Here is a brief look at some of the news since the draft through this first day of free agency:

• LaMarcus Aldridge wants out of Portland
  It was reported shortly before the draft that Aldridge wants out of Portland and would like to be traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Trailblazers have listened to offers but nothing is imminent. Portland and Chicago have had brief discussions but would like Joakim Noah and are not interested in Carlos Boozer or Luol Deng. Unless one side is willing to budge talks will seemingly remain at a standstill.
• Andrea Bargnani traded to the New York Knicks
  This doesn’t have anything to do with Chicago except for the fact that it takes out the possibility of Chicago trading for Bargnani as they had tried to do earlier this year. The Knicks will be sending Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, a future first round pick, and two future second round picks in exchange for the former number one pick.
• Kyle Korver is “in the bag” for the Brooklyn Nets
  ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted out that one rival GM believes the Nets have Kyle Korver “in the bag.” Nothing has been finalized or announced from either party but, if true, this is a huge blow to the Bulls and huge win for the Nets. Korver is one of the more coveted shooters this offseason and previously expressed interest in returning to Chicago. Last season he posted the second best three point shooting percentage, fourth best true shooting percentage, and had a top 10 offensive rating. His skill set could once again improve Chicago’s miserable three point shooting and help spread the floor. Given Brooklyn’s financial situation, if Korver were to sign with them it means he was willing to accept the mini-Mid Level Exception, something the Bulls could easily have offered him.
• The Bulls’s Summer League roster is taking shape
  Chicago’s Summer League roster is quickly taking shape. Tony Snell, Erik Murphy, Marquis Teague, and Malcolm Thomas will all be on the roster. Aggrey Sam reported Luke Harangody, Andy Rautins, Ryan Allen (Tony Allen’s brother), and Charles Boozer (yes, the brother of Carlos Boozer) are all expected to be on the team. Mike McGraw indicated Andrew Goudelock may be on the team as well (which could explain a tweet he sent out early in the morning).
• The contract of head assistant coach Ron Adams was not renewed
  As reported by the Chicago Tribune the Bulls will not be renewing Ron Adams’s contract for the 2013-2014 season. Adams is a close friend and has been the head assistant coach to Tom Thibodeau and has been working on one year deals since coming to Chicago. As of now Chicago has no replacement for him. There is speculation that this move has caused some rift between general manager Gar Foreman and Thibodeau. According to a tweet from Adrian Wojnarowski, the “relationship between [the] Bulls’ GM and coach is easily the worst in the NBA.” Just perfect.
• Bulls linked to Mo Williams, Will Bynum, John Lucas III, and Monta Ellis
  According to a report from Shams Charania the Bulls have had exploratory talks with Mo Williams and Will Bynum. As of now there is no news as to how serious the talks are but they do fit in with the rumors that Nate Robinson’s days in Chicago are done. Mo Williams may be out of Chicago’s price range as he made over $8 million last year and has expressed he wants to play in a starter role (aka- significant minutes). The Bulls have also been linked to John Lucas III. JL3 was recently released by the Toronto Raptors and can likely be had for a minimum deal to replace Robinson. Lastly, Ken Berger reported the Bulls have had talks with Monta Ellis. Ellis is looking for a deal around $10 million or more and is more than likely out of Chicago’s price range.
• The Bulls are pursuing Mike Dunleavy Jr. with the mini-Mid Level Exception
  Adrian Wojnarowski recently tweeted out that the “Bulls [are] pursuing Mike Dunleavy Jr. with the mini-mid level [exception].” By adding Dunleavy Jr. the Bulls would be adding some much needed shooting to the roster. Last season Dunleavy shot a strong 42.8% from beyond the arc while posting up a 57.7% true shooting percentage and 54.5% effective field goal percentage. Should he pick up Thibodeau’s system, Dunleavy could prove to be a defensive upgrade over the options Chicago had last year (ex- Marco Belinelli). The current situation is fluid and nothing is imminent.
  
  UPDATE 7/1 by Avi Saini, 4:35 PST- According to a Twitter update from Wojnarowski, the Bulls are the frontrunners to land Dunleavy’s services. The sides are discussing a 2 year, $6 million deal. K.C. Johnson also tweeted out that both sides are confident a deal can be reached.

