I've had mixed feelings on re-signing Gordon to a big deal, but the Monta Ellis deal and the fact that they are very comparable players in terms of value (even though I initially doubted this) has convinced me that Ben needs to get paid. The question is, how much? Well, if we go based on the Monta Ellis model, about 6 years $66 million (maybe a little less). So how much do we need to pay him starting this year based on those figures? For 6 years $66 million, we'd need to start him out at $8.7 million this year- increasing $.9135 million every year (or 10.5% of $8.7mil). Luol Deng is reportedly seeking a deal worth $75 million over 6 years. In order to pay Deng his money we'd need to start him out at $9.9 million this year - increasing about $1.04 mil per year to reach about $15.1 mil on the final year of his deal. So for this year's luxury tax number the Bulls would be adding 8.7+9.9 = $18.6 million. Right now the luxury tax threshold is $ 71.15 million . According to Sham , the Bulls have about $49.12 million on the payroll for next year and that's before adding the $4.83 million for Derrick Rose's contract. So all totalled the Bulls have about $53.95 on the payroll (assuming Shannon Brown isn't back this year, which he shouldn't be). So that leaves the Bulls at about $17.2 million for the Bulls to work underneath for the luxury tax. As I showed above, to pay the two best players on the Bulls what they're worth we ne ...
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