Ed Szczepanski / USA TODAY Sports Images
JULY 7, 1:44pm: The Bulls have issued a press release announcing their signing of Rondo.
JULY 3, 7:03pm: Rondo and the Bulls have a “mutual option” on year two of the deal, says Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). That means either side can opt out next offseason, which presumably suggests a player option on a non-guaranteed salary.
6:17pm: The second year of Rondo’s deal is only partially guaranteed, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
5:57pm: Point guard Rajon Rondo has agreed to a two-year, $28MM contract with the Bulls, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. The entire contract is guaranteed and neither side has an option, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today, who reports the deal at $30MM over two seasons.
Either way, it’s a significant raise for Rondo, who signed a one-year $9.5MM contract with the Kings last summer. He led the league in assists with 11.7 per game during his single season in Sacramento, while scoring 11.9 points a night.
“I’m excited,” Rondo said. “Great organization with pieces around me that I’m excited about.” (Twitter link).
The move brings the Bulls up to the salary floor, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, who says the team offered one- and two-year deals of all of its targets. It also raises the possibility that Jose Calderon, who was acquired in a trade with the Knicks last week, may be waived.
Curious about the potential dynamic between him and Butler, but its theoretically not a terrible fit, and he had a really good year last year.
Rondo, Dunleavy, Butler, Mirotic, Lopez would probably be the most likely starters, as of now, right? Then there are a few things you can do with the bench rotation, depending on who stays and how much playing time they give Valentine
Yikes. Not a bad move compared to what others are getting on the open market. But this does nothing in the way of accomplishing the Bulls’ stated goals of getting younger and preserving cap space etc… Head scratcher from a front office perspective.
that being said, from a pure numbers standpoint, Rondo is actually a massive upgrade on Rose from last year, and he got the exact money I was expecting him to get ($15 million per for 2 years)
Yes, not in any way dies this make “younger and more athletic”, as Gargrrrgrrr Forman said was the reason they traded Rose. The Day Late, Dollar Short Guys run this team.
Always scares me when a FO deviates from their plan like in this case. Rondo plays up with established shooters and scorers, a team that plays solid D. The Bulls are not this team in the least. As a Bulls fan it’s a little frightening but at this point they have no shot at contention in the East and they’re not giving him substantial money towards next years FA crop. That said, the Bulls should look at the Lakers and Knicks and see how well they’ve done in attracting top echelon free agents just because they’re a big market… Doesn’t work like that in this day and age. Sadly things won’t look up until GarPax is long gone and (again as a fan) you have to feel for Jimmy who’s prime is likely to be wasted on a team with no direction and seemingly no clue.
to be fair, they technically di get a little younger, lengthier, and more athletic in some areas. They added a couple of redundant pieces though at that combo guard spot
Love It, the Bulls got some shooters in McDermott And Mirotic for Rondo to work with. With Rondo they are in a fight for one of The lower seeds, Rondo-Butler-McDermott-Mirotic-López is pretty solid, but why not move Mirotic, Gibson, Snell, And a future First to under for Cousins? Rondo, Butler, And Cousins would insane
Because I bet the kings would want way more then a older vet and a some what unproven player in Snell
Why would Sacramento deal Cousins for that minimal return?
Lol what? No way that gets you Cousins. I was with you for the most part until then
Shooters who cant shoot with ant consistency.
McDermott and Miroric are average shooters at BEST. And that’s about all they contribute on the floor. Rondo is a good player when surrounded by good players (KG, Paul Pierce, and former best 3pt. shooter of all time Ray Allen).
The first sentence is just plain wrong. They are both actually above average shooters. Mirotic is just WAY too streaky at times, but he did shoot 39% from the arc last year, which is very solid. Doug is a very good shooter (over 42% from 3 last year), but he can’t really do anything else yet. Neither one is a very good basketball player right now, but they are pretty far from being average shooters at BEST.
Honestly, I thought I’d HATE this signing. But it’s for pretty darn cheap and only 2 years, so I’m not horribly upset about it.
About a week ago I said there was no way Rondo was going to Chicago. Boy was I wrong. Still, while he fills the final starting PG spot available in the NBA, the reason I was skeptical was because the Bulls would be starting over and would use a younger PG. We shall see how he fits with Butler.
Jeeezus Help me! So the team with the laid back coach who cant get the players to give a full effort signs a guy with attitude problems. Aside from that, who is going to make baskets on this team? Unless McBuckets fulfills all expectations, they wont have a single go to shooter for Rondo to pass the ball to. At least they will probably dump Calderon now. If they were serious about building around Butler, they would have gone after some serviceable pg like Vasquez and shuttled him and Grant. So help me, if they talk at all about competing with Cleveland I will sell all my tickets. Most inconsistent, boneheaded FO ever.
Mutual option is nice for the Bulls. Pretty much answers everyone’s issues about the deal
i feel the Bulls will exceed expectations, call me crazy but I could see them getting the 5th seed at best. Nobody was healthy for them last season if Lopez, Butler, and Rondo stay healthy they can win 45 or more games
Chicago!!! If you hate made 3 point shooting you will love Rajon Rondo!!!
to be fair, he actually surprisingly shot it pretty well from 3 in Sacramento
You do realize that we are coming from watching Derrick Rose, right? We’ve seen PLENTY of missed 3 pointers.
While I can see the signing being questionable…what other option was there? The roster is at a point where they’re not good enough to be serious contenders but not bad enough to be a high lottery team. And while I get the “let’s go younger” vision, do all of you Bulls fans really want to see Grant or Calderon starting? Grant, in my opinion, needs at least one more year of seasoning off the bench…having him start right away isn’t a good idea.
uh, not signing Rondo?
Not a Bulls fan but Rondo is a quality free agent in this terribly overpaid class. The problem in Chicago is the same. Forman, Paxson and head coach Fred.
True. So I guess Chicago should just sign a bunch of overrated overpaid malcontents and use that as an excuse to raise ticket prices (again), instead of actually trying to put together a team that has pieces that fit together or fit the (agreed, shitty) coach’s scheme.