  UPDATE 7/1 by Avi Saini, 5:25 PST- According to a tweet by ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Bulls and Dunleavy have verbally agreed a 2 year $6 million deal. No other details about the deal are known at this time.

We will keep you updated as more news becomes available.

The post 2013 Free Agency Roundup- Day 1 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Previous player capsules can be found here: Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Jimmy Butler

Name: Kirk Hinrich
Height/Weight: 6’3″ / 190 lbs
Age: 32
NBA Seasons: 10

Regular Season Stats: 60 games, 7.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.1 spg, 37.7 FG%, 71.4 FT%

Post-Season Stats: 4 games, 11.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.0 spg, 43.2 FG%, 64.3 FT%

Season Grade: C-

Recap:
Before Nate Robinson put the team on his back, the Chicago Bulls’ biggest offseason signing was Kirk Hinrich. Had he simply been an addition to the team I would have had no problem with this. However, in order to attain his services Chicago bid with themselves and ended up trading three point marksman Kyle Korver, who ended up having a monstrous season with the Atlanta Hawks.

Because of the price Chicago paid to get him as well as the fact that Chicago hard capped themselves to get him expectations for Hinrich were set to a higher standard than they normally would have been for a 32 year old. Unfortunately Hinrich failed to live up to these expectations. Offensively, he did create some opportunities for Chicago but failed to get any consistent scoring opportunities for his teammates and could barely muster any offense of his own. Defensively Hinrich did play very physical for the Bulls but was consistently burned by younger guards as they blew by him. It was like watching a moped try to race a Ferrari.

As a whole I was not a fan of Hinrich’s season and felt he didn’t performed up to the level he should have. I would have given him a lower grade, however there is no denying that the Bulls offense did seem to flow better when he was on the floor. Nor can I deny the fact that the Chicago Bulls had a better record with him starting than they did otherwise. For those reasons alone Hinrich passes… barely.

Future:
Hinrich looks like he’ll be a member of the Bulls for one more season. With any luck, Hinrich will spend this season working on his speed as well as his three point shooting.

The post 2012-2013 Player Capsules- Kirk Hinrich appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Atlanta Hawks Status Check:
Record: 29-16
Division: 9-3
Conference: 17-11
Home Record: 16-7
Last 10 Games: 5-5
Streak: Won 1
Last game: 93-92 win over Toronto
PPG: 96.7 (14^th)
Opponents PPG: 96.0 (9^th)
Offensive Rating: 104.3 (16^th)
Defensive Rating: 103.5 (9^th)
Pace: 91.4 (16^th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .515 (5^th)
Turnover Percentage: .145 (28^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .731 (17^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .233 (26^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .165 (28^th)
Opp. eFG%: .491 (13^th)
Opp. TO%: .147 (5^th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .187 (6^th)
Leading scorer: Josh Smith (16.8)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Atlanta Injury Report:
Anthony Morrow: out (strained hip/sore back)
Zaza Pachulia: questionable (sore Achilles)
Lou Williams: out (torn ACL)

Overview:
Chicago lost their first game of a five game road trip, but that isn’t the bad news. They may have lost Joakim Noah for an extended period of time with plantar fasciitis. The last time Noah dealt with this injury, it was in his other foot, and it kept him out for 18 games. The fact that Noah has been through this before could help his return, but it’s still too early to know.

“I know it’s hard to come back from,” Noah said. “But I’m on it a lot earlier than I was last time and I think the difference was that last time I just tried to keep fighting through it and keep fighting through it. And I’m just trying to be smart about it, because I just know that if I would have kept playing on it, even just today, I would probably have been out for a lot longer. I’m just trying to be smart.”

Being smart is the key. There is no reason to rush Noah back. If we are being honest, there is no reason he was playing nearly 39 minutes a night to begin with, but that’s a different story. Right now, Noah is the most important Bull. Chicago needs to take the same care with Noah as it is with Derrick Rose. If that means Noah misses 15 to 20 games, then so be it. It’s just unfortunate that the Bulls don’t have a Turkish center as Noah’s backup that just so happens to be an elite rebounder and elite defender. I mean, that would be really hard to find and if a team does have something like that, they probably wouldn’t just give it up.

Not only was Noah out, but Kirk Hinrich, Carlos Boozer and obviously Derrick Rose were missing as well. The Bulls put in a great effort, even led going into the fourth quarter, but eventually—and not surprisingly—ran out of gas down the stretch. Taj Gibson (16 points, nine rebounds) played the entire game and Luol Deng (18 points) sat for just four seconds, when he went out with an injury.

