Over the summer when Kobe Bryant was still a free agent, he met with Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager John Paxson to hear their sales pitch.

"They're going up," Bryant said. "They're just determined to get this franchise back on top. Paxson, his experience speaks for itself. He knows so much about the game and we had a great conversation just talking about the game of basketball, styles of play and so forth."

Kobe was then asked if he would have considered joining the Bulls if they had salary-cap room.

"Yes, definitely," Bryant said. "I was considering them anyway."

It's tough for Chicago fans to be too optimistic about their future, with no victories in the win column.