At the trade deadline last Thursday the Bulls made some moves that will allow them to sign a max free agent this summer.

The trades that the Bulls made should allow them to keep their playoff momentum. The Bulls lost John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas. I think Salmons will be missed some, as his improved play was one of the reasons for the Bulls’ turnaround this season. I don’t think that the Bulls will miss Thomas too much, and that the trade with the Bobcats will be a bit of addition by subtraction.

This is not to say that Thomas is a bad player. I think he will do well under Larry Brown in Charlotte. A coach, who is as respected as Larry Brown, is probably what Thomas needs to get his head on straight. Thomas always had talent, but he never really learned how to play within the system when he was with the Bulls. It will hurt to see Thomas reach some of his potential with another team, but we need to understand that for various reasons, he was unable to reach his potential here, and he was gone at the end of the season anyway, as keeping him would have prohibited the Bulls to sign a max free agent. The change of scenery will be good for Thomas.

In the trades, the key parts that the Bulls got back were Hakim Warrick and Flip Murray, two players who can score the ball. What is to like about this Bulls team is that their rotation consists primarily of veterans. Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Brad Miller, Flip Murray, and Hakim Warrick are all veterans. The three young players in the Bulls’ main rotation: Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, and Joakim Noah, are all very mature. As a result of this rotation, the Bulls should be able to limit the mistakes they make, which will be conducive to winning more games down the stretch of the regular season.

In the trades, the Bulls also received Acie Law and Joe Alexander. I don’t expect either of these players to achieve anything in their time with the Bulls, and expect both to not be on the roster next season.

The Bulls received a first round pick from the Bobcats, and gave the Bucks the option to swap first round draft picks, as long as the Bulls are not picking in the top 10 positions of the draft. The pick swap is no big deal, as the Bulls’ wisely put protections on it (unlike the Knicks when they made the pick swap with the Bulls in the Eddy Curry trade) and also, because the Bulls will likely be a better team than the Bucks.

One of the side effects from the Bulls trades is that they could help bounce Miami out of the playoffs. I think the trades that the Bulls made improved both the Bucks’ and Bobcats’ rosters and did nothing to make the Bulls roster worse.

The Bulls are currently sitting in the sixth seed, and Miami is in the seventh seed, 1 game behind the Bulls. Milwaukee and Charlotte are both half a game behind the Heat.

If the Bulls make the playoffs while the Heat miss the playoffs, I think there is a great chance that Dwyane Wade will leave the Heat for the Bulls this summer.

The Chicago Bulls have traded John Salmons to the Milwaukee Bucks and Tyrus Thomas to the Charlotte Bobcats in two trades leading up to the 2010 NBA Trade Deadline.

In the trade with the Bucks, the Bulls will receive Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick.

In the trade with the Bobcats, the Bulls will receive Flip Murray, Acie Law, and a future first round pick.

The Bucks trade is a key one as it ensures that the Bulls will have enough money to sign a max free agent this summer. The Bulls also added some front court scoring in Hakim Warrick, who is averaging 10.2 ppg on 54.0 ts%.

I would much rather have John Salmons on my team than Warrick, but Warrick isn’t a bad return for Salmons when you’re getting some potential financial relief.

The Bulls also received Joe Alexander in the trade. Alexander has not played in an NBA game this season after showing little ability at the pro level during his rookie season.

With the addition of Hakim Warrick, a bit of a logjam may have been created in the front court. I would rather have Tyrus Thomas on my team than Warrick, but getting rid of the distractions that come with Thomas may have been what ends up being best for the Bulls.

The first round pick is actually great return for Tyrus Thomas. It was a foregone conclusion that the Bulls were going to get rid of Tyrus Thomas this summer, so getting a first round pick out of him is better than nothing. Tyrus Thomas’ fate was sealed when the Bulls decided not to make an offer to Ben Gordon last summer. Once they let Ben Gordon go to Detroit, it was clear that they were going to pursue a 2010 max free agent, and Thomas had to go in order to make that happen.

While with the Bulls, Thomas showed flashes of brilliance, but he just never could put it together. This was seen this season when he came back from his injury and dominated for three games, and then began playing stupidly, finding himself a permanent spot on the bench. Tyrus always had the talent to be a great player, but he did not have the mentality to be a great player.

Because of this, Charlotte could potentially end up with a great player if the Charlotte coaching staff can get Thomas to put it together mentally. Even if Thomas goes on to become a great player in Charlotte, this was still the right move for the Bulls, as Thomas was never going to be a great player in Chicago, and it would have been foolish to keep him over a player that you know with certainty will produce for you that can be found in 2010 free agency.

The Bulls got in the Charlotte trade Flip Murray, who has been a low efficiency chucker throughout his career, and Acie Law, who has been a career scrub. Nothing big should be expected from either of these players.

The danger the Bulls put themselves in was trading with teams that they are competing for a playoff spot with. The Bulls are a 1/2 game ahead of Charlotte and 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee in the standings right now. These trades could potentially improve both teams, which could cause the the Bulls to miss the playoffs.

Regardless, I think these are trades that had to be made for various reasons. Gaining certainty on their ability to sign a max free agent was the one thing the Bulls had to accomplish at the trade deadline, and they have already done that.

