Kirk Hinrich had a big decision to make and chose security.

League sources said that Hinrich and the Bulls have agreed to a deal that is worth $47.5 million and starts in the 2007-08 season at roughly $7.8 million.

The deal will pay Hinrich approximately $11.42 million during its final season in 2011-2012.

Hinrich initially sought a deal similar to Tony Parker's, who averages $11 million annually, but in a recent interview, he said he might eventually take what he described in another more casual conversation as "more money than I'll ever need in my lifetime."

"I'm comfortable financially right now," he said. "I don't spend a lot. ... And when you're talking numbers like we're talking, it's almost surreal."

When the Miami Heat receives its championship rings during a pregame ceremony tonight, the Bulls will not be courtside observers.

Coach Scott Skiles has opted to take the Bulls back to the locker room during what is expected to be a 15- to 20-minute presentation after warm-ups.

''We go out, we get introduced, they get introduced,'' Skiles said of the schedule he received Sunday. ''Then we have the option of going into the locker room. There's nothing left to do. At that point, we will have covered Miami for three days counting [the morning shoot-around today]. The guys will go in, relax a little bit and continue with their stretches, try to stay loose. We may say a couple more things. But it's a time for them to get their heads together. More than likely, we'll leave them alone.''

Soft-spoken and small, Andre Barrett left the Berto Center on Sunday with the Bulls' 15th roster spot, beating out 7-foot-1-inch Luke Schenscher, who was waived.

"It feels real good," Barrett said. "It shows my hard work paid off. [My trainer] put that mentality into my head to come into training camp and play like I'm going to make the team. He said sometimes I lacked that attitude and confidence."

The Bulls had their tipoff luncheon on Friday and Chris Duhon grabbed the microphone and taunted teammate Kirk Hinrich, asking him to share his two pieces of good news with the audience.

Hinrich announced that he recently got engaged, but the other piece of news, a contract extension, there was no news on.

?The clock is ticking,? said Hinrich.

Jeff Austin, Kirk Hinrich's agent, and John Paxson discussed an extension again on Tuesday, but it remains unlikely that a contract will be agreed upon.

Hinrich will become a restricted free agent next July if an extension isn't signed by the end of the month.

The Bulls lasted to overtime, but coach Scott Skiles blasted the performance of his team following a 109-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center on Wednesday night.

Minnesota hit 39 of 45 free throws on the night and recorded its last 7 points in overtime at the foul line.

"I thought it was reminiscent of a lot of games we played last year,? Skiles said. ?We had 7 more field goals but got beat. (We had) 37 fouls, just a lot of silly turnovers (19) and ballhandling mistakes. I thought our shot selection was very poor. We weren?t ready on defense. Just an all-around bad game."

The Chicago Bulls announced today that they have exercised their fourth-year options for the 2007-08 season on guard Ben Gordon and forwards Luol Deng and Viktor Khryapa.

In two seasons with the Bulls, Gordon, a 6-3, 200-pound guard, has appeared in 162 games (50 starts) for the Bulls, and averaged 16.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 27.7 mpg and shot .417 from the floor, .421 from behind the arc and .825 from the line. Selected with the third pick in NBA Draft 2004, Gordon is the only rookie in NBA history to receive the league?s Sixth Man Award.

The 6-9, 220-pound Deng has appeared in 139 games (101 starts) and posted averages of 13.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.0 apg and 30.7 mpg. He has shot .452 from the field and .747 from the line. Deng, the seventh pick in NBA Draft 2004, came to the Bulls in a Draft-night deal with the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a future conditional first-round pick, the draft rights to Jackson Vroman (31st overall pick) and cash considerations.

The Bucks will have about $14 million in cap space next summer and GM Larry Harris has stated that his number one goal will be to sign a point guard.

If Kirk Hinrich hits the open market, the Bucks could pursue him and lure him away from Chicago with a bigger deal, or the Bulls would be forced to match and likely pay more than they would if they signed him this month.

The Bulls and Kirk Hinrich have just one more week to get a contract extension done and all signs point to it waiting until next summer.

Hinrich's market value would be about $8 million annually.

''Right now, I honestly don't know if it will happen,'' Paxson said Monday. ''If it does, great. If it doesn't, it waits until next summer.

''As I [said] before, Jeff and I made an agreement that we aren't going to talk publicly about numbers or anything like that. We've had discussions. We've made our case, and he's made his. If it happens, it happens. But I've said this before, too: If we don't get a deal done, it doesn't reflect how we feel about Kirk.''

''It would be nice to have it done, but I don't have a problem with waiting,'' Hinrich said when he last addressed the negotiations. ''From the day we started [negotiations], I was just going to plan on playing another year with the same deal I have. Because if it doesn't happen, I don't want to be disappointed. ... If it happens, great, because I want to stay here. If not, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.''

Andre Barrett was a longshot to make the Bulls roster, but he remains with the team with just nine days until the Bulls open the regular season Oct. 31 at Miami.

''He's played well,'' Skiles said of the Seton Hall product, who has played 57 NBA games with four teams in two seasons. ''He has a legitimate chance to make the team. If he's not the quickest guy on the roster, he's one of the quickest. He makes open shots. He's played in NBA games. He has a good command of the team when he's on the floor. He's a hard worker. There's a lot to like about him. We'll play these last [exhibition] games and see what happens.''