Not sure if anyone knows the Bulls salary situation but they're right on the tax threshold for this season... it's one of the reasons they took so long to sign Marquis Teague.

http://storytellerscontracts.info/?page_id=1631

If you check Teague's salary (and read the note to the far right) you'll see he got 100% of the rookie scale for this season... but 120% for the following seasons. I believe that it's standard for all rookies to get 120% across the board... but the Bulls were concerned about the tax that much they didn't give him the extra 20% this season!

There were articles up on storytellers in relation to Teague and the Bulls but I can't find the links right now.

Anyway, you'll also note the Bulls will be over the tax threshold for next season with only 9 players under contract.

Something has to give. Either they amnesty Boozer or they dump salary somehow.

Option 1: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bj7z88m

They deal Rip, Deng and Jimmy Butler. They get Maggette, Bynum, Daye + conditional first round pick (has to be conditional because of our deal with Charlotte)

They save $2.2 mil straight away ($4.4 considering taxes) AND clear over $17 mil from their payroll for next season!

We deal crap, bring Rip "home" (next season he's only partially guaranteed for $1 mil) and we get Deng to be our "quality" wing player. Deng is only 28 years old - in his prime.

Option 2:

They deal Boozer and Rip. They get Maxiell and Maggette

They save over $4 mil straight up ($8 mil with taxes) and clear more than $15 mil off their books after this season.

We deal crap, get Boozer for 3 years and bring Rip "home"

Thoughts?