This past week, John Paxson appeared on Lunch With a Legend to discuss various issues surrounding the Bulls. Here is a recap of what was said during the radio appearance.

• The roster is better since the deadline deals.
• He would like to see an 8 or 9 man rotation with Luol Deng in there.  He is not sure what will happen with Deng for the rest of the year.
• The Bulls have a scouting staff.  It is Jay Hillock’s job to go out and identify players in the league who are a little undervalued.  The Bulls were on John Salmons since the beginning of the year.
• The key to making the trade happen was the willingness to take on Brad Miller’s contract for next year.
• There is still some work to do to prepare the Bulls for 2010.  The Bulls have options on their roster to allow them to do it.
• Paxson likes what Salmons can do off the dribble.  Longterm, he can play either at the 2 or 3.  He doesn’t have a lot of mileage on him because he didn’t play a lot of minutes so far in his career.  Salmons can be really good for a number of years.
• There is a definite injury in Luol Deng’s leg.  They have chosen to take activity away from him.  He is starting to run a little bit.  They have a treadmill that takes his body weight off of him.
• Luol Deng is the only one who can give an answer to why there is an organizational divide.  Paxson would have liked for Luol to tell the organization which doctors he wanted to talk to first.  However, the Bulls still got on board with the doctor Luol chose.  The Bulls’ diagnosis was right from the beginning.
• The problem with the Big Mac booing was that Kirk Hinrich had an unbelievable game.  Wishes that people would get in their cars saying what a great game it was, but they booed Kirk instead. You’d like to see the fans up on their feet cheering, especially when you beat the Pistons.
• Paxson has never claimed his free Big Mac after the game.
• He is not fearful that Luol Deng will not become the player they thought he would be.  He thinks that Deng is more of a system guy who plays off the strengths of others.  He still thinks that Deng will become a very good player.  He evaluated last year that the small forward position is a really valuable one.  He believes that Deng will have value and has value now.  Down the road you may have Deng to move in a deal, to which Paxson recovered with, “We don’t have any intention of moving Luol Deng.”  He has talked to teams around the league, and Deng does have value.
• He thinks that Neil Funk and Stacey King have a nice rapport.
• The Bulls have always battled the small backcourt.  John Salmons gives the opportunity to play with a bigger backcourt.  he thinks with Derrick’s size that can be a formidable backcourt, and that’ without talking about Ben Gordon, who Paxson thinks can play a terrific role for the Bulls.  He feels tha tthe Bulls now have some real scorers on the team with John Salmons, Ben Gordon, and Derrick Rose.
• Some of Ben Gordon’s future is financial.  Money deals aer becoming a reality in the league right now.  He would love to keep Gordon.  They tried the last two years, made substantial offers, and for whatever reason it didn’t work out.  He doesn’t assign blame to anyone for the failed negotiations.  They will have a chance to look at the big picture this summer and try to get him back.
• Again reitererated that he is the GM now and plans to be the GM.  If anything changes he will let everbody know.  Peter Vescey, the Suntimes, and David Aldridge were bogus and so out of reality.  The health stuff especially, he has no idea why Aldridge would bring that up.  he feels no obligation to lend credibility to these uys.  He thinks he proved that he is committed to the job at the trade deadline.
• Being able to break Larry Hughes big contract into two smaller pieces could help the Bulls make a trade in the future.
