For the first time in a LONG time, I think there is legitimate reason to be excited about the future of Bulls basketball. They've freed up enough space to offer a max deal to one of the big boys, and still have enough to sign a second tier player as well. If they happened to get lucky and move Hinrich, they'd have enough for two max deals.
Regardless of whether they have enough for one or two deals, unlike a few years back when they had more money than anyone and targeted Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, and Tim Duncan and ended up with the great Eddie Robinson, the Bulls have a LOT of things going in their favor. They have a solid young core - A budding all-star point guard in Derrick Rose (yeah, he could have played in the MVC

), a potential all-star center on the rise in Joakim Noah (one of only a handful of guys averaging a double-double), a decent (when healthy) small forward in Luol Deng, and a solid young 6th-7th man in Taj Gibson. They have a front office that is respected as opposed to despised with John Paxson at the helm. They also will NOT have Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan blackballing the franchise to free agents as they were rumored to have done back when Jerry Krause was still running things. Also, potential FA's will likely have a say in who the next head coach will be, where as previously the Bulls were locked into the great Tim Floyd for the long haul. Add all those things to the Bulls being in the 3rd largest media market (which is a big deal to shoe companies and other advertisers), and are annually among the top teams attendance-wise, and you've got a pretty good resume to present to the top free agents in 2010.
Now, I am not predicting anything. LeBron has strong reasons to go to New York, and Wade has strong reasons to stay in Miami. But I truly believe the Bulls have a real strong chance at landing one of the top 3 free agents this summer, and being an Eastern Conference contender for years to come.