If and when the Chicago Bulls swing and miss on Carmelo Anthony, they aren’t going to get mad. Or sad. Or even.
They’re going to get older.
The Bulls are among the many teams—Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, etc.—chasing Pau Gasol, and according to the Chicago Sun-Times‘ Joe Cowley, they’re optimistic they can sign him if their Melo pursuit goes bad:
The patience of the Bulls’ front office continued to be tested Tuesday, with free agent Carmelo Anthony’s indecision still seemingly keeping them from pursuing a Plan B.
According to a source, the Bulls feel that if Anthony goes elsewhere, they are one of the leading candidates to land free-agent big man Pau Gasol — unless Anthony happens to choose the Los Angeles Lakers, which could start the dominos falling and convince Gasol to re-sign with the Lakers.
…
Besides the Bulls, Gasol was being targeted by the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Miami Heat, the Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks. The Thunder and the Bulls were the teams that impressed Gasol the most, at least until Tuesday, when reports from a Monday meeting between Gasol and Thunder coach Scott Brooks resulted in the Thunder believing the money wouldn’t work.
Holes in the Bulls’ theory abound.
Fine, they don’t. The Bulls are actually in a good position to sign Gasol, which doesn’t make sense, hence me wishing there were holes in this theory.
Assuming Gasol is balking at the chance to join Oklahoma City because of money, he’s also not going to join San Antonio. The Spurs and Thunder can only offer him about $5 million outside a sign-and-trade, perhaps a little bit more. Recent reports have Gasol searching for at least double that on the open market.
That brings us to the Bulls, who can satisfy Gasol’s contract demands by amnestying Carlos Boozer. Only why would they do that? It makes little sense.
Amnestying Boozer means they’ll have to pay him $16.8 million to go away. That money is gone. Poof. Out of here. And after funneling $16.8 million into a player they won’t use, they’ll pay Gasol, I don’t know, let’s say $10 million. They’re essentially paying $26.8 million for that one roster spot, and that’s being conservative.
Again, why? Why go after the 34-year-old Gasol, who has missed 55 games over the last two seasons? He’s almost a lateral replacement. He’s a slight upgrade offensively thanks to his passing, but that’s almost it.
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Taj Gibson is still on this roster, too. Are the Bulls going to continue bringing him off the bench? That really doesn’t make sense, especially since Chicago’s offense won’t run through the bigs if Derrick Rose is healthy. There’s little point stockpiling low-post talent.
Bidding farewell to Boozer is fine, but if the Bulls are going to do it, they should be chasing someone for that small forward/stretch 4 spot. Gibson cannot be rolled out at the 3, by the way, for those of you already going that route. Get that out of your head.
Unless Gasol is willing to take the pay cut he doesn’t appear willing to take, the Bulls have no business pushing for his arrival. Go after Luol Deng again. Or Lance Stephenson.
Pursue a Kevin Love trade.
Do something else, anything else.
Gasol, at his reported price, is not the answer.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
