Same plays as Tyrus, but Tyrus would've been 4 inches higher.

Contrary to what was widely reported last night as a John Salmons for Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson trade, the Bucks and their neverending supply of expiring contracts will now deal Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick ($5.53 mil combined) for the services of Mr. Salmons ($5.45 mil this year with the option of $5.80 mil next year). For those of you who still think the Bulls can make some noise in this year’s playoffs, Hakim Warrick will be the only player of use for the Bulls. Alexander has been sidelined almost the entire season with a hamstring injury and was most recently seen in the NBDL.

Warrick’s recently come off the bench for the Bucks to provide some solid, yet unspectacular play. His season averages in points and rebounds hover right around where his career averages are (10 points, 4 boards), although a strong start to this season has buoyed his stats as his most recent performances have been disappointing to say the least.

If this path sounds familiar, one could argue that he is a poor man’s Ty Thomas. Now with 3 players of similar builds (Thomas, Deng, Warrick) it seems only a matter of time before Tyrus leaves Chicago. The most recent trade rumors have the Bulls agreeing to send Tyrus Thomas to Charlotte in exchange for a future first round draft pick (yes please), Acie Law (yawn), and Flip Murray (double-yawn).

Sadly, we got the shorter one.

If you’re wondering what kind of stats these two guards are putting up this season, I’d compare Acie Law to Devin Brown and Flip Murray to Jannero Pargo. These guys are still pretty young in their careers but they’ve already been shipped around the league multiple times and show enough bright spots to get them traded to the next city. Make no mistake about it, the Bulls are trading for these players strictly for their contracts and not anything they can give on the court or the locker room. Thus giving the Bulls the Pu-Pu “See You Later” Platter of Expiring Shooting Guard Contracts to play out the rest of the season with.

Gar Foreman and  John Paxson have wheeled and dealed their way to a sizeable amount of cap space for next year, while still remaining relatively competitive for the remainder of this season. It’s not clear whether the moves that the Cavs and Celtics are making will make the Lakers restless enough to pick up the phone and seek Kirk Hinrich’s services, but there’s still time. We’ll keep you posted.

*UPDATE*: The Milwaukee Bucks also get the right to swap first round picks with the Bulls in this year’s draft, so long as the Bulls’ pick doesn’t wind up in the top 10.  I don’t see any scenario where the Bucks wind up ahead of the Bulls and would need to exercise this right.

The Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a deal in principle that will send John Salmons to the Bucks for the expiring contracts of Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson, sources said on Wednesday.

As early as this past summer it became clear that in order to clear enough space to make a legitimate run at one of the big 2010 free agents, the Bulls would need to move the contracts of Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, and/or John Salmons.  Salmons contract, while technically expiring this summer, has a player option for about $6 million.  It is presumed that Salmons will pick up that option.  Now that he is gone, that clears his salary off the books, which puts the Bulls at just around $20 million under the cap.  If they can also move Hinrich (or Deng, though that seems less likely), then they will be in very good shape.

Clearly the Bulls are not that concerned with the current season, as the pieces they got in return are pure garbage.  Elson and Thomas, both old big men that can’t play many minutes, will not contribute much to the Bulls, if they contribute at all.  What becomes crucial now is that if the Bulls do move Tyrus (which seems imminent), they must get someone like McDyess from San Antonio in return.  If not, their already thin frontcourt will get even thinner especially with Noah hobbled by Plantar Fasciitis.

In other trade news, the Bulls still seem to be in the T-Mac sweepstakes, although word is that the Rockets have continued to up the price and may not move him at all.  One rumor has the Rockets asking for Taj in the deal, which should kill any deal for the Bulls.  Stay posted for more updates as the deadline looms.

On Gordon’s positive effects on Rose

• Ben Gordon: More efficient than you think, given the volume of shots he launched on a nightly basis. As a 41% shooter from beyond the arc in 2008-09, Gordon was a classic floor-spacer for the Bulls. Since smart opponents were loath to leave Gordon on the perimeter to help, this allowed the rookie to attack the defense, which is the most potent feature of Rose’s game. With a less lethal shooting guard on the weak side, Rose might find defensive help and double-teams heading his way early and often next season.
• Rose is a natural penetrator. His drives-and-kick often resulted in a pass-out to Gordon once the defense collapsed, particularly in end-of-shot-clock situations. The luxury of having Gordon on the perimeter — ready and eager to shoot — took a lot of pressure of Rose, who didn’t have to be the guy in every series. On a team with very little help up front offensively, Gordon was indispensable.

