Rumor: Ray to Chicago for Hinrich/Tyrus Thomas?

Posted by Brian Robb on Feb 4, 2010 580713 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F02%2F04%2Frumor-ray-to-chicago-for-hinrichtyrus-thomas%2FRumor%3A+Ray+to+Chicago+for+Hinrich%2FTyrus+Thomas%3F2010-02-04+16%3A40%3A07Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D5807

These things just won’t stop now, will they? According to the Chicago Sun-Times:

A viable rumor making the rounds Wednesday had the Bulls and Celtics possibly making a deal with Kirk Hinrich and Ray Allen as the principals.

The Celtics would move Allen — who is making $19.8 million in the final year of his contract — if they can acquire a player who can crack their rotation this season and someone they’d be interested in keeping around for the next couple of years.

Hinrich would appear to meet those requirements, but the Bulls might have to sweeten the deal by adding forward Tyrus Thomas, who despite his obvious issues would help Boston’s frontcourt depth.

A package of Hinrich, Thomas and the expiring contract of Jerome James for Allen and another player would work under the salary cap.

We are not too big on trade rumors here at Celtics Hub, but this report however unlikely it is to happen, is worth a mention, if not only because it is the most viable trade rumor involving Ray Allen thus far. That being said, while it would be a terrific deal from a Bulls perspective (lots of cap room freed up for next year), the deal makes a lot less sense from a C’s point of view.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all in favor of getting Kirk Hinrich, but not at the expense of Ray Allen. In addition, Hinrich is overpaid for the next 2 years (17 million total) so while the C’s would be solving some of their problems with an additional PG and good defender in Hinrich, doing it at the expense of Allen doesn’t help the C’s much now or in the future.

Allen brings much more to the offensive end of the floor than Hinrich would be able to, and given a lot of the C’s struggles have been on the offensive end of the floor this year, subtracting Allen from that equation I believe would all but eliminate their Championship chances.  That is, unless they replaced Ray with an impact offensive player in any kind of deal. Kirk Hinrich is a lot of things but an impact offensive player is not one of them, and this is coming from someone who likes the guy. His detractors have a lot of validity too considering his putrid shooting numbers this year (37.9% from the field).

So what about throwing Tyrus Thomas into the mix? Does he level the playing field? For the C’s, that’s a resounding no. Sure, he is a guy who will give you some depth in the frontcourt and athleticism but let’s be honest here, the guy is maddeningly inconsistent and a chronic underachiever.

And who does he take minutes from? Glen Davis? Rasheed Wallace? The front court is not the problem right now for the C’s (besides rebounding issues, which is more of a team wide problem). So unless the C’s bring in a terrific rebounder, something Thomas is not, there is limited usefulness that player will have for this team. Plus Thomas is a restricted free agent at the end of this year so the C’s would have to pay him if they want to keep him. Thanks, but no thanks.

Final Verdict: The Bulls wish this deal would happen, but Danny won’t bite on it. Now if he could bring in Hinrich for some other expiring contracts (Scal, Eddie House, Giddens, etc.) while keeping Ray, that’s a deal I’d like to see.