I read the fanshots on Paxson, Bogans, and team chemistry in general and have come away with one conclusion.  The Bulls aren't giving up anyone out the core rotation in any trade.  We are strictly dealing with draft picks. 

So how do you get away with that?  You have to trade guys who will get bought out.  Think Big Z last year with Cleveland.  Now, we don't have to trade all three, but we can use them in some combination along with our picks to get an extra guy for cheap.  No, this trade may not be the one that sends us to Championship bliss, but you may look back at it during a playoff series and say to yourself "Damn, glad we grabbed that guy."

Big Z was traded to Washington in the Antawn Jamison deal, never played a second in DC, was bought out, and a month later was right back with the Cavs for the stretch run.  After this courageous run holding it down in the middle, don't you think Kurt deserves a nice month to rest his bones before the playoffs.  Scals is nothing more than an extra coach at this point, see if he'll take a "consultant" gig during his month, not sure if that's legal. 

The thing is finding a team that will let these guys walk.  The best way to look for that is probably going to be a team that is rebuilding or doesn't have a 1st round pick at all.  So, yea we realistically could land Mayo and come real close on Smith, but I doubt the Grizz or Nuggets are letting Kurt walk.  Both teams need bigs. 

If we use this method, we're going to have to take whatever kind of quality you can get.  So it may not particularly be a SG, it may be a backup PG out there, or backup SF.  Really, in most of the trades I would think JJ and our remaining cap space would be enough salary-wise.  The teams I would reach out to are: 

-- Cleveland -- Adding a 2nd round pick to JJ gets you Parker.  I'd rather see if adding a 1st round pick can get us Jamario Moon. 

-- Washington -- A 1st round pick and JJ is enough to get Al Thornton. A very nice backup to Deng, that has fallen out the rotation in DC. 

-- Detroit -- I'm not sure they would do this deal, but I think they are going to try their best to blow that team up.  They have some horrible contracts on that squad, and I really don't see them resigining Stuckey (after all the dustups with Kuester). Why not get a 1st for him?  Send Kurt and 1st round pick for Stuckey and 2nd round pick (Nuggets)

-- Milwaukee -- 1st round pick and Scals for CDR and give us our 2nd back, from the Salmons deal.  Show some consistency and he could be the one to unseat Bogans.  At the very least, he gives us a scorer off the bench.

-- Indiana -- With Paul George and Dahntay Jones looking pretty good under Vogel, maybe they are willing to ship Brandon Rush and 2nd round pick for JJ and 1st round pick. 

You probably notice a trend.  I definitely value another 2nd round pick, we already have Utah's and Phoenix's, over our late 1st round pick.  If you look at the positions the Bulls are likely to be looking for in the draft next year, backup PG and swingman.  The quality of the prospect in late 20's is pretty much the same as the prospect in the 40's.