John Salmons is averaging about 18 ppg this year and Brad Miller averages almost 12 ppg and 8 rbp.

Brad Miller played for the Chicago Bulls in from 2000-2002 before being traded to the Indiana Pacers.  Miller is now 32 years old.

He must sign the one year, $6.4 million dollar contract by Wednesday to become an unrestricted free agent.  This will be the second straight offseason Gordon and the bulls have been unable to come to contract terms.  Last year Gordon turned down a 5 year deal worth around $50 million.

This leaves some interesting questions to what Ben Gordon’s role will be with Chicago this season.  The Bulls have a young bunch of players who need a lot of playing time in order to continue to develop individually and as a team. As been Gordon will most likely only be with the team one more year, it will be interesting to see how rookie head coach Vinny del Negro will work him into the lineup.

The Bulls were unable to come to a sign and deal trade with Gordon and other teams this off season, but perhaps his name will come up in trade talks again around the trade deadline if it becomes apparent he will not return next off season.

Although nothing has happened, that doesn’t mean the rumors and analysis on what the Bulls should do have stopped.  Different ideas and possibilities have surfaced throughout the internet over the previous week, non of which appear to be that certain.

Here are a few over the rumors, analysis and other news that has come about over the last week or so.

• The Bodog Beat blog reported rumors of a possible trade between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.  The trade would send Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Chicago in exchange for Ben Gordon, Joakim Noah and Larry Hughes.  They are now reporting that trade talks between the two trade have halted.  The Beat also posted their ten reason why to bet on the NBA this year and number two on their list appeared the Chicago Bulls: “2. Chicago Bulls – The Bulls were expected to be an NBA title contender last season before completely tanking. With No. 1 pick Derrick Rose in tow will this season be any brighter for the Bulls?”
• The fans at Bleacher Report provided some Chicago Bulls analysis as well this week.  Michael Whittenberg gave his 2008-09 Chicago Bulls season preview.  Michael believes the Bulls will finish in 8th place in the Eastern Confernece with a 42-40 record.  The only question I have about that, is when was the last time all 8 teams that made the play-offs in the EC finished with a record above .500?  Adam Miller also gave his intake on the on going Ben Gordon-Chicago Bulls standoff, saying its a ‘no-win situation’ for either side.
• BetUs.com also provide their 2008-09 Chicago Bulls season preview.  Theres a lot of betting terms that I kind of fail to understand.  They have the Bulls at +1100 to win the Eastern Confrence and +2500 to win the NBA Championship.
• Diabolo at BlogaBull.com gave his view on Vinny del Negro and the Bulls in 08-09.  Much of which has to due with the Vinny’s first year as a coach and getting the locker room to ‘jell’ together.
• And last, but not least, from the UK the Great Britan national team has Luol Deng back on the court. In case you missed some previous news, after Deng signed his new deal with the Bulls, the company who insures players contracts elected not to insure Deng because of injury problems which kept him from being able to play with the Britain team.  Last week though he was re-insured, and has began playing with the national team.  As you’ll see on this UK news site, the basketball section is filled with praises for their GB team and Luol Deng

Hope this helps you get caught up on everything thats been going on.  My 2008-09 Chicago Bulls preview is currently being worked on and can be expected in the coming weeks.

The trade included San Antonio sending Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen and Matt Bonner to Chicago for  Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni.  I am writing this post in response this trade rumor; a trade which does not make sense to me for Chicago.  Lets go over whats wrong about his points for the Bulls.

The first reason made was that Chicago needs leadership.  I agree with the fact the Bulls could use some veteran leadership.  NBNL believes that Chicago can find this leadership in Manu Ginobili once he returns from his injury after a month or two.  Why would we want someone who is injured? Ginobili is going to start the season injured.  Ginobili, although a better shooter, is not much different than Nocioni.  Each from Argentina, play tough nose defense, always playing with maximum effort.

Another reason made is the defense play of Bruce Bowen would also take pressure of younger Bulls players, as well as act as a mentor to teach the younger players.  Bowen is quickly aging and his defensive play will begin to diminish as he becomes slower.  Does another name pop into your head when you think of aging, defensive players? Ben Wallace.

The last point, and the only one I agree with, was that the Chicago Bulls get rid of two long term contracts they don’t really need.  The Bulls have Hinrich and Nocioni inked to long term deals, each for players likely to spend more time than before on the bench.  With Derrick Rose now slated as the Bulls future at point guard, Hinrich’s lack of skills at the shooting guard position make him a back up.  The same goes for Nocioni now that Luol Deng is signed to a long term.  The Bulls also need to be looking forward to 2010 when Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha become free agents.

Now although this trade makes since from a financial point of view, I believe the Bulls would be better off holding out on this one.  As the dead line begins to approach in February, teams who are just out of it or missing players due to injury, others may become interested in these players.

After the Chicago Bulls won the NBA Draft lottery on Tuesday, the early favorites for their number selection is Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley. On Wednesday, general manager John Paxson confirmed this belief saying that the Bulls would only scout these two players.

If the Bulls were to select Derrick Rose with the number one overall pick, he would join a long list of Bulls point gaurds. Chicago already has Kirk Hinrich, Chris Duhon, James OnCurry, and Ben Gordon, although he plays mostly at the shooting guard position. If the Bulls are to retain and not trade the pick, one of these players will most likely be traded or cut. Hinrich or Duhon would be the likely players to be traded because the addition of Rose would give the Bulls three premier point gaurds. And early trade rumors have Hinrich being the one shipped out of town.

This trade would send Hinrich and Andres Nocioni to the Los Angeles Clippers for former Chicago Bulls number one overall pick and power forward Elton Brand.

Elton Brand, who was the number one overall selection by the Bulls in 1999, was traded to the L.A. Clippers for Tyson Chandler. Brand recently turned 29 in March, played in only 8 games for the Clippers in 2007-08 as he was hobbled by injury. In these 8 games, Brand aveged 17 points per game and 8 rebounds per game, down from his career averages of 20 ppg and 10 rpg. At 29 though, Brand still is young and could provide the Bulls with a veteran presence in the post.