Bulls to deal Chandler to Hornets for Brown, Smith (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2510218)

The Chicago Bulls and New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets on Wednesday reached a verbal agreement on the widely expected trade that will send Bulls center Tyson Chandler to the Hornets for veteran forward P.J. Brown and swingman J.R. Smith.

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that the players involved have been notified that the deal will officially go through July 12, which is the first day NBA teams can officially complete signings and trades after the league announces the salary cap for the 2006-07 season.

The ability to deal away Chandler, who has five years and $54 million left on his contract, was crucial for the Bulls in their pursuit of Ben Wallace. They likely couldn't have offered Wallace as much as they did -- nearly $60 million over four years -- without receiving Brown's much friendlier contract in return.

"It was just a matter of when and where," Chandler told the Chicago Tribune from his California home last night.

The willingness to take on Chandler's contract, meanwhile, represents the third bold move from the traditionally quiet Hornets in the space of a week, after years of criticism endured by Hornets owner George Shinn for his reluctance to spend.

"It's my understanding that the trade is going to happen," said Mark Bartelstein, Brown's agent. "P.J. is very excited. He feels like the Bulls have an opportunity to compete for a championship. He really enjoyed his time with the Hornets, but he has so many fond memories of his days in Miami and contending every year that Chicago is a really good situation for him to get back to."

New Orleans/Oklahoma City commenced its aggressive summer makeover by offering Peja Stojakovic a five-year deal worth more than $60 million to entice the sharpshooting former All-Star to leave the Indiana Pacers. That was Saturday.

On Sunday, Shinn followed the Stojakovic coup by sanctioning a three-year commitment worth more than $15 million to Memphis Grizzlies guard Bobby Jackson.

"It's a great basketball opportunity to play with a bunch of young, up-and-coming guys," Chandler said to the Tribune. "That's the thing I'm excited about. They're moving the team in a direction that fits me well. I can help a team make the playoffs. I'll get a chance to play with a great, young point guard [Chris Paul]."

The venerable Brown, who turns 37 in October, has only one season left on his contract at $8 million. Swapping Brown and the out-of-favor Smith for Chandler means New Orleans/Oklahoma City has committed to well over $120 million in new contracts since free agency began Saturday at 12:01 a.m.

It adds up to the most unexpected outlay ever seen from Shinn, even more unexpected than the big contracts he awarded Baron Davis and Jamal Mashburn in the club's Charlotte days. Those moves were contract extensions. The Hornets have never been known for making offseason splashes such as these.

Yet this deal holds obvious appeal on both sides.

Hornets coach Byron Scott, himself the recipient of a three-year contract extension just before the draft, wants to play an up-tempo game and will inevitably see the more athletic Chandler, at 7-foot-1 and turning 24 in October, as a better fit than Brown alongside Rookie of the Year point guard Chris Paul, Stojakovic and power forward David West.

The trade makes even more sense for the Bulls. They don't want to play two non-scorers together (Chandler and Wallace) and moving out Chandler's expensive contract for Brown's expiring deal makes it much easier to absorb Wallace's deal.

Brown, furthermore, is regarded as one of the best locker-room influences in the league and, along with Wallace, would provide legitimate size ... as well as the veteran know-how lacking in Chicago since the breakup of Michael Jordan's Bulls after their sixth and final championship in 1998.

Smith has at least three players ahead of him in Chicago's swing rotation -- Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng -- but the 20-year-old has attracted significant trade interest since falling out of Scott's rotation halfway through the season. Smith, then, figures to be a valuable trade chip for the Bulls if he can't crack coach Scott Skiles' rotation, although league restrictions on trades would make it difficult for Chicago to move him in a package deal until 60 days after this trade is officially consummated. They just got a little scarier.

Eh, JR Smith isn't very good if he can't dunk.

As for PJ, he's a stellar defender but he's what, 37? And his jumper is gradually deserting him.

I don't see this as a major improvement for chicago. Obviously, they couldnt pay chandler and ben at the same time to do basically the same job. This clears money off their payroll after this season.

true, but you can't deny the Bulls are adding a ton of talent to their roster this off-season. whether it all works is the big question.......but you can't say they didn't upgrade their roster on paper.

smith may be 'just a dunker' right now. but he's still got a ton of talent and ability to improve. i would take him over chandler any day. plus he doesn't carry a ridiculous contract. PJ comes off the books and helps the cap situation, and this year coule provide good veteran leadership.

add to that the fact they have the option to swap picks with the knicks in the 2007 draft (does anyone actually believe it won't be another high lottery pick?) and i would love to be the bulls right now.

yes, they overpaid for ben. and yes i think he's on the decline. but for what they have there right now, i think they've made some brilliant moves.

i hate to admit i'm jealous of some of their young prospects and their talent.

JR is a slasher and will bring some added depth to their wing players. PJ is 37 and so is dale davis. they are both still a damn good rebounders. But PJ can hit FT's, still give you a little bit of scoring and hasnt been missing too many games at all.
Its a definate improvent for the bulls. jr smith is still developing and can give you atleast 7 off the bench. pj can throw in 5-8 points per game possibly.

I wonder who Joe D is looking for as a slasher besides bonzi.

i hate to admit i'm jealous of some of their young prospects and their talent.
i agree they have made great moves. but i do believe we have some valuable youth too in amir, maxiell, and delfino. its time for us to prove it this year.

The Hornets are gonna be a good team.


Chandler
Peja
Paul
Mason
West
Jackson
Armstrong
Simmons
Kirk Snyder




Thats a good young core, they should make the playoffs this season.

