***The Bulls,as expected, positioned themselves for this coming summer’s free agent derby,and at the same time transformed their current roster. The Bulls said goodbye to John Salmons,just a year or so after picking him up from Sacramento.The veteran was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks for Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick.Then,unhappy and underachieving forward Tyrus Thomas went to the Charlotte Bobcats for “Flip” Murray and Acie Law. How much any of these four will play the rest of the season is up for guessing right now. After Thursday’s trading deadline and the dust settled,the Bulls had the fourth highest salary cap room with New York,New Jersey and Miami having more space. That could change once the NBA Finals come and go.
***The Bulls are long shots at best(if even that high on the food chain)to get free agents to be like LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. That would leave Chris Bosh,Joe Johnson and others. The Bulls got just about shut out a decade ago when they tried to do the same thing. Under Jerry Krause,the Bulls never were considered by players like Tracy McGrady(who was dealt to the Knicks Thursday),Grant Hill,Rashard Lewis or Tim Thomas. The Bulls were about to be shut out,so Krause pulled off a last minute deal with Ron Mercer which excited Bulls fans even less than watching paint dry. True the 1999 through 2003 seasons were worse than awful,and mostly boring, but the current Bulls are in better shape to make a decent pitch for one of the soon to be free agents(other than James and Wade).
***The Blackhawks Patrick Kane got on the scoreboard with his first Olympic Goal Thursday in an easy US win against Norway. The mostly Canadian fans were rooting against Norway,but the Americans in attendance chanted “USA, USA” prior to being shouted down by their “Canuck” counterparts.
***Canada got a scare from the Swiss whom the US have already defeated. Sydney Crosby netted the game winner in a shootout.
***It’s been refreshingly quiet the past few days on the Bears front after the firing of Bobby DePaul as Director of Pro Talent. Some people are saying this was a Jerry Angelo move,but this wreaks of a Lovie Smith ordered move since the Bears Coach and DePaul did not get along.
***After injured Cub started Ted Lilly threw a bit in Mesa Thursday,he reported pain in his knee. Hopefully this doesn’t surface as the first big concern.
LES