Well, this is tough for me as I am a fact guy for the most part. Not knowing where we pick can make a difference. But I have lots of ideas. (Below) are the salaries:
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Player | 2013/2014 | 2014/2015 | 2015/2016 | 2016/2017 | 2017/2018 |
Derrick Rose at | 17,632,743 | 18,862,934 | 20,093,126 | 21,323,317 | UFA |
Carlos Boozer at | 15,300,000 | 16,800,000 | UFA | - | - |
Luol Deng at | 14,275,000 | UFA | - | - | - |
Joakim Noah at | 11,100,000 | 12,200,000 | 13,400,000 | UFA | - |
Taj Gibson at | 7,550,000 | 8,000,000 | 8,500,000 | 8,950,000 | UFA |
Kirk Hinrich at | 4,059,000 | UFA | - | - | - |
Mike Dunleavy at | 3,183,000 | 3,326,235 | UFA | - | - |
Tony Snell at | 1,409,040 | 1,472,400 | 1,535,880 | 2,368,327 | 3,393,813 |
Jimmy Butler at | 1,112,880 | 2,008,748 | 3,013,123 | - | - |
Marquis Teague at | 1,074,720 | 1,120,920 | RFA | 3,034,891 | - |
Nazr Mohammed at | 884,293 | UFA | - | - | - |
D.J. Augustin at | 761,502 | UFA | - | - | - |
Erik Murphy at | 490,180 | 816,482 | 1,020,603 | - | - |
| | | | | |
Total salary | 78,832,358 | 64,607,719 | 47,562,732 | 35,676,535 | |
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First, I'd consider maybe trading Kirk and maybe someone else (undecided), before the deadline, in an attempt to get some value and clear cap.
I'd love to re sign Deng at about $10 mil/year. Then I would love for him to be our 6th man of the year and general utility man. Sounds crazy, but Deng coming off the bench would mean we have other bigs.
To me, it looks like we are gonna have two mid round picks. I wonder if we could use those two picks and package Boozer to a rebuilding team. They would get two picks in a deep draft and a big expiring contract for the next year. We would get to move up in the draft and hopefully land a star type of player.
This would clear up a lot of money. Certainly I have identified a team at this time. We'd be able to retain our nucleolus of our team, but hopefully add 1 draft pick that can play, hopefully sign 1 FA that can play, and add Mirotic.
For me, once I know how everyone is slotted in the draft, I'll be able to look at it closer and start to plug in players. We'll also know all the FA's available. But to me, finding a trade partner for Booz would be key for me. Deng, of course, will probably be like priority one to know the money.
It's a tough question right now for me. Right now I'm looking forward to the trade deadline activity. That'll give some direction how teams are feeling.