Salary-cap restrictions limit Bulls flexibility next season

[Scoot26]

Big money tied up for players with injury issues will force club to be creative in assembling roster

By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune reporter 9:53 p.m. CDT, May 12, 2012

Derrick Rose, who underwent successful surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Saturday, will make $15,506,632 for a 2012-13 season of which he will miss a significant portion.

Luol Deng, who may miss the beginning of next season if opts for surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left wrist after the Olympics, will pocket $14,275,000.

Carlos Boozer will be paid $15 million. Joakim Noah's salary is $11.1 million.

That's close to $56 million committed to four players. Last season's salary cap, which teams can exceed using exceptions, stood at $58.044 million.

Throw in $5 million guaranteed for Richard Hamilton, $2.155 million guaranteed for Taj Gibson, $1.066 million guaranteed for Jimmy Butler and a likely $5 million contract when the Bulls match an offer for restricted free agent Omer Asik and the Bulls are up to just above $69 million for eight players.

Last season's luxury tax threshold stood at $70.3 million, and it is projected to rise only nominally while becoming more punitive in the future.

All this translates to two things: Unless they can creatively deal with what are the essentially expiring contracts of Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Watson, what you see is what you get for the 2012-13 Bulls. And there is virtually no chance the Bulls will use the amnesty clause on Boozer this summer.

Doing the latter would drop the Bulls' salary commitments only to roughly $54 million for next season. That would leave them with approximately $4 million of salary-cap space, as well as a new exception in the latest collective bargaining agreement called the "room" exception worth $2.5 million. With roughly 18 teams possessing salary cap space this summer and a paucity of big-name free agents, $6.5 million won't buy much.

Plus, with Rose out a significant portion and Deng possibly out until November or December if he has surgery, somebody needs to score. Boozer is that somebody.

The Bulls will be active come draft time, traditionally the second-busiest trade market behind the February deadline. With team options on the three-year deals for Watson, Brewer and Korver, the Bulls can dangle them as expiring deals for a team looking to come off money.

Perhaps the Bulls will add a current core player to those expiring contract trade discussions and aim for a larger move.

In lieu of those scenarios bearing fruit, though, the Bulls basically are hamstrung for making significant upgrades to the roster for next season. Call it a treading water season until Rose and Deng get fully healthy, and the team makes a playoff push.

Asked in the direct aftermath of the season-ending loss on his team's prospects for next season, coach Tom Thibodeau didn't shed much light.

"Now that it's over, you go back through the season, evaluate everything and formulate a plan and study the things you've done well and what you (could) improve and sometimes change," Thibodeau said. "You look at every aspect. I want to decompress a bit, study and then make those decisions.

"You're always trying to get better. Whatever field you're in, I don't think you should be satisfied or stay the same. You're either getting better or getting worse."

The Bulls remain high on international prospect Nikola Mirotic, whose draft rights they acquired last season. But he's likely another two to three seasons away from leaving Real Madrid to join the Bulls. They also own an asset in the Bobcats' draft pick they acquired in the Tyrus Thomas trade. It has a chance to be completely unprotected in the 2016 draft.

This season's first-round pick, No. 29, won't add much. Though in Gibson, and likely Butler, management has proved adept at adding rotation players late in the first round.

But the core, for now, remains Rose, Deng, Noah and Boozer. And given the financial picture in the immediate future, it will be surrounded by lower-salaried and veteran minimum additions.

Rose has major ramifications on the Bulls' roster whether he's playing or not. The current financial snapshot makes his absence until he fully rehabilitates his left knee all the more palpable.

Chicago Bulls: Salary-cap restrictions limit Chicago Bulls flexibility for next season - chicagotribune.com

 

[X]

I see absolutely no harm in amnestying boozer...Taj is better on Defense, and just as inconsistent on offense, for a fraction of the cost. And his head is shaved, no painted...

 

[Uman85]

I see absolutely no harm in amnestying boozer...Taj is better on Defense, and just as inconsistent on offense, for a fraction of the cost. And his head is shaved, no painted...

So the Bulls would also save money on spray paint/canned hair. It's a win-win.

 

[scottiepippen1994]

Ammesty the Boozer bastard back to Alaska and he can take broke-shot Krover with him.

Taj is the man now.

 

[JosMin]

God... I wish that Bobcats pick wasn't unprotected for this year. Could you imagine adding Anthony Davis next to Gibson? :fap:

 

[BNB]

While we probably won't improve significantly due to our financial situation, I still think we're in a position to become a better team.

We'll have the 22nd pick, right? We can easily draft someone in that spot that could make a difference off the bench. I'd like them to draft a PF/C with that pick since there are a lot of FA guards. Or better yet, we could even move up in the draft by trading our pick, next years first and maybe throw in Watson or Brewer to move up a few spots.

We still have the MLE to offer.. I think we can use a portion of it on a veteran PG like Billups and then use the rest of it on another veteran big man...

I'd like to see this happen... Trade up in the draft and take someone who is versatile and can play multiple positions.. like PF/C, SG/SF, PG/SG, etc. Then amnesty Boozer, sign Billups and somehow convince KG to come here for 1-2 years for cheap. All of that is extremely unlikely though

 

[Sunbiz1]

While we probably won't improve significantly due to our financial situation, I still think we're in a position to become a better team.

We'll have the 22nd pick, right? We can easily draft someone in that spot that could make a difference off the bench. I'd like them to draft a PF/C with that pick since there are a lot of FA guards. Or better yet, we could even move up in the draft by trading our pick, next years first and maybe throw in Watson or Brewer to move up a few spots.

