Yesterday amid swirling rumors that had Kirk Heinrich packing his bags, Joakim Noah preparing to be a spokesmodel for Dr. Scholls and Derrek Rose being forced to admit that the season was over while surrounded by clear signs emanating from some murky somewhere that Vinny Del Negro was ready to begin his new career as a busboy at La Scarole, Gar Forman ignored them all and went out and pulled off a near perfect trade. In one fell swoop he cleared salary room for the team to get better for years to come and managed to still keep his surprising team of injured matadors in the playoff hunt.

Would we term that a ‘checkered flag trade’?

Maybe not. But, whatever you come up with, you have to admit that the Bulls just upped the ante a couple of notches and gave their fans legitimate reasons for hope. DAVID HAUGH at the Tribune can barely suppress his glee.

All that was missing from Thursday’s celebratory news conference at the Berto Center was Benny the Bull and the Matadors. General manager Gar Forman was in such a good mood that, unprovoked, he paid coach Vinny Del Negro a compliment.

Indeed, it was a festive atmosphere Forman and the Bulls front office deserved after pulling off the Great Salary Dump of 2010.

In shrewdly unloading John Salmons to the Bucks and Tyrus Thomas to the Bobcats in separate trades, the Bulls accomplished both major goals outlined on Forman’s yellow pad.

They maintained the core of a team that’s surprisingly 27-26 thanks largely to the way Del Negro has ignored distractions. They cleared enough salary-cap space — as much as $18 million — so they can pursue free-agents such as Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh next summer to make the Bulls NBA Eastern Conference contenders again.

After doing so much complicated math to make the deals work, Forman should offer private consultations on home refinancing and debt consolidation.

“We’re in better position right now than we were 24 hours ago,’’ Forman said.

You don’t need to know the difference between Flip Murray and Flip Wilson to agree with that, and therein lies the only reason for restraint when celebrating Thursday’s moves. Consider the Bulls greatly improved their long-term chances to win an NBA title by trading Thomas, the guy they drafted fourth overall in 2006. In admitting a mistake, the Bulls committed to a championship plan.

“It’s part of the business,’’ Thomas told the Tribune’s K.C. Johnson. “I talked to Gar and (John Paxson) and thanked them both and the Bulls organization for giving me my opportunity to take my first steps in the NBA. I learned a lot here.’’

If failure is the best teacher, it’s fair to say Thomas always looked willing to learn.

Thomas’ shot selection was as bad at times this year as it was his rookie season. His attitude was just as unpredictable last week as it was the last several years. Oh, Thomas could make our jaws drop with athletic plays few NBA players can make. But just as easily he could make your head throb.

Players selected as high as Thomas are supposed to make teams better by staying, not leaving. By their fourth seasons they are supposed to make news by intimidating opponents, not their own coaches as Thomas tried recently when he confronted Del Negro in his office.

Those realities forever put Thomas high on the all-time category of Bulls draft busts, somewhere in the Top 5 behind Brad Sellers, the fool’s gold standard picked ninth overall in 1986. Among draft busts in this sports city Thomas was Corey Patterson in short pants, a more disruptive version of Cedric Benson. Chicago’s very moan.

While they will miss some of John Salmon’s points off the bench, the guys they are bringing in aren’t exactly chopped liver and may fit even better into the current system.

Which brings me to a second point that seems to have been overlooked. The Bulls used this trade to firm up their team now and for the foreseeable future. In other words, it appears my Vinny Del Negro fan club may be in business for a few more years. That is fine with me.

As long as we are talking about the doings at the Madhouse on Madison, I feel I should note something I saw yesterday which caught my attention. After years of living in a hockey deprived city I found myself amused that a whole bar full of people were watching the Hockey games at the Winter Olympics. I was even more amused when one gentleman, whose English is still a work in progress, explained why they were all so enamored with the games.

“We are going to face some of those guys, right? In the playoffs, right? We need to know who we have to beat.”

That’s right. Newbie though he may be to the sport, and to our country, he was still fascinated enough by it all to try and scout the competition.

Don’t worry. It brought a smile to my face too.

Our very own hoops aficionado, El Ro Pinks, has already begun a thread, so CLICK HERE IF YOU KNOW HOW TO SAY ‘HOCKEY’ IN SPANISH