The 2008–09 Chicago Bulls season is the 43rd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the playoffs, the Bulls lost to the defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, in seven games in the First Round. The defending champion Celtics were also taken to a seven game series the prior season in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. They finished with a 41-41 record for the third time in their past four seasons. Key dates June 26: The 2008 NBA draft took place in New York City. July 1: The free agency period started. Offseason The Bulls re-signed Luol Deng to a 6-year $71 million contract on July 30, 2008. Ben Gordon signed a 1-year contract on October 2, 2008. NBA draft Roster Regular season The Bulls were having a meager year floating under .500 and on February 18, 2009 they made their first of several trades sending Andrés Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Michael Ruffin to the Sacramento Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons. Then on February 19, 2009, the NBA trade deadline, the Bulls traded Larry Hughes to the New York Knicks for Tim Thomas, Jerome James, and Anthony Roberson. Later that day the Bulls made the third trade in a span of less than 24 hours sending swingman Thabo Sefolosha to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2009 first round pick. The trades brought a late-season push for the Bulls, which finally clinched a playoff berth on April 10, 2009, their fourth in the last five years. Then on April 13, 2009 they clinched the 7th place in the east by beating the Detroit Pistons and remained .5 game ahead of Philadelphia 76ers for the 6th spot with one game remaining. The Bulls though lost their last game to Toronto and the 76ers beat Cleveland, who did not play most of its best players. The Bulls finished 7th even though they tied Philadelphia at 41-41. The Bulls got matched up with a Garnett-less Boston in the first round of the playoffs. Season standings Record vs. opponents Game log |- bgcolor="#bbffbb" | 1 | October 28 | Milwaukee | | Luol Deng (21) | Tyrus Thomas (10) | Derrick Rose (9) | United Center21,762 | 1–0 |- bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | October 31 | @ Boston | | Derrick Rose (18) | Joakim Noah (13) | Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich (3) | TD