The Bulls aggresivley pursued O.J. Mayo, but stopped dead when Omer Asik and Taj Gibsonwere mentioned

CHICAGO — The Bulls failed to pull the trigger on any deal at the trade deadline on Thursday, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. In fact it was the exact opposite of that; GM Gus Forman was actively and aggressively perusing Memphis Grizzlies O.J. Mayo. Forman even put out a formal offer for to Memphis: Ronnie Brewer and draft picks for the guard.

Memphis was uninterested in parting with Mayo at that price. They wanted Omer Asik or Taj Gibson and that was too much, Forman thought, to give up.

“I obviously get asked about those players quite a bit,” Forman said. “We’re very high on both of them. We think not only for what they can do for our team today, but I think there is so much potential for growth with both of those players. Taj is in his second year in the league, and obviously Omer is a rookie. If you look back historically at teams that have had great success in this league, size matters. It’s a big deal. You’ve got to have size on the front line and thus to us, those two guys are very, very valuable.”

But just despite the fact the Bulls failed to acquire anything other than a first round pick from Toronto, Forman says it wasn’t a loss at all. He is completely content with the team that has been crafted. “We’ve gone from where we were kind of stuck in mediocrity to what we feel is a good, young team. At this point that’s what we’re doing; we’re building a team. We’re not just trying to acquire talent. We’re trying to get the right pieces that fit the players that we have. When you have Derrick Rose, it kind of gives you direction.”

Deal or No Deal with Houston

Another man the Bulls were hot and bothered for was Houston Rocket’s guard Courtney Lee. It actually looked like that was the most likely deal for the Bulls. Mayo was a nice thought but his $4 million-plus contract seemed a little stiff for Chicago to take on. Lee was much cheaper and it looked as though Houston was in need of back-court space, which appeared to make Lee expendable. After all Houston is trying to make room for Terrance Williams in the future. But Houston, as did everyone else, wanted either Taj Gibson or Omer Asik and the Bulls were very adamant that they were sticking to their guns and not trading either of them.

It turns out Houston was in need of clearing some space as they chose to unload Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks rather than Courtney Lee. The Bulls missed out on a chance to add another sure-fire shooting threat to add to Rose’s dominating presence on the court. This was a popular topic of conversation last night against the Heat as every time the reserves were on the court, there was a sense of unease and that the pendulum had swung the way Miami. That was a problem that needed to be solved at the deadline. Sure (more…)