Last week, I wrote that if Amare Stoudemire is indeed available, the Bulls would be wise to show interest. And according to Yahoo! Sports, they’ve done just that. But so have the Heat, Sixers and Nets. The Arizona Republic adds the Cavs, Warriors and Wolves as other teams that have shown interest.

In short, a lot of teams want Stoudemire. And for good reason. But I can’t see Stoudemire agreeing to re-sign with any of them outside of the Heat, Cavs, Bulls and maybe the Nets, so those destinations might be more in play than the others.

And beyond that, I’m not sure the Bulls are going to be able to offer the best package, or even a package the Suns would agree to. They want salary-cap relief, young talent and draft picks for him and are looking at small forwards.

Stoudemire would be a good fit for the Bulls, but at the expense of Luol Deng, their most consistent offensive player this season? And what if the Bulls trade for Stoudemire and he ends up not re-signing with them for whatever reason?

Losing Deng and Stoudemire in a few months time would be a crushing blow to the Bulls.

Bottom line: if the Bulls are currently in the mix for Stoudemire’s services, they should continue to be in the mix for his services. But if they have to part with Deng or perhaps Joakim Noah, I’m not sure the addition of Stoudemire is worth it.

Last night in their loss against the Clippers, as the Bulls were just launching and missing shot after shot in the third quarter and early in the fourth before they started screening and driving to get easier buckets, one thought popped into my head: “If only this team had more of an inside scoring threat.”

Amare Stoudemire could be that guy.

Now, I know Stoudemire really isn’t a back-to-the-basket-post-up player, but he’s highly effective in the pick-and-roll, something he could run nice with Derrick Rose. He gets fouled a lot.  And with Shaq now in Cleveland and Stoudemire’s scary retina injury not being an issue this season, he’s returned to form, scoring 21 points a night and grabbing 8.7 boards. Couple him together down low with Joakim Noah, and that’s a nice one-two punch. Chris Bosh is still the preferred choice, because he is more a guy you can dump it down to and let him create in the post, but Stoudemire might be an easier get for the Bulls.

Here’s why: At the start of the NBA season, the Suns were hot, and with Alvin Gentry steering the ship, they’ve returned to that up-tempo brand of ball that made them famous under Mike D’Antoni.

But they’ve cooled off a bit of late — losers of 15 of their last 26 — and where it once seemed like Stoudemire would not get moved before the trade deadline, as the team would ride it out with him and hoped he re-signed over the summer, it’s now starting to turn the other way. Chad Ford has been all over the Stoudemire news this week, and here’s a few bullet points:

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Amar’e Stoudemire was the biggest name thrown about during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend and the ensuing week after, in terms of stars that could be switching teams. Amar’e was thought by many to be the most movable piece on the Phoenix Suns. There were rumors of him heading to Toronto, Chicago and Cleveland, to name a few.

So the news that he is out for the season probably comes as a bit of “Oh my God, that could have been me!” news to his potential suitors.

Oddly enough, too, it’s the same eye he hurt in the preseason. Which certainly makes, if for only paranoia’s sake, it interesting that the Suns were so willing to shop him at a reduced rate. (Obviously they backed down after tipping their hand and seeing what little they could actually get for him, but I’m a conspiracy junkie — let me have it.)

Although it’s not necessarily that Amar’e is by any means “damaged goods” — the guy did score 42 points and grab 11 boards … with a detached retina (which is just straight up meast-like).

It’s obviously a disaster for the Suns, who currently sits one game behind Utah for the last spot in the Western Conference, and now find themselves in the unenviable position of probably landing a shoddy lottery pick, the rights to whom Bob Sarver will probably trade elsewhere in exchange for whatever money he needs to cover his luxury cap expenses. And for a team like the Bulls, who nearly traded for Amar’e to shake things up (despite sitting just a game and a half behind the Bucks in the East) the whole “What If…” process is pretty terrifying as well.

With a night under our belts to step back and assess the Bulls-Kings-Trailblazers deal, here’s a few things to keep in mind from the Bulls’ perspective:

1) Bye-bye, Amar’e. For as good as the idea of Amar’e Stoudemire in the Bulls’ front court sounds right now, it’s likely not going to happen by the trade deadline at 4 p.m. EST today. It’s not so much that Brad Miller is going to shore up the Bulls’ issues up front. He won’t; he is serviceable, not dominant. It’s that the Bulls appear to be setting themselves up for the free agent market in 2010.

