What Could Carlos Boozer Mean to the Future of the Chicago Bulls?

When Carlos Boozer decided to stay in Utah and not opt out of his contract with the Jazz, every indication was that he had placed his own name on the trading block.

The Jazz are in a small market and are staring at a roster with a younger power forward to whom they want to commit, Paul Milsap, and a huge luxury tax penalty coming this year.

So, as trades are consummated (congrats to Dallas for landing Shawn Marion) and free agents pick their new homes (congrats to the champs for bringing in Ron Artest), the Jazz now hold a quality veteran that could relieve their books and help someone else.

The hot rumor on Thursday is that the Jazz are involved in a serious discussion with the Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls about a three-team deal that would end up with Tyrus Thomas in Utah, Kirk Hinrich in Portland, and Boozer headed to the Windy City.

If this deal goes down, which still isn't official, what could that mean to the future of Michael Jordan's (I mean, Derrick Rose's) team?

The first thing this would do is bring a body into Chicago's post that can score. Boozer will be 28 years old this season, and has dealt with some injuries in his past. But he's also been an All-Star, and has a career double-double average (16 ppg, 10 rpg).

The immediate implications to the Bulls roster would be two-fold, though. The first is the Bulls adding an established, physical post player. But the cloud surrounding this silver lining is the loss of a talented young forward in Thomas and depth at guard in Hinrich.

Hinrich was the Bulls' captain last year, and Thomas made tremendous strides in the playoff series against Boston in establishing himself as an elite shot blocker and high-flying player.

Losing these two pieces wouldn't be easy to stomach for a thin roster already dealing with Ben Gordon leaving for Detroit.

The longer term implications could be tremendous, though.

Boozer is in a walk-year in 2009-10 with a $12.7 million salary, meaning he's a rental unless an extension can be done.

The Bulls have Brad Miller at center, with a $12.25 million salary expiring in one year; extending Boozer wouldn't be a dramatic increase to the Bulls' bottom line.

However, what would be a serious move in the Bulls' financial picture would be moving Hinrich and Thomas.

Captain Kirk is due $17 million in the two seasons that follow the coming campaign, and Thomas is due $6.3 million in 2010-11, the final year of his deal. That means the Bulls would take over $15 million off their books before 2010 and another $8 million in 2011.

Taking those two contracts off the books, even with a Boozer extension, would put the Bulls roughly $25 million under the projected salary cap in the great 2010 Shopping Spree Summer.

Let's play the devil's advocate for a moment.

Right now, the Bulls have a tremendous, budding superstar point guard in Rose, a couple of solid small forwards in John Salmons and Luol Deng, would theoretically have a good power forward in Boozer and some talented pieces in Joakim Noah and 2009 draft picks James Johnson and Taj Gibson.

What they lack is a shooting guard.

Next summer, there's a name that could become available that would look really, really good in Chicago. After all, it's his hometown.

Like Rose, Dwyane Wade grew up in the shadows of the United Center and knows the incredible history of the franchise from the Jordan Era.

Wade has publicly stated that he has interest in potentially staying in Miami, but wants to position himself to win another championship.

If his home town team had a good, young nucleus of players, needed someone to play his position, and $25 million to spend, could Wade be enticed to come back to Chi-town?

Perhaps it's a pipe dream (thanks to Cubs' catcher Geovany Soto, we're allowed to have those in Chicago), but maybe there's some meat to the thought.

Putting Wade next to Rose, Boozer and the rest of this Bulls team could certainly elevate the Bulls to the top tier of the Eastern Conference for a few years.

The deal is still a rumor, but if it happens it could lead to some overwhelming dominoes in Chicago.