On problems Gordon caused for Rose

• Although Gordon was a dynamic one-on-one player for the Bulls, he rarely created opportunities for anyone else on the court. That left virtually all of the playmaking duties to Rose. If ever there’s a young point guard who could handle that burden, it’s Rose, but Gordon’s tunnel vision made life more difficult than it needed to be for the rookie. Rose has the potential to be a very good off-the-ball player. Unfortunately, Gordon’s tendencies didn’t allow those skills to flourish for Rose. A shooting guard with a greater capacity to facilitate will help Rose develop that part of his game.
• Gordon, to put it kindly, was a below-average defender at the two for Chicago. And Rose, though his defense will almost certain improve with age, was no great shakes on the other side of the ball either. Some of Gordon’s deficiencies can be chalked up to inattentiveness, but he’s also quite small for a shooting guard. Either way, Vinny Del Negro didn’t have the comfort to cross-match his smalls, which meant that Rose spent almost all of his time guarding the ball. A more capable defender at the two would afford Rose a breather on defense.

On what Salmons and Hinrich can do for Rose in the backcourt:

• Salmons is more of a natural small forward, but could very well land as the Bulls’ opening night starter at the shooting guard. He’s not the one-on-one player Gordon was by any stretch, but he shot a respectable 41.7% from 3-point range last season (better than Gordon), and is a far superior defender on the wing. The downside for Rose will be that, regardless of what the number say, defenses will be far more likely to move off Salmons to collapse on Rose.
• Back in January, TrueHoop examined how Rose and Hinrich play together as a backcourt tandem. There’s real value in having two guards on opposite sides of the court who can both handle the ball and initiate the action. In addition, Hinrich is a pesky defender who can spell Rose defensively at the one. It won’t always be a viable option — don’t expect Rose to draw Dwyane Wade or Vince Carter — but Hinrich gives Del Negro a lot more defensive flexibility. On the downside, Hinrich is a below-average offensive player who, at times, has trouble breaking down a defense, and gets to the line about once every election cycle. While his presence allows Rose to work off-the-ball, that doesn’t mean Hinrich can always capitalize on that scheme.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

• 323 Minutes

• 8 Technicals Fouls

• 106 Lead Changes

• 65 Ties

• 1 Punch to the Head

• 2 Flagrant Fouls (Should be 3, but the league wanted to send a message that punching people in the face is acceptable)

• 7 Overtime Periods

• 1 Rookie of the Year

• 15 Clutch Shots Within the last minute of the 4th or Overtime

• 1 Cut Above the Eye

• 1 Bloody Nose

Now that is a recipe for a great f#$%ing series.  Throw in a little Game 7, the greatest thing in all of sports, and you have yourself the thing that legends are made of.  No matter what happens on Saturday, the Bulls have gained invaluable playoff experience.

Here is the text message conversation I had with Top Ten Nominee immediately following the game, which summarizes pretty much everything you need to know about my feelings regarding this series:

Top Ten Nominee: i havent enjoyed basketball this much in ten years

Stormin Norman: my penis hurts from the bulls boner ive had the last two weeks

Top Ten Nominee: when suffereing a bulls boner for periods of one week or longer, please call the league office at 888-bulls boner

What I like best about this game was that the Bulls made me forget all about Rondo being the biggest douchebag on the planet.  Even though he came out again last night and proved that Tuesday was no fluke (he really is a terrible human being), the Bulls stood their ground, played a very physical game, and outlasted the tired, sad, ugly, whiny old Celtics.  One quick note about Rondo: The league SHOULD suspend him for the combination of punching Brad Miller in the face and throwing Hinrich into the stands.  I don’t think they will, but he deserves it.  He’s a thug and a bitch.

A few nods are necessary after a game like that.  First and foremost, John Salmons exploited Pierce at both ends of the floor.  He held Pierce to just 5-13 from the floor defensively, but what he did on the offensive end is what set his performance tonight apart from the first 5 games.  He went 13-22 and 5-9 from 3-point land to drop 35 points on Pierce.  Pierce could not stay in front of Salmons for the life of him.  I wish Vinny had discovered this earlier in the series, because Salmons can do whatever he wants in isolation against Pierce.

