In an interview with the New York Daily News, Hughes had a complaint with how things ended with the Bulls. He didn’t play after Jan. 12, when Kirk Hinrich returned from a thumb injury.

“I got a text message from the GM (John Paxson) – that’s it,” he said. “It was one line saying they appreciated my patience and wishing me good luck. I thought I’d get a courtesy call. They do it in every workplace, every day. When management sends you off, they give you a courtesy call.

“There’s no relationship (with coach Vinny Del Negro). I didn’t start, but that wasn’t the issue. You can’t start all the time. I understand that. And I voiced that. The issue was that he didn’t give me a shot to be out there to contribute.”

With someone as narcissistic as Hughes, its hard to tell if his story is true, or just an attempt to look blameless.  If it is true, Paxson definitely did not handle the situation with any professionalism.  Rarely will you hear me defend Larry Hughes, but in this case, maybe Pax needs to communicate better with his players.  This isn’t to say that Hughes deserved to be treated any better, but its a bad image for the league.  In a situation where the Bulls plan on being active players on the free agent market, the last thing we want Chris Bosh (or Dwayne Wade, or anyone really) thinking is “Oh, the Bulls are interested?  Wait, don’t they treat their players poorly?”

This all presumes Hughes is telling the truth, which I find hard to believe for the reasons stated above.  Either way Paxson has spent the better part of a decade trying to erase the image left by Jerry Krause that the Bulls front office doesn’t treat its players with respect.  It would be a shame to see that begin to unravel over a loser like Hughes.

Lughes, known for his short stints and lucky shots, apparently has shown up in New York recently.  Whether it is the system D’Antoni runs, which is perfectly-tailored to Lughes style of play, or just that Lughes was getting bored lurking in the shadows, it appears Lughes is back.  Unlike Hughes, Lughes seems to have some sort of loyalty to his former team, the Bulls.

Last night against the Bucks, which were tied with the Bulls for 8th in the East, Lughes dropped 39 points.  This helped his new team overcome the Bucks and helped his old team hang onto their playoff spot.  I’m not sure if it’s the blue hair or what, but that Lughes is a force to be reckoned with, averaging 21 points in his last 5 games.

Larry Hughes:
@TOR—1/9 fgs, 1/3 3pt, 3 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, -8 +/-
vs. IND—2/7 fgs, 1/2 3pt, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, -2 +/-

Andres Nocioni:
@DAL—2/11 fgs, 0/3 3pt, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, -6 +/-
vs. NO—7/11 fgs, 4/7 3pt,  19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, -2 +/-

Thabo Sefolosha:
@GSW—0/3 fgs, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 2 steals, -7 +/-

Drew Gooden:
@DAL—DNP-CD
vs. NO—DNP-CD

Cedric Simmons:
@DAL—DNP-CD
vs. NO—DNP-CD

At least Gooden and Simmons aren’t hurting their teams.  While Noce had one awful game and one decent game, his team lost both.  We were used to nights like this from Nocioni; high energy, good shooting night while his team loses.  This fools coaches and management into thinking he deserves minutes and a big contract, when really he only has one decent game in five.

Hughes is back up to his old tricks, shooting just 19% from the field (I rounded up) in his two games with the Knicks.  He has got to be the most inefficient player in all of basketball.

Thabo did nothing in 18 minutes.  I mean really nothing.  But he’s a defensive specialist, you say?  Well whoever he defended that game scored double digits, since 7 Warriors finished with at least 11.

I’m ecstatic not unhappy that these players are gone.

Gooden, Nocioni, Simmons for Miller and Salmons: A-

I already broke this trade down in an earlier post.  I will summarize what I said there briefly.  In terms of talent it was a very good deal for the Bulls.  Acquiring Miller was a significant upgrade over Gooden and Salmons was a huge upgrade over Nocioni.  Miller will hopefully complement Rose well for the next year and a half and be a decent defender in the paint, which is what we have been needing as much or more than post scoring.  Also, Salmons looks to have enormous upside.  Getting rid of Noce is addition by subtraction, since he was a liability on defense and very trigger happy.  In terms of salary, it was an excellent move.  Nocioni’s long-term contract is gone and is replaced by Miller’s $112 million dollar deal that expires in 2010 and Salmons who is making $5.5 (or $7.5?) million through 2011.

