RealGM

This rumor is reported by someone who has been very accurate in the past & is a main source of insider info to Bulls fans:

http://www.rumorpress.net/

There is a possibility Shaquille O’Neal could be in a Chicago Bulls uniform next season. In a rather surprising discovery, the Phoenix Suns and Bulls plan on engaging in trade talks that could send the future hall of fame center to Chicago, as soon as teams are allowed to talk after the playoffs. Suns GM Steve Kerr is looking to deal Shaq and is said to be interested in Loul Deng. The Suns would like to move the aging center mainly because he has slowed the up-tempo Suns down drastically. They feel Deng could bring some young, athletic energy back to the team. The Suns also feel Deng could still live up to his potential and contract if he can stay healthy

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Go Kerr. That would be beautiful.

what tim thomas back in suns uniform?? i´d like it, deng could be money besides nash - but we need some more defense...

Deng is a good rebounder & defender.

Bulls would actually be wanting Shaq's contract rather than Shaq himself. Combined with expiring of Miller, an unguaranteed option on Tyrus Thomas & an almost certain opt-out by John Salmons, Bulls would easily have about $40 million in cap space in 2010 - enough to make a run at 2 max free agents.

Also with Deng: Most of his remaining $62 million (5 years) is "deferred". At end of day, Deng collects $71 million (but not all within 6 years). But the Bulls are not actually paying $71 million. Approc 30% of contract is in deferred annuties - meaning Bulls will actually only be paying approx $50 million out of their pocket.

It's an easy contract to trade because if a team acquires Deng, they are not paying as much as it appears.

If we couldn't work out a deal for Chandler, I'd be down for this.

It would have to be O'Neal for Deng and Miller.

Suns need some form of a low-post banger coming back... what? Are we going to start Lopez?!

Would be AMAZING if we could ship out Richardson as well... Hinrich anyone?

PG - Nash/Dragic
SG - Hinrich/Barbosa
SF - Hill/Deng/Dudley
PF - Stoudemire/Amundson
C - Miller/Lopez

With a decent young core going forward in:

PG - Hinrich
SG - Barbosa
SF - Deng
PF - Stoudemire
C - "Enter Name Here"

Even if we don't get a deal for Chandler this is good. I think STAT at 5 isn't so bad. With him having range.

STAT
Deng
HIll
J-rich
Nash

Not a bad starting 5. It is quick and athletic. J-rich could have a better defensive presence and this is golden. Deng won't clog up the middle. If we added Chandler we would be tough.

Chandler
STAT
Deng
Hill
Nash

3-good defensive minded in Deng-Hill-Chandler. Sign Marion to MLE that would be golden.

I forgot to mention I wouldn't adding/switching by getting Hinrich in that deal also. Maybe added J-rich? Eh, we still have to wait till someone is crowned champion.

We would need Shaq's expiring to acquire either though. Hornets would especially want it.

I want to move Shaq, but not for Luol Deng....we need a young mobile center to replace him(Chandler or Dalembert). Playing Amare at the 5 would be a disaster, and we're going to miss Shaq's All-NBA 3rd Team play and league-leading FG%. Even though he slows us down, he's still a great option to have in the post.

IF we could somehow land a big in this deal(three way trade or something), then I'd be for it...Shaq's a 21 million dollar All-Star All-NBA expiring contract next season. I think we can get more for that than Luol Deng...

ruiner wrote:We would need Shaq's expiring to acquire either though. Hornets would especially want it.

True....if Brad Miller wasn't so OLD I'd say he'd be a perfect fit for this team, but the guy is kind of terrible nowadays. Still, his passing and outside shooting would be valuable in freeing up the floor for Amare. Deal can't be completed until June 1st b/c of Deng's BYC, and I'm positive that Kerr would ask for an expiring back at least.

Shaq/Richardson for Deng+Thomas+Miller+Hinrich(if it works under the salary cap)

Nash/Hinrich/Dragic
Deng/Barbosa
Hill/Dudley
Amare/Tiny Tim/Swift?
Miller/LOU/Frolo

+the three draft picks we have this year

rsavaj wrote:I want to move Shaq, but not for Luol Deng....we need a young mobile center to replace him(Chandler or Dalembert). Playing Amare at the 5 would be a disaster, and we're going to miss Shaq's All-NBA 3rd Team play and league-leading FG%. Even though he slows us down, he's still a great option to have in the post.

IF we could somehow land a big in this deal(three way trade or something), then I'd be for it...Shaq's a 21 million dollar All-Star All-NBA expiring contract next season. I think we can get more for that than Luol Deng...

Better hope so... Shaq being traded for a quality young starter may be the key to Nash and Amare signing new contracts with Phoenix.

Having a lineup of Nash, Richardson, Deng, Amare and ? isn't bad at all. If Phoenix is going to continue to run, Amare at Center doesn't hurt you and you can look to acquire an offensive minded PF for low cost(MLE)... R.Wallace(long shot), C.Wilcox, D.Gooden, Charlie V. or H.Warrick. If going more defensive just keep Amare at PF and look at just an average C for now like Zaza Pachulia.

rsavaj wrote:I want to move Shaq, but not for Luol Deng....we need a young mobile center to replace him(Chandler or Dalembert). Playing Amare at the 5 would be a disaster, and we're going to miss Shaq's All-NBA 3rd Team play and league-leading FG%. Even though he slows us down, he's still a great option to have in the post.

IF we could somehow land a big in this deal(three way trade or something), then I'd be for it...Shaq's a 21 million dollar All-Star All-NBA expiring contract next season. I think we can get more for that than Luol Deng...

