Bulls negotiating for Finley

[ShowMeTheMoney]

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/sports_story.asp?intid=37797122

Excerpts:

Bulls trying to bring Finley home
By Mike McGraw

Why draft the Euro Finley if you can trade for the real thing?

The Bulls are negotiating with Dallas to acquire Chicago-area native Michael Finley, according to a league source. The Bulls would give up their No. 7 draft pick, Marcus Fizer, Donyell Marshall and another player.

The logic to this deal is simple. Anyone who watched Dallas in the Western Conference playoffs realizes the Mavericks have little chance of reaching the NBA Finals unless they add someone who can score close to the basket. The Bulls can offer two such players - Fizer and Marshall.

Whether the Dallas trade goes through or not, new general manager John Paxson is clearly trying hard to add veterans to the Bulls' lineup.

The source confirmed the rumor that the Bulls considered trading Jay Williams, Fizer and Marshall to Boston for Antoine Walker until Williams was severely injured in a motorcycle accident last week.

Paxson probably figures Curry, Chandler and Crawford have shown so much promise that there is no need for any other young players. Adding a two-time all-star such as Finley could make the Bulls instant playoff contenders.

Finley averaged 19.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season, but shot a career-low 42.5 percent from the field. He has missed 13 games due to injuries in each of the past two seasons. Prior to that, Finley didn't skip a game during his first six years in the league.

[air gordon]

thanks for the article...

there are other reports that the bulls are also pursuing juwan howard. they would use the MLE to sign him.

juwan & finley both have chicago ties and have said they would love to play together back in chicago. rose is also close w/howard (michigan days). juwan was on a show (cltv) and expressed an interest to play for the bulls and was nothing but praise for GM Paxson and the players.

making the finley trade would be stupid- it would leave the bulls with no bench, especially in the frontcourt. but if they can get howard aboard, it makes sense.

but it doesn't make sense to have finley and rose on the same team- salary wise. their salaries (both max salaries) would make it very hard to resign crawford, curry, chandler. crawford's contract is up next year, and the twin towers contracts will be up the year after that.

there have been rumors of the bulls trading rose for brandon and peeler. brandon expects to retire and peelers contract will be this year. the bulls then would be able to use this cap space to resign the 3C's.

[Andrew]

It would be ironic if Chicago trades for Finley. After all, they could have taken him in the 1995 draft, but took Jason Caffey instead.

As always, I'm cautious of giving up two of the team's post players for a guard, but if the Bulls were to sign Howard, it wouldn't be so bad. In fact, I don't mind that lineup:

C-Curry
PF-Howard
SF-Rose
SG-Finley
PG-Crawford

But I'd be interested to know who that other player would be. With the starting lineup I just posted, the only bench players still under contract are Chandler, Robinson, Bagaric, and Baxter. Jay Will is still under contract of course, but we know he'll be unavailable for at least a year. In other words, the bench has been weakened, even if the Bulls re-sign guys like Hassell and Hoiberg.

Personally, I'd think twice before making this trade.

[Stevan]

I like Finley but I think it's 8 years too late to acquire him...

A Rose for Finley deal is probably out of the question since the Mavs are looking for size and they like to run too.

I also wouldn't mind the that lineup with Howard, Finley and Rose if the Bulls managed to hold onto the three C's. The Bench would be thin but you could always start Chandler and bring in Howard like they did Marshall/Fizer off the bench.
If they resigned Hassell, he, Robinson and Howard would round out a main rotation of 8 with the starters you Andrew mentioned. A backup PG and C are needed. Is Blount a free agent? I think Roger Mason JR is still lurking too...

I'd like to see them deal Eddie Robinson, and hopefully Jay Williams will eventually be back.

[Andrew]

Roger Mason Jr is a free agent I believe, but they should be able to keep him without spending too much money. Same deal with Blount.

[Stevan]

just looking at that article again... I can't believe the Bulls were considering trading for Antoine Walker Then Jay-Will brakes his leg... it sucks that something this bad had to happen to stop the trade!

[Andrew]

I've got nothing against Walker, but the Bulls don't need him. The Celtics don't need to trade him either. They just need him to slim down to play small forward and bring in a better post player; that or get Walker to play inside again.