Bulls In Talks For Carlos Boozer
Before the draft, there was word the Bulls were in talks with Portland to shop Kirk Hinrich. There’s also been some chatter out of Utah that they’re looking to dump the last year of Carlos Boozer’s contract. So, what we have here is a fuzing of both these talks.
From Chad Ford and Marc Stein:
Sources stressed to ESPN.com that no deal was imminent Thursday and that both Portland and Utah are still evaluating multiple trade scenarios. But two sources with knowledge of the three-team proposal confirmed that there have been substantive talks regarding a trade that would land Boozer in Chicago, Hinrich in Portland and Tyrus Thomas in Utah.
If this goes through — remember, it’s all speculative and preliminary at this point — it does a few things for the Bulls. First, it dumps Kirk Hinrich off the books. Hinrich is a solid guard, but with Derrick Rose running the show for what should be several years to come, he’s a movable piece. Second, it brings another expiring contract onto the payroll, which frees up even more salary for the Bulls heading into the summer of 2010 and its free agent class. With the salary cap shrinking, the Bulls need all the money they can get.
Third, it softens the Ben Gordon loss. Boozer is a legit force down low. He averaged about 21 points in 06-07 and 07-08 (as well as being in the 10-11ish boards range), seasons when he was an All-Star. There are some injury concerns with him, though, as he only played in 37 games last year, 33 in 05-06 and 51 in 04-05. That’s a big red flag. But if he stays healthy, the Bulls will have a scorer down low for the first time in a long time.
I suppose there’s another possibility, too. Boozer could like playing with Rose and Co., and re-sign with the Bulls for a longer-term contract if the Bulls were cool with it too. He’s probably just below the level of a Chris Bosh, but would likely come for a bit cheaper.
Or maybe the Bulls can sign one of the free agents (Dwayne Wade, Bosh) for a max deal, and Boozer will agree to come back for less than max.
And then the Bulls would be legitimate contenders in the East, if not the the entire NBA. Hey, a blogger can dream.
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