The Chicago Bulls have signed 25-year old power forward Chris Richard to a 10-day contract. He one played one year in the NBA (2007-08). That year he played in 52 games (3 starts) for the T-Wolves in which he averaged 10.7 minutes, 1.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. He will give the Bulls another big body off the bench until Joakim Noah is ready to return to action after the All Star break.

The Bulls have decided to shut down starting center Joakim Noah as he has a case of plantar fasciitis. Noah has played in 46 games (all starts) for the Bulls this season and he is averaging 32.7 minutes, 11.2 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game. This was a smart move for the Bulls because Noah is probably the 2nd best player on the Bulls behind Derrick Rose and they can’t afford to lose him for longer if they keep playing him. Brad Miller will take over in the middle for the Bulls. He has played in 47 games (10 starts) for the Bulls this season and he is averaging 21.1 minutes, 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Look for Miller to replace what Noah does on offense but the Bulls’ will suffer in both rebounding and defense until Noah returns to action.

Veteran center Brad Miller is not getting much playing time this season with Joakim Noah stepping up. Miller has played in 45 games (10 starts) for the Bulls this season and he is averaging 20.8 minutes, 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. A lot of trade rumors have come up with Miller involved in them. But, unless the Bulls can make the team better for the rest of the year it just doesn’t make sense to trade Miller.

The Chicago Bulls seem like a whole new ball club after some very impressive performances on their recent 7-game road trip against some strong competition in the Western Conference.  They dropped the first two to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, but went on to win the next five games against the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New Orleans Hornets to finish the road trip at 5-2 and bringing their season record to 23-22.  That is good enough for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference at the moment, but it is only 1.5 games back of the 5th spot which is currently held by the Toronto Raptors.  If the Bulls continue their winning ways, they will definitely get that 5th seed come playoff time, and possibly even better.  Derrick Rose has been playing great, and he has been getting great support from his role players, but head coach Vinny Del Negro deserves a lot of credit.  After rumors were swirling that Del Negro would be fired only a few weeks ago, he has gotten this young Bulls team to play great.  Analyst and Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley agrees, saying “Vinny has done a good job,” and that he thinks the Bulls disrespected him for not backing him up amongst the firing rumors.  He has turned the Bulls into a dangerous team.

With the addition of Devin Brown last week in a trade with the Hornets the handwriting appears to be on the wall. That writing is that the Bulls will likely try to move PG/SG Kirk Hinrich before next month’s trade deadline. He has played in 35 games (16 starts) for the Bulls this season and he is averaging 31.4 minutes, 10.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. The thing that will hurt any trade efforts by the Bulls involving Hinrich is the fact that he is only shooting 38% from the floor. The one team I would keep my eye on with Hinrich is the Lakers which is a team he could start on at the point.