The Chicago Bulls could for the Washington Wizard’s Brendan Haywood, in a rumored deal that would send Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James to Washington, according to a RealGM user, who is said to be reputable.

The Bulls would come out as major winners in this trade as Brendan Haywood is the best player in the trade, and he is also an expiring contract. Haywood is averaging 9.7 PPG 10.3 RPG and 2.1 BPG this season.

After such a trade, the Bulls would have a big front court with Brendan Haywood, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Brad Miller in the big men positions. I would move Joakim Noah down to the power forward position and start Haywood at center. With Noah and Haywood manning the big positions, I think the Bulls would be dominate defensively.

To make the trade work under the CBA, someone else would have to go out from the Wizards side.

I am not sure of how reliable the guy who is supplying the rumor is, but if a trade with these principles is on the table, than the Bulls front office needs to jump on it

The Chicago Bulls have signed Chris Richard to a 10-Day contract, according to Bulls.com.

The Chicago Bulls today signed forward Chris Richard to a 10-day contract. Richard, a 6-9, 256-pound forward, will be in uniform tonight in Atlanta when the Bulls take on the Hawks at Philips Arena at 7:00 p.m. (CT).

Richard, 25, appeared in six preseason games with Chicago this year and averaged 3.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg in 19.7 mpg, before he was waived on Oct. 22, 2009. Richard joins the Bulls by way of the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League. In nine games (all starts) with the 66ers, he averaged 10.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.22 spg, 1.11 bpg, 0.9 apg and 30.6 mpg. He shot .623 from the field and .600 from the line while in Tulsa.

Richard should be solid in filling that spot minute big man role. Richard gives the Bulls a wide body which they were lacking after trading Aaron Gray to the Hornets.

Even if Richard doesn’t see much playing time, the move probably pleases Joakim Noah, who played with Richard at the University of Florida.

According to Bulls.com, Derrick Rose has been named as a reserve for the Eastern Conference in the 59th All-Star Game, to be held in Dallas.

Bulls guard and Chicago native Derrick Rose has been named as a reserve on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, which will play in the 59th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010.

“I was in awe just thinking about it,” said Rose after the announcement was formally made on TNT. “I’m happy for the organization and I know they’re happy for me. My teammates, I wouldn’t be here without them. The coaching staff has been doing a good job. I’m just in awe right now.”

Rose becomes the first Bulls player to attain All-Star status since Michael Jordan in 1998.

It is nice that the Bulls finally ended their streak of not having a representative in the All-Star Game. The Bulls really should have had an All-Star in 06-07, when the Bulls were one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, and Ben Gordon and Luol Deng were putting together good seasons. I think those two guys were hurt a lot by the Bulls never really marketing them as star type players, rather elevating players like Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni to their level. With Rose, it was the complete opposite, Rose was marketed as the star from day one. Rose was being marketed as the star last season, even when Ben Gordon was clearly the best player on that team.

While I think this marketing of Rose as a star helped him over Gordon and Deng in years past, Rose still deserved his All-Star spot. When trying to come up with players who should be selected for a reserve role over Derrick Rose, I came up with: Rajon Rondo, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, and David Lee. That is only five players and there are seven reserve roles, which meant Rose should be an All-Star.

David Lee is the one guy who I feel got snubbed. I think that Al Horford should have been left off the roster in favor of Lee. Here is a comparison of the two players’ stats.

David Lee: 19.6 PPG 11.6 RPG 3.4 APG 1.0 SPG 0.3 BPG
Al Horford: 13.6 PPG 9.8 RPG 2.2 APG 0.7 SPG 1.3 BPG

David Lee is nearly better than Al Horford across the board. The only thing that Horford is outproducing Lee in is shotblocking, and Horford isn’t exactly a great shotblocker himself.

