Hypothetical 3-team trade (Hinrich-JRich-Boozer)

Ok, the offseason is long and even I'm falling for this. My proposed trade involves Suns sending JRich to the Jazz, Boozer going to the Bulls and us getting Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas.

Here's how that trade looks on ESPN's Trade Machine:

I'll explain this trade in more detail after the jump.

Why the Jazz would want to do it: It's well known that the Jazz is looking to move Boozer. JRich may not be Jerry Sloan's favourite type of player but he's a talented swingman who can bring another dimension to their offense. Currently, the only players on the Jazz who can shoot the 3 are Okur and Korver.

After what's been publicized about the Jazz and Boozer parting ways, it's almost inevitable that he has to be moved, and the Jazz would be hard pressed to get a player of JRich's caliber in any Boozer deal.

Why the Jazz wouldn't want to do it: Money money money. Boozer for JRich doesn't give them any cap relief. They actually add $1M to this year's already-crazy payroll. Also, since JRich's contract runs a year longer than Boozer's, that adds $14.4M to their 2010-2011 payroll, which will take them past next year's tax line already even if they don't add any more contracts.

But if they decide to go San Antonio (which could be the case, as they had the guts to match for Millsap), this is a trade that can give them more firepower and keep up with the haves of the league.

Why the Bulls would want to do it: Derrick Rose is obviously their point guard of the future (and present), and they would not want Hinrich riding the pine and making $9M per just like how we (or Kerr) didn't want Diaw making $9M per in a backup role. Given that the Bulls had brought back Lindsey Hunter and signed Pargo (and they have Salmons who can handle the ball part-time and play some SG), Hinrich is even more expandable. From all indication they almost traded him to the Blazers in July. And Boozer is obviously a low post scoring threat that they have been coveting since 1967.

Doing this trade, they essentially upgrade Tyrus Thomas to Boozer (both expirings), at the "cost" of losing Hinrich's services and contract ($9.5M this season, $9M in 10-11, $8M in 11-12). It would also get Bulls a BOATLOAD of cap space in the summer of 2010, which they can use to re-sign Boozer plus another max contract player.

Moreover, the Bulls payroll currently stands at $69M this season, which is dangerously close to the tax line. This trade would shave about $2M off that and give them some wiggle room. They can use that to re-sign another half-decent player, or just sign some vet-min 13th man and keep the rest in their pockets.

Why the Bulls wouldn't want to do it: One may argue that Thomas and Hinrich is a lot of talent to give away for Boozer, the betrayal skullhead Duke guy who can be a locker room cancer and has a 65% chance of breaking his leg within 2 months into the season. But I really think that (and I'm trying to be objective here) the Bulls are a more balanced and complete team after this trade. And it gives them a shot at DWade the next summer. To me, the good seems to outweigh the bad.

Why the Suns would want to do it: If we can turn JRich into Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas, I'd totally be doing backflips. First of all, let's all be honest that Dragic isn't ready to play 15-18mins every night. And it's also inevitable that Nash will have to sit out 10 or so games due to injuries and what not. LB is great but he really isn't a full-time PG material. Hinrich, however, is a natural PG. He makes his 3's (41% last season, 38% career) and defends 2.5 positions. In the immortal Bulls-Celtics series, he turned out to be their best defender on Paul Pierce. He's like Raja Bell with good PG skills.

After the trade, Hinrich, Nash and LB can just share the backcourt minutes, each getting around 32mpg. In the event of any of them getting injured, the other two can start together and play 40-ish minutes, with Goran/Tucker/Grant Hill pitching in. We may have problems against big backcourts with that, but it's not like we have a solution for that now.

As for Thomas, he's easily more talented than any of our frontcourt players who doesn't have an apostrophe in his first name. Plus, he's actually already a better defender than Amar'e right now. And he's an expiring contract so if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, we're not stuck with him.

Also, this trade takes us to 13 guys under contract, and thus will save about 14 hours of BSotS's members' time  arguing about whom should we sign for the 13th spot.

Why the Suns wouldn't want to do it: The trade increases our payroll by $0.9M. But since we now only have 12 guys and need to fill another roster spot anyway, it's not like we could have saved all of that $0.9M.

Also, Hinrich's contract runs a year longer than JRich's. But it's 2012 we're talking about so let's not worry about it now. You may also argue that Tyrus Thomas isn't a model kid but it's not like he had 2 DUIs last season.

Finally, Goran and Earl Clark will see their minutes decrease after this trade. But the players we're bringing in are relatively young and are genuinely better players. So undermining our "own" young players should not be a concern.

So that's my case. What do y'all think about this?