The upside to the Bulls' missing playoffs

Playoffs vs. lottery

The Bulls keep saying they want to make the playoffs this season, even if it means getting thumped by the Celtics in the first round. But there are benefits to missing the playoffs.

If the Bulls grab that final playoff spot in the East, they will draft No. 15 in June. By falling short of the playoffs, their draft pick could be in the top 10, because teams with better records than the Bulls will miss the playoffs in the West.

As of Saturday's games, the Bulls would pick 10th, barring some lottery luck, and could gain a few more spots with a timely losing streak. Here's a look at the race for lottery balls among the teams that wouldn't qualify for the playoffs through Saturday:

Team/W-L/GB

1. Miami/11-50/--

2. Minnesota/14-48/2½

3. Memphis/15-47/3½

4. Seattle/16-46/4½

5. New York/18-45/6

6. LA Clippers/20-41/9

7. Milwaukee/23-39/11½

8. Charlotte/24-39/12

9. Indiana/24-39/12

10. BULLS/25-37/13½

11. New Jersey/26-37/14

12. Sacramento/27-35/15½

13. Portland/33-30/21

14. Denver/37-25/25½

Wearing of the green

Anyone who misses those green Bulls uniforms is in luck. The St. Patrick's Day miscolored threads will make two appearances this week-- at home Friday against Philadelphia and then on the actual holiday next Monday in New Orleans.

Quotable

"Just because we're having a down year doesn't mean I'm ready to jump to another city. That's not the case. I love Miami. You've got to look at it when the time comes and see where everything is. That's just the business of the game. But to me that's in two years. We can talk about this in '10."

-- Miami's Dwyane Wade on the possibility of becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2010