Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 5:35 pm  |  125 responses

Salmons, Miller Traded To Bulls

by Ryne Nelson

Two different situations. The Kings are in cap clearing mode (for what or whom, we’re not certain). The Bulls are aiming at the Playoffs and above.

NBA.com’s David Aldridge had the phones working:

The Kings agreed on Wednesday to a trade that sends forward John Salmons and center Brad Miller to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for forwards Drew Gooden and Andres Nocioni, according to league sources.

I’m not sure how Bulls fans can’t be happy with this trade. It works great contractually and personnel-wise as well. Brad Miller is coming back to the Chi, and he’s still got some gas. Joakim Noah and Aaron Grey can take a seat as the Bulls have their first effective offensive center since…Brad Miller. Young John Salmons is the player they hoped Larry Hughes would be when they made a eleventh-hour trade with the Cavs only a year ago, and he has the contract they hoped Ben Gordon would sign this summer. Chicago still has a clutter of guards, so don’t be surprised if either Thabo Sefolosha or Kirk Hinrich are shipped for cap room before the deadline. The chances of Gordon returning as a Bull next season have greatly diminished.

If any player would be happy in Sacramento, it would be Drew Gooden, who hails from North Cali. Andres Nocioni is a decent piece for the Kings, who should play well with young bigs Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson. Center Cedric Simmons is also reported to be going to Sacramento. The Kings save some money, open up minutes to develop their young players and mortgage their future on this great Ponzi scheme that is summer free agency.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older Comments
  • Candice

    I don’t know but Huntr is the only vet on the team per say.

  • http://blogs.myspace.com/theoriginadro Witness

    wait who get ike diogu? the kings or the bulls?

  • MalevolentKing7242

    Dang well we know what team is gonig make a run for their money and whos building for the future.

  • Candice

    The Kings. The Blazers got Michael Ruffin.

  • http://www.kicksonfire.com Anton

    ESNPN.com is reporting another trade…
    “As the trade deadline approaches, teams are getting desperate to clear cap room in these tough economic times.
    One GM is taking it further. “Look at the guy, my dog has a better 3 point shot and he’s been dead for years!” Cavaliers’ General Manager Danny Ferry said. “Realistically, it saves us money…plus, I’m pretty sure the sack of potatoes doesn’t turn the ball over every single time”.
    While the Cavs are rumored to be interested in big names such as Amare Stoudemire, Marcus Camby, and Antawn Jamison, perhaps all they really needed was a thick sack of potatoes to plug up the lane.
    “I’ve seen him play” Ben Wallace adds, “Sack’s a solid defender and takes charges well. It’ll be a shamockery if we don’t win a title this year”"

  • http://www.kicksonfire.com Anton

    **Breaking: Ferry Trades Gibson for Sack of Potatoes

  • AlbertBarr

    Interested to see noc in pete’s offensive schemes. I think the kings may have gotten even worse on defense in this trade (which is scary to think about).

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    Nocioni was the heart and soul of the Bulls, more or less. I know his contract was big and long (like my…nevermind) and he wasn’t even a starter, but he was an archetype, the kind of guy that every successful team needs at least one of if they expect to get anywhere. While he’s a decent post presence, Miller is well past his prime and probably will be gone by the time the Bulls make any noise in the playoffs. Salmons is (as many have pointed out) just another streaky guard who further crowds an already cluttered backcourt. Neither is a star, neither should be expected to provide much veteran leadership, neither have experienced much playoff success. And Miller will take minutes away from Gray and Noah, both of whom WILL be around for the Bulls resurgence (if there ever is one) if they don’t get traded. Basically this trade doesn’t excite me in the least.

  • http://blogs.myspace.com/theoriginadro Witness

    like a robert horry?

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    Not quite like that, but still. He’s a classic guy you hate unless he’s on the team you root for. The Bulls just haven’t shown me that they have any plan whatsoever. About the only good thing they’ve done lately was draft Rose, and he was a gift from Asgard. Wouldn’t you want to surround him with quick, athletic bigs and shooters? Maybe get a real two and a solid low-post threat (gee, where have I heard that before). Brad Miller is just yet another stopgap. This is a classic “well, we did SOMETHING” trade—just like the Ben Wallace/Larry Hughes one. They should start figuring out who’s going to Secaucus.

