Bulls On FIRE

The Bulls continued their winning ways with road victories at Oklahoma City and an overtime win against the Hornets last night. This put the Bulls at 23-22 and a 5-2 mark to complete their road trip. What I got from this trip are two things: the Bulls are confident and the players are starting to know their roles. At the beginning of the season Rose was passive and Salmons tried to be Ben Gordon. Things have changed. Rose (congratulations on the first Bulls all star since Jordan) is the leader and go to guy. Salmons has become a quality scorer of the bench. Luol lets the offense come to him which in some games provides the much needed scoring such as against the Hornets. FInally, Gibson, Hinrich, and Miller are playing competitive every night and Joakim Noah is a beast. That being said, why get desperate and make any trades that are not clear upgrades. The Bulls are competing for a 5th or 6th seed. A playoff visit with a chance to go to the second round would not be a waste of a year. In addition, the free agent bonanza will not be without most of the stars (only 1 or 2 will be traded for this year). So, in a year when the Bulls really don't have a chance to win it all, I am in favor of seeing what this current team can accomplish. I understand that in order to get a big time name trading Salmons and Hinrich may be inevitable (for purposes of expiring contracts), but I warn against mediocre trades such as trading them to Portland in a package for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. More teams with injured big man are interested in Miller, but his $12 million expiring contract is crucial to the Bull's plans to increase cap-space this off-season. To me, unless a great offer came for Bosh or Amare, the Bulls should not settle for run of the mill Portland bench players. I think their recent play has shown that. With 22 days before the deadline, lets be patient.