Bulls were strangely quiet during the trading window. The only thing they did was send off James Johnson to Toronto for a bad draft pick. They did make a serious offer for OJ Mayo though, dangling Brewer plus both first round draft picks, but the Grizzles wanted Asik, and the Bulls were right to hang on to him. Strangely, Memphis reportedly accepted a worse deal from the Pacers but it didn't go though in time. Can't argue with the Bulls about that -- they made a good offer and stopped short of making a bad one. Since they currently have the three seed for the playoffs, you could make the argument that they don't need much.
It's been a very long time since the Bulls were an attractive destination for buyout players, but this year they should be active. For the uninitiated, the buyout period is where the bad pauper teams jettison players for salary cap reasons. The better players often resign with a playoff bound team for less money, hoping for a ring. Boston has been particularly successful with snatching up buyout players, as has the Lakers and other elite teams. With the poor economy, this year's crop of buyout players will be better than usual, with names like Troy Murphy, Mike Bibby, Leon Powe, Samuel Delembert, Jared Jeffries, Corey Brewer, Jason Kapono, TJ Ford, and Rasual Butler. Bibby is supposedly headed for the Heat, who badly need him. Lots of teams will fight for Murphy, including Boston, who will probably pick up some big man. The Lakers and Dallas will likely get someone. Miami is probably the team with the most to gain by picking up buyout players.
Current rumors have Butler headed for the Bulls, giving us yet another average SG. I guess he can be more useful than Johnson though, so it could be a good move. I think they should take a good look at Brewer, if only to confuse teams by having two Brewer's on the same squad. Seriously though, he has some size and athleticism, actually, a slightly taller version of the Brewer we already have.
Bulls have been hot lately and you can make the case that they can handle anyone in a series this year. I believe this is true, however, I also think they could just as easily lose a first round playoff series. There's no really great team this year. San Antonio is the closest to that and the Bulls just beat them handily, so it really is a wide open year with the championship up for grabs.
