After campaigning for the signing of Tracy McGrady a week ago, Derrick Rose had a different reaction Thursday when I asked him if he was upset now that it appears the Bulls have little interest in McGrady.

"No, not really," Rose said after conducting a basketball camp at Joy of the Game in Deerfield. "Like I said before anything, I'm cool with the team I have right now. I think we have good youth on the team. We should be all right.

"If [McGrady] comes or if he doesn't, we should be able to compete out there. That's up to the Bulls."

USA Basketball trimmed its roster of players being considered for the team that will play in next month's world championships in Turkey to 15 players -- and the Bulls' Derrick Rose survived the cut, although there was little doubt he would following training camp last week in Las Vegas.

"I thought he had a great week," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I love Derrick. I thought he had an incredible performance in the scrimmage on Saturday and defensively I thought he took it up a notch. Derrick really pressured the ball very well."

The other players still in contention for the U.S. men's team are (in alphabetical order) Chauncey Billups, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon, Danny Grander, Jeff Green, Andre Iguodala, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Lamar Odom, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook.

Former Bull Tyson Chandler also was among the players chosen and is a virtual lock for the final roster because there are only four big men left.

The players who didn't make the cut were Tyreke Evans, O.J. Mayo, JaVale McGee and Gerald Wallace.

After wrapping up five days camp in Las Vegas over the weekend, the team will reconvene Aug. 10 in New York for a few days of practice and an exhibition game against France. After that, the plan is to select the 12 players to participate in the world championships, although more than 12 players could make the trip to Europe in case someone is injured in the exhibition games before the tournament.

If NBA teams had their choice, most probably wouldn't let their star players participate in international competition. But Rose making the team could be a plus for the Bulls. New coach Tom Thibodeau wants Rose to focus on improving his defense, and that's precisely what Krzyzewski has emphasized to the 21-year-old point guard.

"I'm transferring that over to next season with the Bulls," Rose said. "Just playing hard, just playing tough defense and just trying to get the team to do what I want them to do."

Now that it appears the Bulls won't sign Tracy McGrady, they'll have to look elsewhere to find a fifth guard and 12th man on the roster.

The Bulls have talked with the Portland Trail Blazers about sharpshooter Rudy Fernandez, but the chances of a trade happening don't seem promising, according to a source.

The Bulls' offer of forward James Johnson was rejected and there's really no one else on the roster that makes sense. The Blazers also have reportedly talked to the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks about Fernandez.

The Bulls, who still have nearly $3 million left to spend, likely will turn to free agency to fill the position. They have expressed some interest in Eddie House, Roger Mason and Keith Bogans.

During his workout Monday at the Berto Center, Tracy McGrady showed he has made physical progress since last season and is capable of being a contributor to the Bulls next season, according to a source.

But despite the seven-time All-Star being physically able to fill the secondary bench role the team is looking for, the Bulls' brass isn't yet convinced McGrady will be a good fit after meeting with him following the workout the source said.

Before sitting down with management and coach Tom Thibodeau, McGrady spoke with reporters and addressed the issue of whether a veteran two time scoring champion works as a bench player on a young team. He sounded as if his joining the Bulls was a foregone conclusion.

"I fit in well," he said. "I just bring what I know about the game and my athleticism, and my versatility, knowing my smarts for the game, my leadership, just everything I can add to help these guys get over the edge."

While McGrady vows not to make waves, he's confident he can perform well enough in training camp to earn a starting job - which could be the issue giving the Bulls pause.
"Without me, without [Carlos] Boozer, they're a .500 ball club," McGrady said. "And with the guys that they added, if they add me, I think we'll be 30 points better. I think we'll be a better defensive team with Thibodeau, who I played with for three years.

"So [the Bulls] have a really good chance of being good. The city should be excited about this team."

During his workout Monday at the Berto Center, Tracy McGrady showed he has made physical progress since last season and is capable of being a contributor to the Bulls next season, according to a source.

But despite the seven-time All-Star being physically able to fill the secondary bench role the team is looking for, the Bulls' brass isn't yet convinced McGrady will be a good fit after meeting with him following the workout the source said.

Before sitting down with management and coach Tom Thibodeau, McGrady spoke with reporters and addressed the issue of whether a veteran two time scoring champion works as a bench player on a young team. He sounded as if his joining the Bulls was a foregone conclusion.

"I fit in well," he said. "I just bring what I know about the game and my athleticism, and my versatility, knowing my smarts for the game, my leadership, just everything I can add to help these guys get over the edge."

