Around the NBA: Playoff Edition #2

[Mech Engineer]

The OKC situation explains why there will be more superteams in the future. Fans say that is a bad thing, but then they praise players who join strong teams for being "winners," and they pick at the guys who are loyal and stay on weaker teams for being losers. Durant will have his ring, and Westbrook is just some guy with gaudy stats who doesn't know how to win. That is the narrative.

Hey, I think it's a terrible narrative and dead wrong. So I have the right to decry superteams. But those who buy into the notion that players are better because their teams win, never mind what their teammates do, well sorry you don't get to say that the Heatles and Golden State are bad things. You enable those teams. You support their formation.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Watching OKC is boring....it is too much like AAU basketball where one player dominates too much. It is just not a logical formula for success. It is too much on one player like Westbrook. And, he takes others out of rhythm even with all his assists. It just doesn't work even with his individual success. I am not a fan of OKC's offensive style. You see all their 3 pt shooters were cold most of the time...not just McDermott but Abrines, Oladipo too. You can't saying every other NBA player sucks.

I would say Harden or Durant alone instead of Westbrook with the same OKC cast would do a lot better because they are just better shooters than Russ. I admire Westbrook but he needs a real fine-tuned cast around him and even a single mistake in the supporting cast can disrupt everything, IMO.

If they had all(Durant, Harden, Westbrook), they could probably overcome any problem with just the talent like the Heatles.

People say Harden plays the point but who is guarding Westbrook? A top defender in Beverley. Harden takes it easy on defense guarding somebody like Roberson. Meanwhile, Westbrook has to guard Beverly who is shooting lights out from the 3 pt line and moves without the ball on offense.

[TheSuzerain]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

[High level]

I would like a cp3 wade and Butler lineup but injuries and aging stars would be a concern.

[johnnyvann840]

I would like a cp3 wade and Butler lineup but injuries and aging stars would be a concern.

We would have a one, maybe two year window. Better than nothing.

[DanTown8587]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

[TheSuzerain]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

[MrSparkle]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

Honestly...

I'd dump Cameron Payne for a late 2nd rounder if possible.

It's just me, though.

[DanTown8587]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

[TheSuzerain]

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

Clippers of the East go to the ECF.

Also, I'd dump Lopez too to free up more space.

There are plenty of relatively cheap front court players than can run the P&R or just be lob targets.

[the ultimates]

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

Niko isn't that guy either though. Niko doesn't make a huge impact with his rebounding or defense. Niko as a floor spacer is too streaky for the money he may wind up getting in free agency so I would definitely let Niko walk and find a replacement if Paul was in the cards. Lets not forget what a stretch four is supposed to be. A player who can shoot outside and draw a big away from the basket or post up if he's defended by someone smaller. A lot of teams have small forwards essentially playing stretch four.

[BullsNumber1Fan]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

So I was actually curious about this and did some quick work in Excel to see what this summer could look like. Here's what I have:

Dwyane Wade $23,000,000
Jimmy Butler $18,696,918
Robin Lopez $13,788,500
Denzel Valentine $2,186,400
Jerian Grant $1,713,840
Bobby Portis $1,465,080
Isaiah Canaan $1,087,745
Paul Zipser $905,249
16th Pick $1,872,900
Nikola Mirotic $7,228,063 (CAP HOLD)
Cristiano Felicio $1,200,000 (CAP HOLD)
Min Cap Hold $815,615

Total Salary $73,960,310
Projected Cap $102,000,000
Projected Space $28,039,690


To attain that, it's pretty simple. You renounce all 3 of MCW, Morrow, Joff once FA hits. You try and trade Rondo/Payne for anything as long as you don't take any salary back on.

Here's where it would get tricky because people would have to leave money on the table. Try and get DWade to restructure his contract to $20 million this year. This would give you a little over $31 million to offer CP3. So both would have to leave a little money on the table to make it work... but you get to keep the rights to Niko + Felicio and add depth.

G: Paul - ROOM MLE - Grant
G: Wade - Valentine - Canaan
F: Butler - Zipser
F: Mirotic - Porits - 16th pick
C: Lopez - Felicio

Again, highly unlikely that both DWade and CP3 would leave money on the table, but who knows. CP3 would have to take a ~$4 million pay cut this year. But you could work around that by giving him an opt out after year 1 and then resigning him to his contract * 125% next summer.

