NBA Rumors: Bulls after 11th-overall pick to deal it for Kevin Love?

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Chad Ford reported the Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets were discussing a trade that could send the Nuggets’ 11th-overall pick in this month’s draft to the Bulls for their two first round picks, the 16th-overall and 19th-overall selections.

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Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reported last week the Nuggets were “fielding a number of calls” for the 11th-overall pick and were looking to trade out of it.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about a ton of different things — picks, trades. We’re pretty active right now,” Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly said.

The deal also could make sense from the Bulls’ perspective. If they plan on making a run at Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love or New York Knicks’ forward Carmelo Anthony – and most believe they plan on doing just that – the Bulls may not want to add at the salary of two rookies and could be better suited adding just one first round pick. Of course, they also could simply have eyes for a player that won’t be available at 16.

According to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News and ESPN AM 1500 in Minnesota, the Bulls may be looking to acquire the 11th-overall selection to use it in a deal to acquire Love from the Timberwolves.

Since the Timberwolves already own the 13th-overall pick, getting the 16th-overall and 19th-overall picks probably isn’t as appealing as getting the 11th-overall pick.

Love averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last season while shooting 45.7% from the field, 37.6% from three and 82.1% from the charity stripe.