While McGrady vows not to make waves, he's confident he can perform well enough in training camp to earn a starting job - which could be the issue giving the Bulls pause.
"Without me, without [Carlos] Boozer, they're a .500 ball club," McGrady said. "And with the guys that they added, if they add me, I think we'll be 30 points better. I think we'll be a better defensive team with Thibodeau, who I played with for three years.

"So [the Bulls] have a really good chance of being good. The city should be excited about this team."

Tracy McGrady completed his workout at the Berto Center this morning and said it went well.

"I love the city," McGrady told reporters as he was leaving. "It's a first-class organization. What's not to like about the Bulls?

"I had the opportunity [to join the Bulls] back in 2000, but I chose to go back home. It's full circle again and here I am."

McGrady is a free agent and he has made it clear the Bulls are his first choice.

But even though it won't take much money to sign the former All-Star -- probably less than $3 million for the upcoming season -- the Bulls will have to be convinced of two things before making a contract offer:

First, they have to see proof that McGrady, 31, is healthy enough to play again at a high level following microfracture surgery a year and a half ago. McGrady believes he did that during the workout.

Secondly, he has to convince them that he is willing to accept a lesser role and won't cause problems if he doesn't get the playing time he thinks he deserves. He will get his chance to do that this afternoon when he has lunch with the Bulls' brass.

McGrady said he is, but doesn't think it will come to that because he is physically better now than he was last season.

"This was a great team, a pretty good team, without adding myself and Carlos Boozer, and some of the key players that they added this offseason," he said of the Bulls. "You bring a coach in like [Tom] Thibodeau, who's very defensive minded, very smart and knows the game, knows what to get out of his players.

"I think we can be really good, I really do."

We? He is confident the Bulls will sign him.

If Tracy McGrady truly wants to join the Bulls, he has a lot of convincing to do when he works out at the Berto Center on Monday.

Besides showing that he's physically healthy enough to be a productive NBA player again after microfracture surgery a year and a half ago, McGrady must convince the Bulls' brass that he is mentally willing to accept a lesser role after being a star for most of his career.

With a young roster of developing players and a rookie head coach, the last thing the Bulls want is a prima donna veteran making waves. Even though signing McGrady would be a low risk financially, a source said the Bulls will only do it if they are confident it won't create a problem.

Through his many posting on Twitter on the subject, McGrady, 31, has indicated he is willing to accept a lesser role. Now he just has to convince the Bulls.

LAS VEGAS -- Whether or not the Bulls sign Tracy McGrady depends on the health of his surgically repaired left knee and what he is able to show during a scheduled workout on Monday.

But Derrick Rose made it clear on Friday he believes the team should sign McGrady if he shows anything.

"I think that if he comes along he can help our team," Rose said following a Team USA workout in the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus. "A player like him with his experience and how he plays, I think he'll help us.

"He's good. He's a player. If he just gives us half of what he's got, we'll be alright. He'll definitely help us if he gets on the team."

"He was good and he was my favorite player when I was in sixth or seventh grade and he came into the league. Then in high school that's when LeBron came and he was my favorite player then, Now I'm my own favorite player."

McGrady, 31, is a seven-time All-Star with a career average of 21.5 points, but only averaged a little more than eight points a game in a two-month stint with the New York Knicks last season.

"He was good and he was my favorite player when I was in sixth or seventh grade and he came into the league," Rose said. "Then in high school that's when LeBron [James] came and he was my favorite player then. Now I'm my own favorite player."

The Bulls have signed restricted free agent C.J. Watson to be the backup point guard for Derrick Rose. The deal is for three years and $10.2 million and will be completed as a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors receiving a second-round draft pick.

Watson, 26, averaged 10.3 points in 65 games for the Warriors last season. He shot 31 percent from three-point range last season, but made 40 percent of his threes two years ago in his first full NBA season.

Like everyone else, Ronnie Brewer has heard all the hype about the Miami Heat now that LeBron James and Chris Bosh have teamed up with Dwyane Wade. But the newest Bull isn't ready to concede anything to the Heat just yet.

"I just think it's going to be more competitive," Brewer said. "Just because those three guys went down there, you can't just crown them as champions."

One reason Brewer decided to sign with the Bulls as a free agent is he believes they can be a championship team soon. He believes advancing farther in the playoffs is a goal that he and former Utah Jazz teammates Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver will share.

"We've had some success, but we haven't scratched the surface of making it to the Finals and winning a Western Conference finals," Brewer said of the Jazz. "We've been there before, we've had some success, but not nearly as much success as we want to have, so we're gonna push our teammates to go hard and get to that level.

That's one of our goals and that should be a team goal, to win a world championship."

