Tag: Chicago Bulls (Page 5 of 26)

      Joakim Noah agrees to extension

      October 4, 2010 /

      Joakim Noah wasn’t happy with the Bulls’ $55 million offer, but Chicago upped the ante and it seems the two parties have agreed to an extension.

      The deal is worth $60 million plus additional bonuses, Dan Fegan, one of Noah’s agents, told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher.

      I compared Noah to Andrew Bogut in a previous post, and this contract sound a lot like the one Bogut signed two years ago. Bogut’s deal raised a few eyebrows then, but he has since developed one of the best two-way centers in the league, earning All-NBA 3rd Team honors last season in his best year as a pro.

      Between this contract and their refusal to include him in a deal for Carmelo Anthony, the Bulls obviously value what Noah brings to the table. According to 82 Games, his net points (per 100 possessions) was +0.9 last season, while Bogut’s was +8.0. In three head-to-head matchups last year, Bogut averaged 22/14 on 52% shooting, while Noah posted 10/16 on 42% shooting.

      I think $12 M+ per season for a defensive/rebounding specialist is steep, but maybe Noah will develop offensively in the same way Bogut did. The difference is that Bogut started with a pretty good post game and developed from there, while Noah’s current post moves are rudimentary at best.

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      Boozer to miss 8 weeks after bizarre accident

      October 4, 2010 /

      Carlos Boozer has a broken hand that is going to require surgery and he’s set to miss the next eight weeks.

      Boozer suffered the injury on Saturday during the Bulls’ day off. Boozer tripped over a bag in his house and fell.

      “[I was] at my house, came around the corner, fell over a bag, put my arm down to kind of brace myself,” Boozer said. “I’ll get surgery on Tuesday and do my rehab, be conditioned and run with the guys. The good thing about it was at least it only happened in the preseason.

      The team says Boozer broke the fifth metacarpal bone in his hand. He was evaluated by team physician Dr. Brian Cole and hand specialist Dr. Marc Cohen of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush.

      There’s injury-prone, and then there’s this. Good grief. I wonder who put the bag “around the corner” — whoever it was, they’re probably going to cost the Bulls a few wins in November.

      Boozer has already missed 145 games in his career, and now he’s going to miss around 15 more with this injury, including a particularly brutal seven-game road trip that includes the Spurs, Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, Mavs and Rockets. In fact, nine of the Bulls’ first 15 games are on the road, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Chicago is sitting at 6-9 or 7-8 at the end of November.

      The good news is that Taj Gibson is a very capable power forward, so the Bulls won’t lose much in the starting lineup. But Gibson will have to be replaced on the bench, and that’s where Boozer’s minutes will really be missed.

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      Who does Joakim Noah think he is?

      September 24, 2010 /

      Alex Kennedy of HOOPSWORLD says that the Bulls offered Noah more than $11 million per year, and he isn’t happy with the offer.

      The contract extension the Chicago Bulls offered Joakim Noah several weeks ago was actually a five-year, $57 million deal. Noah isn’t happy.

      Wow, I think that’s more than fair for a offensively-challenged center who averaged 10.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game last season. Sure, he’s great defensively and brings a lot of energy, but that’s why the Bulls’ offer is fair. When you start getting into the $12-$14 M per season range, you have to be a complete player. And as good as Noah is, he isn’t a guy that the Bulls can feed in the post and expect him to score.

      Two summers ago, Andrew Bogut signed a five-year deal worth $60 million coming off of a season where he averaged 14/10. This season, he was named to the All-NBA 3rd Team after turning into one of the league’s best defensive centers and one of its few go-to post players. Would you rather have Bogut at $12 million per season or Noah at $11.4 million? Bulls fans might say Noah, but after the season Bogut just turned in, I think most people around the NBA would rather have Bogut (16/10, 2.5 blocks in 2009-10.)

      With a new collective bargaining agreement looming, Noah should lock in his extension now. There’s just too much risk involved with all the uncertainty of next summer.

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      Bulls discussing Noah as part of Carmelo deal?

      September 9, 2010 /

      Earlier today, I discussed the report that the Chicago Bulls were one of two teams that Carmelo Anthony would like to be traded to before the season starts. Now it appears that the Bulls are thinking about using Joakim Noah as a centerpiece in an offer for the Denver swingman, per ESPN Chicago.

      The Chicago Bulls are interested in trading for the Denver Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony and are discussing internally including Joakim Noah as part of the deal, according to a league source.

      According to the source, the Nuggets are hesitant to take back Luol Deng as part of a deal with the Bulls because Denver is leery of taking on long-term contracts with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on June 30, 2011. Deng is two years into a six-year, $71 million contract.

      Now we’re talking.

      Noah isn’t a superstar or even a star, but he’s a quality center who brings defense, rebounding and energy to the Bulls lineup night in and night out. I would think that the Nuggets would require that he be included in any deal for Melo. If they can come away with Noah, Taj Gibson and a first round draft pick or two, that would be a solid start to their rebuilding effort that will no doubt begin once Anthony departs.

      There’s just one sticking point — without Deng’s bloated salary, the numbers don’t match, so the Bulls would have to get a third team involved to take on Deng’s contract. That, or the Nuggets would have to take Deng as part of the deal.

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      Carmelo prefers the Knicks or Bulls?

      September 9, 2010 /

      According to an ‘NBA source’ of Marc J. Spears, Carmelo Anthony wants to be traded to the Knicks or the Bulls.

      The Knicks have limited assets to offer the Nuggets, which makes the Bulls a more appealing potential trade partner. The Bulls can offer a replacement small forward in Luol Deng, as well as two young forwards in James Johnson and Taj Gibson. New York officials would like to make a run at signing Anthony next summer if he were to opt to become a free agent.

      The prevailing notion is that the Knicks don’t have much to offer in the way of trade, but I’d rather do a deal for Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry than trade for Luol Deng and his bloated contract, which is worth $51 million over the next four years. I swear some of these pundits don’t even look at the salaries when they throw around trade scenarios. Deng is a solid player, but at almost $13 million a season, I would take a pass.

      So unless the Bulls are able to add a couple of first round draft picks, the Knicks’ (potential) offer of Gallinari and Randolph would be better for the Nuggets. Thus far, it appears that the Knicks have been unwilling to include Randolph in the deal, which is a little mind-boggling. This is Carmelo Freaking Anthony we’re talking about — the Knicks should be pulling out all the stops to acquire him now, especially since the Spears article also states that he wants to be traded before the season starts. If he lands elsewhere, the chances that he’ll sign with the Knicks next summer decrease dramatically.

      Sure, he could get traded to the Clippers or the Rockets and become a free agent next summer, but will those teams really pony up the best offer without some assurance that Carmelo is going to re-sign? The Nuggets will get the best deal from a team that knows Anthony is a long-term acquisition.

      One other item from the Spears piece — Carmelo has yet to meet face-to-face with Masai Ujiri since he was hired as Denver’s new GM. That’s not a good sign for those holding out hope that he’ll be with the Nuggets long term.

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