JOAKIM NOAH!!!  His huge dunk to foul out Pierce in the 3rd overtime was amazing.  This kid has been unstoppable, bringing a ton of energy to the defensive end and on the glass all series.  What has been most impressive has been the development of his offensive game from “liability” to “converts sometimes”.  While that doesn’t sound like much, Bulls fans know that it is a huge improvement and will serve to keep him on the floor much longer.

Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller brought energy off the bench.  I’ve been down on Miller for most of the series due to his complete lack of defense, but it’s hard to stay mad at him.  He scored 23 points and hit clutch shot after clutch shot.  Even when he was playing bad defense he was giving 110% and clearly has the heart and spine that this team needs.  Kirk Hinrich added 11 and brought a steady defensive presence that was key to slowing down Pierce.

Oh and ROY Derrick Rose?  How about a little 28 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists to add to the mix?  Sounds about right.  Besides a few ill-advised passes in his 59 minutes of work, he was absolutely stellar and for the first time this series was able to stay in front of Rondo.  Oh, and one more thing.  Did you see that block he made on Rondo with 7 seconds in the game?  Big players make big plays in big games.  Get used to it.

Didn’t hear much out of Kevin Garnett tonight, huh?  Game 7  is at 7:00 pm ct on Saturday.  Don’t miss it.

Besides a stinker in Charlotte, Salmons has averaged 22 points, 6 rebounds and is shooting 49.6% from the field in the month of March.  He is making almost 50% of his shots!!!  He is far more efficient than Deng ever was, even before Deng was battling nagging injuries and lost his shooting touch.  I know StevieY19 (and others I’m sure) think that this little love affair with Salmons will wear off, but I don’t think it will.  Even if he ends up not being as great as he’s been, he will still be no worse than Deng and at only half the price.

Bulls Win Projection With Deng: 10.8

Bulls Playoff Chances With Deng: 46.1%

Bulls Win Projection Without Deng: 10.6

Bulls Playoff Chances Without Deng: 44.6%

The thing to note about this is that the 3 (now four teams) that are behind the Bulls in the race for the 8th seed all have lower percentage chances to make the playoffs than the Bulls with or without Deng.

Also if you are looking to criticize Paxson for the trades he made at the deadline, Accuscore will make you think twice about that now.  Had the Bulls not made the trade, their win projection drops to 9.6 and their playoff chances drop to 38.8%, well below that of the Nets and the Pacers.

I’m on record as being in favor of the Deng contract (6 years $71 million) and I blame his poor performance on the court this year on Vinny’s horrific offensive scheme (if he even has one).  That being said, maybe Salmons is better than Deng, and far cheaper.

While Deng can be an effective player, what exactly can he do better than Salmons?  Let’s take a look at different aspects of their games and see who has the edge:

3 Point Shooting: Salmons obviously has the advantage in this category.  Salmons is shooting better than 42% from 3 point land, far above the league average and very efficient.  Deng used shoot a lot of 3s his rookie year but abandoned them until very recently.  He has started to take more 3s this year, but still only takes about 1 every 2 games.  He is 8/20 this year but that is a small sample size and his career 28% is more indicative of his usefulness behind the arc than anything else.  EDGE: SALMONS

Jump Shooting: The days of Deng knocking down the open 20-footer with consistence seem to be in the past.  Though he is not the sharp-shooter he was on the mid-range shot, he still hits it enough to be useful.  Salmons is about as effective as Deng in this department, though perhaps slightly better considering his field goal percentage this year rests at 47.5% as opposed to Deng’s 45%.  Since Deng gets to the basket more it’s probably a safe bet to say that his layups and dunks inflate his field goal percentage.  Salmons has a better jump shot and equally as important he seems able to create it on his own.  EDGE: SALMONS

Attacking The Rim: This is an offensive category where Deng has the slight edge.  His ability to attack the basket off back screens and in transition is excellent.  While Salmons can attack the basket (and gets to the line a lot), he seems a little out of control when he does it.  EDGE: DENG

Ball-Handling: Is it just me or do they both suck?  To play the 3-spot, you basically need a few skills: 3point shot, slashing ability, ball-handling, versatile defender.  Neither of them seem to be able to handle the ball.  Although this is not a huge problem for the Bulls since Rose is comfortable having the ball in his hands a lot of the time, it would still be nice if one of these guys could actually bring the ball up the court once in a while.  EDGE: TIE