Shortly after it became official that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would play together with the Miami Heat, many wondered what Michael Jordan thought of James deciding to go to Wade's team instead of trying to win an NBA championship as the alpha dog on his own team.

As I wrote before the announcement, going to Miami would be the wrong decision for James. I cited the analogy that when Jordan was frustrated about not winning a title in his first seven years, he didn't call close friends Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley and say that they should team up to form a super team.

So I was very interested when NBC asked Jordan about the three All-Stars teaming up during an interview at a celebrity golf tournament.

"There's no way, in hindsight now, I would have never called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and say, 'Hey, let's together and play on one team,'" Jordan said. "But things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. That's the opportunity these kids have today.

"I mean, in all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys. I don't know if they would have been on my team. If they had been on my team ... then obviously, if you look at the dream team, they were on my team and it wasn't too much of a competitive thing."

I think the trio of Jordan, Ewing and Barkley is more comparable to James, Wade and Bosh than Jordan, Bird and Johnson, but the point is clear: There's no way Jordan would have made the decision James did.

He was too prideful, too stubborn to do it any way other than the hard way -- as the alpha dog on a team that battled through adversity to beat all comers.

The consensus is James' decision will affect his legacy.

"He'll never be Jordan," Barkley told 790 the Ticket in Miami a few days ago. "This clearly takes him out of the conversation. He can win as much as he wants to.

"There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as 'The Man' ... LeBron, if he would've in Cleveland, and if he could've got a championship there, it would have been over the top for his legacy, just one in Cleveland. No matter how many he wins in Miami, it clearly is Dwyane Wade's team."

The Bulls suffered a minor free agent loss when center Brad Miller signed a three-year, $15 million deal with the Houston Rockets.

The Bulls had hoped to bring him back, but Miller got a better offer from the Rockets and will be reunited with former coah Rick Adelman.

The Bulls were prepared to lose Miller. Joakim Noah is the starting center and they signed 7-footer Omer Asik (whose draft rights they acquired in 2008) earlier this month to be the backup. The Bulls also could keep Chris Richard around as a third center in case of injury.

Now that the Orlando Magic has matched the three-year, $19 million offer sheet for J.J. Redick, the Bulls are still in the market for a shooting guard.

Ronnie Brewer of the Memphis Grizzlies probably is next on their list. Although Brewer isn't a great offensive player, he is athletic and can fill the lane on the break. Brewer also is a good defender, which makes him a nice compliment to Kyle Korver.

Brewer, 25, averaged 8.8 points last season with the Grizzlies and Utah Jazz. He's averaged 10.3 points during his four-year career.

According to reports out of Orlando, the Magic have decided to match the three-year, $19 million offer sheet the Bulls signed guard J.J. Redick to last week.

The Magic have called a news conference for Friday where they are expected to make the official announcement. The fact that Magic will match the offer is a bit of a surprise because of their financial situation.

With that in mind, the Bulls front-loaded the contract to discourage Orlando from matching. Redick's salary cap figure this season (salary and signing bonus) will be in the $7.5 million to $8 million range, so matching the offer would push Orlando's payroll over $90 million, which would be the highest in the NBA.

With the luxury-tax threshold set at around $70 million, the Magic -- who still have to sign at least one more player -- will have a hefty tax bill of more than $20 million if they match the Redick offer.

Orlando management, though, doesn't want to loose Redick after investing four years in his development.

In signing Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver, the Bulls have looked in the same spot to land both of their big free-agent acquisitions so far.

Both Boozer and Korver played with the Utah Jazz last season. After Boozer came to term with the Bulls last week, he called Korver.

"He reached out to me and we talked about it, for sure," Korver said. "I was texting Ronnie Brewer earlier. We're trying to start the Chicago Jazz here."

Brewer, a free agent shooting guard the Bulls are targeting, was traded from the Jazz to the Memphis Grizzlies last season.

The Bulls' glaring hole at shooting guard got a little smaller on Friday night after they signed swingman Kyle Korver to a three-year deal for an estimated $15 million.

Korver, 29, played in 52 games off the bench for the Utah Jazz last season, averaging 7.2 points in 18.3 minutes. He's averaged 9.9 points during his seven-year career.

Korver isn't a great player and may not be someone who can start because of his defense. But he is one of the best perimeter shooters in the NBA and the Bulls are desperate for outside shooting.

Shortly after LeBron James announced he would be going to the Miami Heat to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Bulls general manager Gar Forman released a statement:

"I remain convinced that this organization made the strongest of bids to acquire LeBron James during this free agent period. While we're disappointed he chose to go to another franchise, our strategy for the future competitiveness of this organization did not begin or end with James, and we feel [Thursday's] addition of two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer significantly strengthens our team's already talented roster.