• When the Bulls got John Salmons they knew Thabo Sefolosha wasn’t going to play.  Of course, they could not have foreseen Luol Deng’s injury.  Having Sefolosha’s contract on the books next year would have caused some problems.
• They have another promotion going where they are going to be wearing a different color of green.  An environmental green.
• They are going to wear Los Bulls against the Heat.  Los Bulls and El Heat is the way the Hispanic speakers say it, not Los Toros.
• He thought Derrick Rose was terrific off the bat.  Has seen significant improvement in two areas: 1.  His shot has gotten more consistent, especially from the elbows.  2. His decision making has gotten better.  He thinks that Rose will probably be a higher turnover guy, but the greatest assist guy, John Stockton, was a high turnover guy as well.  He needs to grow on the defensive end.  he gets caught watching the ball a lot of the time.
• There was never a mandate for Vinny Del Negro to put Derrick Rose on the floor in clutch time.  They all know that Rose is the b iggest part of their future.  The whole organization wants to see him learn at the end of games.
• Had a preference for Rose to be in the game in the first Miami game.  Have to allow learning on the job when you hire someone with no head coaching experience.  The goal is to try to help Vinny become the best head coach he can be.  He is beginning to grow into that role.  Vinny is under contract the next couple of years, you don’t just give a guy a contract and then just get rid of him.  There is so much pressure to win, that decisions are made.  But if you do something like that, you have to ask yourself, what are you going to do.
• Paxson thinks we have a great opportunity to make the playoffs.  Maybe the biggest reason to make the playoffs is to get Rose some playoff experience.
• He can’t do anything about Noah and Thomas’ age and maturity.  The biggest thing for those guys was getting consistent time when the injuries occurred.  Noah is a guy who just cares about winning.  He thinks that Noah has played very well since getting consistent minutes and the starting job.  He thinks Thomas is similar.  When Drew Gooden got hurt, Tyrus Thomas got the minutes.  His ability at times has shown.  If tThomas would run the floor more, he would get a few more dunks a game.  Him and Noah have a nice thing going and Brad Miller is helping those two.
• Paxson throws things during games.  He kicked in the panel by the TV in the lockerroom.  He fins it frustrating that with all the things done to make players’ lives easier that you don’t see them recripocating what your doing for them.  There stll seems to be a distrust of the organization’s intentions which he cannot understand.
• The White House day was odd.  He first heard about Norm Van Lier when they were getting on the bust to the White House.  People were drawn to Norm because he was going to tell it like it was and people liked to hear it.  Norm was part of those Bulls teams that were endeared by the city for the way they played.  He remembers when they won their first championship that Norm felt a part of it.  The Bulls were so fortunate to meet the president, especially with the historical significance of President Obama.
• Paxson showed a picture of his son Ryan to Obama.  Paxson’s son Ryan, joined the military.  Paxson has great respect for every young person who decides to join the military.  Ryan’s path was a little bit different becauseh e was playing basketball, but felt it in his heart to enlist.  It shows that there are young people out there willing to take something more difficult on.  He is proud that Ryan, as a person coming from an affluent situation not having a sense of entitlement.
• Johnny Red Kerr was in a lot of pain for the last several weeks.  He was a good man.  He did just about everything for the Bulls outside of playing.  You can call him a homer ,but that’s because he loved the Chicago Bulls.  Today, it’s more analysis, but Johnny was going to tell you how much he loved the Bulls players.

