Actually, it’s more like a guide to known unknowns, and unknown knowns. And plenty of unknown unknowns. We all heard what went down today, but here’s the summary again from the Chicago Bulls’ website, from their official blogger Sam Smith.
The Bulls Thursday, on the night of the NBA Draft, took another step toward the potential recruitment of a top free agent like LeBron James with a tentative trade to send Kirk Hinrich and the No. 17 pick in the draft to the Washington Wizards, sources close to both teams confirmed.
The Wizards would not be sending anything back to the Bulls, but absorbing Hinrich into their salary cap room. The trade for the Bulls would be to create additional salary cap space, close to about $31 million now, to perhaps be able to sign two top free agents.
It’s an unprecedented situation in the history of the NBA with teams paying others to take their players, as Miami did Wednesday in giving their No. 1 pick to Oklahoma City so the Thunder would take Daequan Cook. The Bulls also were believed to have sent cash to the Wizards, suggesting the Bulls aren’t backing off or sparing any expense in their pursuit of top free agents.
It’s a great blog, and I recommend you read the whole thing. Even though I have no clue why that site has that confusing and contradicting disclaimer up at the top. Seriously, he’s wirting on the Bulls website, he has season credentials for the games, so why have the warning up there? It’s only discouraging potential readers. Smith is one of the best in the business. And he was, for many years, the best writer at the Chicago Tribune.
Moving on, here’s what the Bulls actually said about the draft pick and the trade. It’s from GM Gar Forman, and it doesn’t really reveal much. Once the entire draft is completed, they will address the media, but with no picks or trades to report, I’m not sure what will be said.
This evening we selected Kevin Seraphin with the 17th overall pick of the NBA Draft. At this time, we are currently in discussions to trade our draft rights to Kevin Seraphin; however, we will not be able to complete a trade until after the moratorium period concludes on July 8.
With that said, we are not at liberty to identify the team that we are talking to or reveal any other specifics of potential trades. Therefore, we will have no comment on this selection until we have completed all trade discussions.