Bulls offer J.J. Redick 3 years/$19 mil: What’s next?
On Friday night, the Bulls extended an offer sheet to restricted free agent J.J. Redick for $19 million over 3 years. The Orlando Magic will now have seven days to match that offer from the Bulls. The Magic roster, as it is currently situated, is designed to win now at all costs. Their GM, Otis Smith, has shown little hesitation in taking on additional salaries in past years to strengthen his team into one of the top teams in the East. He matched Gortat’s offer sheet, added Brandon Bass, and this past week, used a healthy chunk of their Mid-Level Exception to sign Chris Duhon to a 4 year, $15 million contract.
One would think that a prudent owner/GM might face some trepidation in matching J.J. Redick’s offer sheet. With their roster already $10 million over the luxury tax level of $70 million for 2010-11, the Magic will essentially be paying double the salary offered to Redick if they match his offer sheet. Assuming the Bulls do a little front-loading of his contract and pay something like $8 mil for the first year with subsequent decreases, the Magic would be faced with essentially paying $16 million for the services of Mr. Redick. I don’t care how ballsy you are, that’s a lot of loot. Apparently though, Stan Van Gundy says the Magic intend to match any offer, so frontloading his contract to create as big of a “poison pill” as possible may be necessary.
With the Magic’s fiscal constraints (however real or imagined they might be) the Bulls should be able to plan on having J.J. Redick on the roster for next season. If so, that will take up some of the remaining cap room, but the Bulls will still enjoy some flexibility.
July began with the Bulls having nearly $31.9 million available under the cap of $58.04 million. Carlos Boozer’s contract will likely be structured with escalators that will only pay him $13 million for 2010-11. Let’s say Kyle Korver’s three year deal for $15 million will be stretched out evenly over each of the years. Combined with Redick’s $8 million in the first year, this leaves the Bulls with a conservative $5.3 million left to spend (give or take depending on how these salaries are structured).
Omer Asik has reportedly agreed to finally come over and play for the Bulls so he must be factored into the remaining salary cap space(please no Tarlac/Bagaric flashbacks). One blogger suggested we look to the Grizzlies’ signing of Iranian Center Hamed Haddadi to base our expectations on what Asik’s salary will look like. Haddadi signed a 3 year deal for $4.8 million. With the injury and free-throw shooting concerns (Hack-an-Omer could be a viable strategy at sub-50%) the Bulls should be able to sign him for a little less. Let’s pencil in a 3 year deal for $4.2 million. That would leave us with something close to $3.9 million left.
Who would the Bulls consider with the remaining cap space? The Bulls could use some additional depth in the backcourt and another big man to pair with Noah and Asik. My two suggestions? Ronnie Brewer and Brad Miller.
Brewer made close to $2.7 million last year in Memphis, but the Grizzlies elected not to resign him. The Jazz are reportedly interested in him as well, but they are currently up against the cap as well, and may have to use their remaining cap space if guard Wesley Matthews draws any qualifying offers in the next few weeks. It may be wishful thinking to think that Brewer would take a pay cut to play with the Bulls, but a nice three year contract that would last into the new CBA might be the kind of security that Brewer is looking for.
The fleet-footed Brad Miller will undoubtedly be in demand this summer with teams willing to offer a significant portion of their MLE to get his services. But maybe it’s time for Miller to think about sticking close to home, playing with players he has already achieved a comfort level with, and taking a little less pay to stay with the Bulls. I mean his last contract did pay him $23.6 million dollars over the last two years. From my limited knowledge of the collective bargaining agreement, the Bulls could get away with paying Miller less than $1 million and the league would pick up the rest of his veteran’s minimum salary which would actually reach $1.35 million for 2010-11. Not too shabby for a few minutes subbing for whomever has plantar fasciitis that week and lending your six fouls when we go up against teams with significant center/power forward duos (i.e. Not Miami).
It will be interesting to see what the Magic do with J.J. Redick and what other moves the Bulls can make, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Pingback from About Damn Time: Chicago Signs JJ Redick to Three-Year, $20 Million Offer – Bleacher Report
Time July 10, 2010 at 2:35 am
[...] Not Qualified to Comment (blog) [...]
Comment from dcp
Time July 10, 2010 at 4:15 am
Gosh, if the magic adored JJ so much, why didn’t they give him a little more playing time?? I don’t know, but SVG made those comments on Wednesday and the offer sheet was tendered on Friday night, so it appears the magic are behind the eight ball on this one, unless they want to pay double than what they paid the guy last year, oh and they are over the luxury tax limit already. Again, I dunno, but I can’t buy that idea as a management strategy for the magic on a guy who is all of a sudden important to them now that they appear to be losing him. I thinks the magic overextended themselves with other players and didn’t anticipate the strong market value of redick. It’s a business and win some lose some.