Reflecting more on Derrick Rose, it really is amazing that Rose is an All-Star. For the beginning of the season, Rose looked like he had regressed as a player from year one to year two. In addition the Bulls were horrible as a team. Just a little over a month ago, there were whispers of Vinny Del Negro being fired. Now the Bulls are at 22-22, and any thought of Vinny deserving to be fired is crazy now. And this Bulls turn around began with Derrick Rose starting to take over more. After his poor start, Rose is nearly averaging 20.0 PPG on the season. It is truly amazing that Rose has managed to put together an All-Star level season this year after the poor start, and we can only hope that Rose keeps the ball rolling towards super stardom.

According to Bulls.com, the Bulls have traded Aaron Gray to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Devin Brown.

January 25, 2010 — The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has acquired guard Devin Brown from the New Orleans Hornets for center Aaron Gray.

“We’re excited to add Devin Brown to our team,” said Chicago Bulls General Manager Gar Forman. “His toughness, defensive versatility, and shooting will be excellent additions to our perimeter rotation.”

This is a solid addition for the Bulls. Brown gives the Bulls more depth and size in the back court, and it is basically a free acquisition personnel wise, as Vinny Del Negro has played Aaron Gray very little this season.

According to Shamsports.com, the Bulls will take on an additional $107,075 in salary with this trade.

I think this trade will prove to be meaningless for both teams. I think I would rather have Aaron Gray than Devin Brown though, especially with two of the Bulls big men (Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah) suffering from plantar fascitis.

Update:

Devin Brown has a trade kicker in his contract, so the Bulls will be taking on more than $107,075 in salary commitment from this trade.

The Bulls started off their West Coast road trip with two losses to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls followed that up with wins over the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets.

The Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns 115-104. The Bulls were led by Derrick Rose, who had one of his best games of the season, scoring 31 points on 15-21 shooting. Luol Deng gave the Bulls 23 points, Joakim Noah 19 points, and 14 a piece for Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons. Amare Stoudemire finished with 23 points and Steve Nash struggled, finishing with only 8 points and 7 assists.

In their 104-97 win over the Houston Rockets, the Bulls got a big night out of Brad Miller, who finished with 25 points and 5 rebounds in only 25 minutes of play. Brad Miller was starting in place of Joakim Noah, who is suffering plantar fascitis. Taj Gibson had a big double double, finishing with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Derrick Rose played well again, finishing with 20 points. Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola had 20 points a piece for the Rockets, and Carl Landry scored 22 points off the bench.

With Taj Gibson continuing to play well while Tyrus Thomas struggles, it is hard to make a good case for Tyrus Thomas starting over Taj Gibson anymore. Thomas will be gone at the end of the season, and the Bulls are unlikely to feel the loss of him at all. If Taj Gibson is the starting power forward next season, then the Bulls might feel the loss of Thomas some, but their cap space should be used to sign a big man, not a shooting guard (unless you are getting that superstar player named Dwyane Wade).

It is also good to see Derrick Rose put up good game after good game. He has really turned the corner as a player.

Also, it is great to see the Bulls get two road wins against tough opponents. This was a part of the schedule that could have really derailed the Bulls season some. Now, it looks like the Bulls will keep a hold of their playoff position coming out of this trip, and will have a chance to move up in the playoff standings when they get back to an easier chunk of the schedule. The Suns are 26-19 on the season, and the Rockets are 24-19, so these are two wins that really shouldn’t have been expected out of the Bulls.

The Bulls have three more games left on this road trip, against the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and New Orleans Hornets. Worst case scenario is that the Bulls are 5 games under .500 coming out of the road trip, leaving them plenty of time to get back to .500 and make their claim for the playoffs as the schedule gets easier.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the Golden State Warriors 114-97 in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee game.

This was a bit of an unexpected win from the Warriors given that they were only suiting eight players, three of whom were D-League players. Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Corey Maggette, and Andris Biedrins were the only four Warriors’ regulars who played today, and they all played great.

The best player for the Warriors was by far Andris Biedrins, who finished with 9 points, 19 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Biedrins really bothered the Bulls with his length, and was a big part in shutting down the Bulls’ offense in the paint. The only knock on Biedrins today was his poor free throw shooting, where he shot 1-7. All of his free throws were line drives at the hoop, that bricked off the front of the rim. But Biedrins more than made up for the poor free throw shooting with his shot blocking and shot altering ability. Biedrins really set the tone defensively for the Warriors, who did a good job contesting the Bulls’ shots, and also getting set for charges, which also helped to shutdown the Bulls penetration game.

