Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson likes the position his team is in to close out this season and to be a major player in the free-agent market this summer.
The Bulls made two trades before Thursday's deadline, dealing John Salmons, Tyrus Thomas and a draft pick for four expiring contracts and a draft pick.
"We know there's no certainty in [free agency]," Paxson said on ESPN 1000 on Monday during halftime of the Bulls' game against the Washington Wizards. "There are a lot of teams with cap space, but our view is we have an All-Star player in Derrick Rose; we have an up-and-coming outstanding center in Joakim Noah; a dependable, very good small forward -- definitely a top-10 small forward in the league -- in Luol Deng, and we have Taj [Gibson], who's been terrific.
"You factor in this is Chicago, and we have a great history, it's a great city and there are opportunities outside of basketball if they want them. We think we're sitting in a very nice position to try to attract."
Paxson said the trades were crucial in creating cap space.
"We still have a long way to go, and we have to determine our strategy and those types of things, which will evolve over the next several months because we really can't do anything until July 1," Paxson said. "But we have to be prepared for that day, and we will be.
"But where we were sitting before the trade deadline would not have allowed us to go after the highest level of free agent out there, given our financial situation we had. The deal we made on Thursday allowed us to be in that position."
Paxson said the trades were meant also to be competitive in a playoff chase.
"We wanted to remain competitive this season and try to make the playoffs," he said. "There are a lot of situations that are happening now the way the league is set up, that teams are forced to make financial deals that don't allow them to be competitive. It's really too bad, because it's not fair to the fan. We all know our fans are outstanding.
"I think adding Hakim Warrick and Flip Murray allows us to be very, very competitive, and depending on how the group comes together, we can have some fun the last 28 games or so. There's some luck that goes into some of these things, but we feel real, real fortunate how it all turned out."