Passing: They both seem able to pass fine, but Deng seems more willing to make the extra pass than Salmons.  Although it ends in a made bucket a lot of the time, Salmons is a bit of a black hole with the ball.  He seems to dribble around a lot and waste the shot clock trying to create his own shot, which can lull the other Bulls to sleep and ruin the flow of the offense.  It’s not necessarily always bad, but Deng doesn’t gum up the offense in the same way.  EDGE: DENG

Perimeter Defense: Both players have shown the ability to defend the perimeter.  While Deng’s man defense has been on and off of late, Salmons seems to be able to lock down his defender.  He is almost as long as Deng and can stay in front of his man on a more consistent basis.  EDGE: SALMONS

Help Defense: As good as Salmons has been in man defense, it seems like he either doesn’t want to rotate to help his teammates, or doesn’t know how.  Since the Bulls don’t play great team defense in general, Salmons fits right in, but eventually (I hope), they will start to play better defense, and Salmons shortcomings in this category could be very costly.  EDGE: DENG

Rebounding: Deng seems to have this one by sheer statistics.  He is averaging 6 a game where Salmons is only averaging 4.2.  I don’t notice such a stark difference when watching the games , but Deng is around the basket a little more when he is cutting, so maybe he is in better position to grab boards.  EDGE: DENG

Overall: When looking at them overall, the question isn’t who is the better talent or player, but who will be more useful to the team.  Salmons is a far better offensive weapon and defensively his ability to defend the perimeter covers up for most of what he lacks in the team defense department.  EDGE: SALMONS.

So there you have it.  Losing Deng for any amount of time is bad, and it will hurt our depth significantly.  Salmons, however, seems to be a better overall player.  Statistics tell the same story, as Salmons PER is 16.44, while Deng’s does not even crack 15.  I wish we still had Thabo right now to soak up those minutes at SF that will have to go to Hinrich, Tyrus, or Tim Thomas while Deng is out.

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.

Who is John Salmons?
We don’t get to see a lot of Kings games here in Chicago, so most people don’t know much about this guy.  Over at NBA Post Up, they prepare scouting reports based on statistics and other factors.  Here is what they have for Salmons:

John Salmons has solid ability to score;
Will look to score; Not looking to attempt threes; Just an average three point gunner; Able to get to the free throw line; Very good free throw shooter; Average shooter; Mediocre off the dribble; Adequate inside; Average running the break; John Salmons is adequate on the offensive glass; Average defensive rebounder; John Salmons is a good passer; Weak handling the ball; John Salmons is very good at picking up steals; Gets an average amount of blocks; Solid defender of outside shots; Very good perimeter defender; Post defense is adequate; Very good transition defender; John Salmons is not overly strong; Has some quickness; John Salmons is a basketball player with some ability and can provide strong minutes off the bench

Ok, there is a lot to digest there.  Based on this analysis, it appears that he is a very versatile player.  ESPN’s scouting report summarizes his abilitie as well:

In addition to his slashing ability, Salmons is a very good defender who can guard three positions. He’s quick and has good size at 6-7, and ranked in the top third of shooting guards in both blocks and steals per minute. The Kings often used him as the primary stopper against elite scorers, even when Ron Artest was on the court with him, and he held his own in those matchups.

Offensively, he likes to attack off the dribble for layups or short-range jumpers. He’s a mediocre spot-up shooter and isn’t a good shooter off the dribble, plus he tends to have high turnover rates because he’s driving into traffic so much. However, he’s a good enough dribbler to play point guard in a pinch.

It sounds like Salmons will be an excellent player to have for the Bulls.  His ability to be a stopper against elite scorers will help the Bulls defend the perimeter against bigger guards that have abused Rose and Gordon all year.  But isn’t that what Thabo is for, you ask?  Yes, the difference is Thabo is a huge liability on offense, to the point of making him detrimental to the team at times even if he is shutting down his man on defense.  Salmons can do what Thabo does, and put up points in the process (he is averaging 18.3 points/game).  The main inconsistency in the two reports are that Post Ups has him being unable to handle the ball well, while ESPN says he can even play the point.  If Hinrich is dealt, this skill will be tested when Rose needs a breather.  Which leads to the next question…

Are The Bulls Done Making Moves?

