It has been a well known fact that in the last few years the Phoenix Suns were open to trading star PF Amar'e Stoudemire. Rumors have surfaced that Stoudemire could be going to the Cavs in exchange for J.J. Hickson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and a first round pick. Adding Stoudemire to the Cavs would be downright scary. The league's best record currently resides in Cleveland and adding yet another force down low would only help.
After the story broke about the Cavs and Suns closing in on an agreement, other teams have sweetened their offer. According to Ric Bucher of ESPN the Chicago Bulls have also made an offer for Stoudemire which he believes the Suns will take. The Bulls are offering Kirk Hinrich, Tyrus Thomas, and a first round pick. This would be a blessing for the Bulls for two main reasons. The first is because they can finally get the low post scorer they've been craving for over a decade. The second reason is because Stoudemire's 16 million dollar contract would be coming off the books in the summer of the biggest free agent market in recent history. Basically the Bulls would be renting him for half a season. If he works out, they resign him. If he doesn't they let him walk. Getting Stoudemire is win win situation for Chicago.
The Bulls already have the funds to go after one premier free agent. With this money, the Bulls could offer a maximum contract to two free agents.
My guess is that they would make big offers to both Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh. Joe Johnson has been rumored to be interested in going to the Windy City and at the all star festivities he did little to disprove that theory.
When asked if he was interested in playing alongside fellow All Star Derrick Rose he made the following statement, "He's a great point guard, I think any guy would love to play with him."
Let me tell you what he's really saying: Yes I want to go to Chicago but I can't say that until after the season.
Going after Chris Bosh makes sense because he can run with Rose and he would provide a steady scorer to demand the attention of defenses. If you put Rose, Johnson, and Bosh together with players like Luol Deng and Joakim Noah you're ready to seriously contend for a title.
It's believed that if Stoudemire does in fact move, he's almost definitely going to either Cleveland or Chicago. If I had to guess I would say he's going to Cleveland only because reports are surfacing all over the place that this is almost a done deal. However it makes more sense to accept the Bulls' offer. You get a tough, unselfish, defensive minded PG in Kirk Hinrich. And a big man who fits perfectly in the Suns' running game with Tyrus Thomas. That makes more sense than the Cavs' offer because Ilgauskas sure as hell can't run like he would need to in the Suns' system and JJ Hickson is massively overrated. He's very good, but right now he's getting way more credit than he deserves.
Where he's going is up in the air, but what is certain is that whoever gets Stoudemire is going to be getting a major increase in the odds for a championship....Unless the Nets get him.
