NBA Chat with Joel Brigham, 10/20/11

1. Rafi

   Rose + Pippen + Rodman vs. MJ + Deng + Taj (3v3). Who wins?

   • Joel Brigham

     First of all, we’re assuming everyone here is in their primes. This isn’t Michael Jordan NOW. It’s Michael Jordan in 1996.

     MJ, Deng, and Taj, for two reasons:

     1. I think Rodman would be worthless in 3-on-3 because he brings nothing to the table offensively. At least Jordan would have two legit offensive threats to help space things out a little bit more. And since Rodman’s not going to score, you can leave him more often to double on Rose or Pip.
     2. Taj and Rodman guard each other, Deng and Pippen, too, which leaves MJ on Rose. I’m sorry, but as good as Rose is off the dribble, Jordan’s got the height and defensive prowess to lock it down as well as anyone. Plus, on the other end, MJ’s got a few inches on D-Rose, which makes his back-to-the-basket turn-around fade all but unstoppable.

     And on top of all that, we’re talking about Jordan. There never was a bigger competitor, and probably never will be. With all the Golden Child talk about Rose, I’m sure he’d crush him just to put the kid in his place. No offense to Derrick, but I’m sure he’d say the same thing if asked.

2. Sweet Dee

   If you were the GM of the Los Angeles Clippers and were offered Jordan Hill, Goran Dragic, and Hasheem Thabeet for Chris Kaman. Do you accept? Why or why not.

   • Joel Brigham

     I accept it if I’m L.A., absolutely, but only if I’ve exhausted my other options. That old, oft-rumored Philly deal, for example–the one that includes Andre Iguodala–is way, waaaaaay more preferable than the one you’ve thrown out here. But Kaman walks next summer, and I think the young guys you’ve tossed up are interesting enough and inexpensive enough to at least warrant looks. I’m talking, of course, about Hill and Dragic. Thabeet would be just as worthless in L.A. as he had been in Memphis and Houston, except L.A. has more distractions to keep him up at night.

     I would see just leave Thabeet out of it, but it’d be his contract that would make the trade work. Not the worst the Clippers could do, but not the best, either.

3. Mac

   If you were the GM of the Golden State Warriors and the new CBA has an amnesty clause. Do you use it on Andris Biedrins? Overpaid yes, but there are ZERO decent centers in the free agent market and teams are always starved for size.

   • Joel Brigham

     Marc Gasol, Nene, Tyson Chandler, DeAndre Jordan? There are centers there, though I’m not sure any that Golden State could afford, even with the amnesty thing. Anyway, I don’t think the Warriors are necessarily in “win-now” mode anyway, so cutting away Biedrins and his silly contract isn’t going to be the thing that keeps them out of the NBA Finals because, let’s be honest, they weren’t going to the NBA Finals anyway. At least not anytime soon.

4. paul

   (If there is a season) Any chcnce we could move up in the draft to try and get Austin Rivers. Would he solve our problems?

   • Joel Brigham

     I don’t think Austin Rivers is going to be a kid the Bulls have much opportunity to snag. Right now, assuming he comes out after his freshman year, he’ll probably drop somewhere in the 8-12 range of the lottery, and I just don’t see 2012 as being a year where teams are looking to trade out of the top 14 picks. There’s too much talent and too many potentially franchise-altering players in the mix for a team to think that pick #10 couldn’t yield a strong player. So if a team has a shot at Rivers, I think they’re going to keep that pick.

     The really frustrating thing is that the Bulls have that owed first-rounder from Charlotte, who will almost undoubtedly be a lottery team in 2012. The only problem is that the pick is, unfortunately, lottery protected in 2012. I think it’s top-12 protected in 2013, top-10 protected in 2014, top-8 protected in 2015, then unprotected after that. Looking at the Bobcats, it may be 2015-2016 before Chicago sees that pick.

     And anyway, I’m not sold Rivers is really the solution anyway. He’s a great young talent and will be the shooting guard of the future for some team about a year from now, but the Bulls need a veteran, The Shooting Guard of The Now, because they’re that one little piece away from championship contention at this moment.

5. like a bull

   What`s jimmy butler ceiling?
   Taj and bobcats pick for mayo? Would that work?

   • Joel Brigham

     Don’t expect a LOT from Jimmy Butler. The Bulls give Luol Deng big minutes and are likely to continue to do so unless he gets hurt. Even then, it’s likely Thibs would start Ronnie Brewer over Butler. He’s a well-rounded kid and does a lot of things really well, but he doesn’t do any of it great. Serviceable NBA player, but not All-Star quality and probably never will be.

     You’re essentially giving up a really promising power forward in Taj (to a team that doesn’t need a power forward, by the way) plus a first-rounder for Mayo, who could’ve been had for Josh McRoberts in February? Pass.