Hughes for Jerome James and Tim Thomas (and Roberson?): B

This trade really has very little impact in terms of on-court improvement.  Hughes was already getting DNP-CDs every night and Jerome James isn’t going to play.  Tim Thomas has been a Bull before, though only briefly before Skiles sent him home and the Bulls released him.  This time around he may get a few minutes here or there at the 3/4, but probably won’t have any real effect.  Salary-wise this move does one thing.  It takes Hughes $12 million dollar 2010 expiring contract and breaks it up into two, far more movable, $6 million dollar deals.

Also my understanding of a medical retirement in the NBA is that if James does not play for one year, the Bulls can put him on medical retirement and as long as he doesn’t play the rest of his contract, his salary would not count against the Bulls 2009-2010 cap.  Its possible that James will never play again, so this move has the potential of freeing up some of that $12 million as early as 2009 season.  (UPDATE: This cannot happen based on the current CBA.  Oh well. The Bulls will only have to pay about $1.5 million to him next year, but the full $6.6 million will count against the cap).

Sefolosha for OKC’s First Round Pick (The lesser pick of the Nuggets or San Antonio’s pick that OKC acquired via trade): C+

Yeah Thabo would be buried on the bench now with Salmons, but I still believe he will become a very good player in the league.  It looks like this move was done because the Knicks deal put the Bulls slightly over the cap for this year and Pax needed to shed some salary to avoid the tax.  The loss of Thabo is unfortunate and I have very little sympathy for Reinsdorf having to pay a little tax this year.

Inability to Land Stoudemire/Bosh/Camby/Boozer And Non-Trade of Kirk: B

Once again Pax didn’t get the big deal done that would make the Bulls a legitimate contender.  We can only speculate over whether a big offer was possible or even on the table.  Amare was being shopped, but Phoenix clearly took him off the table in the last few days.  Bosh was only coming here in a deal involving Amare, so that went out the window when Amare came off the table.  Camby is too old and hurt.  I also don’t think the Boozer deal was ever offered.

Also, why didn’t the Bulls move Hinrich’s contract?  Pax claims they had an offer but they feel they can get more in the summer.  Whether that’s true or not, the Salmons acquisition leaves Kirk with less minutes and now he knows he’s being dangled as trade bait all season.  Hopefully this works out but it seems very odd.

Cap Management: B+

The moves give us little to no cap room this summer, but position the Bulls to make a big move in the summer of 2010.  With Bosh, James, Wade, Anthony and Stoudemire all becoming free agents, the Bulls will have a ton of cap space.  If they pick up Noah and Rose’s options, they have only about $35 million committed in 2010/2011, leaving almost an estimated $30 million to offer to one of those free agents.  Another option is that the Bulls will have a combination of $30 million dollars of expiring contracts to trade this summer and during the 2009/2010 season to another team trying to clear space for a free agent in the 2010 summer.  Also dividing Hughes contract into two smaller contracts may make them easier to move.  Perhaps all the expiring deals could be used to pry a star away in a trade from one of those teams.

Overall Deadline Grade For Paxson: B+

He made all good moves but once again failed to bring in something for fans to get excited about and that would make the Bulls a contender.  At least he did something this time I guess.

So Hughes’ short time with the Bulls has come to an end, and Chicago will welcome James and Thomas.  Is it me or does Tim Thomas change teams, or at least almost change teams every year at the trade deadline?  Anyway, more on this later from Stormin’ Norman I’m sure.  Just wanted to give the heads up and give some of you a reason to drink at lunch.

In my brief analysis Thomas seems to fill in the role that Gooden left open yesterday.  A big man that can shoot the ball.  I’m not sure but I think Jerome James is out for the year.  But he’s 7′1″!  Biggest thing here is getting rid of Hughes. Obvs.

Also, in bad Google search news: I went to look for a picture of Hughes with the search “Larry Hughes Sucks, Bulls”  and Google responded with “Did you mean Larry Hughes Sucks Balls?”  Now that you mention it…