The problem-Larry Hughes

dakidfromchitown — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:01:52 -0000

In the beginning(of the Pax era),Jerry Reinsdorf handed the keys to John Paxson. Paxson was charged with bringing the Bulls back to prominence and making the Bulls contenders after the final 6 seasons of Krause turned out to be futile and without direction. Pax started with a bang and drafted as many combo guards as he could get on the team. One combo guard gets injured,we replace him with another one and so on.....As the only major free agent signing in the Pax era,he acquired an aging big man with a reputation for destroying coaches and not promoting team unity. After that failed experiment,Pax looked to repair his mistake by getting a very good Pf in Gooden and a bloated contract and logjam at the Guard position in Larry Hughes to replace the fat contract from BW3. Prior to getting Hughes,Pax rectified his coaching problem by terminating Dictator Scott Skiles and replacing him with Some Guy...Some Guy gave Ben Gordon a nice Christmas present by returning him to the bench to play the 6th man role he thrived in earlier in his career. After securing Hughes,Gordon was not only relegated to the bench,he saw a decline in minutes and a role that was not fitting for a person that was your leading scorer for 3 of the 4 years he was a Bull!

So,now we have Larry Hughes. That obviously complicates our situation with BG. The Brass has leverage to only offer BG as much as they can without going into Luxury Tax level because they agree with him that they do have more than their share of guards. Hinrich is not the problem,Rose is the answer,and Larry Hughes is the main cog standing in the way of Bg not getting paid and playing his usual minutes per game!

There are several players within the realm of Hughes' huge contract...There are also some trade scenarios that could be had by the Bulls if they are indeed interested in moving Hughes in order not only to make a way for Gordon to get his minutes back,but also to get him a contract that will make him happy....I am assuming nothing but Deng money will make him happy,but I am thinking that if we give BG a Monta contract and move a guard so that he feels secure he will get his minutes he will at least settle. That way at least his contract will be above Barbosa's and right with Ellis, both of whom are in line with his skill set.....

Here are some notable contracts that could be had if the Bulls are indeed thinking about welcoming back their leading scorer and moving the worst contract on our roster in Larry Hughes......

There are very few of these players that I think their respective Gm's would even consider getting rid of for a player like Larry Hughes...

But here's a list of the one for one players that are in the same financial bracket as Hughes...

Mike Bibby $14,983,603

Vince Carter $14,724,125

Zach Randolph $14,666,667

Gilbert Arenas $14,653,466

Ben Wallace $14,500,000

Kenyon Martin $14,431,818

Chris Bosh $14,410,581

LeBron James $14,410,581

Carmelo Anthony $14,410,581

Dwyane Wade $14,410,581

Joe Johnson $14,232,566

Lamar Odom $14,148,596

Elton Brand $13,757,844

Rasheed Wallace $13,680,000

Wally Szczerbiak $13,275,000

Richard Jefferson $13,200,000

Dwight Howard $13,041,250

*Ben Gordon(This is where he told his agent to put him)$13,000,001

Raef LaFrentz $12,722,500

Peja Stojakovic $12,528,000

Steve Nash $12,250,000

Jason Richardson $12,222,221

Carlos Boozer $11,593,817

Erick Dampier $11,553,000

Tony Parker $11,550,000

Tyson Chandler $11,400,000

Brad Miller $11,375,000

Baron Davis $11,250,000

Marcus Camby $11,250,000

Samuel Dalembert $11,138,564

Chauncey Billups $11,050,000

There are a couple teams that could offer multiple players for Hughes' contract...such as

NY-Jerome James~(6.2MM)+Jared Jeffries~(6.049MM)................

Portland-Martell Webster~(3.71MM)+Travis Outlaw~(4.00MM)+Joel Przybilla~(6.31MM).....

I don't see the Blazers wanting to do this,but this is the type of trades that Paxdorf has to look for in order to make Bg a part of the team and remove the Logjam at the Guard spot. Hell I don't see more than 3 people on that contract list that I truly think is attainable,but maybe somethig can be done to get Hughes in a place,any place other than Chicago,so we can move forward.

Chime in and let's see what we can do in order to eliminate the virus known as Hughes and get BG back on the court with a contract and the minutes he's due!

SB Nation User Blog: dakidfromchitown

The problem-Larry Hughes