The Chicago Bulls’ 2008-2009 season turned out better than most had expected. After a rough start to the season, the Bulls GM John Paxson made a midseason trade for scorer John Salmons and big-man Brad Miller. The move not only helped the Bulls replace the production of the injured Luol Deng, but the move also reinforced their bench.
By acquiring Brad Miller, the Bulls also set the organization up for a bright future. Miller’s $12M contract comes off of the books after this season. This contract is valuable in three ways:
1) The Bulls could trade Miller, to a team looking to unload a similiarly large contract that perhaps has more years remaining than Miller’s.
2) Miller is a serviceable big man, so even if the Bulls couldn’t trade him, his production as a bench big-man will be well above the league average.
3) The offseason after the upcoming 2009-2010 season features an incredible list of available, free agent All Stars. Some of these include Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, and Caron Butler, among several others. Miller’s contract ends right before that free agency period begins, and for that offseason, the Bulls have s small payroll of $26M, all devoted to their core of Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Joakim Noah.
But that is next year, the more pertinent question is, what will the Bulls do this year?
Free Agency: Clearly the Bulls’ largest issue depends on one of their smallest players, Ben Gordon. Gordon is an unrestricted free agent who is looking to score a big contact. This is evidenced by the past two offseasons in which he refused to sign a 5 year, $50M contract and a 5 year, $55M contract respectively. The NBA, though, is finding itself in tough economic times, and there may not be a lot of free-agent-money to go around. Gordon may just as well sign another 1 year deal to stay with the Bulls (and ride out the Bears! I apologize for the stock joke).
The Draft: In this June’s NBA Draft, the Bulls will pick somewhere in the mid-to-late ‘teens. Couple that with a particularly weak draft class, and, well, Chicago fans should not be looking forward to an especially exciting draft pick at their position. However, the proverbial ‘elephant-in-the-room’ with the draft this year is, again, the state of the economy. With such a weak draft class, many teams with top picks may be looking to sell their picks. The Phoenix Suns have a history of doing this, and the Bulls have been a beneficiary of this when they purchased the rights to Luol Deng in 2004.
Positions to Address: Despite the impending departure of Ben Gordon, the Bulls have a solid backup option in Kirk Hinrich, who can replace about 80% of Gordon’s offensive production. The Bulls are looking at a starting lineup under contract of PG- Derrick Rose, SG- Kirk Hinrich, SF- Luol Deng/John Salmons, PF- Tyrus Thomas, C- Joakim Noah, with a bench of Brad Miller and John Salmons. That’s a pretty solid top 7. In fact, the only person who is not in that Top 7 from last year’s team is Gordon. Factor in the additional playing time for Hinrich and Salmons, then the Bulls look set to contend.
Also, with the NBA Tax Threshold (which essentially functions as a salary cap) set to drop to the $66-68M range (down from $71.3M due to the economy), the Bulls have about $6-7M to spend on free agents. The free agent class is interesting again this year, with many players expected to sign less expensive, shorter term deals. Will Gordon re-sign with the Bulls, taking a 1 year deal to make a championship run? Will the Bulls stay put with what they have, sign some inexpensive bench pieces are try to make it without Gordon? Will the Bulls move Brad Miller’s expiring contract in order to pick up an All Star from a cash-depleted team?
So many questions, so many directions the Bulls could take. One thing is for sure, come July 1, when free agency begins, I’ll be paying close attention.