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Bulls stand pat at NBA trade deadline as buyout market looms

The Bulls stood pat at the trade deadline as they await the return of several key players.

How about Tristan Thompson for some of those offensive boards he always seem to steal from the Bulls? Maybe some gritty Paul Millsap, a guy rumored headed to the Bulls last summer? Maybe old buddy E'Twaun Moore. Thad Young? Nah, looks like he'll finally get to play this season. Time to free Enes (Kanter) Freedom? Finally, a shot at Dennis Schroder? A little bit of Dragic or Josh Richardson?

The NBA trade deadline came to a close on Thursday afternoon with the Bulls and the rest of us, or at least the rest of us, recalibrating fantasy leagues and playoff odds with a flurry of major trades that included James Harden to the 76ers, Ben Simmons and friends to the Brooklyn Nets, assuming of course he chooses to play, and several other prominent players changing addresses including Kristaps Porzingis, Spencer Dinwiddie, Young, Serge Ibaka, Montrezl Harrell and Daniel Theis following recent trades involving Caris LeVert, Domantas Sabonis and C.J. McCollum.

In all, it was a rousing NBA-must-see week with a half dozen recent All-Stars and several potential future Hall of Famers changing teams.

The effects, obviously, won't be known until the playoffs are concluded in June.

It appears the defending champion Bucks helped themselves with the addition of 6-foot-10 Serge Ibaka in the event Brook Lopez cannot return from back surgery. Though the giant news was the trade of perennial MVP candidate James Harden to join current MVP favorite Joel Embiid with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Joel Embiid and James Harden.

The acquisition gives the 76ers two of the biggest stars in the NBA to be supported by a high-level scorer in Tobias Harris.

This at a time the 76ers were in the race with the Bucks, Bulls, Cavaliers and Heat for the top of the Eastern Conference without Ben Simmons.

The recalcitrant All-Star guard now goes to the Nets along with shooter Seth Curry and former All-Star center Andre Drummond to rebuild the Nets bench that was decimated by the trade for Harden.

Simmons seems like a better fit with scorers Kevin Durant, who is out now with a knee sprain, and Kyrie Irving, who is out half the time refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. But once Durant can return and if New York removes its vaccine requirements and Irving can play home games, the All-Defensive team 6-foot-10 Simmons seemingly becomes an ideal fit with scorers like Irving and Durant.

Making the Eastern Conference all the more challenging for a Bulls team that Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas says eventually should be substantially enhancing its roster.

With two or three of perhaps the top defensive players in the league.

Artūras Karnišovas takes questions from the media following the ending of the NBA Trade Deadline.

That would be among injured Bulls players Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, along with Patrick Williams and Derrick Jones Jr. The four crucial Bulls contributors have been out with injuries, but seem likely to be returning some time next month.

Which along with maintaining the team's compelling chemistry appears to be a principal reason why the Bulls, who were the stars of last year's trading deadline with the Nikola Vucevic acquisition, didn't make any trades Thursday.

"I think it reflects that we like this group," Karnisovas said Thursday afternoon on a media Zoom conference. "Billy (coach Donovan), obviously, said it all along. We're just waiting for guys to come back from injuries to get this group together because we had a short sample of 16 games where most of our guys were healthy. That doesn't include Patrick (injured in October). In those 16 games, we were top five in offense and defense. So we liked what we looked like when everyone was healthy. Hopefully, we'll get this group back and see what we can do.

Arturas Karnisovas.

"This group has shown we can compete in the Eastern Conference and our record reflects it," Karnisovas emphasized. "We were taking calls, but basically the mutual feeling with all of our group was, ‘Let's get our guys back.' We're going to have enough time in the regular season to see what this group can do when they're all healthy. We were pretty busy last trade deadline, we were pretty busy this summer; we made a lot of changes. We're pretty much looking for continuity. We're just gonna have to wait a little bit until the guys get healthy and we'll see what we can do when we come back."

The Bulls starting with Friday's game against Minnesota have four home games left before the All-Star break, all against teams that missed the playoffs last season.

Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan then will go to Cleveland for the 75th anniversary team All-Star celebration with rookie Ayo Dosunmo, assuming he is recovered from a concussion, in the Rising Stars game. LaVine will also participate in the 3-point shooting contest, again trying to become the first player to win both the 3-point shooting and dunk contests.

The Bulls then come out of the break Feb. 24 with a rugged schedule against their primary Eastern Conference competitors and two long road trips, one to the Western Conference. During those road trips starting March 14 in Sacramento and the rest of the month, the team should be getting back its injured players.

With the Bulls having flirted with the top of the Eastern Conference all season and the last month even without those players, Karnisovas indicated he and his staff are confident the Bulls can retain their place and return to the elite defensive play of earlier in the season.

The Bulls await the return of defensive stalwarts Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball.

"I think we wanted to see what we would look like when we're all healthy, and I think that sample size showed we're pretty good," said Karnisovas. "Since Dec. 2 we weren't (healthy). When you lose guys like Alex and Lonzo, guys like Javonte (Green), you don't have Patrick, there's a defensive identity that you lose. And that's where we need to get better for the rest of the year. But until that first week of December, we were in the top five defenses in the league.

"We were happy with the group, our two-ways that come into games, and our roster guys, our off-the-bench guys, they've done a tremendous job," said Karnisovas. "DeMar and Zach, All-Stars this year, which we're proud of. What they are doing on the floor when they're healthy, it's amazing. And, obviously, Vooch is a huge part of that and what we do. He's averaging 18 and 12. Once we can get Lonzo, Alex, Patrick and Derrick back I think we're very competitive in the East. There's a lot of great stories out there, and I think in our success everyone on this roster participated. I'm proud of that roster."

Which also is not to say he wasn't looking.

But it was difficult because of all those injuries.

It seems from the myriad transactions that were made it would have required the Bulls giving up a current regular on a limited roster to add anyone of significance.

But now that the Bulls are among the competitive teams, they figure to be more appealing to the players who choose to accept buyouts from teams or who are released.

Former Bull Moore recently was waived by Orlando after not playing this season with an early season injury and Orlando going with young players. He's a smart 6-foot-4 guard. Schroder has been in rumors and speculation to the Bulls. He was traded to rebuilding Houston and on a one-year deal. He'd be a high-level addition as a point guard scorer. Josh Richardson, an athletic 6-foot-6 3-point shooter, went to the Spurs and also seems likely to be waived or bought out.

The speculation is guard Goran Dragic may be headed to Dallas in an eventual buyout. Another good shooter who could be available is Jeremy Lamb, who was in the Sabonis deal. Former Bull Thad Young if he were released or bought out, which seems unlikely, would now be eligible to return to the Bulls.

Interior players have been speculated during the season as possible Bulls additions. Among those players who could appear on the buyout market or released are Tristan Thompson, Paul Millsap and Enes Freedom.

"My wish list was to get healthy," said Karnisovas. "That's the primary reason for us not doing anything. We've got a little bit to wait, but I think hopefully when we get all healthy we're going to have a whole group there and see what we've got. (And) when the dust settles after trade deadline, I think we're going to look at some things. We've got four games to go. We need to close that strong and we'll see what happens."

It ain't over yet.