Four guys—Gibson, Deng, Jimmy Butler and Nate Robinson—played more than 40 minutes.

Tom Thibodeau will surely say the Bulls have “more than enough to win with.” But that “more than enough” he is referring to keeps shrinking. Gibson and Deng playing 48 minutes in a game is a bad idea. The fact that the game also happens to be the first night of a back-to-back makes it worse.

It’s clear Thibs doesn’t trust many of the guys on this team. Nazr Mohammed started but played only eight minutes, Marquis Teague played just seven minutes, while Daequan Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic didn’t see the floor. It’s understandable that the guys at the end of the bench aren’t Thibodeau’s top choices, but he has to play them at this point. One of these days, he is going to have to realize that what’s causing these injuries are the high minutes. Deng has, knock on wood, stayed relatively healthy even with the extra load for the past three seasons. But as a center, Noah breaking down was more likely to happen.

Right now, the Bulls have ten healthy bodies. All of those bodies need to get in the game. Rip Hamilton needs to play more than 17 minutes like he did on Friday night. The minutes need to be spread out, and if Tom Thibodeau doesn’t understand that, he needs to be told. Killing Deng and Taj isn’t the answer to these injuries, it’s the start of more injuries.

The Bulls got crushed the last time they met Atlanta on the second night of a back-to-back, falling 92-75. Chicago got revenge the next time, holding the Hawks to 58 points in a 39-point shellacking.

While the few healthy Bulls were logging big minutes, the Hawks were resting, as they’ve been doing for some time now.

Atlanta hasn’t played since a Wednesday night win over the Raptors. Al Horford scored 22 points on 15 shots and also grabbed ten boards, Josh Smith posted 20 points and eleven rebounds and Kyle Korver hit 5-9 three pointers. Korver is averaging 18.4 points over his last five games, while shooting 59.0 percent from deep.

The Bulls had an uphill battle to begin with, playing a rested team on the second night of a back-to-back. Chicago is 4-6 playing on no rest, and that is when they were a much healthier team.

As for who is playing tonight, that’s still up in the air. Noah shouldn’t play; he needs to rest. Hinrich was sent back to Chicago, which doesn’t bode well for him playing tonight. Boozer said he is still stiff. No matter what the Bulls have, they’re going to give it their all. It’s just my hope that the minutes are spread out, because this situation is already bad, it shouldn’t be made worse.

The post Bulls-Hawks Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Rockets Injury Report:
Patrick Patterson: out (foot)
Royce White: out (personal)

Overview:
Chicago tries to rebound from one of its worse losses of the season, while Houston looks to build on its impressive win over one of the top defensive teams in the league, when the two teams meet at the United Center on Christmas. The Bulls’ stifling defense meets the Rockets’ fast-paced, high-scoring offense.

And on a more personal note—although I’m sure it goes for many Bulls fans—Omer Asik returns to the United Center. The last time the Bulls and Rockets met, Asik blocked Joakim Noah’s layup as the Bulls were down four points with less than 15 seconds left. Asik didn’t have a great game overall against the Bulls, finishing with just four points on 2-8 shooting with six rebounds and four turnovers. But the Bulls know Asik affects the game in so many ways that don’t show up on the box score.

Asik is leading the Rockets in defensive rating at 103 (of players that have played more than 100 minutes on the season). Houston has a 105.9 defensive rating as a team. Omer is also fifth in defensive rebound percent (29.2) in the league, 19^th in offensive rebound percent (12.2) and fifth in total rebound percentage (20.7).

And while Asik focuses on defense and rebounding, the Rockets hang their hat on offense. Houston is seventh in offensive rating (108.0) and first in pace (96.4). Their offense was on full display in their blowout win over the Grizzlies. Houston piled up 121 points while shooting 53.7 percent from the field. They did something against the Griz no other team got close to. The next highest total Memphis has given up all year is 101, and that was on opening night against the Clippers. Houston scored 20 more points against the Grizzlies than any other team this year.

Chicago held Houston to 93 points in their November matchup, the Rockets sixth lowest point total of the season. Patrick Patterson, who will miss today’s game with a foot injury, scored 20 points on 8-16 from the field and James Harden led the way with 28 points, while going 9-13 from the line.

