Headlines for the Bulls over the next six months:

I think I’d actually be alright with that final roster, and I can totally see them overpaying just to get a half-decent piece. Singler made me laugh though :)

Although REALLY depressing that everything you wrote is very likely to be true, I laughed my behind off….

Seriously, Great Job!!!

when you can probably get him for $50 million?

After the Knicks offer a max contract to LeBron, they will have roughly $8 million to spend on another free agent. The Bulls just have to beat the Knicks by a little to get David Lee.

With the extra money that the Bulls save, they can get a decent 3-pt shooter for their SG. I am thinking maybe sign Raja Bell for 2 years at 4 mil per, if he comes back healthy from wrist surgery. Then you can move Hinrich back to the bench to be that 3rd guard.

Your starting lineup for next year would be: Noah, Lee, Deng, Bell, and Rose. Hinrich, Gibson, James Johnson, Asik, and Devin Brown would come off the bench. Depending on who the Bulls draft next year, he can be worked into the rotation as well.

October 11th 2010 – Luol Deng will be out for the season and will require surgery on his left knee after coming down wrong on a mid range jumper. John Salmons, who opted into his 5.5 million dollar deal this summer, will likely take his place.

When asked about his replacement, the embattled Vinny Del Negro replied, “Matchups.”

Bulls Make Deadline Splash

February 10th 2011 – The Bulls have pulled the trigger on a trade headlined by Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy has a 10 million dollar contract set to expire this summer. In return, the Pacers receive John Salmons, James Johnson and Donte West.

While West was supposed to be the answer at shooting guard for the Bulls this season, it hasn’t quite worked out well for the Maryland native. West has missed 11 games already this season due to “personal issues” and just hasn’t gelled with 3rd year coach Vinny Del Negro.

Meanwhile, this marks a fresh start for 2nd year forward James Johnson. Johnson has had his share of issues this year. He was benched for 5 straight games in December, after a 1 game suspension for reportedly rolling his eyes at Del Negro during practice. He has only averaged 10 minutes per game this season, though he has been productive in those limited stints, averaging just over 7 points and 4 rebounds on 48% FG.

General Manager Gar Forman, or Executive General Manager John Paxson were unavailable for comment.

Gar Forman Found Dead

June 22nd, 2011 – Chicago Bulls GM Gar Forman was found dead this morning in his suburban home. He had died of natural causes. According to police, Mr. Forman has been dead for 8-10 months.

“One day he went home, and didn’t come into work the next day. After a few months, we decided Pax would take over and just assumed that Gar had quit,” said Chicago Bulls acting partner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Gar Forman had not spoken publicly about the team in at least a year.

Said John Paxson, “We’ll miss you Gar. We had some good times here. Whether it was hiding in the hot dog cart to avoid the media, or ducking under the desk when Tyrus came up to complain, those are some of the best years I’ve had with this organization.”

It looks like all they needed was home court.

After two consecutive playoff matchups against the Boston Celtics ended in game seven losses, the Bulls finally took the luck from the Irish. Chicago last night completed a for game, first round sweep of the defending NBA Champions.

This is only the second time in NBA history that a defending champion was swept out of the first round, the previous team being the 2005 Miami Heat, who also lost to the Bulls.

The Bulls proved to much for an Celtics team featuring an ailing Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. The Bulls ran circles around the older, less athletic team and even Rajon Rondo just wasn’t able to keep up with Derrick Rose, who consistantly blew by him for easy layips. Boston’s late season pick up, Antoine Walker, didn’t do much to help either, as Luol Deng and James Johnson held him to a 2.1ppg average in the series.

The road gets tougher for Rose and the Bulls as round two features the winner of the Bulls’ own central division, the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James and Chris Bosh, along with 6th man of the year Shaquille O’Neal will be waiting.

“The Bulls are a great team, but we feel we can play with anybody in the league.” James said when asked if the Cavs was ready to play the team that sent the Champs home. "Our goal is to win a Championship, and you’ve got to beat good teams to do that. We have home court, so we just have to take control of the series and do what we’re supposed to do.

“We respect our opponent. But nobody wants to play us in a seven game series.” said O’Neal.

Regaurdless of how the Bulls do against King James and the Cavaliers, next season figures to be exciting. Throughout the season, many sources have claimed that an off season trade sending Lakers gaurd Kobe Bryant to the Bulls for a package of players that would not include Derrick Rose is on the horizon. This would pair Rose up with another star player, something the Bulls have mentioned as being one of their goals.

Lay-ups: Former Bull Tyrus Thomas got a key block in the final seconds, sealing game 3 for his Oaklahoma City Thunder, who now take a 2-1 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs…the Bulls have hired former Bull Corie Blount as a special assistant to GM Gar Forman…Eddie Robbinson, who the Bulls signed late in the season to strengthen the back court for the playoffs, saw his first action in game four, scoring 2 points on 1 or 9 shooting and grabbing 2 rebounds in 11 minutes of play time…Bulls assistant coach Lawrence Funderburke will not travel to the team to Cleveland, as he and his wife will be adopting their second child on Tuesday night. Funderburke is expected to re-join the team for game 2…Dewayne Wade has purchased a second house in Chicago, raising speculation that he may consider joining the Bulls this off season, after his one contract from the lottery bound Heat has officially expired.

