The Bulls are signing Vladimir Radmanovic. Seriously.

Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago writes:

Vladimir Radmanovic appears to be the latest addition to the revamped Chicago Bulls’ bench.

Radmanovic and the Bulls agreed to a one-year deal that will be announced Thursday, according to a report on CSNChicago.com on Wednesday night. A league source stressed to ESPNChicago.com the deal was not yet official.

Radmanovic, an 11-year veteran, has averaged eight points and four rebounds per game during his career. He averaged 4.5 points and three rebounds per game for the Atlanta Hawks last season.

Well…that’s…just wonderful.

For some historical perspective on Radmanovic, Phil Jackson — who used to be a pretty good coach in the NBA — grew so weary of Vlad’s wildly inconsistent play (and equally inconsistent effort) that he began calling him “space cadet” and “my favorite Martian.”

Vlad also earned a permanent spot in the Basketbawful Dumb Injury Hall of Shame for the following incident:

In February of 2007, Radmanovic separated his shoulder falling on a patch of ice in Park City, Utah. Or so he claimed. But a few days later, Radmanovic admitted that he had actually hurt himself in a fall while snowboarding. Said the Radman: “The truth is that I hurt myself in a fall while snowboarding. Being young and sometimes immature, I initially panicked and made up a false story about how I hurt myself. However, over the past few days my conscience has been bothering me terribly. I am not a dishonest person and could no longer live with this deception. Therefore, I came forward today and told the truth to the Lakers.” Mind you, his contract specifically banned him from taking part in activities that involve significant risk of injury, including skiing and snowboarding. The space cadet was fined $500,000 for his stupidity.

But all (honest and accurate) kidding aside, can Radmanovic help the Bulls?

Well, he’s a power(less) forward with a career 38 percent three-point shooting percentage. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

ESPN’s John Hollinger’s take on Vlad:

+ Tall, flaky, sweet-shooting forward. Disastrously bad ball handler.

+ Good feet on defense but lacks strength and doesn’t always play hard.

+ Very poor rebounder. Struggles to create own shot. Surprising shot-blocker.

Michael Wonsover of ChicagoNow did a little extra digging:

Vlad Rad isn’t a horrible defender either, he’s actually quite respectable. His opponent’s player efficiency rating at small forward was only 8.9. At power forward he allowed a PER of 13.2. The Bulls should not expect Radmanovic to guard centers since his opponents PER ballooned to 18.7 while guarding fives. Synergy also rated Radmanovic as a solid defender, allowing 0.83 points per play (166th ranked in the league). He also held his opponent’s to a 38.7 shooting percentage. Vlad was especially good at spot-up defense, holding shooters to 0.76 points per play (41st in the league) while shooting 33.8 percent. Once again, don’t put Radmanovic on big guys since he was abused in the post. Post-up players shot 52.5 percent against Vlad while connecting on 1.04 points per play (251st ranked in the league).

So, in summary, Vlad is a one-trick pony on offensive (shooter) who can kinda-sorta play decent defense.

(throws confetti)