Nate Robinson came off the bench to lead the Bulls. He scored 21 points to go with five rebounds and five assists. Kirk Hinrich and Rip Hamilton combined to score eight points on 4-15 from the field. Marco Belinelli went scoreless in his six minutes of action.

But the Bulls did slow down the Rockets on the fast-break. Chicago held Houston to 14 fast-break points, while getting 13 of their own on the break. James Harden and company average 17.8 points per game on the break for the year and have scored 25.3 in transition over their last three games. They scored 33 against Memphis. The Bulls allow 12.5 fast-break points per game.

Chicago hopes to bounce back after getting crushed by the Hawks. The Bulls had just two players in double figures (Deng with 11, Noah with 10) while scoring their second fewest points this season. All of Atlanta’s starters scored in double figured, including ex-Bull and current lady-killer Kyle Korver scoring 13 points while shooting 3-6 from deep. The Bulls grabbed just 31 rebounds, compared to 45 for Atlanta) and only took eight free throws.

Christmas stat: The Bulls are 7-0 all-time at home on Christmas.

The post Rockets-Bulls Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Pistons Injury Report:
Austin Daye: questionable (stomach virus)

Overview:
Chicago is trying to win back-to-back games for just the third time this season, and they aren’t going to have a better chance for a while than against the Pistons.

Detroit’s record doesn’t look like much, at just 6-14, but they are 5-5 in their last ten games, and they are solid at home, going 5-4 in the Palace thus far (they are awful on the road, with a 1-10 record). Detroit strung those five home wins all in a row, and it was snapped in their last game, against Golden State.

The Pistons outrebounded the Warriors 44-35 overall and 15-9 on the offensive glass but it wasn’t enough as Klay Thompson scored 27 points and went 5-8 from deep. Golden State had 17 fastbreak points to the Pistons’ six and turned 17 Detroit turnovers into 16 points.

Tayshaun Prince dropped 24 points and dished five assists but none of the other starters hit double figures in scoring. Brandon Knight, Kyle Singler and Jason Maxiel combined to go 3-19 from the field for eleven points. That’s three-fifths of their starting lineup producing terribly on offense. Don’t expect that again, as Maxiel is shooting better than 50 percent this season and Singler is no slouch at 49 percent.

The bench did step up for the Pistons, led by Andre Drummond’s double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds). All four bench players that got minutes scored in double figures.

A bench that stepped up when the starters were struggling. I can’t imagine a team that could do that a lot, say for two years maybe. Oh wait. There was that one team that had a bench carry them for long stretches, but that’s ancient history now.

The Bulls swept the Pistons last year, holding Detroit to an average of 79.0 points per contest. Chicago’s defensive ratings in the four games were 92.1, 83.1, 91.5 and 94.0. That is amazing defense—paired with some horrible offense—that the Bulls played against the Pistons last season. In the closest game, a 100-94 Bulls overtime win, Kyle Korver recorded an offensive rating of 163 and a defensive rating of 97.

The “new, but not improved Korver” had his best game as a Bull against the Cavs. Marco Belinelli scored a game-high 23 points starting in place of Rip Hamilton. He was just 2-8 from deep but hit 5-7 two-point shots and made 7-8 from the free throw line.

It must have been “Stop Sucking” night in Chicago because Kirk Hinrich had a pretty solid game. Kirk scored eleven points and dished eight assists. It was just the fourth time all season he scored in double figures and the third time he shot better than 50 percent from the field. He’s shooting 33.8 percent from the field this season.

There wasn’t much stepping up by the bench in this one, as the reserves combined to score just 16 points. Noah played 44 minutes, Deng played 42 and Belinelli played 40. Welcome to the starting line-up, Marco.

Minutes are always an issue under Thobideau but it is even more so tonight, as the Bulls play the Knicks tomorrow night which will finish a stretch of four games in five nights. And this stretch of games coming up is going to be tough for the short-handed Bulls.

Stat of the night: The Bulls have won 15 straight against the Pistons, a streak dating back to 2008, and have beaten Detroit eight consecutive times in the Palace at Auburn Hills.

Stat early in the month: The Bulls are holding opponents to 40.9 effective field goal percentage through three games in December.

