Bulls Eye Bonzi & Abdur-Rahim

Bulls Eye Bonzi & Abdur-Rahim

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">There's a reason it's called the trade deadline.

As any procrastinating reporter would know, little happens until deadlines loom and a decision must be made.

The NBA's deadline, which arrives at 2 p.m. Thursday in Chicago, will force Bulls general manager John Paxson to increase his offer for Pau Gasol, which is unlikely, or try to engineer any number of deals that might slightly upgrade talent?as well as payroll.

Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim is the most prominently mentioned possibility in the latter scenario, though a late rumor Wednesday had the Bulls trying to pry Bonzi Wells from the Rockets.

A Bulls team source said Paxson wasn't optimistic but had to wait until Thursday to see if Grizzlies general manager Jerry West would lower his asking price for Gasol. That chance has been rejected categorically in public comments from West and Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley.

Paxson is active, though, and said to want a deal with his team underachieving in the winnable Eastern Conference.

An in-season trade seemed a long shot back in the optimistic days that followed the free-agent signing of Ben Wallace. But Wallace was blunt Wednesday when asked if the Bulls could win the conference as they're currently playing.

"No," he said. "We have to get better. We show signs of greatness, and then we backslide a bit."

P.J. Brown's expiring $8.6 million salary has drawn considerable interest, but the Bulls are keeping him in case the Gasol talks change direction Thursday. Neither team expects that to happen.

The Bulls also have the expiring deals of Michael Sweetney and Malik Allen, which could be used in a deal with the Kings. Abdur-Rahim has three years and $18.6 million left on his deal.

Wells is a post-up guard about whom coach Scott Skiles has talked favorably in the past. Off the court, Wells has been cited for criminal trespass while with the Trail Blazers and had several run-ins with coaches, including being deactivated earlier this season by Jeff Van Gundy for a lack of conditioning.

Those character issues would seem to run counter to the philosophy of an organization that has sent Tim Thomas home and J.R. Smith to the Nuggets for lesser transgressions.

Wells' $2.1 million salary is a matchable trade with Sweetney's $2.7 million deal.

Skiles met with Paxson on Wednesday morning before the team departed for Cleveland.

"As coaches, even though I know more than the average person, I still have to operate under the assumption that this is the team we're going to [have] the rest of the season," Skiles said. "If you don't do that, you're making a mistake."

The Bulls face a telling stretch, starting Thursday against the Cavaliers, of four games in five days against conference opponents that all currently would be playoff teams. The Bulls have played abysmally recently in Cleveland, which is 20-7 at home.

A Sunday matinee in Detroit also looms, and the Bulls are a woeful 9-18 on the road.

"These are two games where if we're not really competitive, it could get ugly," Skiles said.</div>

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