The lack of a promising young big man eliminated the Chicago Bulls from being a serious player in trading for Kevin Garnett when he was traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves three years ago, said the general manager who dealt him.
Kevin McHale, who was the Timberwolves general manager from 1995-2009, traded the franchise's biggest star in July of 2007 to the Boston Celtics for a package of players built around 6-foot-11 Al Jefferson, then a 22-year-old coming off his first significant NBA season, averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds during the 2006-07 season.
McHale said the Bulls, long rumored in deals for Garnett, who was drafted out of Farragut Academy in Chicago in 1995, couldn't compete with the top two bidders.
"I talked to the Bulls some about things, but at the end it really came down to I thought the best offer was to get a good, young big man, either Al Jefferson -- who we ended up taking -- or we were talking to the Lakers about Andrew Bynum," McHale said Thursday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "Both of those guys were involved. It was just the decision that we wanted to go with a big guy and try to get a post-type player and a defender.
"We talked to [the Bulls] off and on. I just didn't think that the pieces fit quite as good."
The Bulls still are searching for a big man with offensive skills, a void that could be filled this summer by a star such as the Toronto Raptors' Chris Bosh or the Utah Jazz's Carlos Boozer. Or they could go for a superstar backcourt by pursuing the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade and pairing him with Derrick Rose.
With plenty of cap space and the allure of playing with Rose, McHale believes the Bulls will have a good summer.
"The Bulls will get a good player," McHale said. "Whether they get Dwyane Wade or not I don't know, but I think they are going to make a hard push for Wade. If you have Wade and Rose in the backcourt you couldn't guard either one of them. That would be a heck of a tandem in the back[court] there."