By Sean Mackey
The Chicago Bulls officially signed three point specialist Kyle Korver and 2008 draft day acquisition, Omer Asik on Tuesday.
Kyle Korver will rake in $15 million over the next 3 seasons. Euro league player, Omer Asik will make $4 million over the next 3 seasons. If Asik turns out to be a good gamble, the 3 year deal will have been a good choice because they will have Bird rights on him.
Neither signings are of huge significance but Korver does bring some great bench scoring to a team who ranked 29th in 3 pointers last season. Ever since, Ben Gordon bailed for Detroit, the Bulls have struggled taking 3 pointers. Luol Deng has started to slowly incorporate the 3 point shot into his game but with the exception of him, the recently traded Kirk Hinrich and the once in a month James Johnson garbage time attempt, the Bulls barely used the 3 pointer as a weapon. With Carlos Boozer and Derrick Rose drawling double teams, they should be able to use Korver in kick out situations.
Omer Asik is still a bit of a mystery. With the exception of a few poor youtube clips, I haven't seen much of his game. He seems to be able to rebound and pass but seems to be like most Euro centers, kind of soft. The Bulls gave up 3 future 2nd round picks for him so I'm assuming they saw something they really liked in Asik. It's also a mystery if the Bulls will attempt to bring back Brad Miller next season with the signing of Asik. Are they confident enough that Asik can take on the load that Brad Miller did last season off of the bench? Brad averaged 9 points and 5 boards a game, a fantastic passer and a great locker room guy.
It's going to be really hard for a rookie Euroleaguer to bring everything that Brad did. With that being said, I'd love to see Brad Miller sign a final 2 year contract with Chicago. That gives the Bulls 2 years to mold Asik into a permanent, cheap back-up for Noah.
In other Bulls news, Orlando Magic restricted free agent, JJ Redick was signed to a 3 year $20 million offer sheet by Chicago last Friday night. Orlando's GM Otis Smith has until this Friday (7/16) to match the offer. The Magic would likely go into luxury tax if they matched the deal after giving swingman Quintin Richardson a multi year contract.
Although, a lot of fans assume that Q-Rich was picked up to replace JJ Redick, he's more likely going to be taking over the position Matt Barnes occupied last season. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith have both made indications that the Bulls deal will be matched but the choice is ultimately up to the owners and if they want to pay the tax for a back up guy like Redick. A similar situation like this happened last season when the Dallas Mavericks threw out a ridiculous contract to Magic center Marcin Gortat. The Magic surprisingly matched the deal wanting to keep the bench core together after making the NBA Finals that season. ESPN analyst Ric Bucher has indicated that the Magic will most likely match the deal and make Chicago wait until Friday to find out. If the Bulls strike out with Redick, they'll most likely set their sights on signing former Utah Jazz starting SG, Ronnie Brewer.
Personally, I want JJ. We'll see what happens though.
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