Article| Bulls, Love, Barnes

[X]

Not posted on CCS, but the yahoo contrib network...Just something to discuss.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-trade-idea-kevin-love-chicago-bulls-better-224900048--nba.html

Spoiler

COMMENTARY | When the Chicago Bulls traded Luol Deng earlier this season, speculation suggested Chicago would look to tank the rest of its lost 2013-2014 year and focus on securing the best possible position in the 2014 NBA draft.




But it seems no one told the players.
Led by imposing defender Joakim Noah, the Bulls have clawed their way back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture -- which some actually consider to be a bad thing.
As a middle-of-the-pack team in a dismal Eastern Conference, the Bulls have given up their draft position without having a legitimate chance to contend with the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers in the postseason.
Even with the injured Derrick Rose sitting in street clothes at the end of the bench, Chicago has an opportunity to make itself viable title contenders this season, but it will require it to aggressively hit the trade market before the Feb. 20 trade deadline.
Kevin Love
Forget trying to cut enough payroll to sign Carmelo Anthony this summer -- who will likely choose to stay with the New York Knicks anyway. The Bulls can put themselves right back into the title fight this season by trading with the Minnesota Timberwolves for their All-Star power forward, Kevin Love.
The Wolves are in a tough spot whereby they only have contractual control over Love for one more season. Conventional wisdom suggests Love would opt out of the final year of his contract and test the free-agent market before the 2015-2016 season.
"They should trade him," one Eastern Conference executive told CBS Sports. "No one thinks he's staying."
Instead of holding on to him and getting nothing in return, Minnesota could move him to the Bulls in a classic win-win scenario.
The Trade
The Bulls are all but certain to use their amnesty clause and cut ties with Carlos Boozer at the end of this season, but why just get rid of him for nothing when he could still have trade value right now?
With comparable contracts for next season ($15.7 to $16.8 million), a Love-for-Boozer swap would not leave either team in a precarious financial situation, but the additional assets the Wolves would get would allow them to rebuild for the future much quicker than starting from scratch.
Boozer is nowhere near the player Love is, so Chicago will have to make this trade worthwhile for Minnesota. On top of their own first-round draft pick this season, the Bulls will likely control the Charlotte Bobcats' first-rounder this season, as well as a future first-round selection from the Sacramento Kings.
Boozer and two first-round picks would have to make the Wolves at least consider moving Love early.
Nikola Mirotic
If the draft picks weren't enough to entice Minnesota to action, the Bulls also have a very valuable international property in Nikola Mirotic that would fit nicely alongside Ricky Rubio.
Rubio has faced Mirotic a lot in international competition. The Minnesota point guard said of Mirotic, "He's a tall guy who can shoot the ball very well. Smart-playing and a scorer."
While the Bulls are very high on their 6-10 sharp shooter, no one knows how his game will translate to the NBA. He could turn out to be Dirk Nowitzki, or he may flounder and become the next Darko Milicic. An opportunity to sign Love may be worth the gamble of losing whatever type of player Mirotic may turn out to be.
Bulls' Outlook With Love
With Love playing next to Joakim Noah, the Bulls would have the undisputed best frontline in all of basketball. Love is averaging 25 points and 13 rebounds per game this season, with a league-leading 38 double-doubles.
As the Miami Heat have shown, they can be very vulnerable to powerful inside play. The Bulls have a solid defensive front court with Noah and Taj Gibson, but they still lack that true go-to post scorer who can hurt the Heat in the paint.
Kirk Hinrich for Harrison Barnes
The trade-a-poolza does not have to stop with Love. The Bulls are also rumored to be interested in swapping veteran point guard Kirk Hinrich for the Golden State Warriors' sophomore small forward Harrison Barnes.
Barnes was a highly touted college player coming out of North Carolina, but the addition of Andre Iguodala has slashed Barnes' minutes and made him the likely player moved in an attempt to fill the Warriors' needed backup point-guard position behind Stephen Curry.
Barnes is averaging just over 10 points per game this year, after exploding onto the scene as a rookie when he averaged 16.1 points per game for Golden State in the playoffs last season.
The ceiling is very high on Barnes, and, if Golden State would seriously consider moving him for Hinrich, the Bulls would be crazy not to pull that trigger.
New Chicago Roster
With the additions of Love and Harrison, the Bulls would have one of the most complete rosters in all of the NBA. Their new starting lineup would be Noah at center, Love at power forward, Barnes at small forward, Jimmy Butler at shooting guard and D.J. Augustin at point guard.
Their bench would also get a boost as Gibson and Mike Dunleavy could move into a backup role to give Chicago a spark off of the bench. While the Heat and Pacers would still have to be the favorites in the East, these moves would make Chicago a legitimate threat to play for a title this season.

