Even with Kirk, Nazr, DJ, and Mike James coming off the books too? That's like an extra 6 million between those 4 guys if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, you're right but it's still not enough. Remember, there's a salary cap max you have to stay under. Part of the reason why Chicago traded Deng was because he wanted around $15 million a year and also for luxury tax purposes.
Freeing up Boozer would drop the Bulls' payroll to around $48 million which is committed to around 9 players for next season. Now, you need at least 12 active players on every NBA roster. Depending on what the salary situation looks like (assuming 3 players get minimum deals), the Bulls would be left with $14 million in projected cap space to sign a free agent.
Now, you also have to subtract cap holders for each empty spot and also the rookie (might be 2 because you guys have the Bobcats pick which is top 10 protected) for 2014. Considering all of this, this now drops the cap space to $10 million. Which isn't enough to sign players such as Lebron James (highly unlikely--He wants the max), and Carmelo Anthony (unlikely, because $10 mill would be a severe paycut).
Players that the Bulls should look into and would be a more realistic target is Danny Granger. He might leave Indiana and would be a great replacement for Deng.
Honestly, what's hurting you guys is Derrick Rose. He's eating up at $18 million this year and $19 million next year in cap space and isn't playing at all, due to injury.
The man plays with such a physical style that his knee just isn't going to hold up. This will be the case going forward until he changes his game. And honestly, I don't think he's the type of player to do that. A lot of his game is dependent on torque and quick movement which is slowly deteriorating his knee.
Look at Amare Stoudamire for example. All those years playing above the rim wore out his knees. He saved himself a couple of year by developing a perimeter game and some type of post game as well. If Amare never made that adjustment--he'd probably be out of the league right now.