Just a little interesting picture to see on the Yahoo! NBA page today, that showed two former Bulls among this weeks hot performers.

The Bulls were one of the busiest teams before the trade deadline yesterday, making three tradesk shipping out six players, and bringing back five.  Now tha the dust has settled, how do the Bulls stack up after the deadline, and what direction will they be taking the team?

Subtractions

• Andres Nocioni
• Drew Gooden
• Cedric Simmons
• Michael Ruffin
• Larry Hughes
• Thabo Sefolosha

Additions

• Brad Miller
• John Salmons
• Anthony Roberson
• Jerome James
• Tim Thomas
• 2009 San Antonio Spurs First Round Draft Pick

Starting by looking at the subtractions, the Bulls lost nothing of much significance.  Andres Nocioni was once an important cog in the Scott Skiles’ Bulls, but has really developed into a no defense chucker in the past two years.  Drew Gooden, while he could score from time to time, he was inconsistent, and not a very efficient scorer as a whole, and had weak interior defense.  Larry Hughes was no longer player, and said by some in the media to be a troublemaker.  Removing these three from the team could prove to be addition by subtraction.

Thabo Sefolosha was good sometimes, and played some good defense from time to time in his time here.  With the addition of John Salmons, he simply wasn’t going to play here.  A first round draft pick was good compensation for him.

Cedric Simmons and Michael Ruffin never played, so not much of a loss their on the basketball court.  Ruffin was one of the most active Bulls in the community season, and Simmons was very active as well, so I’m sure the Bulls will miss that aspect of having these two around, as both did a lot for the Bulls in terms of fan outreach.

Now, for the additions.  Jerome James and Anthony Roberson figure to never play in games for the Chicago Bulls, but Brad Miller, John Salmons, and Tim Thomas figure to play here.

Brad Miller is the new Antonio Davis.  That’s the way to look at this. He is the veteran big man who knows how to get things done in the NBA.  He can pass and shoot the midrange jumper, which will be big in the Bulls offense.  The Bulls also look to get a lot of leadership out of Miller. He will be a good guy to have around the team.

John Salmons is the second guy from the Kings that the Bulls acquired.  One thing to note, do not read too much into what Paxson said at the press conference yesterday.  Salmons is not the newly annointed great shooting guard of the Bulls.  Think back to the 2006 draft, and the press conference that followed it.  Paxson raved on and on about Viktor Khryapa.  The guy hardly played for us, and ended up being bought out.

This is not to say that John Salmons will not play.  He definitely will, and will be a rotation player.  He has a lot of talent, and I think starting next year, will be that elusive big guard, that backs up both Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon.  The bonus with John Salmons is that he can play at the small forward position as well, without the Bulls being undersized.  As long as the Bulls have four guards for these last 28 games of this year, Salmons role will probably be stunted.  But next year, if the Bulls trade Kirk Hinrich, which they nearly did at the deadline, then John Salmons will find himself in a big minute sixth man role.

Salmons isn’t quite as good as Paxson advertised.  Paxson was raving about his defense.  Just because Salmons is tall, doesn’t mean that he is a good defender.  On the season, Salmons has a D-Rtg of 116 and 0.0 defensive win shares, which makes him one of the worst defenders in the entire NBA.

You have to wonder how a guy like Salmons will hold up offensively when he joins a team like the Bulls, and is actually asked to exert some type of effort on defense.  With Salmons actually having to play defense, will we see his scoring efficiency fall?  Only time will tell.

Offensively, Salmons is pretty good.  He is averaging 18.3 PPG on 57.3 TS%, which makes him a really good scorer this year.  The one thing the Bulls needed was more efficient scorers, as they don’t have many guys that can score efficiently.  Salmons brings that component to the Bulls, joining Gordon as a player who has a TS% greater than 57%.  Salmons is shooting 41.8% from three point land.  Shooters are always welcome.

The big question is whether Salmons is just a one year wonder or not.  Prior to this season, the most Salmons has scored was 12.5 PPG in a season.  Outside of this year, Salmons hasn’t been a very good three point shooter.  Players as old as Salmons typically don’t make the kind of leap he has made this year.  This is eerily similar to the situation with Mike James in Toronto, an older player explodes for a big year on one of the worst teams in the league.

Does this mean John Salmons is a scrub in disguise?  No.  But he is not starter material, given his near league worst defense, and the fact that he has a better scorer and defender ahead of him in the lineup in Ben Gordon.  Salmons could make a good sixth man for the Bulls over the next few years, but anything more is just overreaching with him.

Tim Thomas is a decent acquisition.  He will be able to spread the floor with his jumpshot similar to what Nocioni did during his time here.  Thomas will do this in limited minutes at the power forward position.

What did these trades do for the Bulls in terms of building for the future?  It was simply asset building.

In terms of liquid assets going into next year, the Bulls have Brad Miller’s expiring contract, Jerome James’ expiring contract, Tim Thomas’ expiring contract, young prospects Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, the rights to Omer Asik, their own 2009 draft pick, and the 2009 draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs.

In addition to those, the Bulls also have Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons, who some teams are sure to be interested in.

