ESPN: Bulls "determined" to NOT trade Deng

[bad knees]

Keep in mind that any extension signed now could only be three years, which is not going to get it done from Deng's perspective. I guess you could agree now that Deng will sign an extension in July, but that sort of arrangement would never be announced and would never be enforceable. Given that Deng is going to refuse to sign anything until July, he might as well wait to see what other offers will be coming in. So if the Bulls are saying that they are determined to sign him, and they are being truthful, then this means that they are committed to doing whatever it takes this summer to keep Luol a Bull. The Bulls can try to extract some sort of promise from Luol now, but I doubt that he would give it.

[Keller61]

Does trading Deng mean we can't sign him in free agency? I'm wondering if there's a way we could trade him for a pick and then get him back in the offseason.

[RedBulls23]

Does trading Deng mean we can't sign him in free agency? I'm wondering if there's a way we could trade him for a pick and then get him back in the offseason.

Even if it was possible, we don't have the cap space to sign him. Especially if we are going to bring Mirotic over.

[dmk08]

Does trading Deng mean we can't sign him in free agency? I'm wondering if there's a way we could trade him for a pick and then get him back in the offseason.

I would have to think any team willing to trade for him would have some assurances he would re-sign long term. Unless they are not giving up anything of value.

[TankJob]

Morons.

[Hans Embiid]

This is just a horrible strategy. A season worth of losing and being stuck in trade rumors isn't going to make Deng feel all warm and cozey about this team. If anything, it'll just make him wonder about other franchises. The Mavs, Cavs, Lakers, or Suns will have interest in him. If the Bulls want him, they need to work out an extension.

I think the core wants to stay together and believes in one another. If the Bulls continue to play bad largely due to injuries, I don't think Deng will lose faith in Rose, Noah, Taj, himself, Thibs and others.

If they want to play with Noah and Deng the Bulls are not going anywhere.

We need some serious offense. Players like LaVine/Parker, Mirotic, Monroe, Afflalo....

Only Mirotic doesn't do it.

[DJhitek]

I've been saying this is the most likely outcome for a few weeks now. Would anyone be surprised ifthe Bulls:

Re-sign Deng
Keep Boozer
Trade some salary to get under what they need to sign Mirotic to the MLE
Draft the likes of Doug McDermitt and Wayne Seldon(which wouldn't be a terrible thing)
Hope Derrick Rose comes back healthy.

Boozer is gone next year, especially if we're keeping Deng.

That's been the assumption all along, but has there ever been a clear indication that he would be amnestied? I would think a complete nose dive in production would make that decision much easier but I wouldn't put it past the Bulls to keep Booz.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Does trading Deng mean we can't sign him in free agency? I'm wondering if there's a way we could trade him for a pick and then get him back in the offseason.

It would be very very difficult - and we would not be able to bring over Mirotic.

Salaries next season:

Rose 18.8
Noah 12.2
Gibson 8
Top 5 pick 4
MDJ 3.3
Butler 2
Snell 1.4
Teague 1

Total: 50.5

2014 projected salary cap: 62.1 million

We'd have less than 10 million to spend on Deng.

[Hans Embiid]

I've been saying this is the most likely outcome for a few weeks now. Would anyone be surprised ifthe Bulls:

Re-sign Deng
Keep Boozer
Trade some salary to get under what they need to sign Mirotic to the MLE
Draft the likes of Doug McDermitt and Wayne Seldon(which wouldn't be a terrible thing)
Hope Derrick Rose comes back healthy.

Boozer is gone next year, especially if we're keeping Deng.

That's been the assumption all along, but has there ever been a clear indication that he would be amnestied? I would think a complete nose dive in production would make that decision much easier but I wouldn't put it past the Bulls to keep Booz.

Would be great if the Bulls will play like this

Rose
Butler
Deng
Boozer
Noah

Mirotic not coming and Hinrich will come back. Oh Lord!

[Tetlak]

What the hell!?!?!?

We arent going to trade Deng? Even if by some miracle we resign him at a lower number than he wants, we'll be capped out again. How will we get a SG? More ballhandling? Does anybody have answers?

We have two high-value picks this draft without lifting a finger and Mirotic coming over if GarPax do it right.

So if were going to draft players, why sign Deng?

[TheStig]

Deng can't play the 2 and 3? Butlers defense isn't that much better than Dengs. Dengs offense is much better than Butlers. Deng can also play more @ the 4 IMO.

