I’d be willing to bet cash money that you were just thinking to yourself, “Self, my shrine to the Chicago Bulls is nearly finished. I need only obtain one final pièce de résistance to make it complete.” Well, I have just the resistance piece for you: A pair of game-used shoes worn by none other than “Big Shot” Larry Hughes.

According to the product description: “Up For Bid Is a Pair Of Game Used Shoes Worn By NBA All Star & Chicago Bulls Star Larry Hughes. The Shoes Were Given To Me After A Game At The United Center in Chicago. The Size of The Shoes Are 14. The Shoes Are Customized And Say In Stitching ‘YAA & Also Homegrown.’ These Shoes Are Very Hard To Get So Get Them While You Can! Also Shoes Show Very Good Use As You Can See In the Picture.”

There are those who claim you can’t put a price of history, but this seller did, and it’s a steep one: The “Buy It Now” cost is $179.99 (plus there’s a $10 shipping and handling charge). That seems like a lot to pay for five pounds of cowhide and synthetic materials that carry the stale aroma of Larry Hughes’ sweaty feet. Unless of course they’re the shoes he used to walk out of Chicago after he was traded to the Knicks…but I don’t think that’s the case.

Another dubious aspect of this particular auction is this addendum to the product description: “This Autographed Photo Comes With A King James Collectables Certificate Of Authenticity And A Money Back GUARANTEE!” Maybe the seller just made a mistake, but if this is a scam, well, I can’t imagine a greater act of cruelty than tricking someone into paying almost $200 for a picture of Larry Hughes’ sneakers. Short of giving someone season tickets to the Clippers, anyway.

The post Larry Hughes’ game-used shoes! appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

ESPN’s Marc Stein has reported that the Bulls are sending Larry Hughes to the Knicks for Jerome James, Tim Thomas and Anthony Roberson. This is a classic case of pass the trash, since it’s not a straight-up salary dump for either team (Hughes makes $12.8 million this year; James and Thomas make $12.2 million combined). But the Bulls don’t need Hughes (especially with John Salmons coming to Chicago in the deal with the Kings), and they don’t want him. At all. I mean, they wouldn’t even use his body to put out a fire.

Next season, James and Thomas are on the books for $6,600,000 and $6,466,000, respectively. (James has a player option which he’s sure to accept.) Roberson has a team option for $855,189 and the Bulls will most likely reject it as soon as contractually possible. By comparison, Hughes is going to make $13.65 million next year. So the Bulls will save a little cash. (Very little.) But this is a classic case of addition by subtraction, since Hughes was as welcome in Chicago as swollen, itchy rash that can’t be treated or even lasered off. And, of course, no matter what happens, all three of these new contracts will be off the books by [insert dramatic music here] The Summer of 2010. I’m already looking forward to our failed attempts at signing LeBron, D-Wade and Chris Bosh!

I doubt James or Roberson will ever actually appear in a game. For the Bulls, anyway. Thomas might, I suppose. According to Vinny Del Negro: “I played with Tim a couple years [in Milwaukee]. I enjoyed playing with him, I didn’t have any problem with him. I’ll sit down and talk to Tim and tell him what I expect of him; what his role is. I expect him to be professional and do his job. He has the ability and skill level to help us in certain areas. I’ll wait to have those conversations but I have a good mindset with Tim and that’s why I think it’s a positive move for us.” Translation: Timmy might get some random playing time here or there, but don’t expect much. (In fact, don’t expect much even if, by some miracle, he does get significant PT…)

Grade:I give this trade a “Meh, whatever.” Actually, I’ll upgrade that to “Eh, really?” since we managed to get rid of Larry Hughes. But that’s the best possible score any deal involving the acquisition of Jerome James could possibly get. Unless we got to dress Jerome up as a giant piece of fruit.

The post Time to pass the trash appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

If you can believe the NBA rumor mill, the Phoenix Suns have apparently jammed a “Yard Sale” sign in front of Amare Stoudemire’s locker. It seems that Suns GM Steve Kerr has finally realized that, despite Amare’s wicked-awesome talent and immense athleticism, he’s still a big man without a post move who couldn’t protect the paint (short of the occasional high-flying swat) if his team’s playoff chances and a $100 million contract extension were on the line. (And they are.)

