2. Shipping out Elton Brand in a weird big man swap
We’re turning the clock way back to when the Bulls were in the latter days under the direction of former general manager Jerry Krause. Until 2003, the Bulls were still trying to make their rebuild work with Krause at the helm as the lead voice in the front office. But that didn’t wind up working out in the end, as Paxson was brought in to replace Krause as the lead voice among management heading into the 2003-04 season.
One of the most notable moves that Krause made in his latter days as the Bulls general manager was both the drafting and trading of former star big man Elton Brand (who mainly made his name with the Los Angeles Clippers). With the first overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, the Bulls selected the former Duke Blue Devils big man Brand. And he was around for two seasons in the Windy City before they shipped him off for a return from the Clippers that mainly included Tyson Chandler.
This is not to say that trading Brand for Chandler was the worst move that the Bulls ever made since the turn of the century. But this list is encircling the moves that the Bulls front office made since 2000 that didn’t make a whole lot of sense over the long haul. They would wind up trading Chandler less than five years after getting him in the deal for Brand.
During his two years in the Windy City, Brand was a model of consistency averaging 20.1 points per game in each season. He took the Rookie of the Year honors back to the Windy City during the 1999-00 season, and would be a two-time All-Star selection, and one-time All-NBA Team selection. He proved a box plus/minus rating of 1.2 and more than 13 total win shares during his two seasons with the Bulls.