Asik Will Measure Bulls' Financial Commitment To Winning

IzakDavid13 · Jul 4, 2012

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/221989/Asik_Will_Measure_Bulls_Financial_Commitment_To_Winning
By: Shams Charania

Across the NBA, there has always been a price to pay to win, a premium that comes with contention. As finances are placed under heavy examination, organizations enter each offseason with a game plan, an idea of whether the team is worth it to spend a little extra by surpassing the salary cap. Over the past few years, the Chicago Bulls’ hierarchy, headed by chairman Jerry Reisndorf, has made clear that it will delve into the luxury tax for a championship contending team – essentially, get to the upper-echelon, and then spending some more will be taken into consideration. After all of the talk and promises, Omer Asik will now put the Bulls’ winning standards to the grueling, uncertain financial test.

Already fretting team payroll in coming seasons, the Bulls will have to decide whether to match a three-year, $25 million Asik has agreed upon with the Rockets. The reported deal calls for Asik to earn $5 million in each of the first two years before making approximately $15 million in the third. As much as the Bulls knew competition would run deep in the for Asik given the always insane market for serviceable centers, they had to be at least a bit surprised he received such a backloaded offer sheet.

Valued around the league for his defense, toughness and experience, Asik has been one of Chicago’s most desired commodities. Teams, specifically the Rockets, have inquired about the second-year big man during the past two campaigns, and yet, the Bulls have held firm in keeping him. The Bulls have the best regular season record during that span and Asik has been the defensive anchor of one of the best benches in the NBA.

Most importantly, Asik meshes perfectly with Tom Thibodeau’s schemes on defense. His defensive principles are probably the most precise in the league, which are combined with remarkable force. When the offensive player charges at him near the rim, Asik, more often than not, contorts both his arms straight up – eliminating the possibility of the opponent drawing a blocking foul. Despite playing just 14.7 minutes per game a season ago, he averaged 5.5 rebounds and one block.

Nevertheless, the offensive end is where Asik has been immensely challenged. The Bulls understood he was far from polished when he left Turkey for Chicago in 2010, but they believed he would improve in his second year. They thrust Asik into the full-time backup center role this past season due to the departure of Kurt Thomas, but his shooting percentages regressed across the board and his hands usually continued to fail whenever teammates would dart a pass to him. Asik went from a 50 percent free throw shooter to a 45 percent one, and his field-goal percentage dropped by nearly five percentage points (55.3 percent to 50.6 percent.)

Yes, as treasured as Asik is by the Bulls and as admired as he is around the league, should Chicago really match the Rockets’ lucrative proposal for a backup center who has poor hands, shoots sub-50 percent from the free throw line and has literally knocked down one basket outside the paint in his career?

It is even more difficult to justify throwing that much money at the seven-footer given the fact that the Bulls have invested long-term in Joakim Noah, who has four years and $48 million left on his own deal.* As long as Noah stays with the Bulls – which all signs point to, barring an unforeseen circumstance where Dwight Howard changes his preferred destination to Chicago – Asik would remain his backup.

Asik’s repertoire is easy to fall in love with – he plays his heart out with a motor to the brink of empty, and he does so controlled and strictly – but for a Bulls team that admittedly has other roster holes to fill, shelling out about $8.3 million annually to a reserve would be tough to do, and a choice that could very well be smart to bypass.

For their part, the Bulls on Monday morning were coy and did not reveal whether they would match Asik’s offer. General manager Gar Forman told reporters that the club will not make an official ruling until it sees a formal sheet has been agreed upon between Asik and the Rockets, meaning that the Bulls plan to push their final decision until or beyond July 11 when the NBA’s free agent moratorium ends.

“I’ve seen reports of an offer, but we haven’t seen anything [official] yet as of this time,” Forman told the assembled media during draft pick Marquis Teague’s introductory press conference. “I don’t want to speculate until we actually see something. I think we’ve made it clear that we value Omer and it has been our goal that Omer would stay with the Chicago Bulls.”

Truth be told, so much of the Bulls’ psyche changed when Derrick Rose tore his ACL in late April. Aside from the clear drop in their title aspirations, the Bulls began to put much more of an emphasis in the franchise’s financial state. The case could absolutely be made that bringing back Asik would be a no-brainer had Rose stayed healthy and had the Bulls stayed the course to maintain their progress in the playoffs. However, Rose is down now, and the Bulls are in a bind as well, both in the winning and economic frame of mind.

Re-signing Asik or not, the Bulls also have other issues to worry about.

With Rose slated to miss a significant chunk of next season and C.J. Watson’s team option likely to be declined, Chicago has already honed in on searching for a starting-caliber point guard.

If the Bulls choose not to bring back Kyle Korver, they will be in the market for a low-salary shooter to fill his place.

Considering the interest level that has been shown in Asik, the Bulls would also be wise to attempt to sign Taj Gibson to a contract extension this summer, as the power forward has one more year remaining on his current deal before he is scheduled for restricted free agency.