Do I think it'll happen? No. But it's fun to think about and to know that it's possible.

[the ultimates]

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

Clippers of the East go to the ECF.

Also, I'd dump Lopez too to free up more space.

There are plenty of relatively cheap front court players than can run the P&R or just be lob targets.

Patrick Patterson would be a fine replacement for Niko and that's whether they get Paul or not.

[TheSuzerain]

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

Clippers of the East go to the ECF.

Also, I'd dump Lopez too to free up more space.

There are plenty of relatively cheap front court players than can run the P&R or just be lob targets.

Patrick Patterson would be a fine replacement for Niko and that's whether they get Paul or not.

Mike Scott is another name.

He'd come dirt cheap and could stretch it from the 4.

[TheSuzerain]

The overall point is that it's basically impossible to cobble together strong perimeter players without investing major cap dollars/assets.

That's not true about big men. Every year we see cheap big men do just fine in playoff rotations.

If you have a chance to add Chris Paul, you should be willing to dump a mediocre frontcourt.

[R3AL1TY]

Holy wow, watching Westbrook trying to beat the Rockets by himself was like watching shades of 85-90 MJ.

It doesn't come off like that since OKC has been good and a playoff team that just lost Durant-

But like they were saying last night as Westbrook was bricking shot after shot in a critical 4th qtr, he was out of gas and had nothing left. That's what MJ looked like after being hacked for 40 min by Lamebeer, Mahorn and James Edwards.

MJ had to learn to adjust his game - FORGET ABOUT HIS INDIVIDUAL STATS - and stop driving to the FT stripe every possession and pass the ball to the open guy for the easy shot as he drew 3 defenders to him.

I dunno how much of a student of the game Westbrook is but I suspect he targeted that Triple Double stat line this year specifically because it was one of those records that everyone said could NOT be broken. He broke it but now he's golfing instead of playing more meaningful basketball.

He's awesome but he has to learn to sacrifice, make his teammates better before he's winning any titles. Someone needs to walk him thru those pre championship Bulls teams and show him what MJ learned. I want to LOVE this guy but I wouldn't want to be on his team until he adjusts his game.

Yep, Westbrook gets caught up in the triple double stat at times. It was apparent to be his individual goal this year when he began going on streaks with it.

With 20 something seconds left in the game last night was a perfect example of him chasing this stat where he could've taken a 3 pt shot to cut the lead down to 3, but he passed it to Jerami Grant (non-3pt shooter) to try to get a triple double since he was 1 assist shy of it.

The problem with this team is not only do they have bums, but to me they practice too heavily relying on Westbrook to do all the things he gets a triple double for. I remember even seeing him line up at the free throw line at times this season to try to get rebounds lol...Who lets their PG do that?

Last night, Westbrook took 34 shots! If a PG has to take that many, that's a sign of a bad team and a player not trusting his teammates. What would make things interesting is if Westbrook can focus on getting more assists to his bigs and to guys cutting rather than mostly fastbreaks and driving and kicking to guys for 3s, it can improve his game. But part of this blame goes to the coaching.

[DanTown8587]

The Chris Paul plan is definitely in play, folks.

Jazz close this out in 6, and we're on our way.

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

So I was actually curious about this and did some quick work in Excel to see what this summer could look like. Here's what I have:

Dwyane Wade $23,000,000
Jimmy Butler $18,696,918
Robin Lopez $13,788,500
Denzel Valentine $2,186,400
Jerian Grant $1,713,840
Bobby Portis $1,465,080
Isaiah Canaan $1,087,745
Paul Zipser $905,249
16th Pick $1,872,900
Nikola Mirotic $7,228,063 (CAP HOLD)
Cristiano Felicio $1,200,000 (CAP HOLD)
Min Cap Hold $815,615

Total Salary $73,960,310
Projected Cap $102,000,000
Projected Space $28,039,690


To attain that, it's pretty simple. You renounce all 3 of MCW, Morrow, Joff once FA hits. You try and trade Rondo/Payne for anything as long as you don't take any salary back on.