Huh. An athletic power forward who can’t defend at his position (or at center) and would rather shoot face-up jumpers than execute a move in the low post? We already have that guy. His name is Tyrus Thomas. Look, Amare may be an All-Star — who despite intense lobbying via an Internet marketing campaign barely beat out Bruce Bowen for a starting spot on the Western Conference squad, by the way — but he’s basically an older and much more expensive version of a player the Bulls already have on their roster. And then there’s that whole “his knee was reconstructed through microfracture surgery” thing. I know he’s become something of a poster boy for recovery from that particular procedure, but still…it certainly isn’t going to extend his career.

But let’s forget for a second whether it’s a good move and ask the more immediate question: Could it happen? The Suns want three things in return for Stoudemire: A salary dump, promising young talent (since they don’t have any of their own) and some draft picks. As it happens, Chicago can offer all that. The Bulls have almost $9 million worth of expiring contracts in Drew Gooden (who isn’t even playing) and Cedric Simmons (ditto). Joakim Noah and Thomas (and maybe even Thabo Sefolosha) are the young and talented. And John Paxson could probably be convinced to toss in some draft picks (lottery-protected, of course).

So yes, it could happen. But it really, really shouldn’t. If, you know, Pax wants to actually improve the team. Stoudemire is a random numbers generator, no doubt about it, but he’s not the answer to any of Chicago’s most pressing concerns. The Bulls need a stopper in the paint. Amare can’t (or won’t) do that. They also need somebody who can score with his back to the basket. Amare won’t (or can’t) do that either. He also tends to sulk and stop rebounding when he’s not the number one option on offense. Sounds like a lose-lose-lose proposition to me.

Then there’s the little problem of keeping him around even if we can trade for him. Stoudemire’s contract includes a clause that would allow him to opt out after next season. You’d better believe that he’s going to do it…and then ask for a huge raise. He’ll no doubt be seeking one of those max-outs that go for about six years and over $100 million. That’s what I like to call a cap killer over at Basketbawful. Imagine watching him average 16 points and 7 rebounds after Pax decided to pay him $20 million per  year. Wouldn’t that make you want to drink until you couldn’t feel feelings anymore?

Look, in the summer of 2006, Paxson signed Ben Wallace to a $60 million contract that wrecked the team’s salary flexibility and eventually forced a trade for Larry Hughes. In doing so, he gave up on (and subsequently traded away) Tyson Chandler, even though Tyson was younger and could do pretty much everything Big Ben could do…and for less money.  Now, Tyson is an All-Star-caliber center (when healthy) and Wallace has one foot in his NBA grave. As blunders go, that was big. Paxson now stands to make the same mistake by potentially dealing Thomas — whom the Suns would almost certainly demand in any trade for Stoudemire — plus other valuable team commodities. Here’s hoping John learned his lesson.

On the other hand, if the Suns are interested in Larry Hughes…

The post Memo to Pax: Just say “No” to Amare appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “The Bulls have had some good fortune on the current seven-game road swing, but that didn’t include Tuesday night when they faced the Houston Rockets with their main core players — Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Ron Artest and Shane Battier — together for just the fourth time all season. ‘Lucky us,’ Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said with a heavy dose of sarcasm before the game. Make that unlucky you as the Rockets — especially 7-6 center Yao — were simply too much to handle as the Bulls saw their three-game winning streak snapped with a 107-100 loss. ‘Yao is tough,’ Bulls forward Luol Deng said. ‘We were trying to double-team him, we were trying to rotate guys. He’s a tough cover. ‘When they’re healthy, this is a very good team.'”

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “The Rockets rarely have been at full strength this season, but there was Yao Ming scoring 28 points, McGrady adding 16 and Ron Artest contributing 10 points and solid defense. Actually, the players who really hurt the Bulls were workmanlike Luis Scola, who set the tone for a physical effort with 13 points and 18 rebounds, and speedy Aaron Brooks with 18 points off the bench. They have physical bodies, and then when our big guys got in foul trouble, I tried to go small and you’re susceptible on the glass even more, coach Vinny Del Negro said. ‘I wanted to run and play more up-tempo.”

