Rozner: Do the Chicago Bulls have a plan?

Sometimes a team behaves in a manner that is so off-the-charts bizarre, so agonizingly wrong that you have to take a step back and wonder what you're missing.

This is where the Bulls have landed, in a world where everything appears backward and inexplicable.

So one is forced to ask, what do they know that the rest of the basketball world doesn't?

A call to an NBA scout led to a conversation where we tried — seriously — to examine the possibilities, to explain why they would trade Derrick Rose at the precise moment when he would be motivated to stay on the court and give the Bulls his very best.

To explain why GM Gar Forman would say they were trying to get younger and more athletic with better shooters, so they could run the floor and get into Fred Hoiberg's offense, and then sign two guys that make them older, less athletic, more broken down and with guys who can't hit a 3-pointer with no one else in the building.

So why are they doing this now, doing the exact opposite of what they said they would do?

Look for the following boxes to check, the scout said.

Are Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo here now to be good mentors for the kids they want to have around long-term?

The answer, of course, is no. Rondo is a nightmare and Wade is about Wade, signing here only for the money and to stick it to Miami boss Pat Riley.

Did they sign these guys of questionable character because it would put them over the hump, to get them to an NBA title?

Please. They won't get past LeBron James, let alone win an NBA title.

Did they trade for expiring contracts so they can tank faster or open up cap space in a year?

No, both players were signed as free agents for two years.

Does this get them closer to a lottery pick?

It probably gets them in the playoffs next year and maybe the year after, stuck in the middle of the pack with no chance to win a championship.

Are these moves made out of fear and panic?

Probably. The Bulls saw the beating they were taking after failing to trade Jimmy Butler and the subsequent trade of Rose, and began to worry that no one would be paying for parking or buying hot dogs at Bulls games.

Wade was unexpectedly available and the Bulls signed him with the hopes of being relevant again.

If nothing else, the Bulls will be entertaining and worth watching next season, perhaps for the circus that may unfold.

Is it part of a larger plan?

Well, the Bulls can sell tickets for two years, continue to try to trade Butler and that sets up the third year as a possible tank year or a year in which they gamble in free agency.

It's a stretch, especially since opening up all that cap space doesn't guarantee that any major free agent will want to sign here.

At least the Bulls were drafting high after the Jordan era when they couldn't get a superstar to sign here. With these veterans on the roster, the Bulls won't be drafting high.

So you have Rondo, Wade and Butler on the floor at the same time, all needing the ball, while opposing teams will shrink the lane and dare the Bulls to shoot over them.

And if it goes bad, that's when you get the worst of Rondo. He steps on the gas going 70 mph the wrong way down a one-way street and lights the car on fire in the middle of the road.

Would you rather have Rose for one year at his age or Rondo for two at his?

Is this the best way to find out if Denzel Valentine, Jerian Grant, Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis can be part of a winning rotation?

And what happened to staying away from guys who don't work and play well with others, unless it makes you a title contender?

The only thing that appears certain is the Bulls will sell tickets and make the playoffs.

Maybe that's the answer. Maybe that was the goal. Maybe that's all there is as long as LeBron James is on this side of the dirt, unless they believe Wade can get James to sign here at some point.

Or maybe it's time to stop trying to figure out the Bulls' plan.

Maybe they're just making it up as they go along.

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.