Comment from sutton
Time July 10, 2010 at 5:37 am
Actually the last comment by SVG was on Friday. Plus ESPN is also reporting that the Magic will match.
I gather you don’t know anything about the owner of the Magic as of this year his “net worth” is 4.6 billion. That’s net not gross.
Plus since this is a front loaded contract it actually gets better for the Magic. They are already over the cap this would be nothing. Plus Carter is in his last year of his contract.
Of course I bet you were in the group who said that the Magic would never match Gortat’s contract last year.
Enough said.
Pingback from JJ Redick Set To Join The Chicago Bulls? – Gaea Times (blog) | CNN Breaking News
Time July 10, 2010 at 6:12 am
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Pingback from NBA Free Agency Updates: JJ Redick Signs with Chicago Bulls – Skubble (blog) | Assessment for Learning
Time July 10, 2010 at 6:36 am
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Pingback from J.J. Redick Goes To Chicago Bulls – Dots Period | Colodec
Time July 10, 2010 at 6:37 am
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Pingback from JJ Redick Got Married – Daily Hosted News (blog) | Colodec
Time July 10, 2010 at 7:48 am
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Comment from Stormin’ Norman Disciple
Time July 10, 2010 at 8:57 am
@Sutton: What is wrong with people like you. I don’t even know where to start with your nonsense comments. ESPN is reporting they are going to match? When has that ever meant something was a sure thing? Oh your owner is a billionaire? Sorry I didn’t realize. Weird though, because I’m pretty sure there are at least 10 NBA owners that are richer than him. Being a billionaire doesn’t make you a goddamn idiot.
Lastly, yeah we were all part of that stupid group that realized matching Gortat’s contract was completely retarded. Unfortunately for you and the other Magic fans, your genius billionaire owner didn’t realize that and now your stuck paying a guy who plays 12 minutes a game and averages 4 points and 4 rebounds $7 million a year for the next 4 years.
By the way, well-written article Sheik. I can’t understand why someone would criticize something for analyzing the possibility of signing someone that is a restricted free agent.
Comment from Sutton’s brother
Time July 10, 2010 at 10:31 am
Stormin Norman you’re a fool. If there’s anything that can be taken away from the last two weeks it’s that you have to trust the media because they know what they’re talking about. Hell Stephen A. Smith is a damn oracle to me now. I’d go to him to tell me if I had cancer before I’d go to some quack doctor.
Secondly, you’re dumb for not knowing that rich people get to where they are in life by overspending on things whenever they get the chance. As the old adage goes, “You have to spend money extravagantly to make money.” How dare you question the Magic owner’s ability to spend an extra 20 million in luxury tax at the drop of a hat!
Comment from More Oracle than Steve
Time July 10, 2010 at 6:32 pm
On another note, I disagree with the Ronnie Brewer sentiment in this article. If the Bulls want another big man, it will definitely have to be Luis Scola from Houston. His game will fit PERFECTLY with the Bulls offense. I can imagine him, Noah, Boozer, & Asik running the floor like they are in Spain chasing men in white.
On the Redick note, we will have to wait and see. If there is one thing we’ve learned the past week, it’s actually to NOT listen to the media. Only a couple of people out of the astronomical amount of reporters and analyst were correct. With half of them guessing and the other half flip-flopping day-to-day, it was a foolhardy effort to listen to them. They were the reason this whole thing got blown out of proportion in the first place.
Besides, with Korver already in tow, the Bulls only have a couple more pieces to add to the mix to have one of the deepest benches in the entire league…
Comment from ThisGUy
Time July 11, 2010 at 12:52 am
lol at a few people here, “trust the media”. Have you all seen what ESPN and the news have gone throught the last week? Heck…months and years? ESPN is a joke and can only provide real info when the facts obviously come out or they get specific word from a legit source. SVG said he would like to get JJ, but they aren’t sure. Don’t you think someone they would want on their roster would be signed right away? Not in 7 days? It’s a tough choice. Nothing is ever a done deal…just ask ESPN when they reported Bosh and James going to Chicago and analyzed it to no extent. We’ll see what happens, just relax a bit everyone.
Pingback from BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site » Blog Archive » Omer Asik officially becomes a Chicago Bull
Time July 11, 2010 at 10:45 pm
[...] And the Bulls have also reportedly extended an offer sheet to J.J. Redick. [...]
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Comment from sutton
Time July 10, 2010 at 2:15 am
FYI the GM for the Magic is Otis Smith not what you wrote and SVG has already responded to the Bulls offer by saying that the Magic plan on matching.
The last time I checked the owner of the Magic is not hurting money wise and this won’t hurt him.
Plan on someone else being with the Bulls next season Redick will still be in a Magic uniform. Even ESPN agrees that the Magic will match.