If they don’t re-sign impending free agents Pau Gasol or Joakim Noah, the Bulls have some money to spend on a big man this summer and just barely enough to offer a max deal to Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside.



Whiteside is an intriguing possibility for the team because of his free agency status. Unlike restricted free agent Harrison Barnes, whom I wrote about last week, Whiteside has unrestricted status and the Heat don’t have full Bird rights on him.



Most teams have an advantage in retaining their own young players because of restricted free agency rules and “Bird rights”. The Heat only have Whiteside’s “Early Bird rights“, which allows them to offer him a little over $4 million more than any other team over the course of four years but prevents them from offering an extra fifth year that free agents are usually looking for. They also can’t match other contract offers if Whiteside wants to leave because he...