SATURDAY, 1:01pm: The Bulls have made Amundson's signing official, announcing it in a press release.
FRIDAY, 2:19pm: Amundson turned down a rest-of-season offer from another team because he had already committed to the Bulls' 10-day offer, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's not clear which club made Amundson the offer.
11:48am: The Bulls will sign Louis Amundson to a 10-day contract, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida (via Twitter). Amundson was said to be drawing interest from at least four Eastern Conference teams, with ESPN.com's Marc Stein reporting that Chicago was the frontrunner.
The Knicks, Heat, and Celtics also had interest in Amundson. However, the Knicks would have needed to release a player or give up on Kenyon Martin to make room for the big man. The Heat, meanwhile, liked Amundson, but felt he duplicated a lot of the skills Chris Andersen brings to the table, according to Tomasson (Twitter link). As for the Celtics, they filled their final roster spot earlier today by signing Shavlik Randolph.
In 20 games with the Timberwolves earlier this season, Amundson averaged just 8.1 minutes per contest, his lowest mark since 2007/08. His 6.4 PER and .368 FG% were also career-lows. The Wolves cut him last month when they signed Chris Johnson and Mickael Gelabale to rest-of-season deals.
If Amundson does well in Chicago on his first 10-day contract, the Bulls have room under their hard cap to eventually sign him for the remainder of the season. The 30-year-old is expected to finalize the deal with the Bulls tomorrow, according to Tomasson.
If the bulls sign him tomorrow. Would he be elgible for the playoff roster?
Yeah, the playoff-eligibility thing depends on when players are waived. Amundson was released back on February 8th, well in advance of the deadline, so he’s good to go.
Now, if the Bulls were to sign him to a rest-of-season deal, then release him later in the season, he wouldn’t be playoff-eligible for ANOTHER team.
— Luke
Thanks Luke.