The Bulls like restricted free agent Andres Nocioni, and would love the hard working forward back, as long as the price is right. But the Bulls also need a scoring power forward, which would reduce Nocioni's minutes further.
If Nocioni, resting in his homeland after a serious bout with plantar fasciitis in his right foot, commands an offer sheet in the $6 million to $8 million range, expect the Bulls to explore sign-and-trade options.
The Spurs and Lakers are two teams that long have admired Nocioni's style of play.
Neither team has salary-cap room, meaning they only could offer the midlevel salary-cap exception, to be set July 11 at approximately $5.5 million, which the Bulls would match.
Nocioni may be used as sign and trade bait to land the player who would meet the team's needs, along with someone like P.J. Brown, although the Chicago Tribune reports that Brown has not yet decided whether he's going to retire or play on.
Only the first year of Brown's signed-and-traded contract would have to be guaranteed, perhaps making it attractive to teams looking to trim payroll.
The Bulls, as expected, contacted representatives for available big men such as Chris Mihm, Melvin Ely, Joe Smith, Corliss Williamson, Marc Jackson and Brown.