Goodness, the Lin fans really fell for that trade rumor. No matter how many times we come on here and try to debunk it. I think the rumor spread like wildfire from cell phone to cell phone: "Did you hear? Lin to Chicago! Jeremy will be free! Did you hear?" (Frau Blucher voice) "FREEEE!!!"
the bulls wanted lin for deng I guess the rockets snooz. I thought the rockets wanted to get rid of lin hmmm.
Trade grades: Cavs deal for Deng The Chicago Bulls send forward Luol Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for center Andrew Bynum, a protected first-round pick from the Sacramento Kings, the right to swap first-round picks in 2015 (top-14 protected) and the Portland Trail Blazers' 2015 and 2016 second-round picks. Chicago: C Frequently, fans will complain that every NBA trade is financially motivated because of the league's arcane salary-cap rules. In truth, they're really matters of asset allocation, and cap space is an asset just like players and draft picks. Now this, by contrast, was truly a deal driven primarily by finances. Major finances. By trading Deng for Bynum and waiving Bynum's partially guaranteed contract, the Bulls will save the remaining $8.7 million owed to Deng this season (they do have to pay about $1.6 million that's left of Bynum's guaranteed salary), plus $11.9 million in luxury-tax payments. They also slow the clock on potentially paying the repeater tax down the road, which will harshly penalize taxpaying teams who were over the tax line in three of the previous four seasons. For a franchise that has always kept a close eye on the budget -- according to Mark Deeks, last season was the only time Chicago has ever paid the luxury tax -- that certainly matters. But there is, as always, a cost associated with such savings. In this case, presuming Chicago had made the decision that Deng wasn't coming back after he turned down their final extension offer of three years and $30 million, as reported by Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, the choice was between financial relief and trying to get as much value for Deng as possible from another team. The Bulls did get multiple picks here, but they might not amount to anything more than second-rounders. The Sacramento pick that Cleveland sent along, which dates back to the J.J. Hickson trade, is top-12 protected this season and top-10 protected from 2015 through 2017, at which point it converts to the Kings' second-round pick. Depending on your level of optimism about Sacramento's current rebuild, Chicago might end up with the second-rounder. And while we've seen this year how valuable the option to swap picks can be, the upside of that option is limited by the Cavaliers lottery-protecting their pick. Perhaps the market for better picks or quality young prospects never materialized, but by dealing Deng primarily for tax relief the Bulls have forgone the opportunity to use a Deng trade to fill one of the spots in their future lineup. With Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson in hand and talented European prospect Nikola Mirotic on the way, that cupboard is hardly bare. However, Mirotic is likely to be most effective as a power forward, leaving a hole on the wing that rookie Tony Snell might not be ready to fill next season. That leaves a couple of options. One is the $10 million or so in cap space Chicago could create next summer by using the amnesty provision to clear Carlos Boozer's $16.8 million salary from the books. If getting out from under the tax this season makes that more palatable, then that's a positive of this trade. The other benefit is to the Bulls' own draft pick. Without Deng and Rose, Chicago will have a tough time making a playoff push, even in the Eastern Conference. As a result, the Bulls are likely looking at a top-10 pick, with an outside chance of being this year's version of the 1997 San Antonio Spurs and adding an elite prospect to the core of a contending team. Cleveland: B Last week, I argued that the Cavaliers would be foolish to acquire Pau Gasol because they were too far away from even contending for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. While some of that analysis holds, this is a far better deal for the remainder of the 2013-14 season for a handful of reasons. First, Deng is simply a better player than Gasol at this stage of his career. An All-Star the past two seasons -- somewhat dubiously -- Deng has actually improved his play so far this season, increasing his efficiency while using a career-high 24.7 percent of the Bulls' plays in the wake of Rose's injury. Better yet, he improves a position of major need for Cleveland, which hasn't had a credible small forward since The Decision. This season, the Cavaliers have used both Alonzo Gee and Earl Clark as starters at small forward. Gee's consistent sub-replacement play (he's rated as worth 1.1 wins fewer than a replacement-level player this season) gave Clark the job. While Clark has flashed improved 3-point range (38.3 percent) and has been an upgrade over Gee, Cavs coach Mike Brown has still opted to finish most games with a woefully undersized three-guard lineups featuring 6-foot-4 Dion Waiters as the nominal small forward. So Deng will be a huge upgrade, giving Cleveland a second option on offense in the starting five, an outside shooter opponents have to fear and a quality perimeter defender. Not only that, the Cavaliers managed to also weaken one of their rivals for the eighth seed in the East, thus improving their own chances. Lastly, acquiring Deng doesn't do as much to bury Cleveland's young talent. The Cavaliers' only long-term option at small forward, rookie Sergey Karasev, was already playing sparingly. Surely, Anthony Bennett in particular will see his minutes squeezed both by Clark playing more power forward and Brown prioritizing veterans as part of the playoff push, but he'll have the opportunity to play rotation minutes if he earns them. My concerns are largely forward-looking. If Cleveland extends Deng's contract, or re-signs him this summer, that will be the Cavaliers' last big move before a possible Kyrie Irving extension kicks in during the summer of 2015. Cleveland will have its own picks, and potentially extra ones from both Memphis and Miami in 2015, but those are more likely to produce role players than stars. And I don't see an Irving-Deng-Tristan Thompson-Anderson Varejao core as anywhere near good enough to make the Cavaliers competitive with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The counterargument is that Cleveland has to ensure its single-best asset (Irving) stays around by getting competitive now to encourage him to sign an extension. And this deal helps there. As noted above, Cleveland really didn't part with much to make this deal happen. So while I still don't love the Cavaliers' strategy, I can't dismiss this deal on its own merits.
