Dec 29, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) against the Phoenix Suns at the Target Center. The Timberwolves defeated the Suns 111-107. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Deja Vu is: reading Chicago Bulls trade rumors involving the Timberwolves. Sam Smith made a hobby of dreaming up trades that would plant Kevin Garnett back in his adopted home city of Chicago. Going so far as to eventually declare Garnett a loser if he decided to fight it out in Minnesota rather than accepting a trade to the Windy City. Those were the days that never ended, it would seem.

Back then, the trades were built on the foundation of a young Luol Deng and potential-laden pogo stick, Tyrus Thomas. These days? They’re built on the potential of one good 10-game stretch by rookie, Jimmy Butler and the pick they received from the team they actually traded Tyrus Thomas to.

Feeling nostalgic? More from blogabull:

In fact, when you team Butler with Spanish wunderkind Nikola Mirotic, the Bobcats’ draft pick acquired in the Tyrus Thomas trade and maybe even Taj Gibson, the Bulls would appear to have enough to work with should they to decide to try to trade for a superstar.

And while we’re dreaming out loud, let’s not forget the prize:

Love, by almost any measure, appears to be the perfect superstar to pair with Derrick Rose. He doesn’t turn 25 years old until September, and put together a thoroughly badass campaign last season, finishing second in the league in rebounding (13.3 per game) while averaging 26 points. His shooting percentage wasn’t great (under 45 percent from the field), but he shot 37 percent from three and hit nearly two three-pointers per game.

Those are dreamy stats, and not for nothing, but they’d also look pretty good on a team with Ricky Rubio, Chase Budinger, Alexey Shved, Andrei Kirilenko, and Nikola Pekovic — but don’t let that stop you.

Most importantly, Love also has a very tenuous relationship with Timberwolves management. It started last season while negotiating a contract extension. Love was seeking a five-year deal that Minnesota GM David Kahn refused to give him. The entire scenario pissed off Love to no end before he would eventually sign a four-year, $62 million extension that allows him to opt out after the third season. Why the small market Timberwolves didn’t want to lock in their homegrown superstar for as long as possible remains one of the biggest mysteries in recent NBA history, and it’s clearly still on Love’s mind.

Alright, nevermind the ‘homegrown superstar’ part, because we’re all painfully aware that Love is a West Coast Guy. This is the real cost of the Wojnarowski interview — it gets quoted at length throughout the rest of the post. That interview opened the door for so much speculation that it’s impossible for any fan reading it to totally invalidate it as pure speculation, much less think Love is actually sincere when he says ‘thanks to the fans for all of their support’. If this is how a guy thanks his fans, by treating them to the never ending stream of nonsense trade proposals by L.A. and Chicago fanboys.

The flip side, of course, is that Wolves’ management needs to raise the bar in order to satisfy their most expensive asset or risk losing him. If there were a way to paint Love as some kind of consumer advocate fighting the good fight against managerial incompetence (Kahn), nepotism (Moor) and homerism (Taylor) on behalf of Wolves fans everywhere, it would be the perfect deodorant for this whole situation and all of the Windy City trash it kicks up.

As far as the oafish operator critique goes, the Grizzlies acquiring a young and improving Ed Davis (who is still on his rookie contract) and a quality small forward with championship pedigree, in Tayshaun Prince, doesn’t exactly sound like they’re giving up on the season. But that all depends on highly you value an inefficient scorer and 40% shooter who just so happens to be of first tier athleticism. Bottom line: Rudy Gay isn’t James Harden. He isn’t Kevin Durant. In my mind, he’s closer to

Anyway, the Raptors moving Jose Calderon pretty much takes both he and Kyle Lowry off the market, while sending Davis out gives Amir Johnson the lion’s share of frontcourt minutes alongside Gay in Toronto until Andrea Bargnani and Jonas Valanuciuniuas get traded or get back, respectively.

As far as Detroit goes, I have no idea what they think they’re doing. Acquiring Calderon gets them out from under Prince’s contract, sure, but to shepherd younguns like Brandon Knight? Okay. I guess they had to move Prince for something, but I’m sure there are those who thought it would be, oh, who are we kidding? Detroit, Detroit.

Other, not unrelated developments in the NBA: injury news. Glen Davis just broke his foot and Rajon Rondo is the latest point guard to befall (to the curse?) an exploded knee. What these injuries mean for evolving the Eastern Conference standings is, um, very little, in Orlando’s case, but for Boston and their 8th seed it would seem a white flag on their season. And as for the trade landscape, it would mean one of the biggest ticket buyers could now be sellers as Boston had keen interest in Orlando sharpshooter, JJ Redick. Now? Boston could be putting one or all of their offseason signings on the market in an attempt to get a leg up on next year, ranging from old gunner, Jason Terry to Rick Adelman favorite, Courtney Lee. They won’t be going after unrestricted free agents like Redick unless they’re unloading salary like their hall of famers, KG and Paul Pierce — and that would be a shot heard around the world.

After another night spent watching the Wolves try to (tortured metaphor alert) thread the incredibly shrinking eye of the needle that is their unstretchable offensive floor spacing, the time to move or move on would seem to have come. The first big dollar dominos have fallen.

Jan 28, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay (22) is defended by Philadelphia 76ers guard Evan Turner (12) during the first quarter at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports