Monday, October 4, 2010

Noah Agrees to 5 Year/$60 Million Extension plus Boozer's injured 6-8 weeks!

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls and center Joakim Noah were able to finally agree on a contact extension over the weekend. Sources are saying the deal is around $60 million for 5 years plus incentives. This will lock Noah up well into prime and should end any talk regarding a trade to Denver for Carmelo Anthony. Here's what Sam Smith of Bulls.com had to say:


League sources confirmed the Bulls have come to an agreement with Joakim
Noah
on a contract extension.

Sources said the deal is for five
years and is worth about $60 million. It would go into effect after this season.
An announcement is expected this week.

Noah would be just the second
player from the rookie Class of 2007 along with Kevin
Durant
to agree to an extension.

It would be a relief for the Bulls
to sign Noah, especially with the potential for a lockout looming after this
season with new rules that could alter dealings regarding contracts.


I love Joakim. He's easily my favorite Bull and this deal is very good news for Chicago fans fearing that he may be shipped off to Denver or stuck in a Ben Gordonesque contract standoff. You always like to see a guy play with his passion and energy and he deserves every bit of the money he's going to get over the next 5 years. Congrats to the Bulls for getting a deal done for this guy!

Unfortunately, the good news of Joakim Noah's contract extension was cancelled out earlier on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls big name acquisition of the summer, Carlos Boozer apparently tripped over a gym bag in his house on Saturday night and broke his hand. Boozer's injury will require surgery on Tuesday and will be out 6-8 weeks.

Bulls.com's press release:


Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer sustained a fracture of his right hand (5th
metacarpal) on October 2, 2010. He was evaluated by team physician Dr. Brian
Cole and hand specialist Dr. Marc Cohen of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. The
fracture will require surgery and Carlos will likely be out 8 weeks.

This is a HUGE blow to the organization who already had ridiculously high hopes of starting off the season healthy. The whole tripping over a gym bag story has me sort of sceptical. It's a bizarre occurrence and I'm really hoping he's telling the truth and not pulling a Monte Ellis. The last thing the Bulls need is to issue a suspension on top of the 2 months Boozer will already miss.

Taj Gibson is the obvious starter for tomorrow's first preseason game of the year against the Milwaukee Bucks. Kurt Thomas will most likely be putting in some extra time at the PF spot while Boozer is out.

Also...NBA 2K11 comes out tomorrow and hopefully by Thursday I'll have a review up of what IGN is calling the "greatest basketball video game of all time".

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