NO TRADES

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and John Paxson stood pat. Not only did he fail to land a legit post presence, he didn't even feel a minor move was necessary to improve his extremely average junior varsity conference team.

So, it looks like it will be another year of exiting the playoffs with a first round loss. The Bulls will not catch the Detroit Pistons for the division lead and thus wind up with a seed somewhere between No. 4 and 6. Out of the other teams positioned in that group, the only team they can beat in a series is probably the red-hot Toronto Raptors. Unfortunately, they would fall to the Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic or Cleveland Cavaliers.

The door has been open to make a run to the NBA Finals and a possible championship, but it is slowly closing. Paxson can't hang on to all four of his young talents when they become free agents and Ben Wallace's final three seasons will just see him continue to physcially decline.

I sure hope Paxson knows what he's doing and the upcoming off-season nets the Bulls Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph or Pau Gasol. Bulls fans want to win big and they want to do it now. Slightly above-averge seasons with early playoff exits won't cut it that much longer.