According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, the Knicks like Kirk Hinrich, but the Bulls would likely push Tyrus Thomas in a sign and trade deal.

The Knicks were hoping to get Robinson and David Lee signed at the same time and that is still a possibility if Lee is willing to agree to a one-year deal worth between $7 and $8 million. If Lee isn’t signed, the Knicks will try to work out and sign and trade. The Bulls have always been high on Lee and may try to work out a deal. The Knicks like Kirk Hinrich but Chicago would likely push Tyrus Thomas.

The whole Knicks situation is quite interesting. I think it is pretty classy of the Knicks to be offering these guys much more money than their qualifying offers on these one year offers.

I find it interesting that the Knicks may be willing to pay Kirk Hinrich long term money, but not David Lee (or Nate Robinson). That must show that Mike D’Antoni truly believes that Kirk Hinrich can run his system.

I find this to be laughable, as Kirk Hinrich is a bit of a fastbreak killer. Just analyzing the Bulls last year, they had Derrick Rose who was blazing fast on the fastbreak and Ben Gordon who was one of the league leaders in fastbreak points. There is something that Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon understand about the fastbreak that Kirk Hinrich doesn’t, and that is that you have to push the ball. If Rose saw Gordon ahead of him on the fastbreak, he would push the ball up to Gordon to attack the other team’s defense in transition. Gordon would do the same if Rose, Salmons, Hinrich, etc. were ahead of him.

Kirk Hinrich on the otherhand, feels the need to dribble the ball up the court himself, instead of pushing the ball ahead to teammates, which kills the fastbreak, as it allows the other team to fully transition back on defense, taking away the Bulls’ advantage on the fastbreak.

It is logical that the Bulls would want to include Tyrus Thomas in a trade for David Lee. Minutes would be scarce in the front court with James Johnson, Joakim Noah, Brad Miller, and David Lee up front, and with Luol Deng possibly playing some minutes at the four as well.

The Bulls also probably aren’t planning on keeping Tyrus Thomas longterm, as keeping him would prevent them from pursuing a big name free agent in 2010 free agency.

David Lee is an interesting player. He averaged 16.0 PPG and 11.7 RPG, there’s not many players that can do that in the NBA. That is a valuable player to have on your team. The problem is that the Bulls will still need to find some more star power, and trading for Lee would take away a lot of the Bulls flexibility this coming summer, which would mean that there would have to be another move made after trading for Lee to improve the team into a position where they truly have a chance to compete.

According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks are discussing a trade that would send Larry Hughes to the Knicks in exchange for Malik Rose. Jerome James or Nate Robinson could also be involved in the trade, as well as David Lee if the Bulls were willing to part with Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah.

The Knicks are in talks with the Chicago Bulls about a deal for shooting guard Larry Hughes, whose contract expires in two summers.

Malik Rose’s expiring contract is being dangled in a potential deal but the Knicks would have to include another player to make the deal satisfy salary cap restrictions. The Knicks would gladly include Jerome James, who is coming off Achilles surgery and may never play again. James’ contract also expires after next season.

There is a possibility that Nate Robinson could be included in the deal since Robinson is set to become a restricted free agent on July 1. The fans may not want to see the popular Robinson traded but the team president Donnie Walsh has made it known that his plan is to sign two All-Star caliber free agents by 2010.

The only way David Lee would be included in a deal for Hughes is if the Bulls include either Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah, who may be expendable now that Chicago has acquired Brad Miller from Sacramento.

Why are the Knicks willing to trade for Larry Hughes? The Knicks are likely looking at a potential trade for Larry Hughes because they realize he has a lot of offensive talent that has not been focused in his career, and they think they could bring his offense to its full potential in D’Antoni’s system. Hughes’ contract expires after next season, so it will not interfere with the Knicks’ 2010 plans.

This would be a great trade for the Bulls. The Bulls would get rid of Larry Hughes, who no longer players, and they would do it, getting some relief for next season by getting Malik Rose’s expiring contract. By unloading some salary off the cap with this trade, the Bulls will have more room to maneuver when trying re-signing Ben Gordon this summer.

This is a good trade, and I hope to see it go through tomorrow.

Every new days brings more and more rumors regarding the potential trading of the Suns’s Amare Stoudemire. Here are the latest rumors out there.

The big rumor is that the Portland Trail Blazer’s are discussing a blockbuster offer with the Suns.

The latest trade rumor involving Phoenix Suns forward Amare Stoudemire is indeed a juicy one: The Portland Trail Blazers reportedly are offering forward LaMarcus Aldridge and guard Jerryd Bayless as part of a package for the young star.

CBSSports.com, citing “a person with direct knowledge of the talks,” reported Tuesday that Portland also would deal big man Raef LaFrentz and his expiring $12.7 million contract.

That is a great mixture of young talent and a big expiring contract. I would have to believe this makes Portland the front runner if this offer is indeed true. Could the Suns choose the Bulls package over the Blazers package? Maybe. The value of Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah has been surging lately, and I doubt the Suns will want to create a trio of Brandon Roy, Amare Stoudemire, and Greg Oden, that they would have to go through in the playoffs every year if they had any hopes of competing in the next decade.

Another interesting rumor comes Yahoo! Sports, which says that the Suns owner, Robert Sarver, is directly talking to teams about potential trades. On the surface, this appears bad for the Bulls, because it could take Steve Kerr out of the equation, who would probably want Stoudemire traded to the Bulls if at all possible. But there is a strong chance that Sarver is only talking to the Kings and Grizzlies as a negotiating ploy with the Bulls. It makes no sense for Stoudemire to be traded to either of those teams because neither is good, and would have a strong probability of losing Stoudemire in 2010.

The third set of rumors, as chronicled in this forum post, from NBA TV, are by far the most intriguing. David Alridge began by saying that Amare will be moved by the deadline.

Frank Isola, beat writer for the New York Daily News, said that one of his sources within the Knicks organization said that they believe Amare has already been traded to an Eastern Conference team, but that it will not be announced until after the Allstar Break in Phoenix. The Knicks source believes that the team that Amare has been traded to is either Chicago or Miami.

This rumor seems like it could be somewhat plausible. The Allstar Game will be in Phoenix and it can’t be good for Amare to be a representative for the Bulls or Heat starting for the Western team, getting booed mercilessly all game. As long as Amare is still a Sun during the Allstar Game, presumably the boo birds will restrain themselves.

Sam Smith then refuted what Isola had just said. Smith said that the Suns have informed the Bulls that they have received a better offer from another Eastern Conference team, although Smith says that this might just be a negotiating ploy by the Suns.

The longer this process draws out, it seems the more Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah’s value to the Bulls increases, as well as their trade value. Tyrus Thomas had 22 points and 10 rebounds last night, and Joakim Noah added in 12 points and 16 rebounds. Even if the Bulls cannot complete a trade for Stoudemire, it looks like they end up having a productive front court anyhow. We will continue to update as more news and rumors regarding the Amare Stoudemire situation surface.