http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/bulls.asp http://www.suntimes.com/output/bulls/cst-spt-bull23.html Bulls sign free-agent forward Songaila for $2.2 million By Mike McGraw Daily Herald Sports Writer Posted Friday, September 23, 2005 The Bulls officially signed Sacramento free agent Darius Songaila to a two-year contract Thursday. The deal is worth $2.2 million for the first year and contains a player option worth $2.4 million for the second year. More than likely, the 6-foot-9 forward will opt out and become an unrestricted free agent next year. As a favor to Songaila, the Kings rescinded their qualifying offer on Wednesday, turning him from a restricted to unrestricted free agent. That allowed the Bulls to sign outright the 27-year-old native of Lithuania, without having to start with an offer sheet, and it also enabled Songaila to get a short-term deal. Offer sheets to restricted free agents are required to be for at least three seasons. “This is a very significant signing for us,” Bulls general manager John Paxson said. “We like a lot of things about him. The fact that he is a skilled (power forward), can handle it, can pass it. We feel we have good perimeter players who can drive and dish. We need guys who can catch and shoot. He’s going to be great for us.” Songaila averaged 7.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and shot 52.7 percent from the field last season for the Kings, his second in the NBA. At $2.2 million, Songaila appears to be a bargain for the Bulls. Circumstances this summer left him in a lurch and the Bulls took advantage. When free agency began July 1, Sacramento expected to match any offer sheet given to Songaila. But when Shareef Abdur-Rahim failed a physical with New Jersey, the Kings used their midlevel exception to snap up Abdur-Rahim. Suddenly, Songaila’s roster spot with Sacramento was gone, and most NBA teams already had spent their free-agent money. “At that point, everybody was foaming at the mouth to get him,” said Mark Bartelstein, Songaila’s Chicago-based agent. “If he had been unrestricted, he would have at least gotten the full midlevel (worth $5 million). He would have gotten a $35 million (multi-year) contract). If we were going to go somewhere short term, we felt he should go to the best team and the best situation he could.” Bartelstein said free-agent guard Jannero Pargo will re-sign with the Bulls next week unless a significant offer comes his way in the next few days. 正式宣布簽下Songaila， 由於國王隊GM Petrie的幫助下，放棄了對Songaila的Qualifying offer， 使得Songaila不受到RFA的限制(新約至少要三年約) 而後公牛隊很划算的簽下Songaila為期兩年的合約， 第一年2.2M，第二年2.4M，不過第二年Songaila有Player Option， 一般預料第二年Songaila也很有可能會執行這個Option， 不過不管怎樣對公牛隊來說， 下一個球季的禁區很有看頭，深度跟強度都好太多了， C：Curry / A.Davis / M.Allen PF：Chandler / Songaila / Harrington 即使Curry心臟出狀況， 也還是可以排出不錯的陣容^^ 不知道大家覺得怎麼排比較好:) 然後Pargo預計下週會續簽他， 看來這個暑假還算是不錯， 班底都還是保留住了^^ --

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