2) Hello Chris Bosh? Tuesday, the Bulls were rumored to be in the mix for the services of Chris Bosh, which one commenter noted made more sense than Amar’e, as the Raptor scores more points, grabs more rebounds (well, Shaq sort of hurts Amar’e there) and arguably plays better defense. Like Amar’e, it’s unlikely the Bulls are going to swing a trade for Bosh before the deadline. However, Bosh is a free agent come the summer of 2010. And, according to ESPN’s Chad Ford, the Bulls are still looking to trade Kirk Hinirch before the deadline, perhaps to the Timberwolves for a player or two who will put the Bulls further under the salary cap. Add that to Andres Nocioni’s silly high contract being gone, the possibility of John Salmons deciding to opt out of his contract, and the Bulls would be committed to a maximum of $25 million in payroll come the end of next season, or possibly less, depending on Salmons’ decision. Either way, they may just have enough cash with which to woo Bosh. Ford also notes a source has indicated to him Chicago is Bosh’s first choice come the summer of 2010.

Patience, people.

The Amare Stoudemire rumor mill has been churning for weeks, culminating in a bevy of speculation surrounding the All-Star Game in Phoenix. The most frequently proposed — and discussed — deal is some permutation of Amare to Chicago for Tyrus Thomas, Drew Gooden and a first round pick.

Now there’s a new wrinkle though, according to the Sun-Times, and it involves the fantastic phrase “three way” and would send Chris Bosh to Chicago instead of Stoudemire.

The rumored swap would send Stoudemire to Toronto and land the Phoenix Suns a package of players and draft picks from the Bulls, likely to include Drew Gooden and his expiring $7.2 million contract, Tyrus Thomas and a first-round pick.

Gar Forman, the Bulls’ director of player personnel who’s expected to become general manager once John Paxson gives up day-to-day duties, reportedly has taken the lead in the talks with the Suns.

So, yeah, first of all, it stinks to be John Paxson, huh? Guy’s already lost his job to a dude named “Gar.” (That’s a guaranteed first sign that you’re performing poorly at the work place. Tried and true.)

This seems like a fairly logical next step in the Phoenix-Chicago talks; after all, Bryan Colangelo is the guy who drafted Amare in Phoenix, and he certainly seems to have dreams of turning Toronto into a team that plays in a similar fashion to the run-and-gun offense.

But what doesn’t make sense is that there seems to be little included from Toronto’s side (aside from Bosh, obvs) to allow themselves to weasle into this deal. Does Chicago really value CB4 that much more than Amare? It’s possible. Bosh is a better defender and is roughly a year and a half younger (which just seems weird). But the Amare and Derrick Rose combination is one that just seems straight up disgusting.

As I wrote yesterday, Amare Stoudemire to the Bulls would be a lovely, welcome addition to the squad. If I had my FreeDarko book here with me now, I’d quote some passage about how his game has evolved post-microfracture surgery, because I remember what they wrote was really good. But alas, I do not have it on my person.

Here’s the problem, though: a lot of other NBA teams realize this man would be a great addition to their squad as well. And the Bulls are going to have a lot of competition if they want to get a deal done. The Heat, the Warriors, the Nets and the Pistons are all in the mix. It doesn’t stop there.

But a source shot down one report that the Bulls and Miami Heat were the front-runners to land Stoudemire, saying the two teams that have offered the most for the All-Star forward have yet to be publicly identified.

Hmm, so the teams with the richest offers aren’t even out in the open yet. Yikes.

But hey, the Bulls managed to squeeze the No. 1 draft pick out of the lottery this year. They had no business winning that. Maybe, just maybe, they win out in this scenario here again.

When the Amare Stoudemire trade rumors surfaced Friday, I decided not to address them. Namely because it wasn’t so much the Bulls were in the mix as it was Bulls fans frothing at the mouth about it. Also, it was Friday, and my brain tends to not function at a high level. (Though, it doesn’t work quite well on Monday mornings either.)

But as the weekend hit, and Amare himself knows he might be out of Phoenix and you realize the Bulls do have the parts to pull this off — young talent up front, expiring contracts –it seems like this could be a reality.

The question then becomes: Is anyone besides Derrick Rose off limits to the Suns? Is Derrick + Amare worth it so much that any combination of Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich are OK to part with? Sort of. Blog-A-Bull has the answer:

And while he’s not a perfect player, I think Amare is the caliber of player that’s worth pairing with Derrick Rose at the expense of everyone not named Derrick Rose. Not that all the non-Rose Bulls should all be packaged together, but I wouldn’t hold off on anyone as a starting point. Again, it’s more what the Suns could want. For instance I’d discuss Deng, but the Suns might not want a long-term contract even though Deng is the best young (non-Rose) player the Bulls have.

What makes the most sense is having the ‘young forward’ be Tyrus Thomas. As much as I value not only Thomas’ potential but his current production, he seems the best piece from both teams’ standpoints. For a team that needs defense and already has Shaq clogging up the middle, Tyrus could do real damage. He’s already a plus defender and has all-nba type talent on that end, but for Amare I’d be fine watching that blossom for some other team. (and reportedly the Suns are ‘most intrigued’ by Thomas.)

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