According to Victor Bellan of rumorpress.net, Shaquille O’neal of the Phoenix Suns, could become a member of the Chicago Bulls.

Shaq was an allstar last year.

There is a possibility Shaquille O’Neal could be in a Chicago Bulls uniform next season. In a rather surprising discovery, the Phoenix Suns aoneal.jpgnd Bulls plan on engaging in trade talks that could send the future hall of fame center to Chicago, as soon as teams are allowed to talk after the playoffs. Suns GM Steve Kerr is looking to deal Shaq and is said to be interested in Loul Deng. The Suns would like to move the aging center mainly because he has slowed the up-tempo Suns down drastically. They feel Deng could bring some young, athletic energy back to the team. The Suns also feel Deng could still live up to his potential and contract if he can stay healthy.

The Bulls apparently will listen to the potential idea at the very least. However, Chicago fears that O’Neal will slow down the Bulls young, up-tempo style of play (with the Bulls already having a slow moving, aging center on the team in Brad Miller). On the other hand, the Bulls would love to get rid of Loul Deng’s huge contract, especially with the emergence of John Salmons and with their hopes to resign Ben Gordon. In addition, Shaq’s contract expires at the end of next season, freeing up even more money for 2010. The Bulls also feel Shaq could be a good influence on the young big men and could fit temporarily for one season as a low post presence. The trade would likely be O’Neal for Deng, Tim Thomas and Jerome James (assuming James exercises his player option) Look for the Suns and Bulls to at least toy around with the idea.

This would be an excellent move for the Bulls. Essentially, they would have last year’s playoff team back with the addition of Shaq. Who knows how far the Bulls could have gone with a scoring big. If Shaq could draw some double teams to free up Ben Gordon for some wide open three pointers.

In addition, Shaq is a good defensive center, and would help to improve the Bulls’ weak interior defense.

Additionally, Shaq’s contract would come off the books at the end of the year. By unloading Luol Deng, the Bulls would open themselves up to becoming players in 2010 free agency, while retaining the deadly backcourt of Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon.

According to Victor Bellan (Tech N9ne), the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors are talking a trade that would involve Andres Nocioni going to the Raptors in exchange for Jermaine O’neal as the principle.

Recent reports around the internet have indicated the Raptors may be interested in striking a deal with the Bulls. I investigated the issue and found there is a lot of truth to the rumors. The Raptors seem very interested in Andres Nocioni and may be willing to deal Jermaine O’neal to the Bulls to get him. A trade that has been discussed involved Nocioni and Larry Hughes going to Toronto with O’neal coming to the Chicago. The Raptors, however, are trying to come up with different variations of deals that would bring Nocioni and Drew Gooden to Toronto. Another deal the teams discussed involved Nocioni, Gooden and Tyus Thomas to Toronto for O’neal and a filler, but the Bulls felt they would be giving up too much. Look for the talks between Toronto and Chicago to heat up the closer we get to the trading deadline, a deal very likely could go down.

As I said yesterday, when Marc Stein broke the rumor, Andres Nocioni and Larry Hughes in exchange for Jermaine O’neal is ideal. Giving up Drew Gooden’s expiring contract is too much value. I see the scenario with Hughes being the only one that the Bulls would accept. I could see the Bulls adding Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, or Thabo Sefolosha as sweetener to get the trade done. Preferably, the trade would not include Tyrus Thomas, as he still shows the potential of being a good NBA player, something Noah and Sefolosha do not at this point.

Whatever variation the Bulls end up making, getting rid of Nocioni for a contract that expires before 2010 is key, as it allows them to keep Ben Gordon while becoming a player in 2010 free agency.

Victor Bellan of rumorpress.net, a Chicago Bulls insider recently answered some questions from Bulls fans.

Here are the main points from the Q&A:

• The Bulls very likely will make a trade, although closer to the deadline.
• Vinny is playing Hughes for two reasons.  1. He feels Hughes can contribute.  2.  Him and Paxson are afraid benching Hughes could create a distraction for the team.
• The Washington Wizards were mildly interested in Hughes.  The Bulls would love to trade him to Washington.
• The Bulls have shown interest in Al Harrington, Zach Randolph, and Chris Kaman.  The Bulls would love to trade for Kaman, but the Clippers don’t want what the Bulls have to offer.
• Bulls feel their best chance at landing a 2010 free agent is Dwyane Wade.