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle: “He leads the Rockets in floor burns. Also in energy, passion, rebounding and defense. Luis Scola is easy to overlook because he’s surrounded by stars, because he does things that don’t always show up in the box score. There he was again Tuesday night, throwing in 13 points, grabbing 18 boards and handing out two assists as the Rockets beat Chicago 107-100. ‘He was so active,’ Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. ‘He rebounded consistently all night long. He has really had a solid year. You can’t give him enough credit, and it’s all effort.'”

Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “A cold spell late in the third quarter allowed Houston to pull out to a 79-66 advantage at the end of three quarters. But with Yao on the bench, the Bulls chipped away at the lead and got as close as 82-77 with 8:11 remaining on a 3-pointer by Andres Nocioni. But with Yao back on the floor, the Rockets pulled away again. He had a dunk and a 3-point play off an inbound pass, then Bulls center Joakim Noah (2 points, 1 rebound) fouled out on the next possession. Coach Vinny Del Negro tried to cross up Houston with a small lineup, but Yao buried a hook shot over the 6-7 Nocioni to make it 88-77 with 6:43 left.”

More John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Before Wednesday, Larry Hughes hadn’t played in 10 straight games despite being healthy and in uniform for each. The Bulls made official long before Tuesday night’s game with the Houston Rockets that Hughes’ streak would be extended to 11 games. The 6-5 guard was placed on the inactive list for the game and he’ll likely remain there until he is traded. ‘It’s just something we talked about, something Larry wanted to do,’ coach Vinny Del Negro said. ‘Larry’s been great, but right now, the rotation is what the rotation is. We’re just gonna go that way for a while. We’ll see what happens.'”

The post Fresh ink: February 4, 2009 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “As hard as it might be to believe, the Bulls actually found an opponent struggling more than them. And this time, they took advantage of the soft spot in the schedule to snap a five-game losing streak with a 95-75 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night at Staples Center. That’s not a misprint. The 20-point margin of victory is the Bulls’ biggest of season. ‘We haven’t had a blowout win or a decent lead in a while,’ rookie point guard Derrick Rose said. ‘It feels good just to put it together like that.'”

Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: “Behind door No. 1: Baron Davis. And there was a surprise guest behind door No. 2: Marcus Camby. Despite those seemingly uplifting developments, the door slammed shut on the Clippers once again with the Bulls manhandling them, 95-75, on Wednesday night at Staples Center. Hitting the snooze button in the third quarter — letting the Bulls go on a 20-6 run — was their undoing. Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said his team ‘laid an egg’ in the third quarter. That’s been a second-half trend, of late. It was the Clippers 17th loss in their last 19 games and third straight after Friday’s win against Oklahoma City. They are 10-35.”

John Nadel of the Associated Press: “By beating the Clippers for the third straight time, after losing 13 of the previous 15 games between the teams, the Bulls avoided their longest losing streak since early in the 2006-07 season. Chicago has won six of its last 19 games.”

Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “This was the Bulls’ first blowout win since they beat Phoenix by 17 on Nov. 7. With the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter, guard Lindsey Hunter saw his first game action since Jan. 10, but guard Larry Hughes stayed on the bench throughout. Hughes hasn’t played since Jan. 12 and his agent has been given permission to try to facilitate a trade. But Hughes said before the game he’s ready to take the court. ‘If they call my name, I’m going to play,’ he said. ‘I haven’t shut down. There’s still a lot of season left. Mentally, I’m in it. I continue to work out. The only thing I’m not doing right now is playing in the games.'”

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “On the day he learned he would play in the Rookie Challenge and that his jersey ranks as the ninth-highest seller in the league, Derrick Rose also confirmed he would participate in the skills challenge as part of NBA All-Star weekend. ‘I’ve put a lot of thought into it and I’m going to do it,’ Rose said after the Bulls’ shootaround at a local health club. ‘This could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’ That thought is doubtful, but representative of the genuine humility of Rose, whose next appearance at All-Star weekend could be as part of the big-boys game.”

Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune: “Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro worked for Steve Kerr with the Phoenix Suns, and Kerr believes his former assistant GM has what it takes to survive the team’s recent struggles. ‘Vinny is a really bright guy. Very smart and hard-working,’ Kerr said Wednesday from Phoenix. ‘He’s good with people.’ The Bulls entered Wednesday night’s Clippers game with a five-game losing streak. Being an NBA coach ‘is a very difficult job, unbelievably difficult,’ Kerr said. ‘Even more so when you are new at it and you don’t have [head-coaching] experience. He’s going through what everybody has to go through at the beginning of their career. It’s not easy.'”

The post Fresh ink: January 29, 2009 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

To: The Bueller family.

For: Ferris Bueller.

Why it works: The Bulls need a clutch player, someone who can make things happen in pressure situations, and Bueller is perfect. Look at everything he was able to accomplish in the six or seven hours he was supposed to be at school: Attend a Cubs game; visit the Sears Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Trade; take part in the Von Steuben Day Parade, even lip-syncing to “Danke Schoen” and The Beatles’ version of “Twist and Shout;” and pretend to be the Sausage King of Chicago to dine at an upscale restaurant on Rush Street. Anybody who’s spent any time in the Windy City knows that, for most people, those things could take days, even weeks to accomplish. Ferris did it in half a day. He’s also a larger-than-life personality that fans can rally behind. Plus, no scandal would ever stick to this guy: He was able to ditch classes and even destroy his best friend’s dad’s Ferrari yet came out smelling like a rose. I have no idea whether he can shoot a basketball, but that doesn’t seem to matter on this team. Just look at Joakim Noah.

What the Bueller family gets: I don’t care that she had a change of heart at the end of the movie and saved him from Dean Rooney, Ferris’ sister, Jeanie, hated her brother…mostly because his inexplicable popularity and unstoppable coolness made her feel badly about herself. That wouldn’t happen with Larry; if anything, his underachieving nature and lack of popularity would actually build her confidence. As for Mr. and Mrs. Bueller, they couldn’t tell the difference between their actual son and some cheesy sound effects. Chances are, they wouldn’t even notice the Ferris-for-Larry switch.

To: The cast of Heroes.

For: Hiro Nakamura.

Why it works: Hiro has the ability to bend space and time. Effectively, that allows him to both freeze time and travel through it. Imagine the possibilities. First, it would be pretty easy for Hiro to get to the hoop if everybody in the stadium was caught in a time warp. Second, a simple time rewind could be used to undo any mistake: Turnovers, bad shots, eating too much pizza before the game. If the Bulls collapsed in the fourth quarter, Hiro could simply zip back to the end of the third and let his team replay the final 12 minutes over and over until they got it right. And on a larger scale, maybe he could go back and help rewrite other past blunders, like signing Ben Wallace to that huge contract or trading LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas. Yeah, that first one would ensure that Larry was never a Bull in the first place (since he was acquired for Wallace) and thus cause some kind of schism in the time-space continuum, but whatever. Alternate realities can be fun.

What the Heroes get: The series’ arch supervillain is a guy named Sylar, who cuts open peoples’ brains and inspects them in order to learn their powers. Sylar has, thus far, proven to be unstoppable, but can you imagine what would happen if he dissected Big Shot Larry’s brain and poked around inside it? Not only would it scramble Sylar’s abilities — no doubt causing him to misfire on every finger laser or telekinetic blast — it would eliminate his capacity to even realize he couldn’t use his powers anymore. While he was thus crippled, the Heroes could put Sylar in a rocket ship and fire him into the sun or something.

To: The A-Team.

For: B.A. Baracus.

Why it works: Oh come on. It is literally impossible to imagine any way that adding Mr. T to the Bulls’ roster wouldn’t make the team about a thousand times better. Especially as B.A. Baracus. For starters, their pity-to-fool ratio would immediately jump off the charts. But there’s more. According to his Wikipedia page, B.A. is a mechanical genius who can “fix anything but dinner.” So I figure he could either repair the team’s offense — which consistently breaks down during the fourth quarter — or maybe build some kind of super vehicle that would save the day. (Let’s hear it for the deus ex machina!) The Wiki entry also notes that Baracus has a special fondness for children, occasionally working at a youth center teaching sports to kids…which would make him perfect for the NBA Cares program.