6. Dong of Dayton

   Good Afternoon Joel,

   What’s your take on Suns next year. I actually like their team with Gortat and Frye playing inside/outside. Jared Dudly getting to start maybe, and markief maybe getting the 3 spot. Nash to me seems like he just loves to play, winning a title would be nice, but playing and teaching is more of his thing. I think he gives another all start performance next year, what about you?

   • Joel Brigham

     I would honestly rather see Nash get traded to a team that will put him in the playoffs with a real opportunity to compete for a championship. I’m not sure who that team is, or whether or not they’re looking to trade anything of value for a guy that can’t possibly have more than 2 or 3 more serviceable years in him, but Nash in, say, New York or Miami would be awesome. He deserves that opportunity, I think.

     But we all know the Suns will never trade him. It’s noble enough retiring in the uniform you wore on your way to two MVP trophies and some seriously competitive playoff seasons. That being the case, I think the scenario you painted above is about as rosy as you can get. You want to see the younger kids get plenty of time, so keeping Gortat and Lopez and Markieff on the floor as much as possible has to be the primary concern.

     Beyond that, you’ve just got to let Nash play his heart out and hope that the young guys have enough to be a surprise in a relatively wide-open Western Conference. I’m not a big fan of the mix of players on that roster… guys like Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress and Mickael Pietrus and Channing Frye just seem like an odd group. Still, they could potentially surprise some people. I’m just not betting my paycheck on it.

7. like a bull

   who says no boozer and bobcats 1st for blatche and young of course they`d have to resign young. wiz would have a leader in booz n lewis. they also give wall, mack,crawford,singleton to grow plus 1 more pick.

   • Joel Brigham

     Both teams do. As bad as Boozer was last year, they’re not going to take on two immature kids like Blatche and Young when Boozer is such a steadying veteran presence that already knows and respects coach Thibodeau’s system.

     And Washington is going young. Adding four years’ worth of Boozer kind of works against that, especially if it’s taking away any sort of time from kids like Jan Vesely and Trevor Booker.

     I’d say neither team makes this trade, yet alone considers it if offered. There are better deals both teams could make with other organizations.

8. joel rose...

   Okay, this isn’t breaking news…the Chicago Bulls like O.J. Mayo. They tried to get him last year only to get rebuffed when they wouldn’t include Omer Asik in any deal. Well, Mayo is still a Grizz (for now) and he’s still very available. If Gar Forman doesn’t make a hard push for O.J., he’ll be wasting Jerry Reinsdorf’s money. I’m not the only one saying this: ESPN, Yahoo, BlogNBAsketball…they’ve all made this case. Korver/Brewer just won’t cut it next year.what can the bulls do to make it happen when lock out ends..???what are the chances they make it work?

   • Joel Brigham

     A lot of people are on the Mayo Train because a.) he makes a lot of sense in this system, b.) he’s relatively affordable, and c.) most people generally assume that he’s available because Tony Allen outplayed him last year and the team already tried to trade Mayo once.

     That said, it’s not a given that Memphis is just dying to give him away for Chicago’s table scraps. I’d be as ecstatic as any other Chicago fan to see the Bulls pull something off for Mayo, especially if all it took was Omer Asik and a draft pick. But I just don’t think it’s that easy. I hope that it is, just not sure about it.

9. Mark

   If the new CBA has an amnesty clause in it. Who do you think the magic should drop Hedo or Arenas.

   If the Magic can shed one of their huge contracts is it realistic to think that they can get a premier wing player to help out Howard? And who do you think is out their that the Magic could get that could make a difference?

   Thanks Mark

   • Joel Brigham

     I think Hedo is more likely. You’re doing it so you can get a couple years of relief from a tougher salary cap while eating as little money as possible. Arenas’s paycheck would be very, very difficult to just swallow; Hedo’s is marginally more swallowable and would give the team plenty of time to work out the roster and get things straight moving forward.

     Hopefully they’ll still be moving forward with Dwight Howard, though.

10. Zac

    what do you think of the celtics trying to put together a trade for dantay jones? Avery Bradley and a second rounder would seem like a steal for the pacers

    • Joel Brigham

      A deal like that doesn’t sway the fortunes of either team. Dahntay Jones is never going to be the guy who pushes a team over the championship brink. I could see this move going down, especially now that the Pacers are so deep at SG with George Hill, Brandon Rush, and Paul George. Still, I think Jones plays well for the amount of money he makes. When given the minutes, he’s one of the most appropriately paid players in the league.

11. Freddy Krueger

    Joel, I had a horrible nightmare last night. I dream that Michael Jordan came back from retirement, overweight by 15 pounds, was forced to play SF due to lack of speed, and was wearing a WIZARDS jersey. It was such a bad dream, he even missed the playoffs twice! Please tell me this was just a dream. The last image I have of REAL-LIFE Jordan was game 6 sinking the game winning shot to win title number 6. Thanks Joel!

    • Joel Brigham

      I thought I told you guys I didn’t want to talk about the Wizard Years That Never Happened.

      Also, I’m sorry for your dream. It sounds terrible.