From Yahoo.com:

The Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves have been exchanging trade proposals that include a possible three-way deal with the Suns that would send Stoudemire to the Bulls, a Western Conference executive said Tuesday night.

So far, nothing that the Bulls and Wolves have brainstormed has brought the Suns closer to moving Stoudemire. Nevertheless, one proposed deal would send Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas to Phoenix, along with the expiring contracts of Chicago’s Drew Gooden and Minnesota’s Jason Collins. Minnesota would receive the player it covets – Chicago guard Kirk Hinrich – and Bulls guard Thabo Sefolosha.

That three-way scenario remains improbable, but there are several possibilities between Chicago and Minnesota that are alive. The Bulls want expiring contracts and draft picks to dump Hinrich and forward Andres Nocioni. Chicago has shopped them separately to several teams, but sources say Minnesota has no interest in Nocioni.

However, sources say the Wolves and Bulls are discussing Hinrich and Sefolosha for Collins and Brian Cardinal. The Wolves are intrigued with Hinrich’s ability to play the point and off-guard and see him as a good complement to Randy Foye. Collins and Cardinal have shorter-term contracts that bring Chicago payroll relief.

That bold part above reminds us of an episode of The Office. The bold part below explains what our reaction would be if the Wolves were able to make such a move.

Dwight Schrute: This car is crap. I will buy it for next to nothing.
Andy Bernard: How next to?
Dwight Schrute: Well, here are your options: You can sell it for parts, drive it off a cliff, you can donate it to a person who you’d like to see die in a car crash, or you can sell it to me and I’ll use it as I would a wagon on my farm. It will be towed by a donkey.
Andy Bernard: I have to pick one of those?
Dwight Schrute: Yes.
Andy Bernard: Can you go over those options again?
Dwight Schrute: You know what? You knock fifteen hundred dollars off the price right now and I’ll take it off your hands. It’s gotta be now. Seal the deal. Let’s do this thing. Three, two, one. Five, four, three, two, one. Now! Now! Now! Say it! Do it! Now! Do it now! Do it! Shake my hand! You will sell me this car. Shake my hand.
Andy Bernard: Yeah! Alright!

Maybe we like Kirk Hinrich a little too much for not having paid terribly close attention to him lately, but all we know is this: Hinrich is a reasonably priced piece to a puzzle ($10 million this year but his salary actually goes down over the final three years of his contract). He’s good defensively. He’s still reasonably young. He would fit into this system well. Cap relief is one thing. Using it well is another thing. Use these expiring contracts to make yourself better. We would even do this deal if it included the low first-round pick via Boston heading out with it. It is trade machine-approved. If Chicago will really do this, then it should be done yesterday.

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