Yardbarker: Kirk Hinrich

Rumors and Free Agent Updates - Lots of Signings Edition

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:16:08 -0500

Former Celtic Sebastian Telfair isn't the only player who plays with guns. Hornets' guard Rasual Butler was arrested June 23 after witnesses told Miami Beach police a man holding a firearm had made threats. Based on the arrest report, when police arrived at the scene, Butler was seated in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle. When officers asked Butler if he had any weapons, he told them he didn't, but that his gun was in the car. The police found an automatic weapon that was cocked and had a bullet in the chamber on the floor of the car. Butler was scheduled to enter a plea on Wednesday, but the hearing was reset for Aug. 4. First, the Clippers signed Baron Davis away from the Warriors. Then, the Warriors signed Corey Maggette away from the Clippers. But the Warriors were not about to let the Clippers get another of their players if they could help it. They have matched the offer that the Clippers made last week to Kelenna Azubuike. The Warriors also signed Ronny Turiaf away from the Lakers, who chose not to match the offer, and they signed their second round draft pick, forward Richard Hendrix. The Warriors then completed a very busy day by re-signing their free agent guard Monta Ellis to a six-year, $67 million contract. Ellis got quite a raise in that as the 40th player selected in the 2005 draft, Ellis was paid just $770,610 last season. He will earn $11 million in 2008-2009. Ellis was the Warriors' shooting guard last season, playing next to Baron Davis, but with Davis' departure, he is expected to move to point guard this season. By keeping Azubuike, the Warriors will no longer pursue free agent swingman Maurice Evans who was reported to have signed with the Warriors. But, a Warriors source told Bay Area News Group that Evans spurned their three-year, $6.4 million looking for more money, and so the Warriors changed direction and matched the Azubuike offer. There have been rumors that the Celtics have contacted Evans and it seems that he would be a nice fit for the Celtics who could use an athletic swingman like Evans who's known as a solid defender and good three-point shooter (sound like anyone the Celtics just lost?). The Warriors still have unfinished business though as they haven't re-signed free agent Andris Biedrins. Biedrins' top choice is to stay with the Warriors. He is looking for a salary somewhere in the ballpark of the five-year, $50-plus million. With the other signings for the Warriors, it looks like that kind of a deal is out for Biedrins, however. He could reject any Warriors' offer and accept the $3.6 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next offseason or he could accept any of several lucrative contracts being offered by European teams. Just hours after bringing former Nugget Chris Anderson back to the team, the Denver Nuggets agreed to a one-year deal with free agent guard Dahntay Jones. Jones was drafted by Boston in 2003 but sent to Memphis in the trade that brought Kendrick Perkins and Marcus Banks to Botson. Jones was also given a look by the Celtics last season in training camp. After a good showing in Summer League, the Nuggets gave Jones a one-year fully guaranteed deal for the NBA minimum of $926,678. Some money details are coming out on a couple of big deals. The Express News reports that The deal that the Spurs gave Kurt Thomas was for a total of $8 million — $4.2 million next season and $3.8 in 2009-10. The Spurs have also signed Anthony Tolliver, who impressed on the Spurs' summer league squad, to a partially guaranteed contract. This is similar to the contract the Celtics signed Brandon Wallace to after his impressive summer league last season. Details on Josh Childress' contract with Olympiakos have emerged. His contract is worth $32.5- million over 3 years. The Hawks had offered five years at $33 million but it wasn't enough to keep Childress from jumping the NBA ship for Europe. After landing the big free agent of the offseason in luring James Posey away from Boston, the Hornets are trying to re-sign their own free agents. They are hoping to resign Jannero Pargo who wants a three-year deal but they lost Chris Andersen to the Nuggets. Word is that they are going to let Bonzi Wells walk but may make an offer to try to keep Ryan Bowen. With the official signing of Anthony Roberson on Wednesday, the Knicks now officially have 16 contracts which is one more than the NBA max and their league high payroll is once again over $100 million at $100,161,287. They need to do something and odds are that with a crowded backcourt, Marbury and his $21.9 million contract may be the one to go. other options may be Malik Rose, or one of the other smaller contracts like Balkman or Collins who have a team option for the 2009-2010 season. Sebastian Telfair's three-year deal with the Wolves is worth $7.5 million with $2.3 million this coming season and an option to stick with the Wolves in 2010-2011 for $2.7 million. Reports are that the Wolves appear to be getting closer to re-signing Ryan Gomes. Their offer will probably be in the $3 million a year range. There aren't many teams who can offer much more than that left in the hunt for free agents. After losing one of their free agents, the Lakers are still trying to come to an agreement with their other free agent, Sasha Vujacic. Vujacic is seeking a multiyear deal from the Lakers averaging about $5 million a year. Vujacic was hoping for a six-year deal, but anticipated it could be a shorter contract. However, word from Vujacic is that he is prepared to leave the team and accept an offer from a European team in the next few days if the Lakers don't make him an offer he considers to be fair. East Valley Tribune suggests that the flexibility that Matt Barnes will give the Suns makes Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa expendable and might open the door for them to go after Kirk Hinrich who they have been interested for some time. I still think that Barnes would have been a great pick up for the Celtics, especially since he signed for a minimum contract. It seems as though the Blazers will spare nothing to try to dissuade teams from signing Darius Miles and thus put his $9 million in salary back on their club. First there was the leaking of the details of his suspension to the median. Now, Blazers GM is giving out details of Miles' injury that could land him in hot water. From the Sports Tribune: "Two doctors said Darius had the worst microfracture injury they had ever seen," Pritchard said on an Oregonlive.com blog this week. "They would never have him play basketball and the odds of having knee replacement surgery is high. I hear that, and as a general manager, I didn't want it on my conscience – that I had a kid have to go through a knee replacement surgery. That's a pretty major surgery. They saw (two bones) and replace (the knee). It's a bad deal." In a story posted April 14 on the Portland Tribune's Web site, Pritchard said, "The doctors had actually said, 'If you were my son, I'd never have you pick up a basketball again.' I'm the kind of GM (that) I wouldn't want that on my head that he ever had to have knee replacement." By revealing the specific details of Miles' injury, Prichard is in violation of the privacy provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Availability Act of 1996. All of the underhanded activity by the Warriors in trying to prevent teams from giving Miles a chance make me really hoping the kid gets his comeback. Besides, I still am angry over the league not giving the Celtics any relief when Reggie Lewis died. I really hope Miles comes back and sticks it to the Warriors. Josh Childress has opened the flood gates for NBA players considering jumping to Europe for lucrative deals when they can't get what they feel they are worth in the NBA. The latest to consider the jump is former Celtic Delonte West. Russian basketball team Dynamo Moscow is discussing a two-year, $10 million offer with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West, according to source close to West. Delonte is a restricted free agent and he could sign a $2.76 million qualifying offer for the 2008-09 season and become an unrestricted free agent next year if he chooses to stay in the NBA and doesn't feel that the Cavs are offering enough. Delonte has been plagued with various injuries throughout his career so far and so taking the qualifying offer is risky if he is unable to stay healthy and earn a bigger payday next season.

