The Chicago Bulls agreed to a trade with the Sacramento Kings that will send Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, and Michael Ruffin to Sacramento in exchange for Brad Miller and John Salmons.

John Salmons is the newest Chicago Bull. (photo by Arranging Matches on flickr)

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Kings are expected to deal Ruffin to the Blazers in exchange for Ike Diogu.

On the surface, the deal puts away any chance of a two way deal between the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns for Amare Stoudemire. Now in order to get Amare Stoudemire, the Bulls would have to get a third team involved, potentially the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Bulls still may deal with the Timberwolves, even if it isn’t in a three way, but rather a trade that would send Kirk Hinrich to the Timberwolves for Jason Collins and an unknown piece.

I would say to expect Hinrich to be traded. The Bulls no longer have the “insurance for in case Ben leaves” excuse, as John Salmons is their new piece of insurance. I don’t think Hinrich will be on the team after tomorrow, but I could be wrong. Bulls management has had difficulty letting him go up to this point.

If the Bulls are to complete the rumored Kirk Hinrich trade, it would show that the Bulls are serious about making a run in 2010 that involves Ben Gordon. The Bulls could even preempt 2010 at the trade deadline next year, with the massive expiring contracts of Brad Miller and Larry Hughes, if he isn’t moved in the next 21 hours.

The Bulls committed to Gordon as the starting shooting guard, even when Kirk Hinrich came back, so it’s hard to see John Salmons taking over that role. John Salmons will presumably take the sixth man role. I would expect Brad Miller to take over the starting center position once he gets some practice time in with the team.

It is good to see the Bulls finally get rid of Andres Nocioni.  I loved him his first two seasons in the league, and he really was up there with Gordon and Hinrich as the most important players on the team in that 2005-2006 season.  But he has really deteriorated to an on court cancer, and it will be nice to see him go.  Drew Gooden wasn’t a very efficient offensive player and a poor defender, which made him a poor overall big man, so I don’t think the Bulls will miss him at all, especially with Brad Miller replacing him.

So are the Bulls preparing to make a splash in 2010 free agency? This move and the potential Kirk Hinrich trade are a strong indication that they plan on doing so.

Similar Posts:

• Bulls Looking At Potential Swap For Brad Miller
• The Bulls In Wake of the Trade Deadline
• Timberwolves Covet Hinrich and Sefolosha
• More Trades On the Way
• Brad Miller to Bulls Rumblings

Tags: 2010 free agency, Andres Nocioni, Brad Miller, Cedric Simmons, Chicago Bulls, Drew Gooden, John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich, Michael Ruffin, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trailblazers, Sacramento Kings

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 4:54 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.