Not Qualified To Comment » Paxson Pulls Trigger, Flag Comes Out That Says “Bang” (Trade Deadline Roundup)

Paxson Pulls Trigger, Flag Comes Out That Says “Bang” (Trade Deadline Roundup)

February 20, 2009 at 9:00 am | Chicago Bulls, Illinois, NBA
By: Stormin' Norman Disciple

If If you were screaming for Paxson to make a move for the past 5 years, you finally got your wish. He made three major moves in the last couple days right before the deadline. Did he make the moves we all wanted? I don’t see Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire in a Bulls jersey, so the answer is no. However he managed to juggle salaries and bring in some talent that will contibute in positive ways. Let’s take a look at the 3 moves he made (and the two he didn’t) and give out some grades.

Gooden, Nocioni, Simmons for Miller and Salmons: A-

I already broke this trade down in an earlier post. I will summarize what I said there briefly. In terms of talent it was a very good deal for the Bulls. Acquiring Miller was a significant upgrade over Gooden and Salmons was a huge upgrade over Nocioni. Miller will hopefully complement Rose well for the next year and a half and be a decent defender in the paint, which is what we have been needing as much or more than post scoring. Also, Salmons looks to have enormous upside. Getting rid of Noce is addition by subtraction, since he was a liability on defense and very trigger happy. In terms of salary, it was an excellent move. Nocioni’s long-term contract is gone and is replaced by Miller’s $112 million dollar deal that expires in 2010 and Salmons who is making $5.5 (or $7.5?) million through 2011.

Hughes for Jerome James and Tim Thomas (and Roberson?): B

This trade really has very little impact in terms of on-court improvement. Hughes was already getting DNP-CDs every night and Jerome James isn’t going to play. Tim Thomas has been a Bull before, though only briefly before Skiles sent him home and the Bulls released him. This time around he may get a few minutes here or there at the 3/4, but probably won’t have any real effect. Salary-wise this move does one thing. It takes Hughes $12 million dollar 2010 expiring contract and breaks it up into two, far more movable, $6 million dollar deals.

Also my understanding of a medical retirement in the NBA is that if James does not play for one year, the Bulls can put him on medical retirement and as long as he doesn’t play the rest of his contract, his salary would not count against the Bulls 2009-2010 cap. Its possible that James will never play again, so this move has the potential of freeing up some of that $12 million as early as 2009 season. (UPDATE: This cannot happen based on the current CBA. Oh well. The Bulls will only have to pay about $1.5 million to him next year, but the full $6.6 million will count against the cap).

Sefolosha for OKC’s First Round Pick (The lesser pick of the Nuggets or San Antonio’s pick that OKC acquired via trade): C+

Yeah Thabo would be buried on the bench now with Salmons, but I still believe he will become a very good player in the league. It looks like this move was done because the Knicks deal put the Bulls slightly over the cap for this year and Pax needed to shed some salary to avoid the tax. The loss of Thabo is unfortunate and I have very little sympathy for Reinsdorf having to pay a little tax this year.

Inability to Land Stoudemire/Bosh/Camby/Boozer And Non-Trade of Kirk: B

Once again Pax didn’t get the big deal done that would make the Bulls a legitimate contender. We can only speculate over whether a big offer was possible or even on the table. Amare was being shopped, but Phoenix clearly took him off the table in the last few days. Bosh was only coming here in a deal involving Amare, so that went out the window when Amare came off the table. Camby is too old and hurt. I also don’t think the Boozer deal was ever offered.

Also, why didn’t the Bulls move Hinrich’s contract? Pax claims they had an offer but they feel they can get more in the summer. Whether that’s true or not, the Salmons acquisition leaves Kirk with less minutes and now he knows he’s being dangled as trade bait all season. Hopefully this works out but it seems very odd.

Cap Management: B+

The moves give us little to no cap room this summer, but position the Bulls to make a big move in the summer of 2010. With Bosh, James, Wade, Anthony and Stoudemire all becoming free agents, the Bulls will have a ton of cap space. If they pick up Noah and Rose’s options, they have only about $35 million committed in 2010/2011, leaving almost an estimated $30 million to offer to one of those free agents. Another option is that the Bulls will have a combination of $30 million dollars of expiring contracts to trade this summer and during the 2009/2010 season to another team trying to clear space for a free agent in the 2010 summer. Also dividing Hughes contract into two smaller contracts may make them easier to move. Perhaps all the expiring deals could be used to pry a star away in a trade from one of those teams.

Overall Deadline Grade For Paxson: B+

He made all good moves but once again failed to bring in something for fans to get excited about and that would make the Bulls a contender. At least he did something this time I guess.