John Paxson's approach to free agency, which starts Tuesday, will be simple.

"We'll make calls to let people know we're interested in them," the Bulls' general manager said. "If they are with us, we can go further."

Some of those calls will be made to representatives for Corey Maggette, Scottie Pippen, Ira Newble and Horace Grant, with later calls possibly going to agents for Kendall Gill and Voshon Lenard.

The Bulls, who are over the salary cap but nowhere near the luxury-tax penalty, have their midlevel exception to spend. That will be roughly $4.6 million and can be split to sign multiple players. They also will have a medical exception of approximately $1.8 million to compensate for the loss of Jay Williams.

Paxson's pitch also will be simple. The Bulls are an up-and-coming team in a major city with minutes available at the small forward position.