Bulls deal Thomas, Salmons, create cap room
The NBA trade deadline has passed and the Bulls are done dealing.
Here's the final tally: Tyrus Thomas was sent to Charlotte, John Salmons to Milwaukee. Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller are staying.
The Bulls will add four new players - Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander, along with guards Acie Law and Flip Murray from the Bobcats. The Bulls will also get a future first-round pick from Charlotte that figures to be top-10 protected.
By delivering a three-team deal to acquire Tracy McGrady, New York will have enough cap room to sign two top-line free agents this summer. At this point, the Bulls don't. But they do have some tradable assets and Derrick Rose.
Warrick figures to be the most important acquisition. The 6-foot-9 former Syracuse star is a better scorer than Tyrus Thomas, having averaged between 10-12 points for the past four seasons. He's not as strong, though, in rebounds (4.4 per game this season) and blocked shots (0.2).
Flip Murray is an accomplished scorer, averaging close to 10 per game for Charlotte in part-time minutes. The Bulls are his eighth team in eight NBA seasons. Murray figures to help fill Salmons' role as a scorer off the bench, along with Jannero Pargo and Devin Brown.
Law was the No. 11 draft pick by Atlanta in 2007, but hasn't done much in the NBA. He played in just 14 games this season for Golden State and Charlotte.
Alexander was hurt at the start of the season and playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the D-League at the time of the trade. He's an athletic 6-foot-8 forward who was the No. 8 pick of the 2008 draft
As it stands now, the Bulls have one too many players. Power forward Chris Richard figures to stay, so the Bulls need to release someone. Jerome James is a candidate, along with Law and maybe Pargo if he thinks he can find more playing time somewhere else.
The trade with Charlotte ends the disappointing tenure of Tyrus Thomas with the Bulls. Back in 2006, the Bulls swapped the No. 2 pick, LaMarcus Aldridge, to Portland for the No. 4, Thomas, and Viktor Khryapa.
Thomas' best year came last season when he averaged 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. This year, he missed seven weeks with a broken arm and just couldn't seem to get on the same page as the coaching staff on his role and playing time.
Thomas was suspended by the team two weeks ago after several episodes of being disrespectful to the coaching staff. At the same time, when Thomas played well, the Bulls usually won. He had three big dunks in the fourth quarter Wednesday night as the Bulls rallied to beat New York.
Moving Salmons gives the Bulls about $20 million in cap space for this summer. That's enough to sign one top-line free agent and they might use Luol Deng as trade bait to acquire Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer or Al Jefferson.