Here's where it would get tricky because people would have to leave money on the table. Try and get DWade to restructure his contract to $20 million this year. This would give you a little over $31 million to offer CP3. So both would have to leave a little money on the table to make it work... but you get to keep the rights to Niko + Felicio and add depth.

G: Paul - ROOM MLE - Grant
G: Wade - Valentine - Canaan
F: Butler - Zipser
F: Mirotic - Porits - 16th pick
C: Lopez - Felicio

Again, highly unlikely that both DWade and CP3 would leave money on the table, but who knows. CP3 would have to take a ~$4 million pay cut this year. But you could work around that by giving him an opt out after year 1 and then resigning him to his contract * 125% next summer.

Do I think it'll happen? No. But it's fun to think about and to know that it's possible.

You're low on Niko's cap hold (it's actually nearly 11 million, the 7 number is his QO) and trading Rondo + Payne for cap room might be doable but might not.

Also, if you do a CP3 opt out after one year, he'd at most only sign a two year deal and that kind of deal impacts his security (does a 32 year old guy with not the greatest injury history want to risk losing that security) long term.

The best case for the Bulls might be Wade opts out, signs a new deal for 2/30 (15 million) to save the Bulls eight, then sign Paul at the 4 year max. Of course, this takes the Bulls out of the 2018 FA period and you're essentially all-in with a 32 year old CP3 + Wade + Butler.

[MrSparkle]

lol at letting Niko walk being a barrier to signing Paul. Big whoop.

So you become the Clippers of the East where you have all your money tied up in three or four players, no other value players around them to really help out, and you lose to teams who either get hot or are better than you.

I didn't say letting Niko walk to sign Paul is a barrier, I said it's a terrible use of asset and player management where the Bulls are going to lose a productive rotation player for literally their own incompetence.

I mean, who you going to run P&R with? Who defends? Who rebounds? Who spaces the floor? Who does the little things on a basketball floor that need to be done? Bobby Portis is not that guy.

Clippers of the East go to the ECF.

Also, I'd dump Lopez too to free up more space.

There are plenty of relatively cheap front court players than can run the P&R or just be lob targets.

Call me an optimist, but I got a feeling that GarPax are finally gonna get a draft pick right, and it's gonna be a big man, and we're gonna have a good rookie on next year's roster. They're due... the draft is deep... and there are a lot of bigs to choose from.

I like RoLo as a 24 mpg role-player, but am not tied to him if you can recruit an all-star.

[TheSuzerain]

There simply isn't the money to pay Paul to come here unless he's (and likely Wade) are willing to take quite substantial paycuts to do it. Would have been easier if Jimmy was locked up to 4/48, you weren't paying Payne 2+ million, you didn't have to give a million in cap space to Rondo when you decline the option and stretch the guaranteed money.

You could have given CP3 30 million in year one (so basically a 4/125) deal if you

- Had Jimmy at 4/48
- Didn't have Payne, Lauvergne on the books
- Didn't have the Rondo 1 million
- Gave Wade 20 million instead of what you gave him

Now, you're going to have to let Niko walk to afford Paul, meaning your bigs next year are Portis, Lopez, draft picks (maybe), and anyone on the room exception.

The only guy who makes the Paul thing work is Chris Bosh, who hasn't played basketball the past two years because it could kill him.

So I was actually curious about this and did some quick work in Excel to see what this summer could look like. Here's what I have:

Dwyane Wade $23,000,000
Jimmy Butler $18,696,918
Robin Lopez $13,788,500
Denzel Valentine $2,186,400
Jerian Grant $1,713,840
Bobby Portis $1,465,080
Isaiah Canaan $1,087,745
Paul Zipser $905,249
16th Pick $1,872,900
Nikola Mirotic $7,228,063 (CAP HOLD)
Cristiano Felicio $1,200,000 (CAP HOLD)
Min Cap Hold $815,615

Total Salary $73,960,310
Projected Cap $102,000,000
Projected Space $28,039,690


To attain that, it's pretty simple. You renounce all 3 of MCW, Morrow, Joff once FA hits. You try and trade Rondo/Payne for anything as long as you don't take any salary back on.