"It is our goal to keep exploring every avenue that it may take, whether through trades or free agency, to continue to build this teams to compete at a championship level."

The Bulls officially announced the signing of Carlos Boozer today and will hold a news conference on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Berto Center to introduce the 6-9 power forward.

"We are very happy to have Carlos join the Bulls," general manager Gar Forman said. "We are confident that his skill set, toughness and leadership are all qualities that make him a great fit for the Bulls, and he will add a low-post element to our team that we have been searching for.

"Post players, with the skills that Carlos possesses, are at a premium in the NBA and we believe that we have landed one of the best big men in the NBA."

Said Boozer: "I am extremely excited about coming to Chicago and joining the Bulls. I am really looking forward to being a part of this organization, and I am eager to start working with my new teammates. I feel we have the talent here to begin competing for a title and I cannot wait to get started."

Besides Boozer and Forman, new Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is expected to attend the news conference.

The NBA just announced that the salary cap for the 2010-11 season will be $58.044 million, which is nearly $2 million more than the projected figure of $56.1 million the league estimated about a month ago.

That's good news for the Bulls and every other team with cap room this summer. Basically, teams will have about $2 million more to spend than they thought.

The luxury-tax threshold will be $70.307 million. A team would have to pay $1 in tax for every dollar its payroll exceeds that figure.

Both the salary cap and tax threshold were expected to go down, but the league's revenues were better than projected. The cap for the 2009-10 season was $57.70 million and the tax level was $69.92 million.

The mid-level exception is $5.765 million.

LeBron James will announce where he will be playing next season Thursday night live on ESPN. No word yet on what his decision will be, but despite whispers lately that he'll stay in Cleveland the Bulls are hopeful he'll choose Chicago.

Regardless of what James decides, the free-agent dominos should quickly fall into place once we discover where James is going (or staying).

Vinny Del Negro's 82-82 regular-season record in two seasons with the Bulls wasn't enough for him to keep his job, but it was enough to land him another NBA head coaching job.

The Los Angeles Clippers announced Tuesday night that they have hired Del Negro to be their next coach.

If Del Negro can get the Clippers in the playoffs two straight years like he did with the Bulls, he'd be a hero in Los Angeles because the Clippers make the playoffs only slightly more often than the Cubs win the World Series.

Del Negro, though, will have players to work with. The Clippers have a good young roster, including Blake Griffin, who had to sit out his entire rookie year last season because of a knee injury.

Good for Del Negro. Despite a shaky beginning, he improved throughout his time with the Bulls and deserves another shot.

The Bulls still stand a good chance of getting either LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, but there's a chance - a bigger chance than most people in Chicago probably realize at the moment - that they don't land any of the top free agents.

There are reports circulating today that the Toronto Raptors would be interested in working out a sign-and-trade for Chris Bosh with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's right, the Cavaliers.

If Cleveland can land Bosh, the chances of James staying with his hometown team improves. That could be the kind of bold move that would convince James Cavs management is serious everything necessary to win a championship.

Of course, Bosh would have to agree to sign with Cleveland. James has approached Bosh about playing with the Cavaliers in the past and the offer wasn't met with great enthusiasm. Still, Cleveland may be Bosh's option to earn a six-year maximum contract.

So if Bosh and James end up in Cleveland and Wade re-signs with the Miami Heat, where do the Bulls turn? Good question.

Amare Stoudemire has signed with the New York Knicks and Joe Johnson returned to the Atlanta Hawks. That leaves the Bulls to pick between power forwards Carlos Boozer and David Lee.

After signing either Boozer or Lee, the Bulls probably would still have enough salary cap space for a maximum contract, but there would be no players worthy of that kind of deal still on the board. The Bulls, though, could use the money to sign shooting guard Ray Allen and then use the rest to re-sign a couple of their own free agents like center Brad Miller, guard Acie Law and maybe even Flip Murray.

Although that's not the major splash everyone has been dreaming of for the last two months, the Bulls would be better.

CLEVELAND -- After spending roughly three hours in the IMG Building downtown -- presumably much of it meeting with prized free agent LeBron James -- the Bulls' four-man contingent left the building without comment and headed home late Saturday afternoon.

The departure was worthy of a presidential motorcade. Two large black SUVs at first parked outside the front of the building at the time the meeting was scheduled to break up. But after a crowd gathered at that location -- many fans thought the vehicles were for James and his entourage -- a security guard came out and had the drivers pull into the building's garage.

