Whats getting lost by many is that this doesnt work like a straight up trade.
Except for the trading part of sign-and-trade, right?
Its not necessarily Toronto putting him on the trade block and taking the best offer.
Of course not. Has anyone even insinuated that ever?
What happens is Bosh goes to Toronto and says, "I want to play in, lets say, Chicago,...work something out."
I doubt it's that cut-and-dry, but I get what you're saying....
If Bosh wants that extra year, the Bulls need to give them something but its not a case where theyre going to get equal value.
Probably not. And again, who has ever even hinted at this being the case?
Youre likely looking at some combination of value players (ie cheap)
Like Joakim Noah.
and players who are good but have bad contracts....
...that almost completely negate what they actually bring to the court on a regular basis as of late (a la Deng and Hinrich), but they are taken anyway to 1) make the money work for the other team and 2) as an avenue to get real value added on.
Look, Toronto isn't in the driver's seat per se, but they definitely do hold some sway over their own future. If Bosh were to walk, they would have 9 players under contract worth about $46 million, so not that much room to maneuver were Bosh were to hit the road for nothing.
As part of any deal with Bosh involving giving him a contract (signing him to keep him or as part of a SAT), the Raptors would immediately be put over the cap, and if they were to deal with a team close to the cap (as the Bulls would be if they got LBJ and were looking to nab Bosh, too), the contracts would have to match up to a large degree under the CBA.
Now, if the Raptors want to sign Bosh and dish him as part of a SAT, they are going to have to receive actual value from that trade (and that trade alone) because the result (assuming they deal with a team close to the cap) would leave them very little wiggle-room afterwords, were they to have room at all.
Knowing that, the Raptors would have to negotiate a deal that brings them
real value (not the non-lottery picks the Bulls can offer or Omer fucking Asik), and they could very well ask for Joakim Noah, because the result of a trade
without Noah's value would leave them with two bloated contracts and nowhere to go from there. I
highly doubt they want to end up in that situation (two bloated contracts, less Chris Bosh and right up against the cap if not over it), so if the Bulls refuse to give up Noah as part of any deal, they may very well value their position after Bosh leaves for nothing more than they do their position after they get only Hinrich and Deng.
