Chicago Bulls Trade Talk: Best Five Trades-#4
By Ronald Agers
Well Pippen Peoples, with Kevin Love being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Cleveland Cavaliers around August 23rd or the 24th, it looks like the Bulls missed out…again. Chicago Bulls trade talk seems to be just that in recent memory… talk. You know what I say Pippen Peoples? So what. We here at Pippen Ain’t Easy make our own rules. Pippen Ain’t Easy will create our own Chicago Bulls trade talk in our own series. We’re counting down the five best and worst trades in Chicago Bulls history. If you missed the previous pieces, don’t fret, just hop on over to Pippen Ain’t Easy where you can find them and a whole lot more.
The start of this Chicago Bulls trade talk series started with the fifth best trade of all time with Stacey King being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Luc Longley. Longley went on to be the starting center for the post Jordan retirement three peat championship teams while Stacey King disappeared from the NBA map after being a bench player on the pre retirement three peat championship teams.
Now let’s continue the series with another one of the Chicago Bulls historic trade deal wins in Chicago Bulls history. Here’s the fourth best trade in Chicago Bulls history.
June 27, 1988
The Chicago Bulls trade Charles Oakley and a first round pick which turned out to be Rod Strickland to the New York Knicks.
WHILE
The New York Knicks traded Bill Cartwright and a first round pick which turned out to be Will Perdue.
Boy Pippen Peoples grab your popcorn because this has drama written all over it.
Michael Jordan absolutely HATED this trade. He didn’t hide it. He let it be known to anyone that would listen. Jerry Krause and Michael Jordan were already at odds back in 1986 when Krause wanted to shut Jordan down for the season because of his broken foot. Michael Jordan got what he wanted and went on that season to get the Bulls in the playoffs. It was against the Boston Celtics that he made history dropping 63 points in the Boston Garden. I guess that’s one point for Jordan. But if that situation burned bridges, this trade nuked the bridge and salted the earth where it stood.
Charles Oakley was Jordan’s closest friend and protector on the court. Look, Charles Oakley’s nick-name was “Oak”. Does that leave any questions of how tough Oakley was? Charles Oakley went on to the Knicks and was a positive contributor for years. Oakley’s trade also gave Jordan another reason to spew so much enough venom at Krause that it wouldn’t surprise me if Krause cringed at the sound of his voice to this day.
Bill Cartwright was a pretty good player in his early days with the New York Knicks. He was a 20 point scorer with a very good post up game. He also was a good defender in the post. But by 1985, things started to change. The Knicks won the very first NBA Draft lottery and used their pick on Patrick Ewing. At first the Knicks wanted to use the “Twin Towers” strategy like the Houston Rockets with Ralph Sampson and Akeem (spelled that way back then) Olajuwon.
Bill Cartwright was moved to power forward slot next to Ewing. It didn’t work. These two played the same position and it was clear where the future was with the Knicks.
Cartwright had to go.
Cartwright was on the downside of his career but the Bulls made the trade for two reasons:
1) Cartwright still could be a presence in the post. He averaged 7.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game during the Bulls’ first three peat. Plus he was a very capable defender in the post as well.
2) Charles Oakley, even though I love him to death being a Knick fan and all, he had to be flipped to get the rim protector that the Bulls sorely needed at the time. With the Brad Daugherty’s in Cleveland, the big front line of the Bad Boys of Detroit and the aforementioned Patrick Ewing, this move was paramount. Even after the Bulls won their first NBA championship beating the Los Angeles Lakers in 1990-91, Jordan admitted it was a good trade. Just don’t look for him to repeat it.
Let’s talk about those first round draft picks shall we?
The New York Knicks used that first round pick to select Rod Strickland out of DePaul. MAN! That dude was nice. Rod Strickland was one of the most underrated point guards in NBA history. Even though Strickland only stayed in New York a short while, he went on to have a long career in the NBA even though he was robbed for never being selected to an All-Star game. That’s not right and never will be. Strickland was that good.
As for the Bulls, they used their first round draft pick on Will Perdue.
Poor Will Perdue…
Will Perdue became a seven-foot tall lumbering reminder to Michael Jordan of Jerry Krause trading his best friend on the team away. In fact Jordan didn’t call him by name. Perdue was called “Vanderbilt”, the college Perdue came from. Well “Vanderbilt”…I mean Perdue never really panned out to be the center of the future even though he was a contributor for a few seasons.
However, in the end Will Perdue did turn out to be worth something. The Bulls traded Will Perdue to the San Antonio Spurs for a valuable contributor to the second three peat. They traded Perdue to the Spurs for wait for it…
Dennis Rodman.
Even though Charles Oakley was a warrior for the Knicks throughout the 90’s and Rod Strickland obviously was a better draft pick than Will Perdue, the Bulls win out on this transaction. Why? Because of the C.R.E.A.M. theory.
Counting
Rings
Elevates
Around
Me
Bulls got them rings. Six in total y’all.
Keep it locked to Pippen Ain’t Easy as we continue to count down the five best and worst trades in Chicago Bulls history.
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