Word is that the Bulls' natural preference is playing out the season with one of the league's consensus top-three rosters and seeing how far they can go. But they could always make a trade play for Howard in conjunction with the draft, before free agency, if he's still in Orlando, since they have several quality players under contract to offer in exchange.

"Agent Bill Duffy also said that Joel Przybilla will choose between the #Heat and #Bulls by week's end."

Nets announce signing of guard Keith Bogans.

When asked after the game, and in light of Rose’s performance, about the difficulties of developing decision-making as a point guard (when to look for yourself, when to look for teammates), Wall said, "It’s not hard when you got guys like Kyle Korver that can make shots, and you can run off down screens and a guy like Carlos Boozer that can pick-and-pop, and Luol Deng and guys you can run plays for that make shots and create their own shots, it’s kind of easy."

Yes, Chris Paul called him soft. And, no, Gasol didn’t want to hear it.

"Maybe I need to not take so many shots. I don't know," (Melo) said. "There's just a bunch of stuff that goes through my mind. Just [trying to figure] out ways to make other guys better. Should I pass it more?

NBA releases second All-Star voting returns. DRose leads East guards and passed LeBron as 3rd overall behind DHoward, Kobe.

Kobe said after the game that Chris Paul & Derrick Rose are the only other players in the league with the same competitive edge that he has

Dwight-to-Bulls: "Only one team rep I encountered was prepared to list Chicago as the favorite to land Howard, but a couple others openly wondered why Howard is so reluctant to add the Bulls to the Nets, Lakers and Mavericks on his list of preferred destinations.

The only plausible theory, unless Howard is so vehemently averse to Chicago weather, is the theory in circulation about adidas urging Howard not to play alongside Derrick Rose so its two biggest shoe-sellers don't wind up in the same city.

One source in Reno said of the Bulls: "They've got so many pieces to work with [headlined by Joakim Noah] and they're very interested. I don't think [the Bulls] are going away, either. They're not going to be convinced they can't get Dwight until he goes somewhere else."

Hawks center Al Horford expected to be out 3-4 months with torn left pectoral muscle, source tells Yahoo! Sports.