05/13-TRADING FOR FINELY?- I'll start by saying Sam Smith has been introducing bad ideas for years, so today's offer isn't hard to believe... In today's Chicago Tribune, Sam Smith offers that should the Bulls land the top overall draft selection, they should explore making a deal. The Dallas's Mavericks are known to covet Yao Ming, but for a while now Chicago media has been saying the Mavs would trade Michael Finely to land Ming... This is not true... at least according to Mavericks sources. The Mavs remain singularly focused on the playoffs, and while Finely has not had the breakout year many had thought, the Mavs are not looking at trades with Finely's name on them, and are clearly not talking or shopping out anything until their season is over... Now back to the lecture at hand... Should the Bulls deal the top pick if they land it? Yes, its likely smarter for them to add veterans at this point than another young player, although Bulls GM Jerry Krause is said to be very interested in Duke's Mike Dunleavy Jr., who recently declared for the 2002 Draft, but has not and will not sign an agent leaving open the idea he'd pull out and head back to Duke if he's not projected to go to a team he's interested in or at a certain pick in the draft. The Bulls on the other hand are exploring and gauging interest in not only their pick, but the players on the roster they may have limited interest in returning. With the emergence, mid-season of Tyson Chandler as a scorer, the Bulls may finally trade Marcus Fizer. His name is linked to just about anything involving Chicago. Its been offered that should the Bulls land the top overall pick a trade with New York may be in the works involving Fizer, in which Fizer heads out along with the top pick with New York's pick, cash, and an ending contract heading to Chicago. One thing for sure, is while Michael Finely is a popular name to fans in Chicago, Dallas isn't ready to move him, and Dallas is not the only option on deck for the Bulls should they land the top pick.

Ming and Fizer for our pick, cash, and an ending contract? That would be awsome. Who would be a good player to include that has a contract ending soon? Othella Harrington is probably the best player to fit that category. If we could make a trade like that Layden would really look like a genious. Thoughts?

Posted by Knixkik:

05/13-TRADING FOR FINELY?- I'll start by saying Sam Smith has been introducing bad ideas for years, so today's offer isn't hard to believe... In today's Chicago Tribune, Sam Smith offers that should the Bulls land the top overall draft selection, they should explore making a deal. The Dallas's Mavericks are known to covet Yao Ming, but for a while now Chicago media has been saying the Mavs would trade Michael Finely to land Ming... This is not true... at least according to Mavericks sources. The Mavs remain singularly focused on the playoffs, and while Finely has not had the breakout year many had thought, the Mavs are not looking at trades with Finely's name on them, and are clearly not talking or shopping out anything until their season is over... Now back to the lecture at hand... Should the Bulls deal the top pick if they land it? Yes, its likely smarter for them to add veterans at this point than another young player, although Bulls GM Jerry Krause is said to be very interested in Duke's Mike Dunleavy Jr., who recently declared for the 2002 Draft, but has not and will not sign an agent leaving open the idea he'd pull out and head back to Duke if he's not projected to go to a team he's interested in or at a certain pick in the draft. The Bulls on the other hand are exploring and gauging interest in not only their pick, but the players on the roster they may have limited interest in returning. With the emergence, mid-season of Tyson Chandler as a scorer, the Bulls may finally trade Marcus Fizer. His name is linked to just about anything involving Chicago. Its been offered that should the Bulls land the top overall pick a trade with New York may be in the works involving Fizer, in which Fizer heads out along with the top pick with New York's pick, cash, and an ending contract heading to Chicago. One thing for sure, is while Michael Finely is a popular name to fans in Chicago, Dallas isn't ready to move him, and Dallas is not the only option on deck for the Bulls should they land the top pick.

Ming and Fizer for our pick, cash, and an ending contract? That would be awsome. Who would be a good player to include that has a contract ending soon? Othella Harrington is probably the best player to fit that category. If we could make a trade like that Layden would really look like a genious. Thoughts?

I really dont see any validity to these rumors. Why on earth would chicago trade down in the draft and then include fizer for an inferior player just for cap reasons?? I dont buy it. If they really want to clear cap space they should keep the #1 pick if they get it, then trade fizer straight up for an ending contract player.

Update

05/17-KNICKS STILL TALKING YAO- Its been a good 3 weeks since the Knicks met with Yao Ming and company in Chicago, but still the word around the Knicks camp is still Yao. But will China's new rules prohibit him from being a top overall pick? In preparation for Yao's departure, China has instituted a series of rules 'taxing' Chinese players who play away from China, basically taking 50%, but then requiring an additional 30% be paid to the teams they are leaving, which includes portions to their former teammates, and coaching staff. Leaving roughly 20% for the player. Its unclear if this new rule accounts for taxes paid to the city, state, and federal governments, if it does not, then players like Yao could be faced with sizeable tax burdens. 3 years ago, a deal was reached that would have allowed Yao to leave China for the NBA under the terms that 33% of his earnings were paid to China, a significantly better deal than the one before Yao today. Yao at the time was advised by Nike and his US based agent that a better deal could be reached later... so much for skilled advise... Yao's Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks offered this assessment of the situation to media "For Yao Ming personally, it was better for him to have left three years ago because he would have been playing in the NBA. There is no question of this... Yao Ming now feels that the contract three years ago was reasonable and regrets that he didn't take it. As far as we know, the government will take much more under the new stipulation. He is our best player and obviously a strong reason why we won the championship. So the Shanghai Sharks need compensation to let him go, and some compensation from the U.S. club that takes him as well." Its unclear if the rules instilled by China will simply be too much for players to endure, one thing is certain, the NBA Player Association, will not allow a contract that pays portions of Yao's money directly to China, meaning Yao would have to receive the payments, then voluntarily hand over the portions China is demanding. Some have offered that once he's in the US he could do as he pleased, but its very clear that China is taking this very seriously, and any attempt by a team or the US government to stop their process could have broad sweeping diplomatic effects. Ming is projected in the top 10 of every major draft ranking service. Although he is not expected to go #1 overall, unless a trade is made.