Building off my last post, looks like Bobby Simmons was too rich for John Paxson's blood as well, signing a 5-year, $47m deal with Milwaukee.
Simmons getting 5 years is less of a risk than Raja Bell, or Brian Scalabrine, but still it's alarming that the trend this offseason has been long-term contracts to what seems like every free agent out there. I'm guessing this storm will be waited out, and as the summer goes along the price will deflate.
Meanwhile the Bulls have to worry about their own:
Paxson believes Duhon holds the key to whatever free agent moves might follow for the Bulls. If they sign him, as expected, the team is unlikely to make a big splash in the unrestricted free-agent market because Duhon's salary will eat into the roughly $5 million NBA midlevel exception used for veterans.
I sincerely hope that Pax waits this one out as well, as I don't see many teams looking at Duhon as any kind of point guard solution. Furthermore, Duhon himself has to see the Bulls as a best-case scenario for him, since he has guaranteed playing time due to the nature of his coach. If they reign in the demands of Duhon's agents, maybe they'll still have enough to sign him and fill up their needs: the M2GwcDaS and a scoring 4 (hmm...need another acronym).
But instead of tying up the exemption on Duhon, maybe Pax and Skiles can trust Gordon to fill in at point when Hinrich is on the bench, and re-sign Pargo(or a vet at the minimum) as the emergency point. I can't see a scenario where at the end of a 3 year contract Chris Duhon is part of the regular rotation, so why tie up an exemption this summer that can be used to shore up a weakness?
It seems that I'm just itching to get Duhon off the team, but what is more important is that the exemption isn't wasted. Since the Bulls don't control Duhon's 'Bird Rights' (since he is only 1 year in the league) unfortunately for the team that means the exemption must be used to sign him. And with GMs spending the way they have, and the need for both a defensive 2 and a scoring 4 this summer...I'd rather Pax made a contract mistake filling a need than resigning Duhon.
But if Curry leaves (and I won't get into it because if I paid attention to every time Curry started drama....) then get out your sign-and-trade hats, cause the whole plan will change.