When Bulls center Kurt Thomas signed with the Portland Trail Blazers this past off-season Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson searched for someone to replace him but could find no one. Instead the Bulls turned to a member of the former 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons, Rip Hamilton. Now the Bulls could again be looking to add someone from that 2004 Pistons team, Rasheed Wallace. Â Read more after the jump.
Earlier this week Yahoo! Sports reported that Rasheed Wallace is eyeing an NBA comeback and that several GMs said that Wallace’s scoring ability and defense would probably be better than any option available to them currently. After this news was reported ESPNChicago.com’s Nick Friedell tweeted this, â€@WojYahooNBA reports Rasheed Wallace is thinking about a comeback If he does, Bulls will be interested. Thibs likes him & they need 1 more big. Rasheed played with Rip in Detroit and Scal in Boston. He has a comfort level with Thibs. It makes sense to take a look IF he’s in shape.†A source close to Wallace also told CSNNE.com that Wallace is real interested in joining the Bulls.
The biggest factor of interest in that tweet was when Friedell said the Bulls would take a look IF Wallace is in shape because at this point this is the biggest red flag for those GMs who are interested in Wallace. But if Wallace is indeed in shape he could provide the Bulls with a solid option off the bench. Wallace would provide the Bulls with the toughness, the ability to stretch the defense with his outside shooting, and a nack for performing well in the clutch.
If Wallace is indeed serious about this comeback and can get himself back into the playing shape that he saw while with the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals he would push the Bulls to not just a contender in the East but the team to beat in the East.
