Given the focus on when Derrick Rose will return many Chicago Bulls fans haven't stopped to wonder when their team might do to reshape the roster. Could they deal Carlos Boozer or Luol Deng in the coming months?
Bulls interest in Harrison Barnes might trade Deng for high NBA pick
Having only one NBA draft pick is never easy but having it at #29 in the bottom of the first round makes it even harder to find a quality player. That hasn't stopped the Bulls from dreaming big. One player experts have hinted Chicago has great interest in is North Carolina big man Harrison Barnes. While his early years with the Tar Heels met with inconsistent play, he grew into one of the top scorers in college basketball by averaging 19 points per game. Some even compared him to Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant. For that reason he's expected to get drafted high with a lottery pick. The thought of pairing the lanky shooter with Rose is almost too good to pass up. The problem is the Chicago Bulls sit at the bottom of the first round. That means if they want Barnes they will have to make a trade to move up the board. One player likely to get dealt is the man Barnes would replace, Luol Deng. Despite his nagging wrist injury the Bulls leader is an All-Star and an elite defender. If they could find a team interested in trading for him they could make a move up for Barnes.
Taj Gibson sees Bulls as contender with Boozer on the team
No one can fault certain Bulls players for being optimistic. Even without Derrick Rose they won a good number of games in 2012 on the strengths of their big front court of Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer along with a deep bench led by big man Taj Gibson. While trade talks swirl around the team, mostly the not-so-quiet hopes of fans that it's Boozer who goes, Gibson said in an interview he still believes Chicago can contend for a championship if they keep playing together as a team. It's a nice thought from a player who has become a leader on the Chicago roster but the hard truth of the NBA is that superstars drive championship seasons. The Bulls hold out hope they might get free agents like Jason Kidd or Steve Nash who could bring out the best of Boozer and the other starters. Yet if fans want a trade then Boozer might not become moveable. His contract is still far too expensive and no team will take it for the average player Boozer has become the past two seasons.
Derrick Rose runs the show but the Chicago Bulls know that their championship hopes can't rest on one player anymore. With young talents like Harrison Barnes available in the NBA draft, the time may come when big names like Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer could hit the trade market if favor of young options like Taj Gibson.
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 2
Trade Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets organization should be intrigued by this opportunity since Brooklyn seeks to keep Deron Williams and one promising way to persuade him to stay may be to reunite him with his former Utah teammates who he has had success with in the past. The combination of Boozer and Williams made it to the 06/07 Western Conference Finals. This is likely a much better situation for Williams rather than going to a Dallas or Lakers team that already has a “leader” and is relatively much older than the proposed Brooklyn team if this trade is made. The Bulls should then orchestrate a sign and trade for Kris Humphries and Gerald Green to more favorable contract terms. The Bulls would lose a bit of offense at power forward, but would get better defense from that position. Likewise, the Bulls get more offense and lose some defense at the shooting guards and small forward at least in the short term. However this gives the Bulls solid two-way players in Green and Humphries.
Trade Richard Hamilton for a draft pick. Getting at least a second round pick for Hamilton is better than nothing. If they trade him and they get a pick, they are ahead. They should also sign unrestricted combo guard Shannon Brown as a temporary starting and eventual back-up point guard. The reason for this move is that Brown’s style of play is similar to Derrick Rose and therefore the offensive sets would not be dramatically different whether Rose is in the game or not. While not as quick, Brown is bigger and arguably stronger than Rose and has the potential to be an effective playmaker which provides insurance against any future loss of Derrick Rose due to injury. It does not hurt that he is also from Chicago. The Bulls should definitely NOT resign John Lucas III or Brian Scalabrine. They are great people but cannot help the Chicago Bulls. The combined salary of Hamilton, Scalabrine and John Lucas III should be enough to get Shannon Brown who as indicated earlier plays similarly to Derrick Rose. He is a gamble because he has been primarily used as a shooting guard in his career, so it is unknown if he would be effective. There is nothing to suggest he could not be.
The final trade that the Bulls should try is one that is difficult, perhaps requiring losing a first round pick. The Bulls should try to trade Luol Deng and CJ Watson for Rudy Gay. Because the salaries match almost perfectly, Memphis would get Luol Deng and CJ Watson and (as a bit of compensation for losing Deng perhaps for some time) a Bulls future first round pick. In this scenario the salary obligations for Memphis would be reduced in the long term and Memphis would only have to manage without Deng for two months.
Sign Tom Thibodeau to a multi-year contract; lock up players such as Taj Gibson and Omer Asik for the long term; fill in the rest of the team with solid players on both sides of the ball that have good potential specifically at shooting guard with a player like restricted free agent Courtney Lee by offering him the full mid-level exception; add players who are unrestricted free agents such as Mickell Gladness at center and veteran Mike James at point guard as third string back up players; and finally draft a solid shooting guard like John Jenkins out of Vanderbuilt.