What the A-Team gets: According to the A-Team’s Wiki page: “The team’s opponents are rarely hurt, as bullets miss their targets and the enemies manage to evade or survive, unscathed, numerous explosions.” I figure that if the A-Team needs a guy who likes to shoot a lot but rarely (if ever) hits anything, Larry Hughes is perfect!

To: The Super Friends.

For: Apache Chief.

Why it works: The Bulls can’t protect the paint, and it’s a major problem. Forget Al Jefferson and his season-best 39 points. Guys like Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace, Darko Milicic, Nick Collison and Zaza Pachulia have also torched Chicago for their season-high in scoring. Enough is enough. What better way to protect the paint than with a guy who can grow to any size by simply saying “Inyuk-chuk!” over and over. One time, Apache Chief grew large enough to battle a Space Colossus that plucked Earth from its orbit and placed it in a glass bottle. If Apache Chief can do that, he can probably contain the Zaza Pachulia’s of the NBA.

What the Super Friends get: During the late 1970s, Apache Chief was added to the Super Friends (along with Black Vulcan, Rima the Jungle Girl, El Dorado and Samurai) to give the team a more multi-cultural feel. And while the Super Friends’ Native American representation would drop to zero percent, adding Larry would double their African American membership. Plus, it would give Black Vulcan somebody to commiserate with over the questionable (and possibly racist) naming schemes employed at the Hall of Justice. I mean, what the heck is a “Black Vulcan” anyway? And I don’t think Samurai was actually a real samuri either. I’m just sayin’.

The post Larry Hughes trade scenarios appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Now with saracastic comments at the end of each quote!

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “John Paxson was matter-of-fact and candid in delivering a midseason state-of-the-Bulls address Wednesday at the Berto Center, admitting the Bulls are ‘not very good right now’ and acknowledging that he had failed to create the team he wants. Know this about the Bulls’ general manager: For all those who criticize him for failing to make a move or perhaps making the wrong one, Paxson already has pummeled himself over it. On the first day of training camp, Paxson said his top priority was to re-create the selfless, hustling, lunch-bucket teams that made three straight playoff appearances under Scott Skiles from 2005-07. Asked his assessment of where this season’s team stood in that category, Paxson said, ‘It’s not good enough.'” [So he wants things to get back to the way they were under the coach he famously fired on Christmas Eve. Good forward thinking, John.]

Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Bulls general manager John Paxson is not happy. Not with his team. Not with himself. ‘The only person I’ll evaluate right now is myself, and I obviously haven’t done the job of putting the type of team that I want to have on the floor in terms of competitiveness and effort,’ Paxson said Wednesday when asked about the job coach Vinny Del Negro and his staff have done. The Bulls are 18-25. ‘That falls on me. That’s the only person I’m going to critique. That’s the way it is.'” [So he’s finally blaming himself? Finally a decision the fans can get behind!]

Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “Finding a new home for Larry Hughes is something Bulls general manager John Paxson would like to accomplish before the Feb. 19 trade deadline. But Paxson provided more detailed insight into how he wants to reshape the Bulls following the team’s practice and a Navy induction ceremony Wednesday at the Berto Center. Specifically, he’d like to find another star player to complement rookie guard Derrick Rose. ‘A lot of our guys fit teams that have an established star or two,’ Paxson said. ‘We’d obviously like to get another guy with Derrick where every night you can say to yourself, we’ve got these two guys we can go to all the time, and fill around them.’ The best opportunity to add such a player might be in free agency, and the Bulls could create cap room in the summer of 2010 if they trade some long-term contracts or simply let Ben Gordon, Drew Gooden and Hughes walk away when their deals expire.” [So now the Bulls want in on the 2010 LeBron Lottery? Great. Only a season and a half worth of sucking to go…]

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “Calling his time with the Bulls ‘almost a non-experience,’ Larry Hughes continued Wednesday to answer questions calmly about his desire to play more — which won’t happen with the Bulls — or be traded. As he has maintained, Hughes said his biggest frustration is his lack of opportunity while pulling down a $12 million-plus paycheck. ‘The opportunity wasn’t there from the start of training camp, for whatever reason,’ he said. ‘I was brought here to contribute, and I haven’t been able to like I want to. But it’s a situation I have no control over, and I’m ready to move on from it.’ [Larry, Larry, Larry. We never wanted you. We just wanted Ben Wallace less.]

Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “The Nets did their due diligence on Hughes weeks ago, and one instance on March 4 was widely interpreted as telling: Three weeks after he was traded from Cleveland to Chicago, the 11th-year vet essentially said that he’d rather get shots with the Bulls than play in the NBA Finals for the Cavs, as he did the year before. ‘I play to enjoy myself. Some people take this the wrong way, but winning a championship is not what I base everything on,’ Hughes said. ‘I would rather enjoy myself with 18,000 to 20,000 people watching the game and the people sending fan mail and those things and be happy. I was asked to sacrifice for the (Cavs) to win and for everybody, I guess, to get paid. That is what was told to me, and I wasn’t happy with that. I was unhappy, though, and wasn’t myself. I’d rather enjoy the game than all that.’ What was often under-reported, however, is that Hughes was also dealing with a personal tragedy: His 20-year-old brother Justin had died from a heart ailment during the playoffs in May 2006.” [Geez. That’s kinda sad.]

Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “Bulls general manager John Paxson admitted the obvious Wednesday, that he’s trying to accommodate guard Larry Hughes’ desire to find more playing time elsewhere. The veteran guard has sat out the last five games, but there is no guarantee that a suitable trade will be found since Hughes is due to make $13.6 million next season. He joined the Bulls last year from Cleveland in the Ben Wallace trade. ‘Right now I feel we have to play our younger guys,’ Paxson said. ‘I want to see Thabo (Sefolosha) get consistent minutes. We are working to try to move Larry, (but) Larry’s salary is such that it’s not always possible to do.'” [Okay, so you just now realized that? No wonder it took you so long to blame yourself.]

Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune: “The Bulls choked at the end of a winnable game against the Hawks at home on Tuesday night, same as they did against the Knicks on Monday afternoon. Two stinkers, each marked by bad play and bad decisions, a combined 45 turnovers, kill me now or take this joke of a team off my HD. That stuff alone should tell you how pathetic this bunch is with their coach who has better hair than coaching credentials. But here’s how you know the Bulls players also know what a joke they are: Ben Gordon is talking about playoff chances because of how weak the Eastern Conference is.” [The Eastern Conference: Where, as Kevin Garnett might say, “Anything is pooooooossssiibble!!!]

The post Fresh ink: January 22, 2009 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “The Bulls have been in more stretch runs than a thoroughbred racehorse this season, blowing fourth-quarter opportunities more often than not. That trend continued Tuesday night at the United Center when the Bulls faltered in the fourth quarter of a 105-102 loss to the Hawks. Mike Bibby scored a season-high 31 points, including nine in the final five minutes, as the Bulls followed a familiar script. ‘That’s the story of our season,’ guard Ben Gordon said. ‘We’re not very good at closing games out.'”

Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times: “‘The turnovers really hurt us,’ Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said after his team committed 17 which the Hawks turned into 22 points. ‘Mike Bibby had his way with us. The difference was really [Zaza] Pachulia — his 18 points really bothered us. He got easy baskets and got after us on the glass a bit.’ After a Derrick Rose layup with 5:21 left, the Bulls led 94-93. But the Hawks then went on a 12-4 run before Rose (13 points) nailed a three-pointer with 3.4 seconds to go. ‘At the end of the game we needed to get stops,’ Rose said after the second game in as many days the Bulls lost in the final minutes. ‘This is real tough, but some way we have to find a way out and finish games. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we have to come together as a team.'”

Sekou K Smith of the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Bibby was trashing the Bulls everywhere else, though, outplaying heralded Bulls rookie point guard Derrick Rose along the way. Bibby had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting and two of those steals in the fourth quarter, when the Hawks had to break a 77-77 tie and did so by a mere three points, 28-25. Bibby made his only 3-pointer of the quarter and had a crucial steal with 40 seconds to play that set up his game-clinching jumper with 18.9 seconds on the game clock. ‘We used Bibby as our horse tonight,’ Josh Smith said. ‘He’s one of those players that once he gets it going he’s kind of hard to stop. And you saw him in clutch situations, he was hitting big shot after big shot. And when Joe [Johnson] doesn’t have it, we feel good knowing we have Bibby there, too.'”

