Wednesday, June 30, 2004

"Free Agency Isn't Free" - George W. Bush

Remember when David Aldridge was the head NBA honcho at ESPN? I feel bad for DA, since it looks like he has taken a back seat to loudmouth moron Steven A. Smith. In a network that employs Smith, Greg Anthony, Tim Legler, Bill Lambeer, etc., You'd think that Aldridge would be featured as the one pundit who people can watch and not have their eyes bleed.

Aldridge still writes for ESPN.com though, although his columns come less frequent than in the past. But he has made up for it with a huge free agency spectacular. In what I think is a great idea, he has split up the free agents by what he thinks they will be paid:

Budget Busters
Mid-Level
Mini-Mid-Level (up to half of mid-level)
Up and Comers (more than minimum, less than mid-level)
Vets minimum
The Rest (or as I like to call it, "Crap inc.")

The Bulls are over the Salary cap, so that top category is out. But here are some interesting names in the other categories who I think would be good fits. I won't go into it much, you can read it yourself. When the rumor mill starts churning I can pick out who the Bulls will actually target.

Mid Level: Bruce "The Kobe Stopper" Bowen, Stephen "One-Man Turnover" Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Hedo Turkoglu
Mini-Mid: Brian "The Custodian" Cardinal, Gordan "G-Force" Giricek, Eric Williams, Wesley Person
Up and Comers: I think the Bulls have enough of those
Vets: Gary "Shaq of the Mac" Trent, Stacy "PlasticMan" Augmon, Jon "Whitey" Barry, TONI!
Crap, inc.: Ron Mercer

So there's something out there, but not much. I'm guessing the top acquisition this summer will not be from free agency but from whoever the Bulls get back on a Jamal Crawford sign-and-trade.