring Brewer, Korver and CJ's contracts? Can it be done?

[Ron Harper]

It was both Noah and Boozer that sat games.

I know they both sat, but is it because Noah can't finish games, or because he looked worse playing with Boozer than Omer did playing with Taj? I can recall several games where Noah has made huge plays for us down the stretch (backdoor pass to Deng against Suns and block on Lebron during reg season come to mind off the bat)

I think Thibs is most comfortable with Taj and Asik when the Bulls are down in the 4th. When the game is about stops.

When the Bulls close the gap and the game is close at the end, Noah goes back in because he's such a good passer. Really opens up the floor for Derrick.

I don't think Noah sits because of Boozer, I think Noah sits because Taj and Asik are that good defensively.

And I think Noah comes back in because he is that good offensively. Same with Boozer on occasion.

It's strictly situationally. It's really okay that Asik is a monster on defense. It's not a slight on Noah.

[musiqsoulchild]

It was both Noah and Boozer that sat games.

I know they both sat, but is it because Noah can't finish games, or because he looked worse playing with Boozer than Omer did playing with Taj? I can recall several games where Noah has made huge plays for us down the stretch (backdoor pass to Deng against Suns and block on Lebron during reg season come to mind off the bat)

I think Thibs is most comfortable with Taj and Asik when the Bulls are down in the 4th. When the game is about stops.

When the Bulls close the gap and the game is close at the end, Noah goes back in because he's such a good passer. Really opens up the floor for Derrick.

I don't think Noah sits because of Boozer, I think Noah sits because Taj and Asik are that good defensively.

And I think Noah comes back in because he is that good offensively. Same with Boozer on occasion.

It's strictly situationally. It's really okay that Asik is a monster on defense. It's not a slight on Noah.

This is exactly how I see it. Its purely situational. Great post, Ron.

[PistolP]

I don't think Noah sits because of Boozer, I think Noah sits because Taj and Asik are that good defensively.

My POV is a little different. I think Noah is a much better overall player than Asik, and he's not a liability on defense either. But we've seen all the plus/minus stats thrown around in this thread. Say for instance, when Noah/Booz go -8, and Omer/Taj go +10, I think Thibs just feels more comfortable riding the second group. I really don't think it's Noah's fault though most of the time when that first group goes -8.

[Ron Harper]

I don't think Noah sits because of Boozer, I think Noah sits because Taj and Asik are that good defensively.

My POV is a little different. I think Noah is a much better overall player than Asik, and he's not a liability on defense either. But we've seen all the plus/minus stats thrown around in this thread. Say for instance, when Noah/Booz go -8, and Omer/Taj go +10, I think Thibs just feels more comfortable riding the second group. I really don't think it's Noah's fault though most of the time when that first group goes -8.

I wouldn't get too caught up in defensive stats. Defense is easy to appreciate. Hustle is fun to watch. The results are quickly apparent.


Noah, Taj, Asik are all good defensive players. Boozer is not on their level.

Basically I agree that no one is going to look quite as good with Boozer in there just because he's slower to rotate.

But I do think it's pretty safe to say that Asik is our best defensive defensive big.

[Wingy]

Joe Johnson can be traded...yet we'll have a tough time getting rid of Omer Asik's expiring.