coldfish wrote:Sonny_D1 wrote:Chitownbulls wrote:
Bulls are playing all their cards for Melo....we are 100% ALL IN. Our first pitch was keeping Taj, Melo take less money but if theres ways to get Melo his 20mil while keeping the team in tact...Im sure Melo would love that idea.
If there was one flaw in this whole recruiting process it was bringing Taj into the meeting. I think it was short sighted to thing Melo would sacrifice that much money to play with a "complete" roster. They should have proposed all options (including dumping Taj and signing Gasol) WITHOUT Taj there. I hope I'm wrong but I think it's just too late to send Taj out now. Not so much from the Bulls perspective but from the players view.
Think about it. You just brought a guy in to help pitch me on coming, a guy who by all accounts has at least some association to Melo no less, and now I'm going to just sign and watch you trade him away so you can offer me more money? Which is really what I'd need to consider playing here anyway?
Players are competitive, greedy, and it's a business, sure. But there's also a lot of camaraderie in the league. Sometimes you reach a point where it's just not "right". Again, I hope I'm completely off here but I think from Melo's POV it just wouldn't be "right" to do Taj like that. But he wants his money and fortunately for him, he's got other options to get it.
I think this is homer glasses. Rose / Butler / Melo / ??? / Noah with vet mins and Doug McDermott is not a competitor in year 1.
People keep bringing it up but then refusing to look at what happens to the team. When you dump Taj for capspace, you no longer put a team on the court that can compete for a title in year 1. Its not that Taj is that good, its that a team with no PF better than vet min is that bad.
The only reason why Chicago is in this is because they present the best team and the best chance to win. Gut that and you are just the Lakers or barely above the Knicks.
Chicago's best chance to get Melo was always sign and trade. It gets Melo his money and creates a team that can compete immediately. The problem with that is trying to push it through.
Regardless, Chicago effectively presented Melo with the sign and trade team. They put their best foot forward.
As I mentioned above, Gasol as a fall back option in a pitch to Melo. Look, all I'm saying is keeping Taj and providing him with a "complete" roster was always option #1. But that doesn't mean Raj had to be there to present that to him because it then hurts your chances of option #2 if it comes to that. Now you may think option 2 never had a chance and that's fine, but you go into the meeting pitching the Big 3 with a ton of complimentary pieces and possibly Gasol. Besides, what team in the league has more than a Big 3 anyway? It's virtually impossible to make that happen with the CBA.
But you touched on it. I think the Bulls tried to sell too much and expect him to take less. That was never gonna happen. And yes, it was always gonna happen via S&T but even so, keeping Taj still nets Melo less than what it would realistically take to land him.