Things we know: the Bulls are cool with parting ways with Kirk Hinrich (and John Salmons), if they can get some expiring contracts in return. The Lakers — who are looking for some perimeter defense — have inquired. The Celtics inquired back in December. And with Ray Allen possibly getting dealt off the C’s now, there’s a chance Boston could be back in the picture.

But might the Bulls be better served trying to deal with Houston for Tracy McGrady? It’s an idea Chris Sheridan throws out in his chat today: “I think if they can do a McGrady deal in which they clear John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas along with Hinrich to clear room for a second max free agent, that’s the more preferable route.”

And you know what? This would be the more preferable route. The Bulls would clear Hinrich and Salmons off the books, leaving them with even more money to work with to go after two max guys. And they’d be getting McGrady in return, instead of some spare parts — Adam Morrison! — from the Lakers.

This is a more risky proposition, though: The Bulls traded for Devin Brown for some insurance if Hinrich or Salmons were dealt, yet, if T-Mac comes up lame (which is always a concern), the Bulls are suddenly staring at Devin Brown and Jannero Pargo at the 2-guard.

Also: You really have no clue what you’re going to get from T-Mac; he didn’t play enough in his limited run in Houston to see what he can do now that he’s back in playing shape.

Further, and this is certainly worst case, if the Bulls end up not netting a top-line shooting guard in free agency (Joe Johnson/Dwayne Wade), they could be razor thin at that position. Brown’s and Pargo’s contracts will be up. Salmons and Hinrich will be gone. And it’s unlikely, at least at this point, they’d want to try and re-sign T-Mac.

But other than that, this could be a nice coup for the Bulls as T-Mac would likely be the best talent they could get in return for Hinrich, and it would set them up the best for the free-agent market this summer.

(UPDATE: The Bulls have shut down Noah through the All-Star break.)

It’s a possibility. From the Tribune:

Noah clearly has been affected by the plantar fasciitis in his left foot the last two games and has not moved well.

Asked if the Bulls would shut Noah down if the third-year center regressed to the point where he moves even worse than he already is, Del Negro said:

“Yeah, absolutely. We’re just going to try to see what we can get out of him until he can get some rest at the All-Star break. We’ll monitor it every day. Some days, you feel better than others with it. We’ll use him as much as he can move.”

[ ... ]

ugh he did sit out the recent road game in Houston. Asked why the Bulls wouldn’t proactively shut down Noah, Del Negro said:

“If you shut him down for a week, that doesn’t guarantee he will feel better. That’s not how that condition works. You don’t know. I had it for two years when I played.”

Two things here:

1) Plantar fasciitis has literally become an epidemic in the league this year. Taj Gibson also has it. Tony Parker has it. Danny Granger was sidelined with it. Charlie Villanueva is suffering from it. Ron Artest has it. I think I’m missing a few others. Just wanted to get that off my chest.

2) Damn. The Bulls are now back in the eighth spot in the East, a game behind the Heat in the loss column for seventh. The Bulls play the Heat this weekend. It’d be nice to have Noah on board for that. But, it also makes sense to use these next four games tied together with the All-Star break to give Noah a bit of an extended break here and see if he gets any better. It’s not like he’s out for the rest of the year or anything.

And it’s not like the Bulls are fighting the last week of the season for the playoffs and Noah will be on the bench. Better to sit him now and see how it goes, then for the condition to potentially get worse.

But you’d hate to see them keep losing — they’ve lost two straight since the five-game road winning streak — without Noah if he sits, and then the team losing a bit of confidence heading into the back half of the season.

I have to agree with my man Trey over at Ball Don’t Lie — oh, and if you aren’t reading him over at Fourth-Place Medal right now, you are missing out — this is pretty much my new favorite shirt of all-time:

Yes, do not attempt to adjust the color on your monitor, that is a caricature tee featuring Bill Wennington, Luc Longley and Will Perdue, and they are called the “BANG GANG.”

I was not aware of this nickname, were you? I think it was invented for the sole purposes of this t-shirt, and I am totally cool with that.

I do, however, remember random shirts like this featuring the Bulls’ lesser talents from the 90’s being sold at Kohl’s during my childhood; a dynamic duo shirt of Steve Kerr and Randy Brown is coming to mind right now.

