NBA Free Agency 2013: Chicago Bulls, San Anotonio Spurs Showing Interest in Monta Ellis
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bulls need help at shooting guard and it’s help they’ve failed to find for the past two years. Bringing in Rip Hamilton was a failed experiment and while they are still contenders in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls need to find a scoring option to play along side Derrick Rose in the backcourt otherwise they’ll be stuck in the rut they’ve been in since 2011.
It has been said that the Bulls will wait until 2014 to make moves but according to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger, the Bulls are one of a handful of teams to have shown an early interest in free agent shooting guard Monta Ellis.
"The Bulls, Spurs, Nuggets and Suns also are among the teams who expressed interest in Ellis as the free-agent negotiating period began Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET, league sources said."
This comes as a massive surprise to Bulls fans who have already made peace with the fact that their team likely isn’t going to be bringing in any big names this offseason. However, if Berger is onto something in mentioning the Bulls in this report, it could be that the Bulls want to lock down another star this year and then sort out their contract situations next offseason ahead of a 2015 season that will likely bring Nikola Mirotic and another prospect to the roster.
Still, it’s a long shot for the Bulls to land a name like Ellis as he’s a premier name on the market and is drawing interest from teams that aren’t allergic to spending big money to win championships. Next to the Bulls, the most intriguing name mentioned is that of the San Antonio Spurs who would only be even better as a team if they added a scoring threat like Ellis.