The Warriors got great production from Corey Maggette, who scored 32 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished 5 assists. Maggette shot 11-14, and was automatic from mid range shots in which he just caught the ball, measured up, and shot it.

The rookie Stephen Curry played great today as well, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Curry shot the ball well, going 5-8 from three, hit some nice floaters, and did a nice job defensively on Derrick Rose.

Monta Ellis led the Warriors in scoring with 36 points, but he did that very inefficiently, taking 39 shots to get those 36 points. He also had 8 assists in the game.

John Salmons finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. He did a good job of keeping the Bulls in the game in the third quarter, but was very quiet in the fourth quarter.

Luol Deng played well, finishing with 20 points on 7-16 shooting, and Derrick Rose was solid, scoring 19 points.

Jannero Pargo scored 12 points for the Bulls, but he scored 5 of it in garbage time. When the game mattered, Pargo was hurting the Bulls by taking some really bad shots.

Biedrins really bothered Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Noah only scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting, and Thomas scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting. Neither knew how to score around Biedrins’ long arms. Both rebounded well, as Noah finished with 16 rebounds, and Thomas had 9 rebounds in 19 minutes before fouling out.

Taj Gibson played well today, finishing with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

The Bulls were without Kirk Hinrich, who was suffering a bout with the flu.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-21 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics 96-83 behind an all around great team defensive effort.

This was a pretty winnable game for the Bulls, as both Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace were sitting out with injuries. The Bulls have really played the Celtics pretty well over the past two seasons when Kevin Garnett has not been in the lineup.

The Bulls took a lead in the first half, and seemed to maintain that throughout the rest of the game. The Celtics would cut the Bulls lead down to around 6 points or so, and then the Bulls would get some stops and hit some shots and build the lead back up to double digits.

The Bulls did a fairly good job defensively tonight, out rebounding the Celtics 50-39, blocking 10 shots, and collecting 9 steals.

Luol Deng led the way for the Bulls scoring 25 points, shooting 8-13 from the field. Deng did a good job attacking the Celtics defense and getting them to foul him, going to the free throw line 10 times.

The Bulls usually struggle dealing with the Celtics’ wide bodied big men, in particular Kendrick Perkins. Perkins played well tonight, scoring 14 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking 5 shots. While that is a good game for Perkins, it was pretty much negated by Joakim Noah who had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks. If the Bulls are playing the center battle even, they stand a pretty good shot at beating the KG-less Celtics.

The Bulls ended up winning the point guard battle between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. Rose started off slow, as he got into some early foul trouble, but he had a big second half, and finished the night with 17 points, 4 assists, and 8 rebounds. Rajon Rondo finished with 15 points on 6-14 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds. Rondo didn’t score the ball all that efficiently tonight, and was kind of lazy with the ball, turning it over 5 times. As the commentators mentioned during the game, Rondo kind of looked fatigued out there.

The Bulls got solid games out of Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson. Kirk Hinrich finished with 11 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds and Taj Gibson finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

For the Celtics, Paul Pierce scored 20 points, but he only shot 33.3% from the floor. He also had 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Deng can really can do a nice job defensively, as he did tonight on Paul Pierce.

Tyrus Thomas only managed to get 17 minutes in the ball game tonight. He was really active when he was in there, accumulating 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Thomas was pulled from the game for his inability to make shots. He would make brilliant moves towards the basket or get offensive rebounds in good positions, but he wouldn’t finish on those plays.

James Johnson had 2 big time blocks in the 7 minutes he was in the game.

John Salmons really struggled tonight for the Bulls shooting 2-9 for the field. Ray Allen also had an off night, only scoring 8 points on 4-10 shooting. Allen missed four really good looks from three point land that you expect him to nail.

Eddie House came off the bench for the Celtics and scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting.

This was the Bulls third straight win, and with this win, they improve to 17-20 on the season.