Nick Hut of the Northwest Herald: “Rookie point guard Derrick Rose took 41 shots in the two games leading into Tuesday night’s game against Atlanta, yet had only two free-throw attempts. Gaining penetration into the lane with an eye toward successfully drawing contact and making more trips to the line is something Rose is trying to learn. ‘I definitely would have thought I’d get more [calls],’ Rose said. ‘I just have to do a better job of giving the refs a reason to give me the calls.’ Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, a former guard, is working with Rose on that issue. ‘I think he’s just got to continue to be aggressive, just continue to attack the basket, and the referees will eventually come around with that stuff,’ Del Negro said. ‘But he’s got to continually attack, get body contact, not try to jump over guys or around guys or whatever.'”

Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times: “The Bulls might be close to trading veteran guard Larry Hughes to the New Jersey Nets for former DePaul forward Bobby Simmons. A league source confirmed a report in the Bergen (N.J.) Record that the teams have had serious trade talks. It’s up to the Nets to sign off, and the deal will get done. ‘That’s fine,’ Hughes said before the Bulls hosted the Atlanta Hawks at United Center. ‘I’m ready to play, whether it’s here or somewhere else.'”

The post Fresh ink: January 21, 2009 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

There are certain things in life you can’t wait to be rid of. In-laws. The flu. Hangovers (also known as flu-like symptoms). The nasty “rash” you “picked up” during your freshman year of college. For the Bulls and their fans, Larry Hughes is that rash. He’s already dropped rock-like out of Vinny Del Negro’s rotation, and, frankly, it says something about Hughes’ character that Jud Buechler could average 10 minutes per game for a 72-win Bulls team and yet “Big Shot Larry” is riding the pine for a Chicago squad destined for around 35 wins and another trip to the NBA draft lottery.

So, yeah, the John Paxson is trying to trade him.

Not surprisingly, there isn’t exactly a healthy market for delusional shooting guards who are best known for taking too many bad shots while earning a cap-killing salary (Hughes is on the books for $12,827,676 this season and $13,655,268 the next). Fortunately for Paxson and the Bulls, those suckers in New Jersey are giving Hughes a serious look:

“The Nets and Bulls have discussed a deal that would bring veteran shooting guard Larry Hughes to New Jersey for Bobby Simmons and Maurice Ager, league sources said. Sean Williams was offered instead of Ager, but Chicago wasn’t interested. Both sides are considering it, although the Bulls are talking to many teams about Hughes, who is signed through next season. The Nets are weighing whether the deal makes them that much better and if it’s financially smart. The additional salary next season would be more than $3 million.”

Wow. Can you imagine a team paying extra to trade for a cranky volume shooter with a history of alienating his teammates and coaches? Of course, the Nets are the same bunch who signed Vince Carter to that $62 million contract a couple summers ago. So there you go.

Would the trade help the Bulls? Sure, insomuch as it would dispose of The Larry Hughes Distraction (which, itself, was acquired to eradicate The Ben Wallace Mistake). But Bobby Simmons…in a best case scenario, he would provide streaky shooting and stubborn defense in limited minutes. So, what, he’s basically a slightly taller version of Thabo Sefolosha? Be still my heart. He might be useful, I guess, if Vinny D decided to go with a small lineup. But I don’t see that happening, and so therefore I don’t see much of a role for Simmons in Chicago. And Ager? He’s a throw-in. The trade is nothing more or less than a salary dump with the hope that the incoming players will sit quietly at the end of the bench, hand out Gatorade during timeouts, and be prepared to contribute if and when they’re called upon. (Unless this is simply the first part of some masterstroke by John Paxson to land the frontcourt player the Bulls so desperately need. Which is doubtful.) 

Will the trade help the Nets? If only you could hear my snorts of laughter. Let’s face it: If trading for Larry Hughes would actually help anybody, the Bulls probably wouldn’t be so ready and frantically willing to deal him.

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