The Chicago Bulls could for the Washington Wizard’s Brendan Haywood, in a rumored deal that would send Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James to Washington, according to a RealGM user, who is said to be reputable.

The Bulls would come out as major winners in this trade as Brendan Haywood is the best player in the trade, and he is also an expiring contract. Haywood is averaging 9.7 PPG 10.3 RPG and 2.1 BPG this season.

After such a trade, the Bulls would have a big front court with Brendan Haywood, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Brad Miller in the big men positions. I would move Joakim Noah down to the power forward position and start Haywood at center. With Noah and Haywood manning the big positions, I think the Bulls would be dominate defensively.

To make the trade work under the CBA, someone else would have to go out from the Wizards side.

I am not sure of how reliable the guy who is supplying the rumor is, but if a trade with these principles is on the table, than the Bulls front office needs to jump on it

The Bulls started off their West Coast road trip with two losses to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls followed that up with wins over the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets.

The Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns 115-104. The Bulls were led by Derrick Rose, who had one of his best games of the season, scoring 31 points on 15-21 shooting. Luol Deng gave the Bulls 23 points, Joakim Noah 19 points, and 14 a piece for Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons. Amare Stoudemire finished with 23 points and Steve Nash struggled, finishing with only 8 points and 7 assists.

In their 104-97 win over the Houston Rockets, the Bulls got a big night out of Brad Miller, who finished with 25 points and 5 rebounds in only 25 minutes of play. Brad Miller was starting in place of Joakim Noah, who is suffering plantar fascitis. Taj Gibson had a big double double, finishing with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Derrick Rose played well again, finishing with 20 points. Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola had 20 points a piece for the Rockets, and Carl Landry scored 22 points off the bench.

With Taj Gibson continuing to play well while Tyrus Thomas struggles, it is hard to make a good case for Tyrus Thomas starting over Taj Gibson anymore. Thomas will be gone at the end of the season, and the Bulls are unlikely to feel the loss of him at all. If Taj Gibson is the starting power forward next season, then the Bulls might feel the loss of Thomas some, but their cap space should be used to sign a big man, not a shooting guard (unless you are getting that superstar player named Dwyane Wade).

It is also good to see Derrick Rose put up good game after good game. He has really turned the corner as a player.

Also, it is great to see the Bulls get two road wins against tough opponents. This was a part of the schedule that could have really derailed the Bulls season some. Now, it looks like the Bulls will keep a hold of their playoff position coming out of this trip, and will have a chance to move up in the playoff standings when they get back to an easier chunk of the schedule. The Suns are 26-19 on the season, and the Rockets are 24-19, so these are two wins that really shouldn’t have been expected out of the Bulls.

The Bulls have three more games left on this road trip, against the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and New Orleans Hornets. Worst case scenario is that the Bulls are 5 games under .500 coming out of the road trip, leaving them plenty of time to get back to .500 and make their claim for the playoffs as the schedule gets easier.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the Golden State Warriors 114-97 in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee game.

This was a bit of an unexpected win from the Warriors given that they were only suiting eight players, three of whom were D-League players. Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Corey Maggette, and Andris Biedrins were the only four Warriors’ regulars who played today, and they all played great.

The best player for the Warriors was by far Andris Biedrins, who finished with 9 points, 19 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Biedrins really bothered the Bulls with his length, and was a big part in shutting down the Bulls’ offense in the paint. The only knock on Biedrins today was his poor free throw shooting, where he shot 1-7. All of his free throws were line drives at the hoop, that bricked off the front of the rim. But Biedrins more than made up for the poor free throw shooting with his shot blocking and shot altering ability. Biedrins really set the tone defensively for the Warriors, who did a good job contesting the Bulls’ shots, and also getting set for charges, which also helped to shutdown the Bulls penetration game.

The Warriors got great production from Corey Maggette, who scored 32 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished 5 assists. Maggette shot 11-14, and was automatic from mid range shots in which he just caught the ball, measured up, and shot it.

The rookie Stephen Curry played great today as well, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Curry shot the ball well, going 5-8 from three, hit some nice floaters, and did a nice job defensively on Derrick Rose.

Monta Ellis led the Warriors in scoring with 36 points, but he did that very inefficiently, taking 39 shots to get those 36 points. He also had 8 assists in the game.

John Salmons finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. He did a good job of keeping the Bulls in the game in the third quarter, but was very quiet in the fourth quarter.

Luol Deng played well, finishing with 20 points on 7-16 shooting, and Derrick Rose was solid, scoring 19 points.

Jannero Pargo scored 12 points for the Bulls, but he scored 5 of it in garbage time. When the game mattered, Pargo was hurting the Bulls by taking some really bad shots.

Biedrins really bothered Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Noah only scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting, and Thomas scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting. Neither knew how to score around Biedrins’ long arms. Both rebounded well, as Noah finished with 16 rebounds, and Thomas had 9 rebounds in 19 minutes before fouling out.

Taj Gibson played well today, finishing with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

The Bulls were without Kirk Hinrich, who was suffering a bout with the flu.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-21 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics 96-83 behind an all around great team defensive effort.

