ahh...those second-round picks never get any love:

"Bulls second-round draft picks Mario Austin of Mississippi State (35th overall) and Tommy Smith of Arizona State (53rd) will play overseas rather than try to win a spot on the team's roster during training camp, which opens Tuesday. ''This way, they get the playing time and experience to help them develop, and we keep our NBA rights on them for the next year,'' Bulls general manager John Paxson said. ''Mario is playing for CSKA [a first-division team in Moscow], and Tommy is playing for Split [in Croatia]. It's a situation that helps both sides. Had we brought them to camp, we probably would have had to cut them.''"

This has been speculated for some time, but I think this is the first time they mentioned what teams Austin and Smith will be going to. Just in case you wanted to buy your CSKA jersey right away.

So instead of Austin and Smith, look for the Bulls to bring in a bunch of non-roster basketball nomads to be sacrificed to Curry and Chandler in camp. This is a smart move by Paxson, yet it makes me pine even more for a true developmental league in the U.S......But that's a discussion for another day.

I probably shouldn't, but i'll say a little something about "the Matadors" article on ESPN.com. It was actually raported earlier in the Sun-Times a couple of weeks ago. Basically, the Matadors are a bunch of obese dudes who are gonna act as Bulls' cheerleaders for a half-dozen games this year. Like I said I wasn't going to say anything about it cause it is a pretty dumb idea. But I mean its right on the front page of ESPN.com....so I read it. Heres the quote that caught my eye:

A decade ago, the Bulls didn't need to resort to this. They had the best player on the planet. They had an on-the-court product that was enough to entertain sellout crowds night after night. And they were putting up championship banners every year. Oh, how things have changed -- for both the Bulls and my beloved Knicks. The rivalry may no longer be as fierce now, 10 years after Charles Smith botched those lay-ups. But I figured I could still exact some revenge.

The guy writing the column was a Knicks fan, and it was actually pretty funny to hear how he wore Knicks gear to this tryout. But Let me be VERY clear: the Bulls are in WAY better shape (no pun intended) than the Knicks. And he's right, 10 years ago they don't need this kind of stunt. And I think that now they don't need it either.

But fat guys ARE funny....

I'm hoping this week that I can do some updates to the links section. That'll be my way of compensating for zero Bulls news lately. I'm sure things will be heating up once training camp starts.

I was lookin for evidence anywhere saying that Hassell got his option picked up, and I finally found it in an article about his high school:

"On Thursday the Chicago Bulls decided Hassell had done such a good job during the first two years of his contract that they exercised their club option to keep the 30th overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft for the final year of his contract with the Bulls. '(Bulls General Manager John) Paxson fully expects Trenton to be a large part of the rotation, just like he has been in the last couple of years,' said Jeff Cates, agent and financial adviser to Hassell. As a member of the Bulls, Hassell has earned the nickname the 'Minister of Defense,' for his defensive abilities on the baskeball court. So it is no wonder why he has always earned the assignment of guarding the opponent's leading scorer and offensive threat, whether that happened to be Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson or Kobe Bryant."

This was an expected move anyway, but it was odd that I couldn't find this info anywhere else.

"Minister of Defense" eh? I thought that was Reggie White. Despite what his agent says, Trent will have a diminished role this year, and that should be obvious just be seeing that in the offseason they've added Pippen, Gill, and Hinrich to their guard/SF rotation. But Hassell can still be valuable to this team in limited minutes, he just needs to hit a jump shot or two.

Well I don't know who didn't know this yet, but Bags is officially gone.

in retrospect, This post is more of a service to you readers tellin you all i'm still here and kickin'. but there is just nothing to talk about lately.