Rookie Most Likely To Dissapoint: Hinrich On The Move?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:58:07 -0500

Sorry Fans of the Chicago Bulls, you made the wrong choice. Derrick Rose the Number One Overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft is the most likely to dissapoint of all the others. Well he does have an advantage right away from being number one but i think you might find after the year is done that Beasley should have been the number one. Think about it a star beast is what they need. They have the most talent from the guard position of anywhere now but that poses a problem because you have great young players already. Sure Benny G might not resign but if he did it would just be too much. Rose, Gordon, Hinrich, and not to mention the highly underrated Hughes. Ok they have alot of people like beasley but no right away stud scorers. To tell you the truth i dont know what they could have done but everywhere seems crowded and just because Rose is a Chicago native doesnt mean he should be picked number one. Did you hear Hinrich could be on the run? Thats whats in right now. They are currently shopping him around and there have been talks between the Nuggets and the Bulls. Hinrich for a pick. They want to clear some salary up. What they plan to do with the salary most likely includes the resigning of Deng or Gordon. Most people are dissapointed in Ben but the guy is the best scorer they have and can shoot almost as good as anybody in the NBA. Deng understand the hype but i'm not entirely convinced. Back to Rose. Reasons why i think he'll dissapoint. Please go watch highlight tapes now he is not the greatest dribbler in the world. Im sorry but if he wants to be succesful he better handle the ball. Second he is a point guard who shoots free throws like Kwame Brown. Third if he can't hit free throws consitently what would make the Bulls Management think he could hit actual shots on the perimeter or mid range. He is pretty good defensively but there are those quicker on there feet who will give him a whole heap of trouble. If he improves all of this i think he has a chance to be good and ill also be the first one to admit i was wrong. I am sorry I am just not convinced.