Bulls Ink Extension with “Captain” Kirk

June 2011 – Following a disappointing second round sweep to the Cleveland Cavaliars, the Bulls have agreed to an extension with guard and team captain Kirk Hinrich. The deal is reportedly worth 36 million dollars over 4 years.

“Kurt is a great contributor, great leader. He hustles and really knows how to play the game. We look forward to many years of success with Kurt,” said coach Vinny Del Negro, reported to be nearing an extension of his own.

“The guy is scrappy. A true old school player,” said newly named Executive Consultant to the Managing Director John Paxson.

With the recent CBA slashing salaries across the board, it appears Hinrich was not left out to dry. Tony Parker recently signed a 3 year, 18 million dollar extension with the Spurs and Steve Nash will receive just under 4 million dollars a year to remain at the helm of the Phoenix Suns offense.

“Sometimes you just have to pay to get things done. We want to assure that this team wins a championship and this organization is committed to doing that,” said team owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

The Bulls will enter the 2011-2012 season about 6 million dollars under the salary cap. When asked if that meant perhaps some additional signings this offseason, Reinsdorf replied, “I really like what we have. I think we’ll see how these guys develop together before making any more commitments. I really like what we have here.”

Bulls commit to Gibson Long Term

November 2011 – The Chicago Bulls like what they have at power forward so much that they’ve decided to keep a good thing going. Taj Gibson has agreed to sign a long term extension with the Bulls, reportedly worth 32 million dollars over 4 years.

“Since day one this organization has believed in me and allowed me to grow both as a person and a player. I can’t thank Pax, Gar, Vinny and Jerry enough for the opportunity to continue to excel as a Bull.”

Kirk Hinrich signed a similar extension over the summer. “Taj is a great player. Great contributor and an asset to this team. He works very hard both on and off the court,” Said Hinrich.

“Taj is a gamer. He hustles. He plays hard. Most of all, he’s able to take on many different matchups. I’m only half joking when I call this guy the matchup god,” said head coach Vinny Del Negro, who recently signed on for 3 more years at the helm of the franchise.

When asked if he thought it was a strange time to be signing extensions for players on a team that started out the season on a 3-14 note, Vinny replied, “I think we’re fine as is. We just need to work a little harder and we’ll get to where we need to be. It’s a long season, and I think we have a shot at going deep in the playoffs.”

Management was unavailable for comment.

Chicago Bulls, City Prepare For Brand: Round Two

February 17th 2010 – As the trade deadline neared, the Chicago Bulls felt they had to make an impact, and improve their team immediately. It looks like they accomplished that.

Chicago will send Brad Miller’s 11 million dollar expiring contract to the 76ers in exchange for Elton Brand. Brand is a former Bull, originally drafted by Chicago with the number one pick in 1999. John Salmons will also be headed to Philadelphia.

Head coach Vinny Del Negro said, “It’ll be nice to have another power presence down low. I’m just not sure Elton’s knees can handle the pick and roll. But Joakim has been working on his mid range jumper, so I’ll probably run Derek and Joakim in the pick and roll for awhile. That’ll create some unique matchups, and as I’ve said from day one, this league is all about matchups.”

“Elton is a terrific guy and a decent player,” said teammate Derek Rose, the 2008 overall top pick and rookie of the year. “It’ll be interesting to see what he has left in the tank.”

Previous reports had suggested that the Bulls had planned to hoard their cap space for one of the premier free agents this summer. Bulls GM Gar Forman had a different take on the situation. “Lets be honest here folks,” said Forman as he addressed the media this morning, “Lebron wasn’t coming. Wade wasn’t coming. Bosh wasn’t coming. Maybe we overpay Lee, maybe we overpay Boozer. Who does that leave? Joe Johnson. But we don’t need a shooting guard, we have Kirk at the 2 guard spot and we love him there. We need a power forward and Elton was available. We’re familiar with Elton, we know what he used to bring to the table and we hope he can still do that.”

The Bulls better hope so, as Brand is owed 51 million dollars over the next three years.

Talk about nightmare! Hahaha. Try to tell me this isn’t more realistic than us landing Lebron though. Just try!

Lebron to Chicago doesn’t make much sense. Why wouldn’t he just go play with Wade in Miami?

Why bring on the endless “hey ‘Bron, do you think you’re better than Jordan” stuff? Why not play with another top 5 NBA player in Wade? With a GM that you know will go to war with you, that will take risks (Shaq, JO, etc.) to get that ring…

That possibility is just a rumor in a few writer’s minds.

It’s more likely (though again, very improbable) that the Bulls make a really dumb trade in the next week. I would still be extremely surprised if it happened (not for STAT or someone big, but for somebody that isn’t what they used to be, a Brand type guy).

If Lebron is a 2% chance to come here, I’d imagine this is slightly more likely.