Does Chicago Have a Contingency Plan?

OK, so if the Bulls can't pull off a deal for Pau Gasol (absolutely nothing will surprise me on that front), the Bull still have to make some kind of deal, right? Right?

Ben Wallace is not the player he was just a year ago, and you have to figure a guy whose skill-set is entirely dependent on his athleticism might won't decline gracefully. As Skeets said earlier this week, the moment the Bulls decided to give the guy $60 million, they basically committed themselves to trying to win a title before Wallace's contract went from being "slightly above market value" to "albatross around team's neck."

Of course, there's also something to be said about not wanting to give away Ben Gordon, Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich -- if those guys are really the team's core, they'll be around longer than Wallace, anyway. That's why the Daily Herald suggests a cheaper alternative to Gasol, Sacramento's Shareef Abdul-Rahim:

The 6-9 Abdur-Rahim, 30, used to be a consistent 20-point scorer for the Vancouver Grizzlies early in his career. This year he's averaging 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds for the Kings, who are barely alive in the Western Conference playoff race and may not mind trimming payroll.

A combination of Michael Sweetney and Malik Allen, along with presumably a draft pick, would match salaries. Abdur-Rahim has three years left on his contract at a total of $18.6 million.

His production has slipped, but you can't argue with the price, and his salary isn't so prohibitive that he'd prevent the team from locking up any of their current young players to new deals when their contracts expire. And when the time comes for Tyrus Thomas to push him to the bench, he could settle into a similar role as Antonio McDyess in Detroit as the first big man off the bench.

Another proposal by the Arizona Republic is sending P.J. Brown to the Suns for Kurt Thomas, who's very similar to Brown but with an expensive option year he's almost certain to exercise at the end of the season ... and thus makes zero sense from Chicago's perspective. What about those Zach Randolph rumors reported in the Sun-Times? Blazers president Steve Patterson actually laughed at them before flat-out rejecting the notion.

The Bulls as currently constructed aren't a legitimate contender -- they can't win on the road and they've been unable to distinguish themselves in the East, so how can they possibly make noise in the playoffs? Gasol would change that, and at the very least, Abdur-Rahim might, as well.