Rotoworld vs. RotoEvil (a fantasy hoops comparison)

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:07:28 -0500

Rotoworld.com is a great resource for breaking news, but I often disagree with their NBA analysis. So here are a few examples of how my fantasy basketball opinions differ from Rotoworld's (I will continue to update the original post over the summer). My intentions are not to simply badmouth Rotoworld's fantasy hoops content, but to point out the differences between their analysis and mine. I should first thank them, because if it wasn't for an email that they sent me 5 years ago, I wouldn't be here today. You see, I purchased Rotoworld's "Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide" in 2003, and was very disappointed with their "expert" analysis and stat projections. I sent them an email citing examples of projections that did not seem very logical to me, and they responded by saying something like: Clearly, you are knowledgeable and experienced in fantasy basketball, but our draft guides are geared towards more novice players. I was extremely offended by that email. Why would someone sell a guide (of ANY kind) without putting maximum effort into it in hopes that even the most experienced person could gain some kind of knowledge or insight from it? Since that day, I've been on a mission to create my own Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide to the best of my ability. Over the last 5 years, I've won over $15,000 playing fantasy basketball, which is no easy feat considering the lack of high-stakes hoops leagues. After years of keeping my rankings and projections to myself, I released my first comprehensive Draft Guide last year on 82games.com, to much acclaim (see below). So before you purchase Rotoworld's 2008 NBA Draft Guide, perhaps you should take note of the differences between Rotoworld and RotoEvil. My 1st update includes differences of opinion regarding: Kevin Love & Minnesota's frontcourt, David Lee's trade prospects, Jason Williams' fantasy value, Brandon Rush's player comparisons, and whether or not Chris Duhon is really an NBA player. Click on the link to compare for yourself!

Unexpected Plan In Backcourt For Hicag?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:10:20 -0500

A Daily Babble Production Since the Bulls made Memphis point guard Derrick Rose the first pick in the 2008 draft a week and a half ago, there has been more than a bit of theorizing from observers across the Association that the end of Kirk Hinrich's days in Chicago are near. Hinrich is on the books for an onerous $36.5 million between now and 2012. He's also a point guard but no longer the franchise point guard. Thus, shipping him rather than paying quite a chunk of change to a back-up seems logical enough. But the actual plan may in fact be a third option. As ESPN's Marc Stein reported in yesterday's Daily Dime (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc page=FA-notes-080707), there is at least some sentiment that has arisen in the Chicago organization in favor of moving restricted free agent shooting guard Ben Gordon in a sign-and-trade while sliding Hinrich into the starting shooting guard's role. The first part has sounded excellent for some time, but I'm unsure of how much sense it makes if the latter is part of the equation. Read More.. (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=3562 Itemid=260) All of Steve's daily posts can be found in the CelticsBlog: NBA blog. Check him out!

Chicago Bulls: What's Ahead For Them?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:18:04 -0500

The Draft is done, Derrick Rose is a Bull. All the Rose or Beasley drama is done. Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are both free to test the Free Agent market. So what do the Bulls do now?Rose is reportedly battling tendinitis in his right knee, but it isn't hindering him as he is still participating in the Summer League. So, with most of the questions besides Gordon and Deng answered, what is ahead for the Bulls? www.rawsportsblog.com

Unexpected Plan In Backcourt For Hicag?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:13:27 -0500

Whats next for the Golden State Warriors>

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:05:49 -0500

Well, the team has started with the right plan. The Warriors have swung for the fences with the other star free agents out there, offering their pile of cap space to Gilbert Arenas and Brand; Arenas seems nearly certain to say no, but Brand will at least ponder an offer worth $20 million more than the Clippers are bringing to the table. If Brand takes the Warriors' offer, it will be an ironic reversal of the loss of Davis to L.A. earlier this week. On the other hand, the Brand-Davis dual free agency seemed so unusually well choreographed that it's hard to imagine Brand landing in Golden State. So let's suppose that one falls short, too. In that case, the Warriors have a few options. First, they can make a run at restricted free agents, with Josh Smith likely the first choice, given Atlanta's bumbling ownership. They'd overpay him, but to nab a restricted free agent, a team almost has to. Second, Golden State can go after the other top unrestricted free agent, Corey Maggette. He doesn't fit a need necessarily, but he can really score, and Don Nelson always has found uses for players like that. And Maggette probably would use only about half of the Warriors' available cap room, leaving enough space to make a run at another quality player through either free agency or trade. The latter might be the more promising alternative. The Warriors are far enough under the cap that they could, for instance, just trade a second-round pick to New Jersey for Vince Carter (not that I've heard this, mind you … I'm just saying). A number of other trades are available, too -- it would just depend on which other team's unwanted contract they wished to take on and how cheaply they could get it. As for the specific void at point guard left by Davis' departure, the Warriors have one other option if nothing else works out -- a seemingly too-sensible-not-to-happen swap of Al Harrington to Chicago for Kirk Hinrich.