We still have the MLE to offer.. I think we can use a portion of it on a veteran PG like Billups and then use the rest of it on another veteran big man...

I'd like to see this happen... Trade up in the draft and take someone who is versatile and can play multiple positions.. like PF/C, SG/SF, PG/SG, etc. Then amnesty Boozer, sign Billups and somehow convince KG to come here for 1-2 years for cheap. All of that is extremely unlikely though

Can we simply trade a few picks for an immediate impact player?.

Blind question as I have not a clue on NBA FA etc.

 

[nwfisch]

While we probably won't improve significantly due to our financial situation, I still think we're in a position to become a better team.

We'll have the 22nd pick, right? We can easily draft someone in that spot that could make a difference off the bench. I'd like them to draft a PF/C with that pick since there are a lot of FA guards. Or better yet, we could even move up in the draft by trading our pick, next years first and maybe throw in Watson or Brewer to move up a few spots.

We still have the MLE to offer.. I think we can use a portion of it on a veteran PG like Billups and then use the rest of it on another veteran big man...

I'd like to see this happen... Trade up in the draft and take someone who is versatile and can play multiple positions.. like PF/C, SG/SF, PG/SG, etc. Then amnesty Boozer, sign Billups and somehow convince KG to come here for 1-2 years for cheap. All of that is extremely unlikely though

No picks go by regular season record in the NBA. So the Bulls are stuck at 29/30 again

Can we simply trade a few picks for an immediate impact player?.

Blind question as I have not a clue on NBA FA etc.

I guess the Bulls could, I don't see anyone really worth acquiring over the 29th/30th overall pick. I think Billups and Ray Allen are good players, but I wouldn't say that over-the-hill players (Which Rip Hamilton is as well) are impact players.

The players I think of are Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Melo, etc. A host of 29th/30th overall aren't that appealing to teams because of the star power in the NBA.

The biggest assets this team could have are cap space, and the Charlotte pick. The Charlotte pick will become the Bulls in 2016 or earlier depending on what Charlotte does. If they continue to epically suck, the pick won't be the Bulls' until 2016.

 

[JosMin]

Let's just release every single player and start over

 

[nwfisch]

Let's just release every single player and start over

Sounds like a plan.

Let's get Melo, Nick Young, Howard, and 9 other scorers.

Championship :derbulls:

 

[Axl Rose]

i think every bull fan knew this

sucks

 

[clonetrooper264]

Yup no surprises here. What we have is what we're going to be rolling with for the most part. Our best hope is that we can package part of our shooting guard trio (that being Rip, Brewer, and Korver of course) to get an upgrade somewhere. I think the most realistic outcome is that we use the MLE on an ok PG...someone we're not going to be excited about (and will probably be yelled at all season by us) but will bridge the gap until Rose can come back. I hope that guy can be Steve Nash, but that's probably asking way too much. Heck even Billups is probably too much to ask for. And besides...no one wants to come here anyway. Remember?

 

[Crystallas]

$15,506,632 For Rose? KC Johnson also reported that Rose was going to make $16.3mil.
Derrick Rose: Derrick Rose agrees to five-year contract extension with Chicago Bulls - Chicago Tribune

KC Johnson is excellent with player news and gossip. Numbers, math, not so much. I'll wait for some confirmation.

 

[Diddy1122]

I see absolutely no harm in amnestying boozer...Taj is better on Defense, and just as inconsistent on offense, for a fraction of the cost. And his head is shaved, no painted...

It does ZERO for the team. Doesn't help cap-wise (as pointed out numerous times by me & other posters), & removes 1 of the best rebounders & the best scoring option on the team w/ Rose & Deng out. IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Period. So there's no point in people constantly calling for it.

 

[Bear06]

Mark Schanowski was on Chicago Tribune Live today and he said he doesn't believe Watson, Brewer and Korver will be back with the team next year. He also said he doubts Hinrich will go to the Bulls because he can earn double the $ of what the Bulls will probably offer him in another team.

 

[Diddy1122]

Mark Schanowski was on Chicago Tribune Live today and he said he doesn't believe Watson, Brewer and Korver will be back with the team next year. He also said he doubts Hinrich will go to the Bulls because he can earn double the $ of what the Bulls will probably offer him in another team.

Brewer I feel is 100% gone. Butler is ready to replace him & makes him obselete on this roster. Watson NEEDS to be gone so a more competent back-up can take his place (Andre Miller :shrug. Korver is probably the only 1 I could see staying because he's our best perimeter shooer & well best shooter PERIOD.

 

[bleacherbum54]

Amnestying Boozer would be idiotic the owner would have to pay hi
Plus they would still be over the cap so doing it would be a waste. People need to learn how the caP works before saying amensting anyone. The bulls are fine money wise getting rid of Boozer would just be a huge waste of your owners money 0% chance a player of boozers level gets cut

 

[BNB]

Amnestying Boozer would be idiotic the owner would have to pay hi
Plus they would still be over the cap so doing it would be a waste. People need to learn how the caP works before saying amensting anyone. The bulls are fine money wise getting rid of Boozer would just be a huge waste of your owners money 0% chance a player of boozers level gets cut

I think most people know we'd still be over the cap. We just want Carlos off the team.

And when I think about it, it would actually be better if we amnestied Boozer after next season. Korver, Brewer, Watson [If we pick up the options for next season] will all become free agents next summer. If we don't pick up Hamilton's final year, he'd also be a free agent. That's over 18 million dollars off the salary cap. Then amnesty Boozer and that would be another 15.3 million off the books. Theoretically, we could be around 10-15 million under the cap.. depending on what happens this summer and possible future trades.