It looks like the Bulls may still move Hinrich (and possibly Thabo) to the T-Wolves for Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins, as reported here earlier.  This move makes sense for both teams.  The Wolves need a combo guard that can play both the 1 and the 2.  Foye has been unable to fill that role for them.  For the Bulls, they would be stuck with Cardinal until 2010 (more on 2010 later), but Collins $6 million would come off the cap this summer giving the Bulls about $9-11 million in cap room this summer.  They could use this money to sign Gordon to an expected 5 year $50 million deal or perhaps go get another solid free agent.  I think this would be a great deal and hopefully Paxson/Reinsdorf aren’t so in love with Kirk that they don’t do it.

***UPDATE: It looks like the Hinrich deal may have fallen apart late last night, though it’s possible it could still happen.

Was The Miller-Gooden Trade a Good Move?

There have been mixed reactions throughout the mainstream media, the blogosphere, and even from NQTC readers.  I think this trade is a great trade.  Before all the nay-sayers freak out in the comments, let me qualify my assessment with this:  It isn’t Amare or Bosh and a deal to get either of them would have been better.  That being said we have to assume those deals were impossible.  Looking at this trade in a vacuum, it was a coup for Paxson.  Brad Miller can not only duplicate what Gooden did for us, but he can do some things better.  He is a better defender and a better passer than Gooden ever was.  Also it will be interesting to see if he and Rose can run a more effective pick-and-roll.  With Miller being a good outside shooter, it may be more of a pick-and-pop at times, but it could work very well.

Also with Miller helping chew up minutes at the 4 and 5, Nocioni would be relegated to the 3, where he would be competing for minutes with a far superior Luol Deng.  Noce has had a terrible year and I don’t think I need to convince anyone that his departure is addition by subtraction.  On top of all that we get John Salmons, who I hear is quite the defender and scorer.  Also the contract situation is a lot better, which leads to the next question…

What Are The Salary Cap Implications of The Trade?

Depending on whether you are in the school of thought that believes that it is important to have cap space in 2010 to go after LeBron/Wade/Anthony/Bosh/Stoudemire, this move could be considered good or bad.  I believe having space that summer is crucial to make a run at one of the elite players in the league.

Nocioni had 5 more years (including this one) at about $8 million a year, though the deal was front-loaded so that amount decreases some as the deal goes on.  Gooden’s contract was $7 million and expires this summer.  Getting something in return for Gooden as opposed to letting him walk this summer for nothing was nice, but moving Nocioni’s long terrible contract was far nicer.  Having that much money locked up for that long to a player like Noce was unacceptable, and Pax has essentially erased that mistake from the books.

In return, the Bulls take on Miller’s rather large contract at about $11.5 million a year that expires in the summer of 2010.  Between him and Hughes, the Bulls have a combined $24 million in space just from those two players in 2010.  That is more than enough to go after one of the big free agents that will be available.  Also, pieces like that will be very valuable to teams in the 2010 FA sweepstakes, so Pax (or whoever will be running the Bulls) can possibly get some very good talent back in return for teams trying to clear space for that summer.

Salmons contract is a little trickier.  He is owed about $5.1 million through 2011, which seems like a great value for the kind of contributor Salmons can be.  Unfortunately it turns out that his contract has a trade kicker that requires the team acquiring him to pay a 15% bonus payment that counts against its cap.  This would be another $2 million dollars against the cap.  I am unclear on whether this is a one-time bonus or if it applies every year.  Assuming it is one time, it doesn’t affect the Bulls cap in any real way down the road beyond costing our old buddy Jerry another $2 million (which he can afford). (Thanks to Judd for pointing out this clause in Salmons contract)

Conclusions

All in all, this trade is a great move in terms of cap space and the talent we are getting in return.  If the Bulls are able to move Kirk that would give them some flexibility this summer, but that isn’t crucial and its not clear that Ben Gordon is even in the Bulls plans for the future.  I give this deal an A- and if Pax can move some more salary (Hinrich or maybe Hughes), this deadline period can be considered a huge success.

Here is what the lineup will probably look like after this trade:

PG: Rose, Gordon, Salmons

SG: Gordon, Salmons, Sefolosha

SF: Deng, Salmons, Sefolosha

PF: Thomas, Miller, Noah

C: Miller, Noah, Gray

Though not exactly a legitimate contender, that definitely looks like the lineup of a playoff team to me.  We’ll see.