BULLS 101

Now that the NBA season that almost never happened has come to a close, it's time to fully focus on the draft and free agency. The rumor mill has been churning for a few weeks now, and for the Chicago Bulls, Luol Deng's name has surfaced on numerous occasions as a potential candidate to be shipped out in order to move up into the draft lottery. 

As far as we know, there have not been any real serious talks with other teams about moving Deng. But based on some of the stuff that's been put out there by beat writers and such, all options are being explored. And also, we do know that there are teams interested in Deng, despite the fact that he's likely to miss the first few months of the season because of his wrist injury. 

One of those teams is the Golden State Warriors, according to Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times: 

Per the NBA rumor mill, the Chicago Bulls are entertaining giving up Luol Deng to get into the NBA draft lottery. According to sources, Golden State hasn't talked with Chicago about Deng yet. But Deng is on the Warriors' short list of veteran small forwards they'd be interested in. (Contra Costa Times) 

The Warriors hold the seventh pick in the draft, and according to Thompson, are keeping their options wide open. The Bulls have been linked to names such as Dion Waiters, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb, and at seven, Chicago would likely have their pick of all three. Harrison Barnes' name has also come up, but he's almost sure to be gone once the seventh pick rolls around. 

However, there is a caveat if the Bulls were looking to make a deal with the Warriors. Thompson said the Bulls would have to take back either Richard Jefferson or Andris Biedrins, two guys with pretty brutal contracts. The 32-year-old Jefferson is owed $21 million over the next two years ($11 million player option in 2013-14), while Biedrins is owed $18 million. Biedrins is still just 26, but he has battled injuries and confidence issues since a strong 2008-09 season. 

Still, this would be a pretty intriguing option from the Bulls' standpoint. If anything, they'd be stuck with one of those guys next season, but could then dump 'em as an expiring in 2013. It would be risky, and I like the idea of trading with the Toronto Raptors better (eighth pick and an expiring Jose Calderon), but this would not necessarily be the worst thing in the world. 

But again, and I really cannot stress this enough, I would be shocked to see the Bulls pull the trigger on any type of Deng deal. 

Also…

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Tags: Andris Biedrins, Austin Rivers, Chicago, Chicago Bulls, Dion Waiters, Golden State Warriors, Harrison Barnes., Jeremy Lamb, Jose Calderon, Luol Deng, NBA, Richard Jefferson, Toronto Raptors

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