Here's where it would get tricky because people would have to leave money on the table. Try and get DWade to restructure his contract to $20 million this year. This would give you a little over $31 million to offer CP3. So both would have to leave a little money on the table to make it work... but you get to keep the rights to Niko + Felicio and add depth.

G: Paul - ROOM MLE - Grant
G: Wade - Valentine - Canaan
F: Butler - Zipser
F: Mirotic - Porits - 16th pick
C: Lopez - Felicio

Again, highly unlikely that both DWade and CP3 would leave money on the table, but who knows. CP3 would have to take a ~$4 million pay cut this year. But you could work around that by giving him an opt out after year 1 and then resigning him to his contract * 125% next summer.

Do I think it'll happen? No. But it's fun to think about and to know that it's possible.

You're low on Niko's cap hold (it's actually nearly 11 million, the 7 number is his QO) and trading Rondo + Payne for cap room might be doable but might not.

Also, if you do a CP3 opt out after one year, he'd at most only sign a two year deal and that kind of deal impacts his security (does a 32 year old guy with not the greatest injury history want to risk losing that security) long term.

The best case for the Bulls might be Wade opts out, signs a new deal for 2/30 (15 million) to save the Bulls eight, then sign Paul at the 4 year ma.

The timing gets weird because Wade has to decide before Free Agency (I think), but I think what you mentioned here is possible.

Wade could decline his option to save us cap space this year, and we'd reward him with a longer term deal with a lower annual cap hit (would likely be equal length to a hypothetical CP3 contract).

[DanTown8587]

So I was actually curious about this and did some quick work in Excel to see what this summer could look like. Here's what I have:

Dwyane Wade $23,000,000
Jimmy Butler $18,696,918
Robin Lopez $13,788,500
Denzel Valentine $2,186,400
Jerian Grant $1,713,840
Bobby Portis $1,465,080
Isaiah Canaan $1,087,745
Paul Zipser $905,249
16th Pick $1,872,900
Nikola Mirotic $7,228,063 (CAP HOLD)
Cristiano Felicio $1,200,000 (CAP HOLD)
Min Cap Hold $815,615

Total Salary $73,960,310
Projected Cap $102,000,000
Projected Space $28,039,690


To attain that, it's pretty simple. You renounce all 3 of MCW, Morrow, Joff once FA hits. You try and trade Rondo/Payne for anything as long as you don't take any salary back on.

Here's where it would get tricky because people would have to leave money on the table. Try and get DWade to restructure his contract to $20 million this year. This would give you a little over $31 million to offer CP3. So both would have to leave a little money on the table to make it work... but you get to keep the rights to Niko + Felicio and add depth.

G: Paul - ROOM MLE - Grant
G: Wade - Valentine - Canaan
F: Butler - Zipser
F: Mirotic - Porits - 16th pick
C: Lopez - Felicio

Again, highly unlikely that both DWade and CP3 would leave money on the table, but who knows. CP3 would have to take a ~$4 million pay cut this year. But you could work around that by giving him an opt out after year 1 and then resigning him to his contract * 125% next summer.

Do I think it'll happen? No. But it's fun to think about and to know that it's possible.

You're low on Niko's cap hold (it's actually nearly 11 million, the 7 number is his QO) and trading Rondo + Payne for cap room might be doable but might not.

Also, if you do a CP3 opt out after one year, he'd at most only sign a two year deal and that kind of deal impacts his security (does a 32 year old guy with not the greatest injury history want to risk losing that security) long term.

The best case for the Bulls might be Wade opts out, signs a new deal for 2/30 (15 million) to save the Bulls eight, then sign Paul at the 4 year ma.

The timing gets weird because Wade has to decide before Free Agency (I think), but I think what you mentioned here is possible.

Wade could decline his option to save us cap space this year, and we'd reward him with a longer term deal with a lower annual cap hit (would likely be equal length to a hypothetical CP3 contract).

I mean sure Wade would have to decide before then but he could also talk to Paul about it too. Would Wade + Butler just dump Rondo like that?

[Dan Z]

.

Honestly...

I'd dump Cameron Payne for a late 2nd rounder if possible.

It's just me, though.

That would be terrible. I bet most teams would give you that if that's all you'd ask for in return.