The post Bulls-Pistons Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

The article produced some not-so-surprising results (the Spurs had the league’s “winningest” offense and Chris Paul was the top offensive player) and a few that were surprising (such as Charlotte’s even-worse-than-we-could-have-imagined offensive ineptitude and the fact that Tyson Chandler ranked as the league’s second-best offensive force).

From a Bulls perspective, it was somewhat surprising that Joakim Noah ranked as the league’s seventh-best offensive player behind only Paul, Chandler, Steve Nash, LeBron James, James Harden and Ryan Anderson.

Alvarez writes:

I know we’ll get a little flack from this chart but it’s important to remember that offense is not just about taking shots. Passing the ball, getting the ball and keeping the ball matter too! Players like Joakim Noah, Kawhi Leonard and Tyson Chandler may not jump to mind when we think offense but it turns out their contributions can be quite valuable.

Now here’s where things get a little strange. Alvarez goes on to rank Chicago’s top five offensive players as Noah (by a country mile), Kyle Korver, Omer Asik, Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose.

Seeing Noah and Korver ranked above Rose in offense seems somewhat reasonable. According to Basketball-Reference, they co-led the team in Offensive Rating at 120 points per 100 possessions (Rose was third at 112). Furthermore, Noah led the team in Offensive Win Shares at 4.9 with Rose coming in second at 4.1 (although Rose played 25 fewer games and was injured most of the season).

However, Asik ranked dead last in Offensive Rating — below even Brian Scalabrine — at 97 points per 100 possessions. Omer and Mike James tied for second-to-last in Offensive Win Shares at 0.1. And did I mention Asik has no hands (turnover rate of 25.2) and shot 45.6 from the free throw line?

So I have a slight problem with any metric that ranks Asik as the Bulls’ third-best offensive player.

It does not compute.

Especially when you consider what a devastating defensive force Asik is. If he were really that crucial to the Bulls’ offense as well as the defense…wouldn’t his PER be higher than 13.4? That’s below the league average.

Anyway, it’s more interesting information to toss on the pile. Just not sure I can agree with the notion of Asik-as-more-important-than-Rose-on-offense.

The post Offensive value and the Bulls appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

The Bulls completed the trade of Kyle Korver to the Hawks reported last Friday, however the Timberwolves dropped out of the thoroughly discussed three-team deal.

Korver’s $5 million contract becomes guaranteed for the 2012-13 season and slides into the Hawks’ trade exception created when they dealt Joe Johnson to the Nets. The Bulls received a $5 million trade exception and cash.

That cash was originally headed to the Timberwolves, who were going to send a second-round pick to the Bulls, a source said. A trade exception allows the Bulls to acquire a player whose contract is up to $5 million without sending out any salary. They expire after a year if unused.

And that, as they say, is that. This was a straight-up salary dump. The Bulls have so much cash committed to Carlos Boozer, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng that management is pinching every possible penny to avoid the luxury tax…which they’ll end up paying anyway if they match Houston’s $25.1 million offer sheet on Omer Asik.

The Bulls are going to be hard pressed to replace Korver’s three-point shooting. Last season’s two best percentage three-point snipers — Korver and C.J. Watson — are gone (Watson signed with the New Jersey Nets).

It’s hard to see the Bulls spreading the floor, especially early on when Rose and Deng are both out, which is going to have a really negative impact on the offense. Today’s NBA offenses are predicated largely on three-point shooting. Not sure how the Bulls are going to adjust now that they essentially don’t have any (save for Kirk Hinrich, who isn’t a high percentage three-point shooter).

The post The Kyle Korver trade is official appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Assuming he passes — and there’s no reason I know of to assume otherwise — the Bulls will be able to finalize the three-team deal sending Korver to the Hawks via the Minnesota Timberwolves.

What do the Bulls get out of this trade? Reportedly, they will receive a draft pick, a trade exception, and the benefit of not paying the $500,000 guarantee on the $5,000,000 non-guaranteed portion of Kyle’s contract.

Will the deal make the Bulls a better team? No. Will it keep money in Jerry Reinsdorf’s pockets? Yes.

It’s currently unknown whether Kirk Hinrich will be included in this transaction somehow. Reports have surfaced that unrestricted free agent O.J. Mayo is getting a look-see from Chicago management — Mayo is also receiving interest from the Lakers, Mavericks and Suns — and the Bulls may be trying to work out some sort of deal that allows them to get both Hinrich and Mayo while still, somehow, avoiding the luxury tax.

