Getting Busy, Getting Confused, Getting Nowhere with Chicago Bulls

The Bulls traded.

And the sad fact is, they did what they could. The Suns pulled Amare Stoudemire off the table, and all their hopes were dashed.

Did anyone watch Tyrus Thomas on Wednesday and think? "Whew. That was close. We almost gave up a future eight-point, seven-rebound, six-turnover and four-goaltend guy."

There have been a flood of callers to WSCR 670 the score, who preach patience for a player that will never get it, and is simply a huge liability on defense. It's amazing. It's very reminiscent of the time when fans were saying they wanted no part of Kobe Bryant, and would not part with Luol Deng.

Remember?

• Meanwhile the Bulls bring back a capable Brad Miller and a decent scorer in the 6'6' John Salmons. Salmons is averaging a career-high 18 points, but is already 29 and is coming from arguably the worst team in basketball.

Yippee.

(Picking my teeth right now...now, looking around the room.)

Thankfully Andre Nocioni is gone. For years, fans overvalued his apparent hustle and chop, but didn't know better that he was a terrible defender who gambled, played out of position and couldn't stay with more athletic forwards. He took too many shots and was too short to play against bigs.

In the truest sense, he's a backup. Problem is, the Bulls paid him like a starter.

They've done that with much of the team. (Oh, by the way, the Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 113-104 in a game where Kirk Hinrich went for a season-high 31 points.)

There are oversized contracts to many players in the league. The move makes sense for the Bulls because--as we've learned repeatedly--it allows more money to come off the books for the Bulls to lose the free agency spree of 2010.

Lebron? No. Wade? Probably Not. Bosh? Not without Wade. Amare? Nope.

This was a move the Bulls can be complemented for, but it's really the result of messing up with previous moves. It doesn't make them significantly better but it gives them slack to deal in another year.

How does that sound? Another year?

Sounds like another team in Chicago.