  • Blinguo

    No trades so far are that exciting. This isn’t last year. But what was the last thing that excited Russ? 5 new (okay but not great until Summertime with the “Medicine ball”) colorways of the Nike Air Trainer III coming back out?

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    HEY RUSS!
    Q for you though: Do you see much of a chance of further trades with CHI…? Hinrich could surely be a draw card for a few teams around the place…? Washington could do with a guard, but then…who do you get..? Maybe a Caron Butler Etan Thomas thing for Gray, Hinrich and Gordon…? I dont know how the $$$ looks on paper though…
    Mind you I like Gray and Noah, sure they are as young as beans but just solid kind of individuals… Like Nocioni… everytime I say his name I think of pasta…. Hmmm potatoe Gnocci…

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    Haha, very funny. It’s just that I’ve been a Bulls fan for 20+ years now, and I’d like to think that they’ll contend again in my lifetime. Thus I’d like to see them make trades with that thought in mind. (Retro sneaker colorways don’t excite me at all, BTW. Especially now that everything comes back every couple of years anyway. To twist a phrase from my main man Syndrome, when everything’s special, nothing is.)

  • Blinguo

    I assume ‘Medicine Ball’ is an OG one, I am too young to know which are OG – and retro quality blows 90% of the time – agree. Nor did I mean to take any potshots in your deliberations of Chicago’s trade. Brad Miller retro 2009 edition is a RTV(return to vendor) no doubt.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Emeka Okafur is a n00b.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    HEY RUSS!
    Q for you though: Do you see much of a chance of further trades with CHI…? Hinrich could surely be a draw card for a few teams around the place…? Washington could do with a guard, but then…who do you get..? Maybe a Caron Butler Etan Thomas thing for Gray, Hinrich and Gordon…? I dont know how the $$$ looks on paper though…

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Mind you I like Gray and Noah, sure they are as young as beans but just solid kind of individuals… Like Nocioni… everytime I say his name I think of pasta…. Hmmm potatoe Gnocci…

  • Funkdoc

    Wow that sucks for Drew Gooden. From being noticed in Cleveland next to Bron, to being unnoticed next to, euhm, Udrih? Even if he acts like a goat, screaming ‘meeeeih’ after every dunk, he wouldn’t get noticed. Not in those purple jerseys.

    On the other hand, Salmons didn’t deserve to be on that crappy team, good deal for him. I like Rose-Gordon-Salmons-Noah-Miller

  • http://www.myspace.com/everybodylovesmush Mush

    Ryne, I wanna know your thoughts on Deng.

  • Che

    Chicago got the best on this deal. Great move. They might actually make the playoffs this year.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    So Brad Miller is the answer to their problem down low? Has anybody watched Miller play? You can’t dump it to him and say go get buckets. He’s a shooter! And I don’t like Salmons, Mike James 2.0… he ‘ll give you 20 on a sorry-a$$ team but that’s about that. I just don’t get how you’re supposed to grow as a team with those two guys surrounding Rose. They need to clean house this summer. Keep Rose, Deng (they commited), Hinrich (back-up combo). Everyone else has got to go.

  • http://www.remembertheaba.com Brett Ballantini

    Overall I shade more toward Russ than Ryne on the excitement meter here, but Russ is being much too kind to Nocioni. At this point, he’s an overpaid cheerleader. He may be the heart and soul of the team, but if so, he hasn’t had any impact–even on his best friend, sleepy Lu. The onerous three-year commitment to Noche has been shed in exchange for one overpaid year of Miller. Salmons is the plum here–having a career year, shooting well, modest salary, solid swingman size. Still too many littles, so dump Captain Kirk’s Wheel of Fortune contract on Minny, already!

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    I’m glad all the smart kids agreed with me.

  • Diesel

    What they’re saying in Chicago is this: The trade was to get rid of Noce’s big contract. There’s going to be another trade with Hinrich and Minesotta to get rid of Kirk’s contract. And then possibly a trade of hughes for D. Lee. That would get rid of all our long term contracts except deng and free up money to go after Bosh in 2010.

  • Tommy Patron

    @Witness: Krause did well with the Pippen/Grant draft and many other moves, but Rod Thorn drafted MJ.

← Older Comments
Advertisement