League source: Bulls talking Taj trade

[tedwilliams1999]

I question if the Bulls have really gotten younger and faster, but even if they have, that means nothing in terms of actually building a capable defense.

Grant, Dinwiddie, McDermott, Valentine and Snell are all 'young' and 'fast(er)', but I look at that group and see no one who has an idea on how to grasp the concepts of a team defense.

The defense is going to be terrible this season, which isn't a surprise given Gar has stacked this roster with one-way players.

Do you think the addition of Barnes would drastically change our defensive outlook for next season? A line-up consisting of Grant/Butler/Barnes/Niko/RoLo doesn't sound so bad on paper. Our bench would obviously still be pretty weak defensively, with McDermott/Valentine/Portis/Calderon though...

A few 5 man units that work on both sides of the floor are:

Jose - Snell - Jimmy - Niko - Lopez
Moore - Jimmy - Doug - Niko - Lopez
Grant - Dinwiddie - Valentine - Doug - Felicio

In addition to Moore, I think we still could really use one more two way player on the wing. If we can some how get rid of Dunleavy/Taj/Calderon, then we might be able to add either Barnes or Evan Turner to the roster, along with resigning Moore. Now suddenly our team starts to look pretty balanced on paper.

PG: Moore/Grant/Dinwiddie
SG: Jimmy/Valentine
SF: Barnes/Doug
PF: Niko/Portis/Barnes
C: RoLo/Felicio

That starting unit definitely has a ton of potential on the defensive end. We may not advance far in the playoffs, but that's definitely a high energy team I can root for, and it's one that has some upside as well, depending on how the young players develop.

[musiqsoulchild]

Do you think the addition of Barnes would drastically change our defensive outlook for next season? A line-up consisting of Grant/Butler/Barnes/Niko/RoLo doesn't sound so bad on paper. Our bench would obviously still be pretty weak defensively, with McDermott/Valentine/Portis/Calderon though...

A few 5 man units that work on both sides of the floor are:

Jose - Snell - Jimmy - Niko - Lopez
Moore - Jimmy - Doug - Niko - Lopez
Grant - Dinwiddie - Valentine - Doug - Felicio

In addition to Moore, I think we still could really use one more two way player on the wing. If we can some how get rid of Dunleavy/Taj/Calderon, then we might be able to add either Barnes or Evan Turner to the roster, along with resigning Moore. Now suddenly our team starts to look pretty balanced on paper.

PG: Moore/Grant/Dinwiddie
SG: Jimmy/Valentine
SF: Barnes/Doug
PF: Niko/Portis/Barnes
C: RoLo/Felicio

That starting unit definitely has a ton of potential on the defensive end. We may not advance far in the playoffs, but that's definitely a high energy team I can root for, and it's one that has some upside as well, depending on how the young players develop.

Yup....you cant go wrong with either Turner or Barnes.

The issue is how right can you go with either of them?

I think they both add a lot to shore up the baseline of the team. but dont impact the ceiling much. In that regard, I'd rather vest resources in a younger, better shooting, longer Barnes than Turner.

[Chi town]

Taj should have been traded years ago

you may be able to wrangle a highly protected 1st for him but not much else

Thad Yiung and George Hill think otherwise. 12 and 20.

[YettiBull]

Conley and then get Turner

[tedwilliams1999]

In addition to Moore, I think we still could really use one more two way player on the wing. If we can some how get rid of Dunleavy/Taj/Calderon, then we might be able to add either Barnes or Evan Turner to the roster, along with resigning Moore. Now suddenly our team starts to look pretty balanced on paper.

PG: Moore/Grant/Dinwiddie
SG: Jimmy/Valentine
SF: Barnes/Doug
PF: Niko/Portis/Barnes
C: RoLo/Felicio

That starting unit definitely has a ton of potential on the defensive end. We may not advance far in the playoffs, but that's definitely a high energy team I can root for, and it's one that has some upside as well, depending on how the young players develop.

Yup....you cant go wrong with either Turner or Barnes.

The issue is how right can you go with either of them?

I think they both add a lot to shore up the baseline of the team. but dont impact the ceiling much. In that regard, I'd rather vest resources in a younger, better shooting, longer Barnes than Turner.

I'm definitely all aboard the Barnes hype train. Others have thrown out Mike Conley as a possible target for us, and I can also get behind that, though I don't know how realistic that would be given our cap constraints. Either way, I'm okay with letting Niko handle #2 or #3 duties behind Jimmy/Barnes, to see what he can really do. His numbers always increased whenever his usage rate did, so it's time to see what he's capable of with more responsibility.

I accept that we're probably not attracting super-stars to come play in Chicago, but I think Barnes, Conley, and Evan Turner are very realistic possibilities of guys that we can chase after. With Barnes and Conley, it seems as if they already have some strong Chicago connections, so this could be the path our front office wants to take.

This whole thing gets more interesting when we consider what kind of trades we could be exploring with Taj. If he's able to bring back an additional role player in a deal, we may not need to hold on to Moore.

[musiqsoulchild]

In addition to Moore, I think we still could really use one more two way player on the wing. If we can some how get rid of Dunleavy/Taj/Calderon, then we might be able to add either Barnes or Evan Turner to the roster, along with resigning Moore. Now suddenly our team starts to look pretty balanced on paper.

PG: Moore/Grant/Dinwiddie
SG: Jimmy/Valentine
SF: Barnes/Doug
PF: Niko/Portis/Barnes
C: RoLo/Felicio

That starting unit definitely has a ton of potential on the defensive end. We may not advance far in the playoffs, but that's definitely a high energy team I can root for, and it's one that has some upside as well, depending on how the young players develop.

