Craig,
Mike Miller is a pretty good at passing the ball. To the point where Coach K experimented w/Miller as the point running the offense in a couple of the blowouts.(It didn’t work out too well,but the thinking behind the experiment is revealing.) Miller had a bad summer shooting the ball,but he is a good shooter who can get hot and light it up.He would be a much better fit for Lakers than Radmanavich as Miller can play SG and give the Lakers some offense when Kobe gets a rest.

Since Chicago would be the main player in this deal, they will be obliged to accept Cardinal’s burden in exchange for a player like Duhon as add-ons to the deal.

Would you not trade Kwame and Critt for Miller and Noah?

My question would be “Why do we need Mike Miller?” He is an absolute disaster on defense and is a relief valve, not a passer – that is why I think he will be replaced on team USA. For that long range shooting we have Vlade, and he is better at rebounding and even defense. I don’t see the Lakers saddling themselves with Miller’s contract.

I was looking at the Bulls roster and here are some things I found:

1. Luol Deng and ben Gordon are due for extensions early this season. Paxson has always held his hand quite well and said he will not offer “crazy” numbers for these players and thus will offer the commensurate amounts with due diligence. I assume its at 8M for Gordon and 10M for Deng.

2. Ben Wallace has always been a Piston for as long as he could possibly remember. Now, after receiveing his fattest check in his life, he finds himself in an obscure position to be around young kids and being the odd man out. If we think Chicago has questioned Pax for signing him, can’t we say the same for Big Ben for signing with them? Buyer’s remorse is what I’m seeing.

3. The Bulls are somewhat like the Lakers in terms of team makeup – extremely young, nice young prospects and can rebuild anytime they like. The daunting difference is that th Bulls are out East and they are considered contenders there. Once more I say it, if the Lakers are out East, they are easily top 4.

4. With a couple more seasons playing together, Nocioni, Hincrich, Gordon and Deng poses the biggest and probably the deadliest NBA youth movement. Since these 4 guys play 1-2-3 in the roster, signing Joe Smith and keeping Big Ben seem like an odd move to make considering they had drafted Noah and now has Tyrus Thomas tearing up the nets.

5. If the Bulls made another move for Pau Gasol in Memphis, I think we can squeeze in as the 3rd team and offer Kwame and Crittenton and a pick for Joakim Noah and Mike Miller. There isn’t really much lost on this for us since we effectively add Miller as an able scoring option while getting Noah. Memphis could use the cap room and the picks while Chicago could use Critt to back up Hinrich after parting with Gordon to Memphis for Pau.

A high b’ball IQ at the PF position is something the triangle could use. We have 5 good triangle IQ players at different positions now (Fisher, Farmar, Kobe, Walton, Mihm). That’s why I said we could use one at PF.

But James Worthy is a once in a generation type of player…

I believe Atlanta will lose out on a top 4 pick with this one… It was even the reason why Phoenix traded their 08 and 10 picks to Seattle along with Kurt Thomas knowing they have a guaranteed lottery pick with Atlanta’s pick. Should it be possible that Atlanta might make the playoffs, they will still own FOR SURE a higher pick than Phoenix will in the 08 draft.

I believe the impact of lottery picks will depend highly on the makeup and structure of the current team. Most teams draft talent even though they are loaded in that position. Bad draft teams draft for needed positions (see Lakers in 2003 w/ Brian Cook) which could be better if the player adapts the role better (Tayshaun Prince in 2003). The lastly, they will definitely impact the team if that team is in a full-rebuild mode like Oden in Portland, Durant and Green in Seattle, Horford in Atlanta, Brewer in Minnesota.

Players that will develop a better understanding of the game but not much impact would be Joakim Noah of the Bulls, Mike Conley of Memphis and Brandan Wright in GS.
Knowing Noah cannot contribute immediately with how the Bulls are currently constructed, I wish the Lakers could make a pitch for him using future picks and current ones. Noah will greatly help the interior rebouding and defense of the Lakers given the chance. Plus he is 6’11 and plays FC. Perfect.

You do realize that Tyronn Lue is in a contract year, right?