Chicago Bulls Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Knicks, Wolves, Silver

April 12th, 2014 at 10:18pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Carmelo Anthony was very complimentary when discussing Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Anthony said, “Thibs [Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau] is a great coach. His system kind of reminds me of [Spurs coach] Gregg Popovich’s system. You put anybody in that system and it’s going to work. And that’s what they’ve been doing. They had guys who have been sitting out all season long, guys [have] been in and out the lineup, and they seem to get it done.” The Bulls are one of the teams mentioned as a possible destination for Anthony if he leaves the Knicks this summer.

Central Notes: Villanueva, James, Bulls

April 12th, 2014 at 10:55am CST by Cray Allred

The Pacers lost to the Heat last night, losing their grip on the one seed in the East. Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

Charlie Villanueva‘s role as an impact player has evaporated in recent years with the Pistons, and he tells Vincent Good Will of The Detroit News that he hopes his abilities will keep him in the league as he approaches free agency. “People haven’t seen me play in a while, [so] of course it’ll be tough,” said the 29-year old. “If I have to work out [for teams] to show I still have a lot of basketball left, I’ll do it. Whatever it takes. For sure, though, a lot of teams haven’t seen me play.”
Recent Bulls addition Mike James had to recover from a mid-season MCL sprain to find his way back onto an NBA roster, but the 39-year-old tells K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune his confidence never waned. “I just stayed motivated,” James said. “I kept believing in myself, knowing I still can play this game. When the opportunity comes, I know I can still stop someone and put the ball in the hole.”
Tom Thibodeau told Johnson that James, Louis Amundson, and Ronnie Brewer were primarily brought in to boost Bulls practices. “It gives you more depth and energy in practice,” said Thibodeau, “and insurance if you take on an injury. That they’ve all been here before is a plus.”
We rounded up the Cavs notes earlier today.

Central Notes: Varejao, Bulls, Deng, Pistons

April 11th, 2014 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers, for all their second-half struggles, have a chance to put themselves firmly in control of the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a win on the road this evening against the Heat. The Bulls are in a tight race of their own against the Raptors for the No. 3 seed, and Chicago can help itself tonight with a home win against the Pistons. While we look forward to those games, here’s the latest from around the Central Division:

The Cavs have a choice to make about Anderson Varejao this summer, since only $4MM of his more than $9.7MM salary for next season is guaranteed. The 31-year-old Varejao would be set up for free agency in 2015 even if Cleveland keeps him this summer, but he said he’d like to spend the rest of his career in Cleveland, observes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald.
The Luol Deng trade turned out to be a significant offensive boost for the Bulls, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times points out, noting that the team has made slight improvements defensively, too.
MLive’s David Mayo answers reader questions in a Pistons-themed mailbag column, looking back on the death of former owner Bill Davidson as a key turning point in the tenure of Joe Dumars, who plans to resign from the team soon.

Central Rumors: Brewer, James, Cavs, Sanders

April 10th, 2014 at 2:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls have made four roster moves in the past week, waiving Erik Murphy and signing Ronnie Brewer, Mike James and Louis Amundson. Still, more meaningful changes seem likely to come from elsewhere in the Central Division, where the Pistons and Cavaliers will probably be searching for new top basketball executives in the weeks ahead. Here’s the latest from around the Central:

Chicago’s contracts for Brewer and James extend through next season with non-guaranteed salary, reports K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Johnson suggests the Bulls structured those deals with offseason trades in mind, though it’s worth noting that neither is eligible to be traded until after the July Moratorium.
Cavs interim GM David Griffin believes in the backcourt pairing of Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who thinks it’s unlikely that either will be traded if Griffin is formally named GM.
It was clear that the Bucks had no intention of bringing Larry Sanders back to play this season, writes SB Nation’s Tom Ziller. So, the revelation that the team and the NBA deemed him medically ready, allowing him to begin serving his suspension this year instead of next, shines a light on the league’s tanking problem, Ziller opines.

Bulls Sign Lou Amundson

April 10th, 2014 at 11:59am CST by Cray Allred

11:59am: The team has formally announced the signing on its website.