The Bulls now are loaded with tradeable assets.  Paxson is ready to swing a blockbuster trade.  It is just a matter of waiting for the time to come.  It could happen at the 2009 NBA draft, or prior to the 2010 trade deadline.

The small flaw with this plan is that it depends on the actions of other teams in the league.  But I feel this is a brilliant plan.  When Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, and others start becoming available on the trade market, Paxson is ready to make a deal.

That was kind of the plan going into this trade deadline.  The Bulls tried to get Amare Stoudemire for the expiring contract of Drew Gooden and some young prospects.  It didn’t work out, but Paxson has reloaded the Bulls with expiring contracts to give it another go next year.

Following this trade deadline, the Bulls future looks much brighter to me.  A key to all of this, is for the Bulls to re-sign Ben Gordon.  He is their best scorer, and will be crucial in this team becoming great.  Yes, Gordon isn’t good enough to lead a team by himself.  But as one of the best three pointers in the game, the fourth best fastbreak scorer in the NBA this season, and a tradtionally clutch scorer, he is exactly what you want out of one of the complementry players around Derrick Rose. As long as the Bulls re-sign Ben Gordon, they will be in a position to become a championship caliber team with one, big blockbuster trade at the deadline next year.

John Paxson gave a press conference following the 2009 trade deadline.  In the press conference, Paxson used the word “component” over and over again.  Here is a recap of what was said during the press conference:

