Sox Success Could Open Up Doors For Bulls

With the news of Deng's likelihood to skip surgery and be ready for opening night crossing this afternoon, Mat has begun to think about the luxury tax.

With Deng and Rose out for extended periods, much to the chagrin of Mat, many believed the Bulls would somewhat reign it in this year and try to get some money off the books.

But now, with Deng expected at the beginning of the year, and Rose somewhere towards the back half, the Bulls are back in a position where they are contenders to win the NBA title.

Mat wonders how deep the Bulls pockets will be this offseason with the almost certainty that they will find themselves owing into the luxury tax with most moves.

This brought Mat to thinking, can the White Sox actually assist the Bulls?  For those of you who don't know, the Sox and Bulls are owned by the same millionaire, Jerry Reinsdorf.

Reinsdorf is the kind of owner who wants to make money, but is also passionate about his teams, the fans, and most importantly rings.

After a year of being "All In" the Sox used much of the offseason to cut some payroll and were expecting, though they'd never admit it, a down year.  But they are actually playing quite well, and have a shot at making something happen in a bad Central division.

Mat knows that the Sox have attendance issues that the Bulls most certainly do not.  But he also knows that when the Sox have a winning team, usually around August and September, fans start to buy in, literally.

If the Sox make the postseason, they will make a boatload more money than anyone in the front office ever imagined out of this team.  Therefore, the owner will have more money to play around with.

This just might mean that Jerry is more willing to dip into those extra funds and go a bit further into the luxury tax than most might have expected.

Mat knows he's probably reaching on this one by making such a direct comparison, but the fact is, if the Sox are good, the Bulls owner has more money.  Which Mat clearly sees as a positive.

The Cost of Success

While the rumors of Luol-Deng-to-Golden-State have mercifully been shut down on two fronts (an effective leak by the Bulls organization), there may still be an underlying truth to them that makes Mat uncomfortable. KC Johnson, who historically has been the most well-connected beat writer, didn't say the trade didn't work for the team from a talent perspective. As it is all too often for a team in a market as large as Chicago (and much to Jessie J's dismay), it appears to have been all about the price tag:

"The entire purpose of trading Deng, which management isn't dying to do, would be to do so to a team that can absorb Deng's contract into its salary-cap space, thus eliminating the need to take back salary."

That the Bulls might be willing to dump a 27-year-old All-Star forward for the #7 pick in a draft bereft of sure-things seems like a huge red flag. Mat is fine with moving Deng if the talent coming back is satisfying (like, say, in a certain trade proposal in this post). If it's just a financial maneuver, though? That should be an unacceptable return for arguably your second-best player.

Mat understands the logic behind it: Derrick Rose is hurt, so next season might be a lost cause; the new CBA has harsh luxury tax penalties; Deng is overpaid. Might as well retool the team under the constraints of the new system and see if you luck into getting a more capable sidekick for Rose, right?

Except: Rose will come back* -- around March, perhaps, splitting the difference between eight and 12 months. Suddenly next season isn't such a lost cause. The harsher luxury tax penalties don't kick in until 2013-14, and the Bulls won't be in danger of the ultra-severe repeater tax until after Deng's contract expires and Boozer's enters its final year, making him significantly easier to trade.

The Bulls could easily ride this very, very talented roster for another two years, contend for those years, and adjust the roster to the new salary cap after that with few repercussions. They just have to be willing to pay the price.

Jerry Reinsdorf said he'd consider paying the tax for a contender. Unless you've got the most stringent definition of "contender" in the world, Mat thinks two consecutive years with the best record in the league probably qualifies. It's taken over a decade for the Bulls to get to this point post-dynasty; management should appreciate how rare it is to build a team of this caliber.

Two years of luxury tax payments to find out what this group of players is capable of when fully healthy should be a small price to pay for the most profitable team in the league -- particularly when the reward could be invaluable.

*Mat knocked on wood for one hour straight after typing these words. Mat's knuckles are raw and bloody, but all jinxes should be warded off.