We could still get in on the trade. We could still take either Robinson/Williams or, unless thay are in love with him, we could take Shandon (3 years left on his contract) off their hands for the TE. In exchange for that, they'd send us Gordon. Here's the conspiracy theory to justify why Chicago would do this trade. With their current team salary being ~$41,628,664 & the NY trade dropping the salary another $800,000+, by trading Shandon away for the TE (same as cash), their team salary would drop to ~$33,432,065. Now, assuming the new salary cap is ~$45 million, that would put them in position to offer Kobe a max contract. With 2 guaranteed #1 picks to sign as well, they'd almost certainly have to trade one away. Enter us, with TE in hand. If Kobe were to accept their offer, they could field a team like this: C: Mutombo/Curry/AD PF: Chandler/AD/Othella SF: Deng/Pippen/Dupree/Jefferies SG: Kobe/Pippen/Gill PG: Hinrich/Duhon/Pargo Replace Kobe with Shandon, & that team completely changes from a potential Championship team, to a potential Lottery team. If Deng works out, that'd be a pretty nice team, with Kobe as the main man. Could memories of Jordan be rekindled with the Bull's faithful? I think so. Hell of a conspiracy theory, right?
It all depends on how bad Chicago wants to dump some of the contracts. Antonio Davis, JYD, and ERob all have pretty large contracts. 6.9TE/Pike for Davis/Gordon
Davis makes ~$12 million. The TE can't be combined with another player or any other exceptions to acquire a player. In other words, we can only take back a player with a contract that is $6.9 million or less this year. Since Gordon isn't signed yet, we'll be trading for the right to sign him. If he had already signed, we'd have to wait until ~ December 15 to trade for him, & by then, the TE would've expired.
Maybe you should stick Deng on that list too, because he was traded in the same fashion that you stated here. Every single one of these deals that you mention was DRAFT DAY a deal. Teams trade guys on draft day all the time. What you are suggesting almost NEVER happens. A guy gets drafted by their team. They write up in the papers about how much they like the guys. Then a month later, they move the guy in a trade. The Brendan Haywood deal is an example of this, but it still almost NEVER happens. And these are some really high picks in Deng and Gordon. Seriously, give me some more "Brendan Haywood" examples. It just doesn't happen much. And also how about any rumor or source that Chicago has any inkling to deal Gordon or Deng. Heck, I'd even take a Chad Ford article if you can find one.
First off, it was just a question on my part to speculate about the possibility of trading for Gordan, since we've apparently missed out on Barry. Secondly, if you truely believe that Chicago, or any other team for that matter, wouldn't trade a high draft pick away if they knew they could add Kobe to their roster, without gutting it, then there's no use in me even trying to explain it to you. Who cares if it's never happened before? Each new deal brings with it, a different set of circumstances. You have to open your mind to possibilities. Having said all of this, Chicago would have to have an agreement with Kobe before pulling the trigger. Who knows, maybe it's being discussed right now.