I'd be willing to bet that JR won't be playing a whole lot in Chicago. He is the opposite of a Skiles-type player.

im willing to bet chicago has another blockbuster in them. they are absolutely overflowing with talent on the wings, and could really use a good post scorer. if nothing else, they could probably swap brown for randolph streight up. not sure that would be their best move, but it would be an option.

they could probably swap brown for randolph streight up. not sure that would be their best move, but it would be an option.
Hopefully you're not talking about Zach randolph. That would officially make portland the dumbest team on earth to do that. Unless they just want to dump him for nothing in return long term like the pacers did artest.

im certain thats in the works for them. did you notice their draft? they added like 10 guys. theyre dead set on getting rid of the jail blazers. they also look theyre jockying for the oden sweepstakes. plus, if paul allen wants to sell the team, he'd get top dollar by removing all the big contracts. a deal with NY might make more sense, though, that way they could move miles also.

i guess resigning pryz kinda goes against what i just said, but he's not a problem character, and is young. i could be wrong, here.

im certain thats in the works for them. did you notice their draft? they added like 10 guys. theyre dead set on getting rid of the jail blazers. they also look theyre jockying for the oden sweepstakes. plus, if paul allen wants to sell the team, he'd get top dollar by removing all the big contracts. a deal with NY might make more sense, though, that way they could move miles also.

i guess resigning pryz kinda goes against what i just said, but he's not a problem character, and is young. i could be wrong, here.
oden or not, its still completely dumb to dump randolph for brown str8 up. rethink your trade idea because thats just not legit. i have serious doubts that portland thinks that his worth isnt more valuable than a dump for brown. if so they have no future in the nba when it comes to making moves.

dude gets arrested every month and has a huge contract. not sure theres a ton of teams interested in a guy like that.

anyway, we'll see. i would be shocked if he's still a blazer after the trade deadline.

dude gets arrested every month and has a huge contract. not sure theres a ton of teams interested in a guy like that.

anyway, we'll see. i would be shocked if he's still a blazer after the trade deadline.
you exaggerrate his arrests and give teams too much credit if you think there arent many who see value in him. only thing i can agree with is that he'll be traded this offseason(when did they come up with a trading deadline in the offseason?)

im giving it a deadline of 7 months till the deal is done. i think theyll jump at the first offer, but teams might not get desperate till the dealine.

only slightly exagerating the arrests. his HS coach said he reads the paper every day to see if zach was arrested for killing a person. to say the least, that doesnt give you a good impression of the person zach is.

im giving it a deadline of 7 months till the deal is done. i think theyll jump at the first offer, but teams might not get desperate till the dealine.

only slightly exagerating the arrests. his HS coach said he reads the paper every day to see if zach was arrested for killing a person. to say the least, that doesnt give you a good impression of the person zach is.

I also read something like that but along the lines of how many times Zach gets caught by the police or something.

Either way, I'm sure either Darius or Zach lands with the Knicks.

im giving it a deadline of 7 months till the deal is done. i think theyll jump at the first offer, but teams might not get desperate till the dealine.

only slightly exagerating the arrests. his HS coach said he reads the paper every day to see if zach was arrested for killing a person. to say the least, that doesnt give you a good impression of the person zach is.

I also read something like that but along the lines of how many times Zach gets caught by the police or something.

Either way, I'm sure either Darius or Zach lands with the Knicks.

Jalen and Frye for the pair?

i cant imagine frye being a part of that deal. as i've said, jalen would probably do it. maybe one of the other knick prospects... ughh, yea... but not frye. theyre pretty high on him, i believe. im pretty sure mile's contract is just as bad.

randolph makes 73 million over the next 5 years. miles makes 34 million over the next 4. raef 36 over the next 3. derek anderson 10 1 more year. thems some rediculous contracts. furthers my point that randolph and miles could be have for nothing. though i doubt anyone but zeke would be willing to take them on.

i smell a blockbuster brewing with NY and portland. randolph, miles and portland to NY for rose, taylor and anderson (34 million in expiring). and then portland lets ny take pretty much any young player (s) it wants... maybe not aldridge or roy.

think zeke could turn that down? NY has 50 some million coming off the books right now, no way zeke lets that go to waste. his last hurrah in the nba could be absolutely classic. i hope we find out about the moves dolan doesnt let him make.

NY: Shandon Anderson's contract can't be traded because he was bought out.

POR: Derek Anderson's contract can't be traded because he was their Amnesty waive

And you can be sure Jack, Roy and Aldridge are off limits.

I still wonder if we could get Juan Dixon from Portland. They have a ton of guards and could use an expiring contract like Dale Davis.

Dixon? Im sorry P but do we need another point guard? I would prefer a swingman instead a a combo guard.

I think Hunter,Acker, OR Blalock would manage to back up CB

Dixon>Hunter>Acker>Blaylock

And Dixon is a combo guard, and I agree that he'd be a nice addition at the right price, P.

yes Dixons better, but should we just trade DD for Dixon, or shouldnt we get someone better? Dont have any names right now but getting Dixon for our valuable trading pieces? just aint worth it IMO.

And now I agree with you Cross, I think Davis is going to be valuable for the Pistons and shouldn't be moved unless we acquire another CENTER not named Cato.

I think we can roll with Sheed Nazr and maybe Dice(?) as the 5. Adding another center AND a swingman, sweet. Actually, come to think about it if we lose DD, we could use another big who can play pf and center. Joe's gonna have to do alot to please us.

I think a good backup who will allow us to go 8-10 deep like the suns have. will be pretty good too. I'm not going as far as Harrington but maybe Wells and then try to do another trade? I dont know, let Joe do his magic

i know people are bringing up people they like and what not at other positions. but lets be realistic. we need a SF swingman whose first priority is slashing and is good at it. no one whose willing to shoot the jumpers all day if Flip tells him to(a category i think rasul could fall under).