This is How You Give Every Team in the League ‘The Cold Shoulder’

Everybody wants John Salmons.  Nobody wants Brad Miller.  So naturally, through problem solving, you package your attractive commodities with your unattractive ones and manage to get…decidedly less attractive ones.

When given the choice of paying Andres Nocioni until 2012 or Brad Miller until 2010, I’ll do what I can with Miller.  He’s a more productive offensive player than Noc, and seems like a generally less angry person.  Plus, you’d have to think that Miller’s expiring $12ish million contract will be pure gold going into the summer of 2010 .  If the Kings want to wait and try their hand with the free agents, then awesome.  Or if they want to try to pry a nice star from the clutches of a LeBronstruck GMs, that’s cool too.  Either way it provides the Kings with a nice player in the short-term, and hopefully an even better one in the long-term.

Instead, they stood up the midlevel girl everyone wanted to take to the prom, and in return saved some money and will be paying Andres Nocioni’s mortgage.  Lovely.

Noc does give the Kings a more natural fit at the 3, but that doesn’t change the fact that his game is based almost exclusively on hustle, overdoing it, and taking questionable shots as his emotions run wild.  He’ll hit people, but sometimes at the expense of your offensive and defensive sets.  Sounds worth it, right?  Brad Miller happens to completely suck at defense, but he also plays the hardest position to fill and gives you offensive production from the high post.  Elementary, my dear Petrie.

Kudos to the Bulls for getting out from under Nocioni’s contract, and finding two starting caliber players in a bargain bin.  Joakim Noah does, well, things on the floor, but he has trouble playing center.  Aaron Gray is better than you’d think, but he’s not ready for big-time minutes.  Brad Miller gives the Bulls a new look at the 5, including some actual offense (?!).  Tyrus Thomas is becoming everything I’d ever hoped he would be, and having the new-and-improved Tyrus in the frontcourt with Gray, Noah, and Miller is pretty solid.  Not ‘win a playoff series’ solid, but probably ‘make the playoffs’ solid.  Baby steps, yo.

Drew Gooden is free money.

John Salmons allows us to openly criticize Ben Gordon again, which I would list among my all-time favorite pastimes.  He hasn’t been bad this season, but he’s now the most obviously expendable piece on the roster not named Larry Hughes.  It would be nice if the Bulls could get something for him before the deadline passes, but I wouldn’t bet on it.  Word on the street is that there isn’t exactly a buyer’s market for small shooting guards whose egos are bigger than they are.  Salmons is a better defender and gives the Bulls some size in the backcourt, and his game seems to complement Rose’s well.  He’s not perfect, but he’s one of the best midlevel exceptionees I’ve seen.  Me likey.