Elephant in the room - Chicago Bulls 1st Round Matchup

[Demographic Shift]

I read some rumor-type Tweets from ESPN reporters and they mused that Gasol, Noah and Rose could all be moved this offseason. It will definitely be interesting to watch it play out.

If I were the Bulls, I would basically look to rebuild/retool around Butler (along with Mirotic, McDermott, Portis and Snell) and draft picks, while the old/injured assets still have some trade value. Between the trade returns and cap space they could create, they could probably retool pretty quickly, especially since Chicago is a fairly attractive city/market for free agents.

I believe both Gasol and Noah are UFA's. And Rose is worth nowhere near the $21 million he's owed next year. Be interesting to see if they can dump him on some desperate team (Knicks? Kings?)

Noah is a UFA however Gasol has a player option and if he says he is out then gorilla math puts the Bulls in or around 65M to begin FA... That'd be enough room to make an offer to Al Horford. Someone in a city of 10M must speak some Spanish.
Retooling on the fly is a very real option and the Bulls once again become a factor in the Eastern Conference. .

Edit.... In the above scenario they also hang on to oft injured Derrick Rose for one more year at his 21M annual salary. Hard to see a market for a PG with two ACL surgeries on both knees. They can crawl out from under that millstone in the 2017-18 year when Rose is a UFA.

[KeonClark]

Noah is a UFA however Gasol has a player option and if he says he is out then gorilla math puts the Bulls in or around 65M to begin FA... That'd be enough room to make an offer to Al Horford. Someone in a city of 10M must speak some Spanish.
Retooling on the fly is a very real option and the Bulls once again become a factor in the Eastern Conference. .

Edit.... In the above scenario they also hang on to oft injured Derrick Rose for one more year at his 21M annual salary. Hard to see a market for a PG with two ACL surgeries on both knees. They can crawl out from under that millstone in the 2017-18 year when Rose is a UFA.

I could see d rose retiring then...his only role would be starter on a bad team or backup.

Of course with the ridiculous spike in salaries somebody will offer him 17 mil a year and he'll hobble his way to a few more half seasons