You can view the entire Q&A at rumorpress.net

Victor Bellan, a Bulls insider, is reporting on his website that the Bulls and Warriors are discussing a trade involving Al Harrington. Here is what Bellan wrote:

No more than a couple hours after Al Harrington demanded a trade out of Golden State, the Bulls and Warriors had discussions about a trade that would send him to Chicago. The Bulls likely would send one of their many guards to the Warriors. Many scenarios have been thrown out, but apparently the Warriors are most interested in Kirk Hinrich and Thabo Sefolosha. If Sefolosha would be in the deal someone with a larger contract would have to be included. The Warriors have talked to many other teams as well and it’s possible they could wait a while and see what happens before they make a move. It is only talk at this point, but it is interesting to see the Bulls are still willing to shake things up with opening tip to the season being tonight.

Trading Hinrich for Harrington would be good in the sense that you clear out the guard glut. You would have a new glut to clear out in the big men spot, but it would be very easy to trade away Drew Gooden, since he is an expiring contract.

If Thabo Sefolosha was the key guard involved in the trade, Drew Gooden would likely be the piece that the Bulls package with him. It is the only financially possible way for the Bulls to do a trade based around Sefolosha without giving up someone who they would like to keep around long term.

I would rather do the latter trade, involving Sefolosha, than one involving. I think Hinrich may be too much value to trade for Harrington, who is expressing publicly that he wants out.

According to the very reliable blogger, known as Tech N9ne or Victor Bellan, the Bulls and Kings are discussing a trade of Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons, and a future first round pick to the Sacramento Kings for Brad Miller. He says that the trade likely will not happen until both Gordon and Deng are resigned.

Tech N9ne broke the Donyell Marshall signing, both Jalen Rose trades, the Tyson Chandler trade, the Eddie Robinson signing, the selection of Gordon and Deng, and most recently, the Ben Wallace trade before anyone else.

What does this mean? Paxson is preparing for the 2010 free agency, which will feature Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Yao Ming, Joe Johnson, and Tyson Chandler among others. Brad Miller’s contract expires after the 2009-2010 season.

Tech mentions that the Kings want Joakim Noah in place of Cedric Simmons. I would personally not be shocked to see the Bulls let go of Noah, as he was a major strain on team chemistry last year, missing practices, fighting with coaches, and constantly being fined by the team. The veterans on the team did not appreciate a loud mouth rookie who didn’t put in the work. Noah followed the eventful season by being arrested for marijuana posession and showing up for summer league grossly out of shape. On Friday, Noah appeared on ESPN’s First Take and said he’s looking forward to winning, but does anyone believe him? He spent the majority of of his time on that ESPN segment not taking responsibilty for his mistakes and just displaying himself as a guy that doesn’t get it and who will probably never get it. Noah followed up his apperance on First Take by being a no show for a planned chat with ESPN.com, just as he was a no show for multiple Bulls practices last season.

By including Noah in the trade, the Bulls would have an additional $3.1 million of cap space in 2010. There doesn’t seem to be a spot for Noah in the long term with Omer Asik coming over in 2010. Asik plays a similar role to Noah on a team, but Asik projects to be a much better player than Noah. Longterm, the Bulls likely big man rotation will be Tyrus Thomas, Omer Asik, Aaron Gray, and the blockbuster free agent they plan on signing in 2010.

While it seems the Bulls giving up a future draft pick seems to be overkill in this scenario, the Bulls will likely not want their first round picks for the next two years (unless they end up back in the lottery). Mid to late first round players generally don’t pan out and they would just be chipping away from our potential 2010 cap space. If the Bulls decide to keep the picks, they will likely take a foreign player they can stash over in Europe the next two years or trade the pick like Phoenix has in the past.

[Tech's Blog Post on the Rumor]