CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls have made several additions in the offseason and currently have 13 people under contract for the 2012-13 season. After losing most of the “Bench Mob”, the Bulls could still add players to retool the roster and may be interested in former all-star Josh Howard.
Marc Spears of Yahoo! tweeted Wednesday that Chicago is one of three teams interested in the veteran forward, who was rumored to be working out in Virginia this week.
Howard was a member of the Utah Jazz in 2011, averaging 8.7 points in 23 minutes per game. The veteran guard/forward spent most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks before being traded to the Washington Wizards in 2010 in the Caron Butler deal. Howard then signed as a free agent with the Jazz in 2011.
While the Bulls don’t have a lot of depth behind Luol Deng at small forward, they already have 13 players on the roster after the signings of Kirk Hinrich, Vladmir Radmanovic, Nate Robinson, Nazr Mohammed and Marco Belinelli in the offseason.
Howard was a scorer and rebounder earlier in his career, but his numbers (and minutes) have steadily declined since leaving the Mavericks.
The other two teams reportedly interested in Howard are the New York Knicks and the Charlotte Bobcats. The Knicks already signed former Bull Ronnie Brewer, who would’ve been a better fit than Howard from the start. Brewer was Chicago’s best option at the 2 throughout the season, filling in for oft-injured Rip Hamilton.
In an already dismal offseason for Bulls fans, this shouldn’t inspire any confidence. It’s going to be a long season until Derrick Rose returns, and the Bulls will need every asset they can get to stay afloat while the former MVP recovers.
Zach Mink covers the Chicago Bulls for Rant Sports. Follow him on twitter @zachmink12 for more news and analysis.
