The Bulls brought Argentinean star Andres Nocioni to Chicago on Tuesday and are close to signing him to a multi-year contract for a portion of their mid-level exception, a league source told ESPN Insider Chad Ford. According to the source, the two sides have agreed to terms but issues relating to Nocioni's buyout with a Spanish team, Tau Cermica, could throw a wrench in things. Bulls GM John Paxson confirmed a strong interest in Nocioni on Tuesday, but stopped short of saying that a deal was done.
"This is the guy we've wanted all along," Paxson told ESPN.com. "We think he'll bring a toughness to our team at the small forward position."
The 24-year-old Nocioni played for Tau Ceramica last season, averaging 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds during Euroleague play. Nocioni is widely considered the best international player not playing in the NBA.
Nocioni is a solid perimeter shooter with NBA 3-point range, but he shines posting guys up and playing the mid-range game. Teams have wanted him for some time, but a big buyout with Tau has prohibited him from making the leap.
Nocioni has dunked on Ben Wallace. The knock on Nocioni was that he was an undersized PF but he has since developed a better perimeter game and will play a physical SF position. Considering some of the expensive Free Agent deals announced, and Paxson's excitement, this might be one of the better free agent signings in 2004-05. GSW free agent Brain Cardinal was another PF with good perimiter skills who played SF and PF for GSW and he signed with Memphis for 38 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment