According to Mike Jones, a former Washington Wizards beat writer, Caron Butler and Mike James could be traded to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Kirk Hinrich and Jerome James.

The Wizards might not have a hard time dealing Caron Butler in a package deal with James, however, but not to Houston. I’m hearing Butler and James could be headed to either Miami or Chicago. Some of the pieces Washington could be trying to get back from Chicago, the source said, could be Kirk Hinrich and Jerome James.

The trade puts a little more money on the Bulls’ salaries next year as Caron Butler makes $1.56 million more than Kirk Hinrich next year. Mike James’ and Jerome James’ expiring contracts cancel each other out. Past next season, Butler’s contract is more favorable than Hinrich’s, as it expires after next season, while Hinrich’s contract has an additional year.

Caron Butler is having a down year right now, averaging 16.9 points on 52.0 TS%, but that is still world’s better than Hinrich’s season, in which he is averaging 8.5 points on 44.7 TS%.

If this is trade is indeed on the table, the Bulls should take it, and then find away to move John Salmons for an expiring contract in order to keep their 2010 flexibility as good as possible. The trade is a no brainer talent wise, as even in his down year, Butler is a significant upgrade over Hinrich.

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.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Washington Wizards 98 to 86 at the United Center for their second straight win.

The Wizards scored the first basket of the game, but the Bulls quickly took the lead and never looked back, jumping to an 18 point lead at the end of the first half. The Bulls went cold in the fourth, allowing Washington to get the game back within single digits, but the Bulls easily fended off the Wizards to escape with the win.

Ben Gordon had a decent game. He finished with 22 points and 5 assists. Gordon scored very efficiently, shooting 9-16, and passed the ball well, but he had a lot of mental lapses in tonights game. Gordon had 3 of his 4 turnovers early in the early minutes of the game, making two passes to no one and getting called for an offensive foul.

Gordon’s hot third quarter kept the Wizards from making this into a close game earlier in the game. Gordon went on a tear to end the third quarter, scoring 11 points in the quarter.

Derrick Rose had a solid game, finishing with 8 points and 9 assists. While Rose was poor scoring wise, he did very well passing the ball. Unlike a lot of games, where he just gets his assists from passing to a jumpshooter who hits a contested jumpshot, tonight, Derrick was actually creating great scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Tyrus Thomas continued his streak of great play. Thomas had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in the ball game. Thomas is making smart plays on the offensive end of the ball, which has greatly increased his scoring efficiency. On the defensive end of the ball, it looks like that Tyrus from 2006-2007 is back. Thomas is out there altering a lot of shots, and playing some of the best man defense of his career.

Thomas’ frontcourt counterpart, Drew Gooden, put in another nice game. Drew Gooden scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. The Bulls did a lot of pick and pop plays with Gooden, and Gooden knocked down the open jumpshots with ease. With other teams constantly double teaming Rose and Gordon with a big man, a big like Gooden, who can nail down jumpshots, is very valuable to this team. When the Bulls get good production from their front court, they are a much more difficult team to beat.

Nick Young shot the ball great. Young scored 28 points on 12-15 shooting. It didn’t matter if it was Rose, Gordon, or Hughes guarding him, he was scoring no matter what. It’s not like he did anything in particular to burn the Bulls guards, he just made his shots. He was the main reason why the Wizards were able to close the lead a little bit, but the Wizards went away from him, and the Bulls quickly pulled away again.

The Wizards struggled in a large part because Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler both struggled. Antawn Jamison had 12 points on 4-12 shooting and Caron Butler had 2 points on 1-8 shooting. When the Wizards only get 14 points on 5-20 shooting from Jamison/Butler, they’re not going to be winning many ball games.

Larry Hughes came into the game chucking, and really hurt the Bulls in the first half, shooting only 2-7. But in the second half, Hughes started to make some of his shots, and really helped the Bulls build their lead back to 20+ points. Hughes finished the game with 17 points.

Joakim Noah was really active when in the game, getting 6 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Noah’s problem is that he doesn’t have the necessary strength to bang with NBA centers and lacks the athleticism and instincts to be a great shotblocker. When Noah is in the game, he gives up a lot defensively, and for the most part, struggles offensively. Tonight wasn’t really one of those nights given Washington’s lack of quality big men.

Mike James had 11 points for the Wizards.

A win is always good, but the Bulls should be beating a team as bad as the Wizards by more than 12 points. There is no reason that the Bulls should have let Washington creep back into the game.

Andres Nocioni left the game with an injury in the first half, but returned in the second half.

Wizards head coach Ed Tapscott was ejected from the game after screaming at the refs about a carrying violation after the Wizards blew a 2 on 1 fastbreak.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 16-20 on the season.