2014-2015
Even if the Bulls were to lose Love to free agency in 2016, they would have one year to see what the Love-Rose-Noah Big Three could do. If successful, Love may find Chicago an attractive place to play in the future, or, at the very least, choose not to opt out of the final year of his deal and give Chicago a second full season.
But if Love were to walk, the Bulls would peel $15.7 million off of their salary cap and immediately be able to target other free agents, such as LaMarcus Aldridge, Roy Hibbert, Iman Shumpert, Klay Thompson or Paul Millsap, all while having a bevy of draft picks still in their pocket.
Dealing for Love right now is less risky than having Chicago puts all of its eggs into the Carmelo Anthony basket. If the Bulls really do want to try and contend this season, Kevin Love is one way to make it happen.

 

[Xplosive]

The idea of trading Carlos Boozer and two first round picks for one season of Kevin Love is the dumbest rumor I've heard. After all this time waiting to use the Bobcats pick and just getting the Kings pick, now they should just trade them away to be in the same position the Wolves are in?

 

[Crystallas]

*warning* unfiltered response ahead. Skip this post if you don't want to potentially be upset by my truth bomb.

This is the same logic of a HS kid.

First, DUH. Would be great to get Love. No shit sherlock.

Trade Boozer for Love.. oh yeah. IF THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED BY NOW. What a stupid article.

Throw in Mirotic. Yeah, I don't think so. Not because I'm fond of keeping Mirotic over Love. No, because Minnesota already went through a ton of hoops with getting Rubio to sign. The T'Wolves may be the only NBA team that would be reluctant to go after Europe's best player, especially when they know that he doesn't ever have to sign in the NBA.


OMFG(best teenage girl voice). This is why bloggers posing as "contributor journalists" are pure trash for the mediaworld and readers alike. They don't do any research and just repeat the same shit over and over again. When you're writing a story, next time try to contact someone in the organization, get some information, find leads, find creditable sources. You know... JOURNALISM. This whole deal with looking at a few rosters, and writing something is just a waste of time for everyone reading it, ESPECIALLY after the same exact thing has been written over and over and over for the last two years by countless other bloggers and actual beat-writers and journalists.

 

[Axl Rose]

i think anything from yahoo contributors should be banned from being posted

these are just fantasy land scenarios

 

[Crystallas]

i think anything from yahoo contributors should be banned from being posted


these are just fantasy land scenarios

:yep:

Dalton Russell is a life-long Chicago Bears follower who has been writing about this team for a national audience since 1998.

Writing for 16 years, and this is what we get?

 

[Axl Rose]

isnt that the same guy that wrote the article saying we should trade Rose for a top pick? lol

 

[DirtyDutchDiggler]

Sounds like a someone that is either A. a member of this board (perferably one that hates on Anthony :thinking or B. just reads this board for ideas. I don't trust yahoo sports writers for ideas after the awful trade idea that saw the Knicks trading Chandler, Shumpert and Felton for Westbrook. At this moment Anthony should be top priority. No way Minnesota is going to give up that soon. Boozer isn't worth shit yet. Get Anthony first then as a plan B. when Minny is desperate towards the trade deadline next year and still in the gutter, then use Boozer as trade bait. Or.....if we really wanna get serious, do as I have posted before and S&T Anthony for Noah and Taj plus picks and then trade Booze and Mirotic for Love by next year deadline to create our own big three. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too. I have it all detailed here for those who haven't seen:

http://www.chicitysports.com/forum/...Potential-2014-line-ups?p=1210735#post1210735

Time for the organization to grow a pair folks. Not going to get better being mediocre in a dreadful division

 

[JosMin]

All of these Kevin Love rumors are hysterical. He's a top 10 player under team control and I think a lot of fans have forgotten that David Kahn doesn't run the team anymore -- Flip Saunders does. He's quite a bit more savvy than Kahn and places a much higher premium on development and keeping a flexible payroll. The Wolves may end up looking to deal Love, but I think that'll only be whenever they have a clearer idea on who could potentially supplant him as team leader. Rubio is almost invisible when it comes to scoring and they would need somebody outside of Pecovic and Kevin Martin to develop as a premier scorer. Maybe Shabazz Mohammed? He's probably a few years away, if he ever takes those steps. The lack of playing time certainly won't help. And Chase Budinger is much more apt to being a complimentary scorer. Besides, he can't stay healthy.

I'm just not seeing the allure, from Minnesota's standpoint, to want to just dump Kevin Love for the sake of trading him. Even if they know he'll opt out and move on, they still hold the cards of a sign and trade, which could net them a more favorable package of assets. The Bulls simply sending over trash and draft picks is a wonderful pipe dream.

 

[RoseMVP1]

Yahoo has become worse than Bleacherreport. Not only are their writers awful, the sports portion of the site is an eye sore. I can't believe anyone still uses yahoo sports.

 

[Jerry Cortez211]

Yahoo sports is about as popular as Yahoo Instant Messanger

 

[The Hawk]

I'm all for a sign and trade for Love but not simply a one year and done thing with the resultant loss of valuable draft picks. They need to assure the guy will be around for the next 4-5 years.