• Paxson started off the press conference by stating that he is the general manager of the Bulls, that he is not resigning.  He is here, and will continue to be here.
• Moving Andres Nocioni was hard for him.  The first time he saw Nocioni play in the Kings Cup in Spain was how he played for the Bulls for four and a half years.  Nocioni represented everything that Paxson wants out of a player who puts on the Chicago Bulls uniform.
• Paxon thinks that both players acquired from the Kings fit the Bulls really well.  The Bulls were in need of a big guy who fits what they were trying to do offensively.  Brad Miller is a good passer.  The Bulls run a lot of stuff at the elbows where the big guys have to pass and do dribble hand offs.  Paxson thinks Miller will help the young bigs.
• John Salmons is in Paxson’s mind, and underrated player.  The Bulls have been looking for legitimate size in the backcourt for sometime, and they think they finally have it in Salmons.  Salmons can also play some small forward.  Paxson likes that Salmons had to earn his way as a player, and feels that those guys who had to push themselves to become good players “get it”.  He was a big component to the Bulls making the trade with the Kings.
• The Bulls had been looking to move Larry Hughes.  Paxson told Hughes and his agent tha thy wold do whatever they could to move him.
• Tim Thomas can space the floor like Nocioni used to at the fourt spot.  After trading Nocioni, the Thomas component made a lot of sense in the Knicks trade.  The situation with Thomas is completely different than a few years ago.  Vinny Del Negro played with Thomas early in his career.
• The other players that the Bulls received from the Knicks were just part of the business, where you have to take on some guys.  Anthony Roberson will just be a practice guy.  Roberson is from Florida, and might be able to keep Joakim Noah in check.
• After the Brad Miller trade, he felt that Thabo Sefolosha wasn’t going to be playing much and would be the odd man out.  The Bulls got a first round pick to him, and Paxson found that to be a component of a good two days.
• Paxson thinks that it is always difficult to make a lot of seasons mid season and expect it to all mesh right away.  He is confdient in what they did as they did not give up any starters and added a component that they think can make the team better right now and looking towards the future.
• Likes the four components of Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, and Aaron Gray in the front court.  Thomas has been coming into his own a bit and playing better with more consistent minutes.  Joakim Noah has been playing better as well.
• Thinks veteran players who already know the NBA will have a better chance of blending in with what you already have.
• Right now, everyone is talking about the players that will be available in 2010, but what’s really important is to see how the NBA landscape changes with the economy.  Paxson thinks you are going to see more teams that have flexibility be able to trade into players for financial reasons.  Paxson feels that the Bulls have positioned themselves well for next year as they now have three fairly large expiring contracts, and those are always really valuable.  He is going to try to keep his eyes open to see what might become available using those.
• The Bulls will have the opportunity to do something with Ben Gordon again this summer.  The Bulls have not ruled out keeping Ben Gordon.  They may have to do another move in the summer that makes sense if they re-sign Gordon.  Paxson says that he understands the value that Ben brings to what they’re trying to do.  Gordon’s ability to score is important.  But the Gordon situation is down the road.  There is nothing that Paxson can do today to allow him to definitively know what will happen.  He respects and values Ben.
• Right now, Paxson is very pleased with his backcourt wings and thinks they improved there today.
• The Bulls had several deals on the table that they would have done, but the other teams in the last few days were thinking about it, and didn’t want to do it at the end of the day.  He is comfortable that he has done everything in his power to lookat every option available and every player available.  Given what was avialble, he feels that the Bulls did what they needed to do.
• Brad Miller has always been a good 15 to 17 foot shooter.  That is the one thing that the current bigs don’t have.  When Sacramento acquired Miller, they ran a lot of the Princeton Offense, which required all players to be able to dribble, pass, and shoot.  As long as big guys know how to play on the court htey will function very well on the basketball court.
• Paxson thinks that the Bulls are a better team on paper now than they were 36 hours ago.
• John Salmons was really key in the whole thing.  He gives the Bulls a guard with size, who can defense, and who can post up a little bit.  He believes that him and Luol Deng can play together, and that they could slide Salmons over to the three, and Deng at the four, and play Gordon at the two, with Derrick at the one.  As long as the Bulls can move the ball and get shots, they are going to be a good team offensively.  Salmons gives the Bulls a defensive component.
• Vinny will make the decisions on who starts.
• Salmons has been playing better for a few reasons.  Sacramento has been playing a little quicker tempo.  Salmons has shot the ball better this year from the perimeter.  That was not always a strength of his, but he’s shooting a little over 40% this year from three.  Everyone in the league sees a players prime from 27 to 31, as that is when they have it both mentally and physically.  Paxson really likes that Salmons has good ball skills.  He feels the game now requires players to put the ball on the floor and make plays, and Salmons can do that.  Salmons can play in screen and roll situations.  With his size, he doesn’t always get trapped and overwhelmed with bigger players.
• Not totally there yet if the Bulls want to pursue 2010.  Going into this summer, if the Bulls made one other move they would be positions really, really well.  The big names are out there in 2010, but the reality of that is that most of them will re-sign with their current teams because they can make so much more money on their current teams.  The Bulls are looking at the economics of the businss that at the trade deadline next year, they have expiring contracts and trade chips.  Hope a significant player becomes available because a team is unable to retain him.  Already saw that with Tyson Chandler being traded to Oklahoma City.  Wants to be ready when those deals present themslelves.
• Thinks there are some players that would like to be paired with Derrick Rose.  The Bulls have to position themselve sto be able to do that and sell what they got there.  Rose is a really good selling point for the Bulls.
• The Sacramento trade was a basketball deal, and they tok on some salary in order to do it.
• Couldn’t quite accomplish everything in one full swoop.  Tried, but it didn’t come together.  They will have chances in the next year to significantly improve their team.
• The Bulls will receive San Antonio’s pick in the trade with the Thunder.
• Paxson talked with Steve Kerr a lot.  Amare Stoudemire obviously didn’t get moves.  He felt over the past 5 to 6 days, the reality was that Stoudemire was not getting traded.  It speaks of the environment tha they’re in that those things are even being considered.

ESPN 1000 is reporting that Larry Hughes has been traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for Tim Thomas and Jerome James.

The Bulls will also receive Anthony Roberson from the Knicks.

The trade isn’t exactly a great one for the Bulls, but it was better than the alternative, which was keeping Hughes.

Jerome James and Tim Thomas’ contracts both expire in 2010, although James has a player option for next season. James also may give the Bulls some cap relief if he medically retires.

