Nothing happening with Tyrus trade

There was a very detailed story on Yahoo.com yesterday about the Bulls having discussions with the Knicks about some form of a Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James for Al Harrington trade.

Bulls weigh trade options for Thomas

The salaries match and a source confirmed that such discussions have taken place. But like many trade rumors, this one had already fizzled by the time news leaked out.

There has been a high volume of trade talk around the league because so many teams are losing money and anxious to unload large contracts, I’m told. But there was nothing cooking between the Bulls and Knicks as of Friday morning.

The whole idea of this trade doesn’t make sense for the Bulls. Harrington would add some additional scoring, which the Bulls could use. But one of the Yahoo story’s theories was the Bulls have already found an able replacement for Thomas at power forward in Taj Gibson.

If anything, these past few weeks have shown that the Bulls desperately need more help at power forward. Gibson has been a terrific for a rookie drafted No. 26, but he’s clearly not ready to be an NBA starter at this point in his career. He’s in frequent foul trouble and probably doesn’t have the strength or athleticism right now to be a consistent rebounder.

Technically, Harrington could play power forward, but he’s become more of a shooter in recent years. Thomas should be a far better option defensively.

CAP SPACE UNAFFECTED
Harrington has an expiring contract, but this deal really doesn’t do much to add to the Bulls’ cap space next summer. James’ contract is also ending, while Thomas will be a restricted free agent. In theory, the Bulls could renounce Thomas and then re-sign him with whatever cap space they have left.

In other words, Thomas’ contract can be off the books completely if that’s the way the Bulls want to play it next summer.

There are so many variables right now to future cap space, though. Whether or not John Salmons opts out of the final year of his deal is a big one. So is how far the salary cap drops next year and whether a free agent interested in playing for the Bulls demands a maximum deal or is willing to negotiate.

So for now, Thomas figures to recover from his broken left arm -- returning to action sometime next week, the Bulls hope – and set out to prove he’s a valuable commodity.

Making a trade now makes little sense for the Bulls because so many players they have interest in are about to become free agents. You probably know who they are already, but I mean LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire, Manu Ginobili and others.

Bosh and Boozer have the potential to become available before the Feb. 18 trade deadline, but that’s obviously a couple months off.

LOOKING FOR BARGAINS
Could Al Harrington turn out to be a nice bargain for a team like the Bulls next summer? Sure he could. The coming offseason could be a great time for bargain shopping because there are plenty of decent free agents beyond the superstars everyone talks about and many teams (not the Bulls) are feeling an economic crunch.

Harrington made an appearance at Woodfield Mall last summer and told me he still can’t believe the Bulls went for Ben Wallace instead of him in 2006 free-agency.