This was a pretty winnable game for the Bulls, as both Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace were sitting out with injuries. The Bulls have really played the Celtics pretty well over the past two seasons when Kevin Garnett has not been in the lineup.

The Bulls took a lead in the first half, and seemed to maintain that throughout the rest of the game. The Celtics would cut the Bulls lead down to around 6 points or so, and then the Bulls would get some stops and hit some shots and build the lead back up to double digits.

The Bulls did a fairly good job defensively tonight, out rebounding the Celtics 50-39, blocking 10 shots, and collecting 9 steals.

Luol Deng led the way for the Bulls scoring 25 points, shooting 8-13 from the field. Deng did a good job attacking the Celtics defense and getting them to foul him, going to the free throw line 10 times.

The Bulls usually struggle dealing with the Celtics’ wide bodied big men, in particular Kendrick Perkins. Perkins played well tonight, scoring 14 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking 5 shots. While that is a good game for Perkins, it was pretty much negated by Joakim Noah who had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks. If the Bulls are playing the center battle even, they stand a pretty good shot at beating the KG-less Celtics.

The Bulls ended up winning the point guard battle between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. Rose started off slow, as he got into some early foul trouble, but he had a big second half, and finished the night with 17 points, 4 assists, and 8 rebounds. Rajon Rondo finished with 15 points on 6-14 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds. Rondo didn’t score the ball all that efficiently tonight, and was kind of lazy with the ball, turning it over 5 times. As the commentators mentioned during the game, Rondo kind of looked fatigued out there.

The Bulls got solid games out of Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson. Kirk Hinrich finished with 11 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds and Taj Gibson finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

For the Celtics, Paul Pierce scored 20 points, but he only shot 33.3% from the floor. He also had 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Deng can really can do a nice job defensively, as he did tonight on Paul Pierce.

Tyrus Thomas only managed to get 17 minutes in the ball game tonight. He was really active when he was in there, accumulating 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Thomas was pulled from the game for his inability to make shots. He would make brilliant moves towards the basket or get offensive rebounds in good positions, but he wouldn’t finish on those plays.

James Johnson had 2 big time blocks in the 7 minutes he was in the game.

John Salmons really struggled tonight for the Bulls shooting 2-9 for the field. Ray Allen also had an off night, only scoring 8 points on 4-10 shooting. Allen missed four really good looks from three point land that you expect him to nail.

Eddie House came off the bench for the Celtics and scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting.

This was the Bulls third straight win, and with this win, they improve to 17-20 on the season.

According to Chris Broussard on True Hoop, the Chicago Bulls are trying to trade Kirk Hinrich, and they are using Tyrus Thomas as a sweetener in trying to get rid of Hinrich.

As for the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich is ahead of even Tyrus Thomas on their list of players they’d love to trade. In fact, Thomas is being offered around the league as a sweetener in any Hinrich deal. But with two years, $17 million left on his contract after this season, there’s not a great market for Hinrich.

It makes sense that the Bulls would like to move Hinrich. His contract could prohibit the Bulls from signing a free agent to a max contract if John Salmons opts in to his contract for next season, which could prevent some of the players from coming to Chicago in free agency this summer.

A trade that is thrown out in this article is Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas going to Houston, as the main components of a trade for Tracy McGrady, who is an expiring contract. However as Broussard writes, teams aren’t in a rush to trade for Hinrich’s contract, which is probably considered a bad contract around the league with the way Hinrich has played this year.

Broussard throws out the idea of Houston wanting Joakim Noah, as he writes:

Chicago, which has definite interest in McGrady, also has the combination of young talent and expiring contracts the Rockets are looking for. There is a Bulls player Houston covets, but it’s not clear who that is. Since the Rockets surely realize that Derrick Rose won’t be traded, logic suggests it’s Joakim Noah.

A package of Noah, Brad Miller and Jerome James (the latter two have expiring contracts) would work financially, but sources say the Bulls have no desire to part with Noah.

The Bulls would obviously want to take no part in getting rid of Joakim Noah for a half season rental of Tracy McGrady.

It appears that Chris Broussard is misinterpreting what the Bulls intentions would be in trading for Tracy McGrady are. If the Bulls were to trade for Tracy McGrady, they wouldn’t be trading for McGrady the player, they would be trading for his expiring contract. Therefore there is no reason that they would throw away a good young talent in Noah to have marginal cap space benefits for next season. If they are going to trade for McGrady, it will be some combination of expiring contracts, and a long term contract that they wish to get rid of (Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, or John Salmons).

I think the Bulls best bet might be to try to work out a package around John Salmons. Salmons has played better than Hinrich this season, and has at most, one less year left on his contract than Hinrich (and a smaller contract at that), and Salmons may even choose to opt out after this season, which would leave Houston, in this scenario, with no contracts going past this year.

Salmons could also choose to opt out if the Bulls keep him, but a trade like this where the Bulls package John Salmons with definite expiring contracts for another definite expiring contract would allow the Bulls’ front office to sleep easy at night, as they would have certainty that they will be able to offer someone a max contract in 2010 free agency.