wutang112878 said:
In 15/16 the Bulls have ~$47M tied up in Rose, Noah, Gibson, Snell and Teague. Shumpert and Butler are free agents after the 14/15 season, so they would have to be resigned. Lets say you get each of them for $5M each, thats $57M + $2.5M in empty roster cap holds, so you are around $60M with barely any cap room. Not that its a horrible core, but you are locked into that core and really only have the MLE to use to sign FAs
The way I see it, Chicago has two options:
Option A: Hold onto Boozer and Deng till next year, pray that Rose's knee holds up and make a run at it next year. Boozer and Deng are good enough to help the team get into the 4th-5th seed like they did last year, which will push you back in the draft. After 2014-2015, you are cutting ties with them and and probably working towards signing Butler and Shumpert, or maybe only one of them. Perhaps you use your MLE on a veteran contributor, like a backup PG or an experienced big man. Next year's draft is loaded, so hopefully you draft correctly and get another solid rotation player.
Option B: Trade Deng and Boozer, and bottom out this season. Without Rose you are not winning the title this year so you might as well try and sneak into the top-10. With your draft picks, a returning Rose and Shumpert, Gibson, Noah, Butler and Shumpert, paired with a healthy Rose, you are set for the future.
The options are bascially: Do you hold onto your guys and make a big run in 2014, then play it by year from there OR Do you let your guys walk, move up in the draft, and build more long term.
Edit: I forgot to mention that Chicago would also be getting Tim Hardaway Jr. as well from NY, if that means anything.