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According to Louis Amundson’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, there were plenty of offers for the defensive-minded big man last week in which he could’ve latched on with a team for the remainder of the year. Instead, he opted for a 10-day contract with the Chicago Bulls that is considerably less stable, but there’s a very good reason for his having made that decision: the Bulls are ready to win right now.

“It’s obviously a good team and an organization that I’ve always admired,” Amundson said Sunday night before suiting up in a Bulls uniform for the first time. “It’s a team that plays the right way, plays hard and is defensive-minded. That’s what attracted me the most. Any time you play the Bulls, you’re in for a challenge and a physical game. They’re consistently the best defensive team in the NBA, and I’m happy to be part of that.”

Amundson is, by his own admission, a player that’s made his career by playing well on the defensive end of the floor, and with Taj Gibson out for at least a couple of weeks with an MCL strain, Amundson finds himself in a situation to contribute right away.

However, he knows that he’s got to show enough over the course of the next 10 days to solidify his position on this team, and that’s something he’s looking forward to doing.

“I just want to make the most of my opportunities,” he said. “Show up early, stay late and do the right things. Try to capitalize on whatever I get.”

That was his same philosophy as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this season, but Amundson was cut on February 8 when the team decided to hold onto Chris Johnson and Mickael Gelabale for the remainder of the season, bringing the roster number up to 16. Amundson, who had only played in 20 games for the Wolves, was the roster casualty there, but he said his cut didn’t surprise him because of the unstable nature of a very injured Minnesota team this year.

“We had so many injuries. I’ve never been part of a team that had that many injuries, and I think all that just changed the make-up of the team and how we had to play,” Amundson said. “I think what they had envisioned for the team drastically changed, so they went in a different direction. It was disappointing not getting that opportunity, but I understand that it’s a business and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

Now, Amundson finds himself on his seventh NBA team in only six full NBA seasons, but he hasn’t stopped working at getting a long-term contract from an NBA team. The Bulls probably won’t be that team, but Amundson knows his job is to just play his heart out and hope that doing so eventually results in something a little more stable than playing on one-year, 10-day and non-guaranteed deals.

“You want to have that security, but I’ve just grown used to it, I guess,” Amundson said. “It’s always kind of been that way for me, so I’ve had to develop some thick skin and confidence. I’m used to it now, and I know that for right now it’s just going to be like that. I have to play hard and do all the right things and hope that it works out for the best.”

His tenure with the Chicago Bulls, however short it may be, is one more brick in the wall for Amundson, but he should help the team in the short term. That’s all Chicago is looking for, and for the time being, that’s all Amundson can afford to look for, too.