Deng could never play the 2. Even going back to the baby bull days when they tried with Noc at the 3. Deng doesn't really play small ball much either. He is pretty much a 3. Butler's defense is better, not that much but I prefer a disruptive type to a passive type. He's more annoying. Deng is very good fundamentaly.

Yes Deng is better offensively but the goal would be to get a better offensive player at the 3. The league is pretty shallow at the 2.

I'd rather have Butler at about half the price long term.

We just have to disagree here. I think Deng is worth twice as much as Butler. I would rather pay Deng 11m than have Butler at 6. And FWIW Jimmy isn't a very good 2 guard. He's Bogans right now.

We do have to disagree. I'd much rather have Jimmy at 7 Mill than Deng at 14. I don't think you give him enough credit. He is much better than Bogans. Jimmy is a 2 way player and just has been injured so far this year. He easily outperformed Deng in the playoffs last year. And he did a good job on Bron too. If I could lock up Jimmy to a Taj contract, I'd do it.

Keep in mind, Deng's next contract will be paying for his decline. Jimmy's will be his prime.

[TankJob]

Butler has somehow became underrated around here. And people tend to forget really easy how bad Deng was for the past two years because he is having a good stretch now. Living in the moment too much I guess.

[danzou]

They'll let Deng walk and then sign Hinrich for $7mil to be our starting SG.

[musiqsoulchild]

This is the ONLY way that I am behind tanking for a high pick. I have made this my position from the beginning.

Keep Deng.

Everything else is afterwards. My priority list would be as follows:

1) Re-sign Deng. And then rest him a lot using the injury excuse.
2) Play Boozer a LOT and increase his trade value as best as possible. At the very least, we would be increasing his amnesty value. Rest Noah and have Boozer and Taj take up all the PF/C minutes with Nazr.
3) Play Snell and Butler a LOT and have them dramatically increase their 3PA per game.
4) Tanking is virtually guaranteed with the above 3 happening.
4) Bring in Mirotic.
5) Draft with the Charlotte pick and our own pick.

You have to re-sign Deng. He is way too essential to be replaced easily. Screw the payroll. Win championships.

[Evil_Headband]

Well, I guess we reject each others premise then. In my opinion, even if healthy this group wasn't coming close to winning a title. But the term "if healthy" is totally irrelevant because this is our fourth consecutive year being destroyed by injuries. At this point, saying "if healthy" is the equivalent as saying "if better."

"If the Bulls players were better at basketball, we'd win the NBA title." We won't because they are not better. We won't because they have never been and never will be healthy. Same thing.

Good point. At the top of the "if healthy" worries is Rose. If we're calculating odds, I think there is an improbability the Bulls will ever win a title in the Rose era. But it's possible with the re-signing of Deng even if unlikely. It's also possible but improbable to win a title by tanking and trading away pieces (other than Rose, I don't think most of the tankers want to dump him too). We'll likely never really know which plan would have been better. However, if the FO picks the re-sign Deng route, I'm OK with that. I don't think it's a bad choice considering the available options.

[Evil_Headband]

He is heading into the last big contract of his career. This is probably the last chance he has to be a top three player on a contender. Is he going to put his faith into Rose's knee or trust the Lakers franchise to build another winner?

The Lakers? Really? With old and gimpy Kobe and Nash?

[Jimako10]

Did anyone notice the timing of the report? Right after JVG on ESPN pretty much called the FO a bunch of idiots if they don't retain Deng and let him walk. Feels like a bulls PR move.

[drosestruts]

What the hell!?!?!?

We arent going to trade Deng? Even if by some miracle we resign him at a lower number than he wants, we'll be capped out again. How will we get a SG? More ballhandling? Does anybody have answers?

We have two high-value picks this draft without lifting a finger and Mirotic coming over if GarPax do it right.

So if were going to draft players, why sign Deng?

So that we have a good deep team......

[TruthSerum]

What the hell!?!?!?

We arent going to trade Deng? Even if by some miracle we resign him at a lower number than he wants, we'll be capped out again. How will we get a SG? More ballhandling? Does anybody have answers?

We have two high-value picks this draft without lifting a finger and Mirotic coming over if GarPax do it right.

So if were going to draft players, why sign Deng?

Wait... what?

Are you asking me why teams keep all-stars on their teams regardless of future unproven talent?

Man, I never knew that distinction was such a black eye.

[TruthSerum]

Did anyone notice the timing of the report? Right after JVG on ESPN pretty much called the FO a bunch of idiots if they don't retain Deng and let him walk. Feels like a bulls PR move.

Could be other GM's frustrated the Bulls keep saying no. They can be sources, too.