THURSDAY, 8:54am: It’ll be a straight rest-of-season contract, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM, indicating that it won’t extend into 2014/15. The signing will take place later today, Charania notes.

WEDNESDAY, 9:03pm: In addition to bringing on Mike James, the Bulls will fill out their roster by signing Lou Amundson in the near future, a league source tells Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com. Amundson will be signed for the remainder of the season, and will be available for the playoffs.

James’ signing is set for Thursday, but it is unclear yet when Amundson will sign. The eighth-year big was waived in December by the Pelicans, and hasn’t played in the NBA since, despite rumored interest from the Wizards. Amundson has career averages of 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

If Admundson’s signing goes through, Chicago’s roster will be set for their postseason run. After waiving Erik Murphy and bringing in Jimmer Fredette, Ronnie Brewer, and now James and Amundson, the Bulls are set to reach the 15-man roster limit after spending part of the year under the 13-man minimum. It’s believed that the Bulls will avoid paying the luxury tax this season, regardless of whether Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson earn their potential salary bonuses. Trading away Luol Deng and having Murphy’s waived contract claimed by the Jazz dropped the team’s salary obligations enough to create room for the influx of new faces.

Bulls Sign Mike James

April 10th, 2014 at 11:59am CST by Cray Allred

THURSDAY, 11:59am: The signing is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 7:56pm: The Bulls will sign veteran point guard Mike James tomorrow, per K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. The deal will cover the remainder of the season, making James eligible for Chicago’s postseason run. James, a favorite of coach Tom Thibodeau, was expected to sign with the Bulls once Chicago was freed of Erik Murphy‘s salary thanks to a waiver claim of Murphy by the Jazz.

James has played exclusively for the Bulls this season, having his non-guaranteed deal waived early on and, until now, not getting an opportunity to re-sign after a 10-day deal expired in January. James joins recent signings Jimmer Fredette and Ronnie Brewer to bring Chicago’s roster up to 14 players, one short of the league maximum. The Bulls could still add another player now that the team is more comfortably below the tax line for the year.

In his time with the Bulls this season, the Lee Basketball Services client has averaged 1.0 points and 1.5 assists in 7.0 minutes per game. For his career, the 38-year-old averages 9.9 points and 3.5 assists per contest.

Bulls Sign Ronnie Brewer

April 7th, 2014 at 11:09am CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls have signed Ronnie Brewer for the rest of the season, the team announced via press release. He and Mike James have been the leading contenders to fill the roster spot vacated when the team waived Erik Murphy last week, though over the weekend it appeared as though the addition of James was somewhat more likely. There’s a decent chance the team signs both, especially now that the Jazz have claimed Murphy off waivers, taking his cap hit off Chicago’s books and making it less likely the team would have to pay the luxury tax if Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah trigger bonuses this year.

Brewer, 29, worked out for the team at its practice facility Thursday, but the Bulls are quite familiar with him, having employed him as a key reserve on a pair of teams that finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference in 2010/11 and 2011/12. The swingman left for the Knicks last season and started 34 games in New York, which dealt him to Oklahoma City at the 2013 trade deadline. His minutes declined sharply from that point on, and the Rockets waived his minimum-salary contract shortly after the trade deadline this year.

The Bulls are back up to the NBA-minimum 13 players with the addition of the Creative Artists Agency client. The release simply says the contract covers the remainder of the season, so presumably there isn’t a non-guaranteed year tacked on for 2014/15.

Amico’s Latest: Allen, Battier, Rivers, Kerr

April 7th, 2014 at 9:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Ray Allen appears unlikely to return to the Heat next season, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. League insiders nonetheless believe that if the Heat’s trio of stars return, there’s a strong chance the team will try to re-sign Allen, too, so it seems his future is contingent on what LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh decide to do. Indeed, those three will have much to say about what happens in free agency leaguewide, and Amico has more on the summer ahead and another member of the Heat as we highlight here:

Several teams are expected to court Heat forward Shane Battier for an executive job or a gig related to player development, Amico hears. Battier recently reiterated his plans to retire at season’s end.
The emergence of Brian Roberts has strengthened the belief around the league that the Pelicans will trade former lottery pick Austin Rivers this summer, according to Amico. Roberts is set to become a restricted free agent.
Sources tell Amico they wouldn’t be surprised if several teams aside from the Knicks try to convince Steve Kerr to run their basketball operations. Kerr has expressed a desire to coach, but it looks like the leaguewide interest in him is as an executive, the role he held with the Suns from 2007 to 2010.
Boris Diaw, Luol Deng, C.J. Miles, Marvin Williams, Luke Ridnour, Kris Humphries, Devin Harris and Jimmer Fredette are other free agents who appear unlikely to be back with their respective teams, Amico writes.

Latest On Potential Bulls Signings

April 5th, 2014 at 10:09pm CST by Cray Allred

The Bulls plan to add Mike James, and Ronnie Brewer is a likely addition as well, per K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Johnson adds that a third player could be signed after James and Brewer, a possibility we reported when Erik Murphy was first waived. As we noted earlier today, the Bulls should avoid the the luxury tax regardless of whether Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson earn their performance bonuses, thanks to the Jazz claiming Murphy off of waivers. Murphy’s salary was greater than multiple late-season pro-rated contracts will likely add up to.

James would meet the same need that he filled when playing on a 10-day contract with Chicago earlier this season: backup point guard. Brewer, however, could move in front of Tony Snell in the Bulls’ wing rotation. Snell’s minutes have dried up recently, and Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times thinks the Bulls interest in Brewer is directly tied to coach Tom Thibodeau’s frustration with Snell.

Luol Deng was traded earlier in the season as merely a cost-cutting move, and there has been much speculation about the Bulls plans for this season and beyond ever since. Johnson notes that the team has had contingency plans in place to avoid the repeater tax even if they exceeded the tax cap this season, and it appears they’ve reached a level of flexibility to be more active. After going much of the season below the league minimum for rostered players, the Bulls are adding potential rotation pieces in a flourish. If the newest signings occur, they will combine with recent addition Jimmer Fredette to give the Bulls at or near the max of 15 players under contract.

Central Notes: Cavs, Mirotic, Bucks

April 5th, 2014 at 8:26pm CST by Cray Allred

Cavs star Kyrie Irving explained the motivation behind his venting on Twitter last night to reporters including Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer. “In terms of all the rumors and accusations of what goes on in our locker room — it’s been going on all season, to a certain extent,” Irving said. “It’s all nonsense to me, now. It’s part of the business, I get it…I don’t go out and put all these reports or all these rumors out. But people feel like it’s a good thing to continue to put my name in headlines just to get reads. That’s your job, but at a certain point, it’s gotta stop.” Here’s more from the Central Division:

Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal says that Irving’s displeasure with the media doesn’t change the reality that people close to him have in fact been perpetuating the notion that he won’t stay with the Cavs.
Lloyd adds that all of the speculation will come to a head this summer, when Irving will decide whether to sign a max extension with the Cavs. Lloyd notes that Irving has declined to go on record with him as willing to sign the extension.
A Cavs team official told Lloyd that it’s taken “a village” to soothe the rift between Irving and Dion Waiters.
Bob Finnan of The News-Herald gives Cavs owner Dan Gilbert credit for authorizing the Scotty Hopson signing, saying the owner had no hesitation about paying an abnormally high cost for a late season addition in order to create trade flexibility with Hopson’s contract.
Finnan adds that the rumors that Gilbert would hire a big name executive over Cavs interim GM David Griffin this offseason could include a scenario similar to New York’s, with a powerful executive being installed above Griffin rather than merely replacing him as GM.
Nikola Mirotic told Canal Plus that he hasn’t ruled out staying with his Spanish team rather than joining the Bulls this offseason (translation via HoopsHype). Chicago is expected to prioritize a Mirotic buyout and signing this summer.
Responding to speculation that the Bucks could be sold very soon, Milwaukee’s broker told Don Walker of The Journal Sentinel that a sale is not imminent. “There is an active and ongoing process with respect to the Bucks. But we are not going to comment on speculation,” he said.