Busy Begining to July for Chicago Bulls

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:45:41 -0500

Its only the 4th of July but the Chicago Bulls have already had some legal problems, filled the coaching staff and lost a player to free agency.

The Elton Brand Domino Effect

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:51:40 -0500

The offer the Goldenstate Warriors, have made to Elton Brand has an interesting ripple effect on the rest of NBA's free agents. Monta Ellis is in a nice position to hold the team hostage should Elton Brand decide to resign elsewhere rumors are he'd be looking for upwards of 10 million per season and the Goldenstate Warriors having just lost out on Baron Davis and Brand, would be face a very tough decision with their young star. Then turn to Corey Maggette he wants to play in Orlando but they have only a mid level exception to offer and are looking to add both a PG and a wing, right now both their targets: Corey Maggette, Chris Duhon are holding out for the whole thing. Then the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers are quietly poised to cause "Offer Sheet" mayhem as they like both the Josh's from the Atlanta Hawks and will offer Josh Smith a 5 year deal over the 42 million that the Hawks have offered him and could go as high as 5 years worth as much as 67 million. This would put alot of pressure on the Hawks as they already have the large contracts of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, but supposing they match. The Sixers will just turn their attention to Josh Childress their second target and begin the process again albeit with reduced figures, my guess is one of these Josh's will be a Philadelphia 76er next season. The Knicks are not so quietly looking for a PG, having already offered Chris Duhon slightly more than half their 5.5 mid level veteran exception, and should Duhon sign elsewhere they woulld immediatly turn their attention to others like: Sebastian Telfair, Tyronn Lue, Jannero Pargo and Keyon Dooling all the while embattled former star Stephon Marbury waits in the wings having not benn bought out and currently not part of the teams plans. Stephon Marbury has something to prove and when he is bought out, it will be very interestng to see where he ends up. Last if this drama isn't enough Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng's situation haven't played out yet at all Chicago is in tough as they just have too many guards and players like Kirk Hinrich and Shawn Marion are already being shopped by their teams.

Good Idea/Bad Idea

Fri, 30 May 2008 01:25:21 -0500

Starring John Paxson and Doug Collins!

Offseason Blueprint: Chicago Bulls

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:13:20 -0500

And the #1 pick goes to… the Chicago Bulls? The Bulls defied the odds (1.7%) by winning the top pick in the lottery and now, with a good offseason, the team is poised for a big turnaround. The decisions start with Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, who are both restricted free agents this summer. It's pretty clear that the team wants to keep Deng as he was seemingly the only player deemed "untouchable" in all the trade talks the past few seasons. Both players turned down extensions worth in excess of $10 million per year, so neither guy is going to be cheap. So which direction should the team go with the #1 pick? (Read the rest of the article after the jump.)

Scenarios if the Bulls draft Derrick Rose

Sun, 25 May 2008 15:02:20 -0500

If the Chicago Bulls decide to go with Rose in the draft, they will need to move another guard or two. Here are some options.

Trade Rumor: Kirk Hinrich and Andre sNocioni for Elton Brand

Fri, 23 May 2008 20:09:34 -0500

After winning the NBA Draft Lottery the Chicago Bulls have a lot of options and will recieve plenty of trade offers. Here is one including Hinrich, Nocioni and Elton Brand.

Top 3 Free Agents that can help the Bulls!!!

Fri, 23 May 2008 19:50:52 -0500

Who do you think would be the top free agent of the 2008 off-season that could help the Bulls??? Artest? Jermaine O'Neal? *****See Link*****

NBA Draft: What To Do With The No. 1 Pick!

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:28:45 -0500

Now that the NBA lottery picks have been announced, the no. 1 slot went to the Chicago Bulls. But with a handful of potential Hall of famers available who should the baby Bulls choose? Chicago is loaded at the four spot and has three capable players at the guard position, so my pick might surprise everyone... www.rawsportsblog.com