Bulls Midseason Report: Half Way to Where?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jan 22, 2009 3:16PM

With their season just past the midway point, Bulls GM John Paxson gave a frank assessment of his team thus far. And what he had to say wasn't favorable, "We're not very good right now."

At 18-25, the team has not shown the gritty, team-first play that led them to the playoffs from 2005-2007. Instead he's once again saddled with a roster that's up-and-down from night to night and hasn't yet figured out the meaning of "team."

While the team can score, problems on the defensive side of the ball and turnovers continue to plague the team and their ability to win games. Rookie Derrick Rose appears to be the real deal, but the young front court players (Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, in particular) seem to be regressing.

With the trade deadline looming, is Paxson looking to deal? It's pretty clear he is. Since Kirk Hinrich's return from his thumb injury, the Bulls again have a logjam at guard. Larry Hughes has been the odd man out, remaining glued to the pine for the past five games -- the first five DNP-CD's of his career. It can't be long before he's wearing somebody else's jersey, right?

During his address, Paxson mentioned the difficulty in putting together deals because of the luxury tax facing most teams. So will anybody be willing to take Hughes and his huge contract off the Bulls' hands?

Rumors are that the New Jersey Nets might. The Sun-Times reports a deal that would send Hughes to the Nets in return for Bobby Simmons and Maurice Ager. Simmons, a 6'6" small forward, is averaging 8 points and 4.5 boards a night. Is he really going to add much to this team? It all seems like shuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic. But maybe Pax is just aligning the pieces to make a run for LeBron in 2010 -- live everybody else.