Christmas comes early....

Like the phoenix that rises from the ashes, the Bulls' 2011-2012 NBA season has been resurrected and it begins on Christmas day against the Lake-show.  Albeit it is a shortened and condensed schedule of 66 games, I believe it is better than zero.  I can't spend another day watching the talking heads on ESPN take about how great Aaron Rogers is, where Pujols is going to sign (apparently he's going to Anaheim), or the boy touchers at Penn St. and Syracuse.  I need Tim Legler breaking down plays of Omer Asik and exploiting Carlos Boozer as the defensive liability that he is. Just kidding, but not really.  The Bulls schedule looks better than some.  They have a heavy load of away games on the front end (including a 9 game road trip at the end of January), but they play 16 of their last 25 in the UC.  They play the Heatles 4 times (Ugh) and they only play one back-to-back-to-back (Pistons, TWolves, Wiz).

As everyone knows, the free agent period starts at 12:01AM tomorrow morning and the entire city of Chicago is demanding that the Bulls sign a marquee 2-guard.  I have news for you, we aren't getting a marquee 2-guard.  The free agent market isn't as good as last years (LBJ, DWade, Bosh, Joe Johnson) or as good as next years (CP3, Dwight Howard).  We're looking at the likes of Jamal Crawford, Jason Richardson, Arron Afflalo, Nick Young, Caron Butler, Rodney Stuckey (yuck), and Vince Carter (vomit).  Thank god reports came out about Tracy McGrady signing with ATL, so that is one washed up SG off the market that the Bulls can't sign.  The new Amnesty Clause (see below) in the new CBA could make the the free agent market more interesting.  Rip Hamilton and Brandon Roy are names being thrown around that could be available if their teams decide to dump them.  The mitigating factor is how much the Bulls can spend.  Right now they can only afford the mid-level exception which is in the $5M/yr range.  That narrows the list down to probably J-Rich, Butler, Vince Carter (again vomit), and Rip Hamilton if he's amnestied.  Not the sexiest of names by any stretch, but Richardson, Butler, and Rip are serviceable shooters and would give Rose more options offensively.  With the Bulls re-signing Bogans, and additional SG signing would create a log jam at the position with Brewer and Korver on the bench as well.  Which is why there are rumors of a sign-and-trade involving Brewer for Jamal Crawford.  It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but the dude is a chucker and will always be a chucker.  He is also awful on defense (talking about Boozer type defense).  Given that we exchanged words at the casino at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas during Hurricane Irene, we're friends and I can be considered to be a reliable source.

There is also some talk amongst some that they would like to see the Bulls use their Amnesty on Boozer.  Given his a horrendous contract and disappearance in the playoffs, I understand the ire of the fans.  But say we get rid of Carlos, where does that put the Bulls?  The team has more cap room, but who is out there to spend it on?  Unless it makes the Bulls substantially better, there's no way that the front office makes that move.

What the Bulls need to do is trade for Dwight Howard.  Anyone not named Derrick Rose is available.  Do whatever it takes to happen.  Joakim, Luol, Taj/Omer for D12?  Take Hedo Turkoglu's awful contract as well.  Gotta replace one Turk for another.  Even if he is a chain smoking, out of shape, overpaid Turk.  Could the Bulls win a championship rolling out Rose/JRich/Hedo/Boozer/Howard.  I would do this deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

Thank god the NBA is back...


Amnesty Clause - Teams can release one of their players and their contract will not count towards their salary cap so long as they are under contract before this season begins.  Teams may only Amnesty one contract for the length of the CBA (which is until 2022, but has a player/owner option to opt out in 2017 - aka another lockout)