Which likely means moving Rip Hamilton.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes:

Along these lines, league sources said the Bulls have shopped Richard Hamilton’s expiring $5 million deal, which carries a mere $1 million guarantee for 2013-14. Thus far, there have been no takers.

No takers? Hard to fathom that. Who doesn’t want an injury-plagued shooting guard coming off his worst statistical season since his rookie year and who will turn 35 in February?

Of course, management’s efforts at moving Rip may have nothing to do with Mayo at all. The Bulls may simply be looking to avoid spending money. Which, as everyone knows, is their M.O.

Nonetheless, Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald has sorted through various Mayo-to-Chicago scenarios:

Complete details of the Kirk Hinrich acquisition and Kyle Korver trade to Atlanta have yet to be revealed, but those transactions should help the Bulls in the Mayo chase.

If the Bulls get a second-round draft pick out of the Korver trade, they’ll have a traded-player exception worth $5 million. To use that on Mayo, they’d have to talk the Grizzlies into doing a sign-and-trade and send some sort of draft pick and/or cash in return.

Sign and trades are limited to four years in the new CBA. So if that happens, Memphis could sign Mayo to a four-year deal worth a total of $21.35 million and send him to the Bulls.

Another possibility is using the full mid-level exception of $5 million. The most the Bulls could get out of that is the same four-year offer to Mayo worth $21.35 million.

To use that option, the Bulls would have to decline to match Omer Asik’s offer sheet from Houston. Otherwise, they’d be limited to the taxpayer mid-level of $3 million.

They’d also have to find another way to land Hinrich, either through a sign-and-trade with Atlanta or possibly even the bi-annual exception worth $1.9 million, which they could use if Asik walks.

There’s also a chance the Bulls could negotiate an Asik trade before he signs the offer sheet, maybe something involving the Rockets and Grizzlies. That would be a challenge to work out, but it could be done.

I know. My head’s spinning too. So many possibilities.

Speaking of Asik, there’s been an interesting turn of events that could affect his presumed offer sheet from the Rockets. Namely that the Knicks have reportedly decided not to match Houston’s offer sheet on Jeremy Lin.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The New York Knicks reportedly will not match the offer sheet signed by point guard Jeremy Lin from the Houston Rockets.

Lin, a restricted free agent, signed a three-year, $25.1 million deal with Houston. ESPN.com reported a Knicks source said the team would not match the contract because

Lin reportedly would make $5 million next season and $5.225 million during 2013-14 season. The Knicks have until Tuesday to match the Rockets’ offer. it contains a third year worth $14.8 million that would likely subject the team to the NBA’s luxury tax.

Since Lin’s offer and Asik’s reported offer are both backloaded, that means the Rockets would owe the pair of them close to $30 million in 2014-15. That’s an obscene amount of money for a largely unproven (if admittedly seemingly spectacular) point guard and a backup center.

And don’t forget Houston is still trying to land Dwight Howard.

Will the Lin situation affect Houston’s ability to make an offer to Asik? Can it?

I guess we’ll find out. The Knicks have until tomorrow to match Lin’s offer sheet. And at the moment it seems they’ll do what all teams do in this sitution: wait until the last minute to announce their decision.

Still, all signs point toward the fact that Bulls management is more concerned with saving money — both this season and in the future — than improving the team right now.

But maybe management has some amazing moves to make we haven’t seen yet.

The post Bulls finalizing Korver trade, shopping Rip, interested in Mayo, etc. appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Said Brewer: “I will definitely test the market though. Whatever team I end up going to, I know I’m going to have another improved year.”

Of course, it could be that part of the reason Brewer’s option wasn’t picked up is that he didn’t really have an improved year last season.

In 2010-11, Brewer averaged 6.2 PPG while shooting 48 percent from the field and 22 percent from downtown. He also added 3.2 RPG and 1.7 APG.

In 2011-12, he upped his scoring average slightly to 6.9 PPG but — after a hot start — his shooting dropped to 42.7 percent.

Brewer’s Player Efficiency Rating (PER) also dropped from 13.8 to 12.3 and his Win Shares Per 48 Minutes went from .147 to .113.

Comparatively, Jimmy Butler posted a PER of 12.5 and a Win Shares Per 48 Minutes of .144 last season, which project him to be about as good as Brewer.

