Bulls Waive L. Johnson, Nelson

The Chicago Bulls trimmed their roster yesterday as they waived F Linton Johnson III and G DeMarcus Nelson yesterday. Assuming the Bulls re-sign Aaron Gray (which appears to be the case since they made a qualifying offer), the roster is now down to 13 players, which is the league minimum. Neither Johnson nor Nelson had much of a role with the team last season. Johnson played a total of 42 minutes in 8 regular season games and 10 minutes in 3 playoff games. He also played 41 games for the Bulls back in the 03-04 season, starting in 20 of those games. Nelson was brought on for the end of the season but never played.In other Bulls-related news, F Tim Thomas, who was recently released by the Bulls, has signed with the Dallas Mavericks, along with former Bulls F Drew Gooden. Both are expected to contribute off the bench, with Gooden at times being asked to play center alongside PF Dirk Nowitzki.