The only real positive to this trade, other than getting rid of Larry Hughes, is that it gives the Bulls more flexibility in making trades next year. Now instead of just one, big expiring contract in Hughes to work with, the Bulls will have two, smaller expiring trades to work with.

When looking at the trade, one has to wonder, are the Bulls trading one malcontent for another? The Bulls probably won’t want to play Tim Thomas too much as he hasn’t been a very efficient scorer through the course of his career. Perhaps, Thomas will come in and just fill Nocioni’s old role. Or another trade could be on the way, which opens up playing time for Thomas.

But what happens if Thomas doesn’t get playing on this team, just like Hughes? After acquiring him in the Eddy Curry deal a few years ago, the Bulls sent Tim Thomas home for the season, eventually buying him out. Perhaps Thomas will show a little more professionalism and effort this time around. It would be embarrassing to be sent home for a season by the same team twice in your career after being traded to that team by the Knicks twice.

However, Del Negro has commented that he has never had problems with Thomas when he played with him as a player, or when he was in the Suns front office, so problems with Thomas might not be part of the Bulls future.

In conclusion, this isn’t the deal that everyone was hoping for. People were hoping for some form of salary relief for next year by taking back at least one expiring contract. But contracts of equal value are all you can get for players with low values like Larry Hughes, so this was realistically all the Bulls ever had a shot at receiving for him.

Tech N9ne updated his site today, talking about a potential trade of Larry Hughes to the Wizards and Kirk Hinrich to the Clippers for Chris Kaman.

Don’t think the Bulls are done trading though. The team is still likely to make one or possible two more moves before the deadline tomorrow. It’s well documented that the Bulls could trade Kirk Hinrich to Minnesota for Rashad McCants and Jason Collins, and that Larry Hughes could be dealt to Washington for Etan Thomas and Mike James. However, the Bulls are still seeking to find better value for both.

The Bulls are trying to decide if they should trade Hinrich for expiring contracts to dump salary, or to get something equal or better in return. The Clippers and Bulls are discussing a trade that would send Chris Kaman and Mike Taylor to the Bulls for Hinrich. However, the Bulls are worried that Kaman would over clutter the front court, and they’re not sure if they want to take his big salary back.

As Larry Hughes, consider him being gone as an automatic. The 76ers are willing to trade Samuel Damelbert for Hughes, but the Bulls aren’t interested. If the Bulls cant find a better deal for Hughes, look for the trade sending him back to the Wizards to go down for sure.

In the Chicago Tribune, K.C. Johnson confirmed that the Bulls turned down a potential trade with the Timberwolves that would send Kirk Hinrich there in exchange for Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal.

Chris Kaman or cap relief in exchange for Kirk Hinrich? That’s a tough one. Kaman when healthy can be a really good center. He averaged 15.7 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 2.8 BPG last year for the Clippers. But he is often injured, and has a big contract that could be ugly if he continues to sustain injuries. Now that we have Brad Miller, I would rather do the Timberwolves deal, as that would give us a path to becoming players in 2010 free agency, while giving us a little more time to see if there is anything there with Thomas and Noah.

K.C. Johnson mentioned in passing that Paxson pulled Hinrich aside to tell him about trade talks regarding him and Portland. The trade with Portland would presumably be for Raef Lafrentz’s super expiring contract.

The Wizards trade for Hughes isn’t too exciting, but getting rid of Hughes for two contracts that end at the same time, but who won’t whine has to be looked at as a plus for the Bulls. Hopefully the Knicks trade talks heat up again, as that would give the Bulls some salary flexibility for this summer.

There is still a chance that the Bulls can work out a three way trade for Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh, using Minnesota or Portland to facilitate it. The odds of the Bulls landing Stoudemire or Chris Bosh going into the day of the trade deadline look slim to none.

The Bulls might want to take another look at Tyson Chandler, who is back on the block after the Thunder rescinded their trade for him.

It looks like the Bulls will have a busy day tomorrow.

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.