I would be willing to trade the entire roster outside of Butler and Portis.
The charade of this front office trying to pass off this collection of toilet cloggers as a "title" contender is laughable. We have a collection of guys who don't care about playing well as a unit, nobody who can consistently create offense in isolation, Derrick Rose's putrid cap-clogging deal, Noah's corpse, Pau who's already said he's opting out and leaving, a regressing Snell and Mirotic.... outside of Butler and Portis (who foolishly isn't given the green light to start), what should I be enthusiastic about? The Kings first-rounder that we'll end up probably kicking down the road another year because they've went from fringe playoff team to lottery stalwart once again? Meh, I'll pass.
Seriously -- these are the deals I'm looking to make:
Derrick Rose to Brooklyn for Joe Johnson's expiring deal. Brooklyn has mortgaged their future to Boston and aren't going to have their own first rounder until I'm 49-years-old. They desperately need to improve their record so they aren't watching continual Top 5 picks fly out the window to a team who's quietly got an intriguing collection of young talent, a phenomenal young coach and a fan base ready to march towards a deep playoff run. Brooklyn also gets to take a one-year flier on Rose to see if he's worth giving a sizable extension to after the season. And you're acquiring a "star" caliber player to drum up new interest in a roster that's essentially been left for dead.
The Bulls start the tanking process. Look, fans will get pissed. But who cares? This team isn't winning an NBA Championship until you acquire a transcendent talent. As great as Jimmy Butler's ascension to an All-Star has been, he still needs to take one more small step forward to be considered an elite offensive talent. This team will never be able to count on Rose, given the injury history. Ditto for how Noah has been over the past 18 months. So why not clear out nearly $20 million going into the offseason, along with Noah's expiring deal, Pau's option to leave, and Hinrich, Brooks and Moore all coming off the books? As currently constructed, not only is this team not good enough to even contend for an Eastern Conference title, but you've hamstrung yourself from being flexible going into an offseason that'll have a plethora of talent available -- on top of a chance at potentially having two first-round picks? It just doesn't make sense.
Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and Kirk Hinrich to Boston for David Lee's expiring contract ($15.9MM), Terry Rozier, Tyler Zeller and the Celtics first-round pick in the '16 Draft they'll be receiving from Dallas (Top 7 protected). For Boston -- here's the chance to truly add veteran depth to your frontcourt and give yourself the added depth to help keep yourself at the top of the East with Cleveland and Toronto. Let's face it, this is a team that's starting to figure things out and need to get the young core players a chance to gain playoff experience. In return, the Bulls are clearing out even more cap space and give themselves a chance to give Bobby Portis and Tyler Zeller chances to start. Rozier gives you a cheap, controllable guard off the bench who's seeing zero playing time buried behind Smart, Bradley, etc. Plus, the Bulls snag a potential third first-rounder for their trouble, which they could parlay into a more valuable asset going into a sign-and-trade. Zeller will be a restricted free agent, and at worst, he's a decent backup center who doesn't totally kill you on either end. And with Noah leaving, they need depth at the five.
So -- the Bulls go into the offseason shedding about $36 million with those two deals, snag another first-rounder, a cheap young guard and center, and a chance to truly be flexible and add nice complimentary parts around Jimmy Butler. But.... the front office has zero balls. So doing something logical like clearing out roster log jams, bloated money and unhappy players makes too much sense. I'm sure we'll find a way to magically lure Roy Hibbert and OJ Mayo, which would literally cause my house to burn down.
bamainatlantaYou wake him up, you keep him up