Bottom line: I want this t-shirt. Now. But it’s going for $41.00 currently, and will probably skyrocket into the millions. Sigh.

The Bulls lost last night.

Let’s face it: after ripping off those five straight wins and then coming home to play the Clips, it was a bit of a trap game, a letdown game. It was a game they didn’t quite get up for. They came out flat (minus Luol Deng), Derrick Rose was cold in the first half as was most of the team, and the Clippers were able to establish a lead — via Chris Kaman knocking down some jumpers — that the Bulls never really challenged. It wasn’t more than six to eight most of the game, until the fourth, when the Clippers got a few steals in a row, and the lead ballooned up to 16. That about did it.

But nice to see Devin Brown get in and be productive. Nice to see former Hoosier Eric Gordon be the player of the game. Nice to see the Bulls hold their opponent to 90 points.

Oh, and nice to see Taj Gibson cross over Chris Kaman. Boom.

Fun stat you may or may not have heard by now: the Bulls became the first team in NBA HISTORY to rattle off five straight road wins over teams with winning records. If this seems highly improbable, I’d have to agree with you.

Yet, part of me feels like it’s not often teams head on the road for that long of a stretch, and happen to play five straight teams with a winning record. Meaning very good teams could have pulled this off at some point, had they been given the opportunity. If I was the Elias Sports Bureau, I would use my brain to figure out such a stat right now. But I am not. I am me as you are he and we are all together.

But one such hypothetical probability statistic relating to this accomplishment I can provide comes from Matt O’Brien.

Imagine a hypothetically average team (or the Charlotte Bobcats). They win 40% of their road games and 40% of their games against winning opponents. Assuming that roughly half the teams in the league have winning records, we can say that there’s a (1/2)^5 chance of simply facing five winning teams on a five-game road trip. Then the odds of an average team winning all of those games is (4/25)^5. Put them together and you get 32/9,765,625. Or roughly .00033 percent.

So yes: the Bulls’ odds of pulling off such a feat  are roughly the odds I have of floating out of my chair right now and getting stuck to the ceili …

OH GOD SOMEONE HELP

I tweeted this late last week, but it really deserves its own post.

You know how the Bulls’ Joakim Noah is known for loud, oftentimes goofy mannerisms? The man is a character; everyone soon found this out the first time we watched him as a member of the Florida Gators. Watch him on the bench when Brad Miller hits a three or gets fouled and makes the bucket, and that personality is still ever present. It annoys some. It’s endearing to others.

Well, have you ever seen his father play tennis? More importantly, have you ever watched this video of one of Yannick Noah’s last-ever tennis matches?

The resemblance to the younger Noah here is uncanny. The long arms. The goofball antics. It’s all here, people. Like tennis, pop star father, like basketball son.

HT: MPS reader David

According to Marc Stein, the Blazers have inquired about Brad Miller. With Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla out for the year, the Blazers may look to trade for a big man with an expiring contract to fill that void.

But it makes little sense on the Bulls end. As I’ve touched on previously, the Bulls are looking to trade either Kirk Hinrich of John Salmons to get further under the salary cap in order to go after two big-name free agents this offseason. Miller has an expiring contract. So even if the Bulls traded him to the Blazers for expiring contracts, what sense does expiring for expiring make, especially when, as Stein notes, Miller pumped in 25 points against Houston this past weekend, and the Bulls have played great in the month of January?

The only way I could see the Bulls going for this is if Hinrich was also involved. The Blazers are rumored to be dangling Steve Blake as well, and his contract is expiring. So he could fill the guard void left by Hinrich, and if they send back all expiring in return, the Bulls might bite. But that’s an impossible prospect. If you put in all the expiring deals on Portland, it totals up to almost $9 million. Hinrich and Miller are making almost $22 million this year. So that trade wouldn’t work.

Stein notes Miller could be involved in a deal if the Bulls trade for Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire. If that’s the case, then it makes more sense, as these two would be one of the guys the Bulls will potentially target in the offseason anyway.

But Brad Miller will likely continue to be a Bull until further notice.