CBC Has Been in Chicago...NO BULL!

Day three of wing-gate and all is quiet on the home front. Trying to track down former employees that will reveal their names as sources and discuss the “business” dealings of Athena is proving quite difficult. So far the two papers we've been in contact with are following the basic creeds of journalism and requiring more than one named source along with two anonymous sources (they don't want a Jayson Blair situation on their hands). We are doing our best to provide them with this for we would like to see this story get some traction. Alas, Twenty-four hours on the couch making phone calls proved fruitless, so I needed something to snap me out of my malaise.

Of course, the Chicago Bulls had my back. The only team in the NBA to claim they can “set the court on fire” made a huge deadline deal. The Bulls, after standing pat on last few trading deadlines, were part of a blockbuster deal this afternoon which finally rid them of the failed “Big Bust” experiment. The Bulls dealt, Big Bust, Joe Smith, Adrian Griffin and a 2nd round pick (as part of a three-team trade with Seattle and Cleveland) in exchange for Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons. So,they have Tyrus, Joakim and Gooden fighting for PT at PF and C, with Larry Hughes, Gordon and Thabo fighting for playing time at SG. All in all this seems to spell the end of the road for Ben Gordon.

Now, Chicago's second biggest suburb can hop back on the Bulls bandwagon with former St. Louis legend Larry Hughes cracking their starting line-up. My partner Anthony Atencio and Christian Brothers around St. Louis can re-joice, as Chicago fans are stuck paying $85 to watch Hughes sit-out with injuries for 30 to 40 games a year.

The Bulls new starting five is projected as Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, Luol Deng, Drew Gooden and Joakim Noah, and I ask, how is this any better than Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni, Malik Allen and Tyson Chandler in 2006? Since the summer of 06’, almost everyone move Paxson has made has backfired. Beginning with the Chandler trade, then the Aldridge-Thomas trade and followed by the Big Bust signing. That summer seems to have single-handedly crippled the Bulls future. They’ve gone from a team that could contend for years to the 10th seed in the EAST!

As far as this deadline deal goes, I'm not fully sold that this makes the Bulls that much better. The sad thing is, I'm just so happy to be rid of Ben Wallace that I’d advocate almost any trade involving him. With the Bulls sitting at 21-32, I'll start to do what any self-respecting fan would do in this case, the reverse fanship. If the Bulls can just lose out and get a Top 3 pick then they could be set for years to come. Although a spring of losing would be hard to bear it'd be worth it, plus, baseball season is just around the corner.