In fact, Brewer’s Per 36 Minute stats (10.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.0 APG) are nearly identical to Butler’s (10.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.4 APG).

That’s not to undervalue Brewer’s contributions…it simply shows that the notion of letting him walk (or even possibly re-signing him at a reduced rate) may not be the the crazy/cheap move by management some fans are making it out to be.

Regarding the team’s decision, Brewer added: “They just said they’re going in a different direction and might try to sign me back once the dust settles with different trades and whatnot at a lower salary so they won’t go over the luxury tax or maybe something with a sign-and-trade situation. Who knows? My agent expressed to Gar that I appreciated the opportunity he gave me in Chicago. I enjoyed my time there.

“Coach (Tom Thibodeau) is one of the best coaches in the NBA, hands down. We’ve had a good group of guys with great chemistry in the locker room. It wouldn’t be out of the picture to go back, but I have to give other teams options to make an offer.”

As for Kyle Korver, Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times writes: “A different source said the Bulls were exploring sign-and-trade possibilities that could send Kyle Korver to the Minnesota Timberwolves or Atlanta Hawks, although his return to the Bulls hasn’t been ruled out.”

The Bulls have until Sunday to make up their mind on Korver.

Note: Stats provided by Basketball-Reference.

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According to the Focus Taiwan News Channel:

“Derrick Rose, the NBA’s youngest Most Valuable Player (MVP) in history, was seen happily receiving a new Chinese nickname on Saturday during a two-day visit to Taiwan. Chosen by Taiwanese fans through an online poll recently, the nickname ‘Biao Feng Mei Gui,’ which means ‘speedy stormy Rose,’ was presented to the Chicago Bulls point guard at a news conference in Taipei.”

That’s pretty close to “Too big, too strong, too fast, too good,” don’t you think?

Speaking of Derrick, Charles Barkley was a guest on “The Waddle and Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 last week and had some advice for the speedy and stormy one:

“Well, I think it would be a mistake for Derrick Rose to go overseas. I think any great player has got too much at stake. You could go there and hurt yourself. If you are as great as Derrick Rose, why would you risk your NBA career and contract by going overseas? I just don’t think that’s very smart. If I were somebody like Derrick Rose, I would go back and work on my degree. I think some of the lesser players are going to go over and play, because they can make some good money. But for someone like Derrick Rose, that’s a bad idea.”

Fair enough. I can’t see Rose playing overseas anyway, regardless of what happens with the lockout. Oh, and Sir Charles had something to say about that too:

“I’m saying, best-case scenario if everything went perfect, they would start the season in January. But I’m still going to stay on the record and say they’re not going to get to play at all next year. In my honest opinion, I hope they don’t screw up the momentum of last year. It was a great year for the NBA. Even if some of the attention was negative, because of the Heat, it was nice to see Dirk (Nowitzki) and Jason Kidd get their rings.”

Kyle Korver isn’t feeling any more optimistic about the lockout:

“It’s not going well … for sure, it looks like the season’s not going to start on time. It’s really frustrating because the NBA’s never been more successful. It’s never made more money. From [the players’] standpoint, you don’t understand why … how do you lose money? I don’t understand. The NBA made like $2.4 billion this year. So that’s frustrating. Especially coming off a year where your team did well and you want to keep building on that, and you’re being locked out and not being able to play.”

If the 2011-12 season is lost — and here’s the team’s TV schedule in case it’s not — that will be a huge bummer for a Bulls team that, even by Dwyane Wade’s admission, is this close to a championship:

“They met us in the Eastern Conference finals, and they were one player away from making it a very, very, very tough series. Derrick Rose is evolving into a phenomenal player. You could look and see they’re one player away from being there every year.”

Wade also has an idea of how the Bulls can take it to the next level. And, yeah, it’s pretty much the same idea everybody else has:

“It would have to be a player that can take the pressure off him from making every play. As a point guard, when you have to score so much, and have to make every big shot, and have to make all the passes, eventually it takes a toll on you throughout the season, no matter how phenomenal you are. So just someone who can come in and take some of that pressure away. That’s why I was excited not only to play with my friend but excited to play with a guy like LeBron, because it takes some of that pressure away from having to do it year after year after year. It saves you, your body.”

On the plus side, the players are planning to get together during the lockout to practice, so hopefully they’ll be ready to go when the lockout ends. Whenver that is.

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