11:40am: Chicago no longer plans to fill its open roster spot in the wake of GM Gar Forman‘s declaration today that the team expects Rose back in four to six weeks, Johnson tweets.
9:54am: The Bulls have had preliminary conversations with the representatives for Mike James and Jannero Pargo, league sources tell K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. That’s in addition to exploratory talks with team has held with Nate Robinson, which Shams Charania of RealGM reported earlier this week and which Johnson confirms. Chicago is likely to fill its open roster spot regardless of the timetable for Derrick Rose‘s recovery from his torn meniscus, Johnson writes, though the team won’t necessarily sign a guard, sources told the Tribune scribe. Johnson indicated Thursday that the team’s decision regarding that 15th roster spot would hinge on whether Rose is out for the season.
There’s “considerable optimism” that the tear in Rose’s right meniscus is small, Johnson has heard. If that’s the case and only a small part of the meniscus is trimmed during surgery today, the likely timetable “could” be three to six weeks, according to Johnson. Still, a quick return entails Rose coming back to on-court activity but not necessarily to games, Johnson cautions (Twitter link).
James is certainly no stranger to the Bulls, having signed seven different contracts with the team since January 2012. The 39-year-old point guard is averaging 15.0 points, 6.4 assists and 3.4 turnovers in 33.1 minutes per game for the Mavericks D-League affiliate. James, a client of Bernie Lee, is only two years removed from having finished the season as the starting point guard for the big club in Dallas.
Pargo is another former Bull, having signed with Chicago on five previous occasions, though the Mark Bartelstein client’s last action for the team took place in 2009/10. His health is a question mark, and Hornets coach Steve Clifford said at the beginning of the month that he wasn’t close to being able to play, citing that as the reason Charlotte cut him loose to ink Elliot Williams to a 10-day contract instead in the wake of Kemba Walker‘s injury. The Hornets apparently weren’t ruling out a reunion with Pargo, but that was before the team let go of Elliot Williams to trade for Mo Williams.
The Bulls only have the prorated minimum salary to offer. Still, they’re nowhere close to the luxury tax threshold as they were last year, so they have some financial flexibility.