About a half hour later, the vehicles quickly exited as a few in the crowd of about 100 who gathered to greet James booed. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was seated up front in the lead car with coach Tom Thibodeau up front in the other. The back windows were tinted, so it was impossible to tell which car executive vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman rode in.

A few minutes later, James left in a silver Mercedes, again with the windows rolled up and without a word to the fans or media.

Three hours earlier, the Bulls made a surprise entrance through the front door of the building. With the assembled media waiting by the garage entrance on St. Clair St. -- where James and the five other teams he met with had entered -- the Bulls were dropped off across the street from the front entrance. They walked across East 9th St. and entered before hardly anyone noticed.

For what it's worth, the Bulls were the last of the six teams to meet with James. His current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, had the first meeting on Saturday. Owner Dan Gilbert, general manager Chris Grant and new coach Byron Scott met with James for just under two hours.

CLEVELAND -- Surprise, surprise. The Bulls snuck into the IMG building through a back door a short while ago and avoided a modest crowd of fans and media waiting by the entrance to the building's garage -- the entry point used by James and his entourage and every other team has that visited with the All-Star the last few days.

As expected, the Bulls' contingent consisted of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, executive vice president John Paxson, general manager Gar Forman and coach Tom Thibodeau.

James' meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers lasted just under two hours and broke up just before noon Chicago time. A crowd of a couple hundred people were waiting outside before James' arrival and chanted "LBJ... LBJ... " as vehicles carrying James and Cavs officials entered the building just before 10 a.m.

The gathering, though, seemed a bit orchestrated. As soon James and the Cavs' brass was inside, the crowd broke up rather quickly as an apparent organizer yelled, "Be back at 2:30 or 3 o'clock when LeBron comes out."

Cleveland general manager Chris Grant made a brief statement to reporters, essentially saying it was a good meeting and thanking James for holding the meetings in his hometown.

With all the focus was on their meeting with LeBron James on Saturday in Cleveland, the Bulls scheduled a second meeting for tonight with Dwyane Wade.

How significant that is remains to be seen, but ESPN is reporting that the shooting guard is leaning towards signing with the Bulls.

That would be the shocker of the free-agent period because it was assumed that Wade, despite being a Chicago native, had little interest in leaving Miami.

We'll see what happens.

The Bulls were originally scheduled to meet with free agent center/power forward Chris Bosh late Thursday, but the meeting has been pushed back until Friday, according to a source.

Bosh, who is represented by Chicago-based agent Henry Thomas, talked with the Miami Heat on Thursday in Chicago and is scheduled to meet with other teams in town as well.

According to a posting by Bosh on his Twitter page, he talked with four teams -- the Bulls, Heat, Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors -- just after 11:01 p.m. on Wednesday when the free-agent period began.

Dwyane Wade met with the Bulls for about two hours today at the United Center.

It's a little curious that one of their first meetings was with Wade because the free agent guard is expected to return to the Miami Heat. Also, it was Wade who badmouthed the Bulls' front office back in May by saying the organization wasn't loyal to its former players.

Wade didn't speak with reporters following the meeting, simply flashing a peace sign as he drove away.

The Bulls are scheduled to meet with power forward Chris Bosh in Chicago later today.

Wade also was expected to meet with the New Jersey Nets today in Chicago.

The NBA's free-agent period began at 11:01 p.m. Wednesday, but the Bulls will have to wait a couple of days to speak with LeBron James.

According to sources, the Bulls will have their meeting with James on Saturday in Northeast Ohio. It will be one of the last meetings James holds with teams interested in signing him, but there could be advantages to going last. The Bulls' pitch could be fresher in his mind when he makes his decision on Sunday or Monday.

James has informed teams that he wants to make a decision by Monday at the latest so as not to drag out the process.

After nearly two months of speculation, teams finally can sit down and speak with NBA free agents.

The biggest free-agent prize is LeBron James and he was scheduled to hold his first meeting with the New Jersey Nets at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Next on the schedule was the New York Knicks at noon.

The Bulls are expected to meet with James sometime on Friday.

James has let teams know that he doesn't want to drag out this process and wants to make a decision by Monday.

According to multiple media reports, the Atlanta Hawks are willing to offer shooting guard Joe Johnson a six-year, $127 million maximum contract.

If that's true, Johnson could be the first major free agent off the board this summer. If that offer is extended, Johnson probably would have to accept because he couldn't come close to making that money anywhere else.

As their own free agent, the Hawks can offer Johnson a six-year while other teams can offer only five years. That contract would include yearly raises of 10.5 percent while other teams can offer raises of only eight percent.

The biggest deal Johnson can get elsewhere is five years for $97 million -- if a team is willing to offer him a maximum contract.