Peter Vecsey and ESPN Chicago report that the Bulls are “on the verge” of signing veteran C Nazr Mohammed. The big ramification of this is it signals the Bulls do not intend to match the three-year, $25 million offer sheet from the Houston Rockets for big man Omer Asik, clearing the way for Asik to join Houston.
The move for Chicago provides them with a talented veteran in Mohammed who has championship experience with the Spurs and in Tom Thibodeau’s system, should be able to provide good minutes, even if he’s as step-down from Asik. Mohammed played limited minutes for the Oklahoma City Thunder, eventually having his roster spot jumped by youngster Cole Aldrich, but still gives good effort. He has the kind of floor awareness to do what he needs to in Thibodeau’s system to succeed. It’s a regression from Asik, but not such a massive one that it will cripple the Bulls’ bench. And, of course, it saves Jerry Reinsdorf some dough, which is always the objective in moves like this.
Houston will land a seven-footer with almost no offensive abilities for $25 million over three years. Asik has to be an absolutely dominant center for this move to work out as a win. While the Rockets will still have the ability to use the stretch exception should Asik crash and burn in his third year, they’ll still be on the hook for $15 million spread out over over three years, with a lower cap hit. (Unless there is an obscure CBA provision about this, which there could be. The thing is more arcane than the Necronomicon.)
It’s a huge gamble, but if he can be the defensive presence they need him to be, it could be a gamechanger for the Rockets’ defense which has struggled over the years. And if they land Dwight Howard, they could put out one of the biggest lineups in the league if they were to play them together. Big gambles in Houston.
(HT: HoopsHype)