1. Carlos Boozer will be amnestied. This will free up $15M.
2. Luol Deng will be traded for a dominant offensive player in a high-risk, high-reward deal.
3. The Bulls will not pick up Rip Hamilton's option. This will free up $5M.
The question is: What subsequent moves will make the Chicago Bulls a team that has not only the will, heart, and leadership to compete with the Miami Heat, but a team that has the talent and star-power to compete?
1. Why amnesty Boozer?
Well, the decision to amnesty Boozer is by no means an easy one. He is has been one of the most efficient Bulls players this season with a PER of 17.17 and averaging a respectable 16.2 PPG and 9.8 RPG.
However, word on the street is that the amnesty of Boozer is necessary to free up enough cap space to go after a max contract free agent this summer, with the two most intriguing frontline targets for the Chicago Bulls being Al Jefferson (UTA) and one Dwight Howard (LAL).
Either of these two players is a size upgrade over Boozer, though neither is the passer that Boozer has proven to be in the low-post along side Jaokim Noah. However, it is the size that will consistantly bother the Miami Heat when they try to force their way inside.
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| Could a shot at Al Jefferson or Dwight Howard be enough to amnesty Carlos Boozer? |
Jefferson is solid (17.8 PPG, 9.2 RPG, PER 20.99) and would be a great fit with the Bulls.
Howard seems to have discovered that the bright lights of L.A. were too bright. Despite ownerships' interest in keeping him, his desire to stay is beyond certain.
2. Why trade Deng, and for whom?
The question of why trade Deng was partially answered by the success the Chicago Bulls continued to have after Deng went down this post-season. Much of this was due to the incredible ironman effort of Jimmy Butler. He played the role as good as and possibly better than Deng at this point in his career.
The clincher was the lock down defense Butler was able to play on Lebron James. He was able to force him into uncomfortable shots and several fouls that were awarded to Lebron were not even fouls on replay. That solid play made management have to consider what deals could be had with the Chicago Bulls leading scorer as the centerpiece.
Luol Deng is a do-it all Small Forward, and many teams could be interested in adding a solid team player like Deng to their team.
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| Tyreke Evans would give the Bulls a dominant offensive threat to pair with Rose. |
3. Why let Rip Hamilton go?
While Rip was the Chicago Bulls starter for most of the season (on paper anyway), his health and the emergence of Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli pushed Rip way down in the rotation.
We saw glimpses of what should have been, with Rip taking Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole down onto the block and scored over both with ease in Game 5 of the Chicago vs Miami series. However, the Bulls may very well need that last bit of cap space to seal the deal with Jefferson or Howard, and so you just have to live with the trade off.
Now it's your turn to play GM! What moves would you make to get the Chicago Bulls back on top? Let us know in the comments below!