Add all those up, and Chicago indeed has other priorities to tend to and it would receive some flexibility should it elect not to match Asik’s offer sheet.

Still, winning comes with a price and it’s awfully daunting to be in a successful position in this league if some realm of financial freedom is not available. The Bulls are a better team with Asik on the roster, and Forman said last week that the organization will make basketball decisions, not financial ones. Yet, Forman – who has said for weeks that he and his brass will look at the offseason “with the long-term in mind” – followed that statement by alluding to the fact that economics will play a role in potential moves.*Asik will surely test the Bulls’ dedication toward winning, and the decision to match his offer sheet is clearly a financial one.*
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Interesting article on Asik. Thought I would share.

Question, will Chicago match or will they let Asik walk?

clos4life · Jul 4, 2012

Bulls owner has always been a cheap skate, he will let Asik walk.

Mathloom · Jul 4, 2012

I'm not sure how the CBA treats it, but if they can match the offer and then trade him before the trading deadline, then I think they will do that.

He's not worth that much to them, but if the first year has a low starting salary, then they probably want to match now, trade later rather than letting him walk for nothing knowing that they're very slim on tradeable assets and future cap space.

IzakDavid13 · Jul 4, 2012

Mathloom said: ↑

I'm not sure how the CBA treats it, but if they can match the offer and then trade him before the trading deadline, then I think they will do that.

He's not worth that much to them, but if the first year has a low starting salary, then they probably want to match now, trade later rather than letting him walk for nothing knowing that they're very slim on tradeable assets and future cap space.
Click to expand...

I believe that they will match the offer, then trade him after next season...get a return on their Asik...I mean asset.

rockets018 · Jul 4, 2012

Mathloom said: ↑

I'm not sure how the CBA treats it, but if they can match the offer and then trade him before the trading deadline, then I think they will do that.

He's not worth that much to them, but if the first year has a low starting salary, then they probably want to match now, trade later rather than letting him walk for nothing knowing that they're very slim on tradeable assets and future cap space.
Click to expand...

^ this is very true as well. I didnt see this post and shortly posted something similar. I believe wether Bulls match or not we end up with Noah or Asik. I know they are going to go hard after Lee

Carl Herrera · Jul 4, 2012

They can match the contract and then try to trade him. However, it's complicated.

1. They need to find a team willing to take the $14.9 M cap hit in the 3rd year. Remember, the team that CHI trades him do don't get to average out the cap hit and have to deal with the "poison pill" effect. Only HOU gets to enjoy the benefit of averaging out the cap hit.

2, The contract gets less attractive in the 2nd year in terms of average $ amount-- the average of the 3 years is $8.36M, but the average for the last 2 years is $10M, and, of course, the last year is for $14.9M.

3. Any trade partner would know the Bulls tax predicament and would likely try to lowball them as a result.

4. They can't trade him without his consent for an entire year. They also cannot trade him to the Houston Rockets for an entire year. This makes finding a trade partner more complicated. If they wait, not only does the average $ go up, there is also a risk that if Asik get injured or doesn't perform as well as he has, the contract would have negative value.

rockets018 · Jul 4, 2012

Thanks Carl for the info. After one season i have confidence that Asik will be worth the average of 10 mil a year if he has a starting job. Think about him working with Mchale. Asik is a hustler and im sure has a ton of respect for Mc. Im sure he would be Mcs favorite player

thetatomatis · Jul 4, 2012

I think its about more than that. Bulls are not winning next year anyways. So that poison pill does not kick in till around the time their superstar is completely healed and ready to make a championship run. At which time Asiks contract could limit them from doing anything to help that cause anyways. Lets face it he is a backup. So if they want to get silly and think they are gonna be better off matching? Then by all means kill your franchise with a contract while Rose is still not playing or at a high level yet. Being I know them and how smart they are? I feel there is a at least 60% chance ASik is on the Rockets to stay and they dont match. On the off chance they turn into one of the worse run franchises for one night and decide otherwise? Well That would also be bad for Morey to lose out from a psyche standpoint of striking out again. I just dont think the Bulls are that dumb but I could be wrong because Morey gave the contract in the first place. It was for a starter though. Bulls are clearly paying starters money to a backup if they do.

anthony59237 · Jul 4, 2012

no, we gave them courtney lee bait, er I mean they will go after lee now that he's unrestricted

thetatomatis · Jul 4, 2012

and anyone who thinks Asik is worth it to the Bulls because the Bulls are so called.

"winning next year" is delusional. They are not winning anything with Rose healing up.

roslolian · Jul 4, 2012

LMAO all this talk about Les Alexander being a horrible owner, the Bulls are one of the worst owners in the league. He just had the benefit of:

1) Jerry Krause
2) PJ
3) MJ

ANd lived of all that good will for the last 2 decades or so. Their owner is a known white sox addict and funnels all the surplus funds to his beloved baseball team, and the Bulls have been well documented to be the most financially successful franchise in the league the past couple of years now.

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