Chicago Bulls Trade Recap
The Bulls have had a very busy last 24 hours. It started off last night before they took on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden when John Salmons was told to stay at the team hotel because a trade was in the works. And they were right, even before the game was over it was already being reported that John Salmons was being sent to Milwaukee Bucks for the expiring contracts of Kurt Thomas and Fransico Elson. First reports were incorrect. Salmons has been sent to the land of cheese but the pieces changed. Now being sent to Chicago is Hakim Warrick, the 6'10 forward in his 5th season out of Syracuse, and Joe Alexander, who was the 7th overall pick in the draft just 2 seasons ago.
Warrick will fill the hole left by Tyrus backing up Taj Gibson and probably getting some time at center till Noah is back and healthy. Warrick will also fill the beard quota left open by Salmons leaving. Alexander who played in only 59 games last season and zero with the Bucks this season will probably find a seat next to Jerome James in a suit at the end of the bench or maybe even being sent down to the D-league.
In the second move Tyrus Thomas was sent to the Charlotte Bobcats for journeyman Ronald "Flip" Murray and Acie Law plus a protected future first round pick. It has not been released yet what type of protection is on the draft pick. The Bulls will be Flip's 8th eight team in his 8 year career that has seen him in Seattle (4 times), Milwaukee, Detroit (Twice), Cleveland, Indy, Atlanta, and Charlotte. The Bulls will be Law's 4th team in 3 seasons, plus is third team this season. Acie was the 11th pick in the draft 2 seasons ago. But just like Warrick and Alexander their contracts expire at the end of the season.
This leaves the Bulls with only 6 players under contract for next season and close to 20 million in cap space this summer which will be enough to sign one player to a max contract. After these 2 trades it left the Bulls with 16 players on the roster which lead them to release Chris Richard, who had just been signed to his second 10-day contract a few days ago, to get back down to the roster max of 15.
I like both of these deals as a combo. The key in trading Tyrus was getting a draft pick which they did and replaced him easily by getting Warrick in the Salmons trade. It leaves the team a little thin in the front court and packed in the back court. It surprised me a lot that we didn't see Pargo traded because he doesn't seem to have a place on the team now with Law and Murray coming in.
I think most Bulls fans should be pretty happy with these trades because they were good solid trades that go along with their goal of clearing cap space for the summer without waving the white flag on this season. However I have to worry about helping 2 teams that are competing with them for the playoffs. Charlotte is currently 1/2 game behind the Bulls in what is a 3-way tie for the 6th playoff spot which also involves the Miami Heat while the Bucks are 2 1/1 games behind them in 9th. I like the Bucks chances much more then Charlotte after the trades because Skiles will get the most out of John Salmons while I'm not sure what Larry Brown will do with Tyrus but it wouldn't surprise me if he is at the end of the bench at some time.
The one thing I have a big problem is that the Bulls missed out on Kevin Martin who I felt the Bulls should have gone after while he was still injured. Martin would have been the big scoring guard the Bulls have lacked since Jalen Rose was with the team and it would have allowed the Bulls to focus on guys like Bosh, Amare, Boozer and Lee during the summer. That is just my feeling. Bulls would have been much more appealing to guys if Martin was being paired with Rose, Noah and Deng. Who knows they could have even made some noise in the playoffs. But I think a lot of teams should be worried about the Rockets now and in the future cause when Yao Ming returns next season they may challenge the Lakers.
Check out all my Bulls coverage at www.chargingchicago.com
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