The Chicago Bulls front office has plenty of options as it tries to bolster its roster while still remaining under the luxury tax line, and the signing of free agent guard Kirk Hinrich to a reported two-year contract worth $6 million may have illuminated a bit of what they plan on doing. According to ESPN basketball guru John Hollinger, Chicago's use of its midlevel exception on Hinrich will likely allow them to keep Kyle Korver and potentially even match the offer sheet that Omer Asik signed with the Houston Rockets.
Bulls apparently using taxpayer MLE on Hinrich, via @KCJHoop report, which is sign they likely keep Korver and may even match Asik.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) July 8, 2012
The Bulls have a team option on Korver for $5 million, and with Derrick Rose out and Luol Deng still injured, it's hard to imagine the team sacrificing one of it's better offensive weapons. Asik, of course, signed a three-year, $25.1 million "poison pill" offer sheet with the Rockets that will pay him close to max money in the final year of the deal.
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