Losing Omer Would Hurt

Reports indicate that the Rockets and possibly Blazers or Timberwolves are going to offer Omer heavily backloaded deals in order to woo him away from the Bulls.

As Mat noted before, being a second round pick, no team can offer him more than $5 million for the first two years of a new contract.

This means that the teams pursing him, in a ploy to bring something special to the table, would likely offer Omer deals that would pay him up to $8 million in the final two years of a four year deal.

Mat knows $8 million is a lot for a backup center.  But he also knows what Omer is becoming, and might eventually turn into.

What Omer is right now is a dominant defense center.  He's proven that he can shut down basically anyone (including #6 and that Wade guy) who brings the ball hard to the rack.

But where he struggles is on the other end.  His hands are suspect, which makes for his ability to catch (this is where the hands come in) and score to be limited.

Mat wants to remind the masses, Gar, and Pax, that Omer has only been through one NBA training camp, which was before he had ever played a game in the league.  His ability to learn during the offseason is far greater than it is during a shortened 66 game season which allowed room for very few practices.  Without a lockout this year, Omer will be able to go through a true offseason, and his offensive game should get better.

Where Mat sees the big loss in Omer departing is that finding a replacement will not be easy.  There are some older players out there, but none with the same skill set as Omer.  The Bulls have somewhat of a young core.  Rose 23, Deng 27, Noah 27, Gibson 27, and Teague 19.  And Omer is only 25.

Keeping this young core will not only allow the Bulls to grow as a team, which they have already been doing, but it also will allow them to keep a nucleus, and fit auxiliary pieces in around them.  Mat loves the idea of two good big men on the same roster for years to come.  That's why he thinks losing Omer would hurt both now, but also in the future.

Big guys don't grow on trees and young ones are incredibly difficult to get your hands on.  The Bulls have two of them, they shouldn't let some desperate team take one away.