Yup....you cant go wrong with either Turner or Barnes.

The issue is how right can you go with either of them?

I think they both add a lot to shore up the baseline of the team. but dont impact the ceiling much. In that regard, I'd rather vest resources in a younger, better shooting, longer Barnes than Turner.

I'm definitely all aboard the Barnes hype train. Others have thrown out Mike Conley as a possible target for us, and I can also get behind that, though I don't know how realistic that would be given our cap constraints. Either way, I'm okay with letting Niko handle #2 or #3 duties behind Jimmy/Barnes, to see what he can really do. His numbers always increased whenever his usage rate did, so it's time to see what he's capable of with more responsibility.

I accept that we're probably not attracting super-stars to come play in Chicago, but I think Barnes, Conley, and Evan Turner are very realistic possibilities of guys that we can chase after. With Barnes and Conley, it seems as if they already have some strong Chicago connections, so this could be the path our front office wants to take.

This whole thing gets more interesting when we consider what kind of trades we could be exploring with Taj. If he's able to bring back an additional role player in a deal, we may not need to hold on to Moore.

Warriors have talked about getting bigger.

I do not mind a Sign and Trade for Barnes where we send them Taj and Felicio. Warriors get 2 good defensive PF/C's for 10 Million together in return for a player they dont want to keep anyway in free agency.

We get a player we want WHILE keeping the cap room intact to sign Conley.

[danzou]

Not many teams would have a use for Gibson. Toronto could be one team, but I guess it would revolve around Ross (not really good)

Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Rockets, basically all playoff teams could use him. If we can get a Ross+ Pick or Norman Powell, it could be interesting. I'd like to keep Taj, but he deserves better than this situation.

Look up Ross's salary and then let me know if you still want him...

[Ferulci]

Not many teams would have a use for Gibson. Toronto could be one team, but I guess it would revolve around Ross (not really good)

Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Rockets, basically all playoff teams could use him. If we can get a Ross+ Pick or Norman Powell, it could be interesting. I'd like to keep Taj, but he deserves better than this situation.

Look up Ross's salary and then let me know if you still want him...

I'll bite if it provides us an useful asset in return (Norman Powell, Patterson or a first rounder). The contract is bad but :
- With increased capspace, it isnt that bad
- The guy still has upside and can be a good fit next to Butler.

[MrFortune3]

As much as I think all these old vets need to be moved, we're really gutting our locker room leadership. Deng, Noah, Taj, Pau, Dunleavy, Kirk. All gone or soon to be gone. The only guy left in that locker room with any shred of leadership ability is Jimmy.

We have too many 4's and 4 types. Taj has long been needed to be traded.
Gotta force the development of the young guys. Portis & Niko need to be playing a ton of minutes. If we were keeping Noah and the others in the fold and just adding another piece then fine, you keep Taj but we have to develop these young kids and with Doug also expected to play some 4 the PT is just not going to be there if we keep a glut at 4 with Taj.

[MC3]

I wonder would Raptors be interested in trading Norman Powell. Probably not, not even for Taj. But that's the trade I would do in heartbeat. Raptors are likely looking someone to take Ross contract instead trading Powell.

[Shill]

If you can get a 1st for Taj, take it and run.

[Susan]

If you can get a 1st for Taj, take it and run.

Marco Belinelli just got traded for a first...

[D_GoLow]

Taj/Snell for Crowder would be interesting.

Boston says no

[SpinninHouse]

I'd like to keep Taj and see if Hoiberger can develop him and some of our other young talent - like Dunleavy.

[ingvald]

Taj/Snell for Crowder would be interesting.

They didn't initially want to give up Crowder for the Jimmy deal. I doubt Taj and a pile of crap changes their minds.

What if it's a HUGE pile of crap?

[GimmeDat]

Damn, the people are on the front page are overvaluing him.

I think he'll be lucky to get a 2017 1st at this stage.

I would've suggested Gibson/MDJ for lowered protection on the Kings pick, McLemore and filler, but they just drafted 2 more bigs (no clue what they're doing, seriously). That being said, all of them are C's (Papa, Koufos, DMC, Skal, WCS), so who knows. They may not be done dealing, and Taj is a good fit for them. I really want that pick next year.

I think we'll see him dealt shortly - he's probably a back up plan for teams aiming for guys like Horford.

I'm cool with dealing Taj at this stage - Rose, Noah, and the rest of the guys are all out the door, and frankly, I'm not sure Taj would be too thrilled about sticking around after all that. It will hurt the defense even more, but we'll lose him after this season, and I think we need to load up on whatever assets we can get right now.

It will open up the back up spot for Portis as well.

[JohnnyTapwater]

Send him home to Brooklyn for some package involving RHJ

[Axl Rose]

Send him home to Brooklyn for some package involving RHJ

unfortunately Billy King is no longer the GM

[TheChad708]

Wasn't Lebron enamored with Taj at some point? Maybe we can get a 1st from Cle?

[weneeda2guard]

I would be trying to do a taj and snell for Eric bledsoe deal.

His injury history scares me

At this point every significant player has "injury history"

Westbrook has had knee issues, who is not going to give him max?

Durant just got over foot issues, who not giving him a max?

Blake griffin missed his entire rookie season based on a knee issue and has had other health issues and off court issues of knocking out trainers, who not giving him a max?

He is a star that is on the move. He would be a solid piece for the team. Injuries happen.