I doubt the Cavs go into the draft fearing they are bad at identifying who to pick. I think #3 is the strongest argument -- there are too many teams tanking this year, especially in the East. It's a lot easier to make the playoffs in the East than it is to get a high draft pick by losing. If they're going to get out-tanked anyway, they may as well try to be good, rebuild a winning culture, and improve their attractiveness for free agents and trade targets.
They saved $10 million in a year that they'll obviously not be competitive in and by trading away a player they will not resign anyways. Sounds like a nice haul to me.
Thanks for this, J.R. This is (a much more well-phrased and in-depth version of) what I was getting at on Twitter last night. Yes, the Cavs gave up multiple picks for what may end up being only a half-season rental (although I assume they will try like hell to re-sign Deng). But Deng has the potential to be a CULTURE CHANGER for the Cavs. That team has a decent amount of talent, but they just don't know how to win. Deng can help with that. Sometimes, the imprint a really good player can have on a team is worth something, even if that player ends up leaving. Also, the Cavs managed to acquire Deng without giving up some of their BEST picks . . . namely, their own 2014 pick, the 2015 potential lottery pick they own from Memphis, and the 2014 Orlando second rounder (which could end up being pretty valuable). By lottery-protecting the 2015 swap right, the Cavs ensure that it will in no event be worse than giving up the #15 pick in exchange for a pick in the mid-to-late 20s. Essentially, a conditional trading back in the draft a few spots. Not a huge deal. The Sacramento pick COULD end up being a really great pick . . . or it could end up being an early 2017 second rounder; and the odds are somewhat in favor of it being the latter. In the end, Chicago maximized any financial/tax savings they could possibly hope for, while also getting some decent (if not terrific) future draft picks. Cleveland got the perfect complementary star they needed to make a playoff push this season while not mortgaging their future to do so. Neither team "totally got over" on the other. Both got what they were looking for. Everyone goes home happy. Well, except for Bulls fans.
And if they get the Charlotte pick (seems 50-50), and sign Mirotic (would have to pay a midlevel at least, i imagine), that number goes down to more like 4-5 mil.
.... Making fun of someone for posting too much about Lin is distasteful enough. But don't humiliate people like this. It's just childish. You might think it's cool, but you are the only one that this makes look bad.
The Bulls can create more cap room by trading Mike Dunleavy, Jr. Not enough for Melo (assuming he'll refuse to take less than the "super-max" for which he is eligible). But enough to add a very good player or two. You may be right about the money it'll take to bring Mirotic over. But, for what it's worth, until he signs a contract, his CAP HOLD is only $1,075,300. Still, if the Bulls are using cap room, and unless Mirotic will accept the Room Exception, he'll have to eat into that cap room eventually.
If we really want, we can throw our room exception at him. $2.7M for half the season is a lot more than vet minimum, right?
Yeah I've seen the Melo to Chicago rumor floating around so just wanted to clear the air that this isn't something that is likely without them moving out Noah or Rose now in trade. I do think the plan now looks like they want to put together a much different type of supporting cast around Rose/Noah next year... most likely more young, athletic, & offensive minded. Wouldn't be shocked to see them make a trade at the deadline or this Summer for someone like a DeRozen type. However I was shocked to see them move Deng so early for merely financial savings & picks when they could have had a chance at the deadline to use Deng's expiring to help net them Melo. (I guess you could argue that they could still use Boozer but I find that very unlikely). All things considering, it wasn't a really bad deal for a player who was leaving in the Summer for nothing anyways, but I really felt that with his expiring, and the trade assets they have with Mirotic/Picks/Butler/ etc they could have made a really good case for NYK making the deal to move Melo for that haul of assets & good players all in one package. I guess the obvious answer might just be... they really didn't like Melo to begin with.
Just be grateful that Les Alexander is the owner of the Houston Rockets and not Jerry Reinsdorf. This was the last possible minute to maximize luxury tax savings in any substantial way. The Bulls (notorious for avoiding the luxury tax even in years where it hurts their ability to contend for a title) took that route instead of holding out for better basketball assets but with no hope of completely avoiding the luxury tax and maybe even being subject to the repeater tax in a few years.
Damn it the Rockets never had a chance because all the Bulls wanted was cap relief. They never would accepted Lin or any salary back. Time to focus on Afflalo.
I'm not sure room exception can be used in that case. I think it's limited to two years, and a rookie has to get at least 3 years in Mirotic's case. Either way, he also has a 3+ mil buyout, which would mostly have to come out of his own pocket, and he's arguably the best player in Europe too, so I think realistically I think he wouldn't be cheap.
After the expiration of three years following the draft in which a player is selected, he is no longer bound by the first round rookie scale. Since Mirotic was drafted in 2011 and would be coming over in 2014, he is not subject to the rookie scale salary and can be signed for any amount, from the minimum to (assuming the team has the cap room) the maximum salary. The team can still exceed the cap, though, if they are signing him to a rookie scale contract. Didn't know about the buyout amount, though. Thanks for that.
I know, but can a player be signed for less than 3 years in that scenario? I don't think so. And room exception is 2 years max, I think.
Because mirotic was a first round pick he has to get a rookie scale contract of he came over in the first 3 seasons Here's the explanation from Larry coons FAQ however mirotic has stayed overseas for over 3 seasons since he was drafted by us in 2011 so June above does not concern him anymore So he can get whatever contract he wants which could be the mid level because it's only 2 years in length he could actually be able to receive it because he has stayed overseas for over 3 years I think I got it, I'm sure bima will explain in better way if need be
