If the Bulls had a plan about how to proceed, one way to look at it might be to target particular players they think could fit in the longer run.

The Bulls' biggest immediate problem is their ridiculous lack of interior defense.  They need, absolutely need, a big guy who can defend.  I've found the right guy.  Here in Indy, the Pacers have Rasho Nestorovic on an expiring contract.  They're surging a bit with Mike Dunleavy returning, but Rasho rarely plays because they also have Jeff Foster, who's a similarly excellent defender, and Troy Murphy, who's a rebounding fool and generally underrated as a player.  Oh, and Roy Hibbert, who's posting a 16.3 PER as a rookie.  They're stacked at the frontcourt.

They could really use Kirk Hinrich and, to a lesser extent, I think they might be willing to take Nocioni.  Each seems a good fit for Jim O'Brien's system.  Noc would be a solid fit behind Murphy as the PF, or next to him with Murphy plays center.  He plays the way Larry Bird likes to see his guys play. Hard and dirty. The downside is that although he seems to fit there, he's expensive and it might limit somewhat what the Pacers do, because they occasionally slide Granger to the 4 and Dunleavy to the 3, for which he's probably best suited.  So what they'd probably prefer is another guard.

Kirk would be a great fit too.  Another "high energy" guy, he'd be an upgrade in their backcourt in a big way.  Kirk, Dunleavy, Granger, Murphy, Foster, backed up by TJ Ford, Jack, Rush, and Hibbert looks like a team that, if it continued to play hard, could make its way into the playoffs. Which is what they're aiming for.

For us, I think Rasho could be this teams Antonio Davis.  He's a way above average defender inside, and he can make the sort of 15-18 foot jumper that seems to completely perplex our kids.  Especially if we remove Noc from the equation, I like the pairings of Noah/Rasho, Tyrus/Rasho and Gooden/Rasho. They all probably let us play to our kids' natural strengths, and lets us simplify the game a bit for them. 

I don't totally have hope for those two, but I will say that I haven't given up hope for them.  Tyson and Eddy were close to (but not as) disasterous before they were paired up with solid veteran bigs like AD (and to a lesser extent Othella).

Finally, on the matter of Rasho's expiring contract, I think he could be re-signed for a pretty reasonable deal.  Perhaps a tad over the MLE?  That cuts into the potential 2010 room, but we're also freeing some up if we're trading Noc or Kirk.  So I don't think it's a killer or anything.  And the thing is, just freeing up cap space isn't enough. Go for 2010, but don't repeat the mistakes of the past.  The mistake Jerry Krause made was in completely gutting the team and trying to get 2 max players.  The team was so crappy no one wanted to come.  The Bulls have to skillfully manage their cap to open space for one max contract player while being competitive and retaining a team to put around that player and Rose.  One or the other won't cut it. You need both.  It's difficult, but it can be done.