Signed for 2 years at 10 mil. The Bulls got their man. League sources confirmed the Bulls reached agreement on a two-year contract with Joe Smith late Friday, the veteran forward who had been their No. 1 target in free agency. link: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...3bulls,1,2115841.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
Well, cross Joe Smith's name off... The one vet I cared to see as some help at our PF spot just got grabbed up by the Bulls... ==== Bulls, Smith have deal Veteran forward leaves 76ers for two-year pact with contender July 13, 2007 BY BRIAN HANLEY bhanley@suntimes.com The Bulls agreed to a two-year contract with free-agent forward Joe Smith, the Sun-Times has learned. Smith was thought to be the Bulls' No. 1 priority among the available free agents. Smith, who was the No. 1 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in the 1995 draft, averaged 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 54 games last season with the Philadelphia 76ers. While the 76ers could have offered Smith more money, the Bulls likely sold him on the fact that they are a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls hosted Smith, a 6-10, 225-pounder, at the Berto Center on July 5. Though terms of the deal were not known, the Bulls had the NBA's mid-level exception of $5.36 million as a maximum to offer Smith this season. The Bulls had also considered free agents Mikki Moore of the New Jersey Nets and Chris Mihm of the Los Angeles Lakers, both of whom also visited the Berto Center the first week of July. Smith's signing likely would mean forward P.J. Brown won't return *************************** Quote: Smith OKs 2-year deal with Bulls By K.C. Johnson Tribune staff reporter July 13, 2007, 11:07 PM CDT The Bulls got their man. League sources confirmed the Bulls reached agreement on a two-year contract with Joe Smith late Friday, the veteran forward who had been their No. 1 target in free agency. Financial terms weren't available, but the Bulls had the midlevel salary-cap exception of $5.36 million at their disposal. As recently as Thursday, general manager John Paxson had expressed pessimism the Bulls would land any of the veteran big men they had been targeting. Those included the Nets' Mikki Moore and the Lakers' Chris Mihm. Smith is slotted to take the place of P.J. Brown to start alongside Ben Wallace and Luol Deng in a frontcourt that suddenly is loaded with reserves Andres Nocioni, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. Smith averaged 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds in 65 games with the Nuggets and 76ers last season. 76ers general manager Billy King had called re-signing Smith an off-season priority. But the Bulls wooed Smith with a possible starting role and a serious approach that stressed the opportunity to play a prominent role in a winnable Eastern Conference next season. A face-to-face meeting at the Berto Center with Paxson and coach Scott Skiles that took place earlier this month was said to have made a strong impression. Smith, a former No. 1 overall pick of the Warriors, has averaged 12.1 points and seven rebounds in 12 NBA seasons with six teams. He is a 45.4 percent career shooter and still is considered a strong midrange shooter and classy veteran who should fit seamlessly into the Bulls' system. =================== I like and am intrigued by Scola just as much as the next guy, but we still need a starter at the spot until Scola accomodates himself. I'm not sold on Hayes as a productive starter, and I think Smith would have been a solid, solid addition. Oh, well.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/168028.html Rockets mighn't have enough minutes for him now. He wasn't happy with the Bulls early on because of that.
this is kind of funny. why would a 38-year-old guy on the last leg of his career care about playing time? he'd be a nice addition at PF for us though.
I would definetly use the LLE with a player option on the 2nd year for Brown or whatever is left from our MLE assuming Scola goes through, I think he can be real solid for 20-25 minutes.
Joe Smith just got $5M/year. How do you propose that the Rockets were going to be able to pay him anything approaching that? Once we did the Scola trade, we lost the ability to pay that kind of money. Most likely Scola is your opening day starter. If not, it will be Hayes. I don't see the Rockets acquiring another veteran PF who would take minutes from Scola and Hayes. If it's a guy that would be happy being the #3 PF, then maybe.
If they could clear some roster spots I wouldn't be too surprised to see them sign somebody like PJ Brown for the LLE or vet minimum as an insurance policy. But right now they don't even have the rosters spots to talk about signing somebody else.
I don't see a guy like PJ Brown signing here for the LLE. Think about it, he's 107 years old, so why sign in Houston? He'd have to know that minutes would be limited with Scola and Hayes here and realistically he's not going to get a ring next year with us. More likely, if he's going to play next season he'll sign with somebody like Dallas where he has a better shot at a ring and he can also get some minutes at the 5 spot.
If the Scola trade had not yet happened before Joe Smith signed, I guarantee there would have been a ton of b****ing about Morey.
