The Chicago Bulls are a potential trade partner in an Amare Stoudemire deal. The most recent speculation was that the Bulls and Suns had spoken, and afterwards, the Bulls interest was said to have "wavered." Still, since there are a lot of feasible options, it's worth exploring.
Amare's Big Market
The Bulls meet Amare's criteria for signing an extension based on Chicago's big market. To play in the house where Jordan played, and along side Derrick Rose would no doubt motivate Amare to ink his name on a deal that would be more to his market value instead of his MAX delusion.
Trade Pieces:
The Bulls have some dead weight in expiring contracts the Suns could take off their hands. They also have some intriguing young talent.
Every rumored trade scenario thus far has included Tyrus Thomas (yawn).
Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose are untouchable at this point.
Here are some possible pieces in a deal:
- Tyrus Thomas $4.8 million expiring
- Luol Deng $61,675,000 remaining through the 2013/2014 season
- Brad Miller expiring $12.5 million
- John Salmons $6.7 million dollar player option
- Kirk Hinrich $21 million through 2012
- Jerome James expiring
- Taj Gibson
- James Johnson
The Bulls are probably not interested in giving up any young, cheap talent (Gibson, Johnson). A deal whereby the Suns pick up Thomas, the expiring of a Pargo, Jerome James, and or Brad Miller would work cap wise. But Thomas does little to make up for Amare's offensive production.
At USC he broke a school career-record with 253 blocked shots, which was the third-highest total in Pac-10 Conference history. Gibson ranks second on the school career-record list with 896 rebounds.
As a rookie, Gibson is putting up fairly good numbers, averaging a block a game and 6 rebounds per contest. I also like the 48.5% from the field, which from a rookie, is pretty good.
Another potential piece in a deal with the Bulls is James Johnson-another cheap youngster. Johnson was a college PF but projects as a future NBA SF, comparable in build to Ron Artest. Johnson's scouting report sounds a lot like Earl Clark's. His college numbers look similar, his size is similar, and his "tendency to fall asleep" during games sounds a bit like Clark. Johnson is more of a project than Gibson, but his athleticism is encouraging.
Another thought could be to add Barbosa as a sweetener. We may be able to pull more than one useful chip along with an expiring. Adding both Thomas in the mix with Gibson and possibly including Heinrich would be a decent haul. Heinrich's pretty much a PG, which would create a log jam now, however I could see the suns shuffling lineups and working through it. Adding his defense and play making ability would be a positive. Of course Heinrich's contract is big and may prove to be a barrier in his inclusion.
Draft Picks
The Bulls have a first round pick in 2010, but most likely wouldn't package it in any deal as their 2nd goes to Portland.
Options
There are manydifferent ways the Suns could go, depending on whether they wanted to add Barbosa to the mix:
Option 1: Salmons, Tyrus, James For Amare
Option 2: Hinrich and Salmons and Bulls 1st for Amare
Option 3: Hinrich, James, Salmons, Gibson for Amare and Leandro
Option 4: Deng, Salmons, James for Amare and Leandro
There are certainly plenty of other options, so if these are unappealing, feel free to share, cause sharing is caring.