There are few MLE guys available the Suns can sign. I don't know Kerr might be afraid of Chandler injury and his past with injuries to pull the trigger for him. Ya could go after Dalembert but Sixers want to run I doubt they go after Shaq. Unless you don't mind Dampier playing center or another mediocre center coming in a Shaq deal.

AirP. wrote:

rsavaj wrote:I want to move Shaq, but not for Luol Deng....we need a young mobile center to replace him(Chandler or Dalembert). Playing Amare at the 5 would be a disaster, and we're going to miss Shaq's All-NBA 3rd Team play and league-leading FG%. Even though he slows us down, he's still a great option to have in the post.

IF we could somehow land a big in this deal(three way trade or something), then I'd be for it...Shaq's a 21 million dollar All-Star All-NBA expiring contract next season. I think we can get more for that than Luol Deng...

Better hope so... Shaq being traded for a quality young starter may be the key to Nash and Amare signing new contracts with Phoenix.

Having a lineup of Nash, Richardson, Deng, Amare and ? isn't bad at all. If Phoenix is going to continue to run, Amare at Center doesn't hurt you and you can look to acquire an offensive minded PF for low cost(MLE)... R.Wallace(long shot), C.Wilcox, D.Gooden, Charlie V. or H.Warrick. If going more defensive just keep Amare at PF and look at just an average C for now like Zaza Pachulia.

I think that's all good and well save for the fact that we have Sarver as our owner. We will never use the MLE if he is our owner, which means we're limited to the vet min. As far as Nash staying, if it's true that he was the one who pushed for the Shaq trade as was widely reported, than I don't see how trading Shaq would entice him to stay. Still, it's not a terrible trade...I just prefer to get some bigs back(Thomas/Miller) and swap Rich for Hinrich. If we can do that, then I'm sold.

Jordan45822 wrote:

rsavaj wrote:I want to move Shaq, but not for Luol Deng....we need a young mobile center to replace him(Chandler or Dalembert). Playing Amare at the 5 would be a disaster, and we're going to miss Shaq's All-NBA 3rd Team play and league-leading FG%. Even though he slows us down, he's still a great option to have in the post.

IF we could somehow land a big in this deal(three way trade or something), then I'd be for it...Shaq's a 21 million dollar All-Star All-NBA expiring contract next season. I think we can get more for that than Luol Deng...

There are few MLE guys available the Suns can sign. I don't know Kerr might be afraid of Chandler injury and his past with injuries to pull the trigger for him. Ya could go after Dalembert but Sixers want to run I doubt they go after Shaq. Unless you don't mind Dampier playing center or another mediocre center coming in a Shaq deal.

You could do one of two things to address the Center issue that an outgoing O'Neal would create.

#1. If you were getting Miller back in a trade with CHI, you could send him to NO for Chandler. Contracts match exaclty and it takes a year off in terms of salary for NO.

#2. Instead of sending Richardson to CHI for Hinrich, you could send him to PHI for Dalembert. In this case you would petition to have Deng and Hinrich coming back in the CHI trade.

Roster #1 (#2):

PG - Nash/Dragic
SG - Hinrich/Barbosa
SF - Hill/Deng/Dudley
PF - Stoudemire/Amundson
C - Chandler(Dalembert)/Lopez

The rumor has Shaq for Deng + TT + Jerome James. I like Deng, but those fillers are terrible. This trade wouldn't be half bad if we got another decent player aside from Deng with the trade. The name Jerome James just sends shivers down my spine.

It'll be nice to inject more youth, athleticism and some defense but the contract is just too big imo. If we had money to spend we should throw it at Amare not Deng.

Sun Scorched deal looks good, but should we really be starting Hill over Deng? Yeah Hill plays better when he starts, but I don't think we have luxury of bringing a player with Deng's contract off the bench.

I don't think this rumor is true. It's probably one of the many trade ideas getting thrown around in the FO, but this one just happened to slip out.

Jerome James will not play. He'll medically retire & insurance will pay 80% of his salary, saving Phoenix a lot of money

The understanding is that Phoenix wants Tim Thomas, also an expiring deal. If not him, the only other one that fits salary is Tyrus Thomas

The deal is flawless for PHX.

Youth, expiring and cap relief in James. No way we pass on this if it's true.

Deng would be our tough wing defender much like Marion.

the way the deal is looking now i dont see how this helps us improve the team... it helps greatly in financial matter if we get back deng and james but other than that Deng's numbers aren't all that impressive.

bradley281 wrote:The deal is flawless for PHX.

Youth, expiring and cap relief in James. No way we pass on this if it's true.

Deng would be our tough wing defender much like Marion.

Deng is another guy with a big contract that runs past 2010. This trade is not flawless. We don't get a whole lot better because we're not bringing in players where we need it most, at the 1 and 5. If we trade for Deng, Hill would have to come off the bench.

If we wanted expirings why not keep Shaq? Far as I'm concerned, he was one of the better players for us this season. This would be a downgrade team-wise since we'd be stacking at the 3 and losing ALL depth at the 5.

I thought this would be a mad deal for us when I first read it. Someone actually taking Shaq off us. But the more I think about it, Chicago is making away with the money here since they get the Big Expiring and they get rid of a huge long term contract. For us it's the exact opposite, we lose a big and productive expiring and we take in another long-term contract that runs past 2010.

Tommy Udo 6 wrote:Jerome James will not play. He'll medically retire & insurance will pay 80% of his salary, saving Phoenix a lot of money

The understanding is that Phoenix wants Tim Thomas, also an expiring deal. If not him, the only other one that fits salary is Tyrus Thomas

Well it sounded like Chicago didn't want to move Tyrus Thomas from what I've been hearing, but if we could switch TT for him then it's a done deal.