The Chicago Bulls are one of the most talked about teams in the NBA when it comes to trade talks. All though the Bulls are much better this season under new management and first year head coach Billy Donovan they are light years away from being a true contender!
Let us just ask the questions that Bulls fans are wondering. Will the Bulls be buying or selling before the March 25 trade deadline? Are we looking to win now or let this season play out and start year five of our rebuild in 2022? We as fans should be careful what we wish for.
My answer is, we should be buying a player or two to get us closer to where we want to be, selling at this point hurts our rebuild. There is a lot of smoke around about teams calling on Thaddeus Young.
Unless we trade players, who are not part of our true core, team leaders or one of the most impactful players. So yes, I am saying if we trade Young the front office is telling us that winning this year is not important to them.
Young is our single most important veteran player to this point in the season. Not just because his veteran leadership but because of his impact on the court every single night. This man is the second most important piece on our roster behind All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine.
Young is averaging 11.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists in limited minutes this season. Most importantly he plays his best with the most impact when the game is on the line.
When the Bulls need a bucket, he gets it. If we need a rebound, he grabs it! Not to mention his defense and ability to take the charge to create a game sealing turnover against our opponent’s best playmaker.
Young has a very solid player efficiency rating of 20.31, second on the team behind our best player LaVine’s 22.71 rating. That is astonishing that Young’s impact on the court is just as valuable as our franchise player. This indication tells us that without Young we will regress as the season goes on. Furthermore, we hope that the front office sees what we are seeing.
Other deadline options for the Chicago Bulls
If we do plan to sell before the deadline, we all can hope that it is going to be players who have not contributed much this year like Chandler Hutchinson or maybe a Cristiano Felicio. Yes, we will not get much from them, but it opens a little extra cap and gives way for a more impactful player, while shedding cap space for a possible big splash signing in the off season.
Selling a player like Otto Porter Jr. is a more positive step in the right direction. It shows we are willing to take risks to contribute to a winning philosophy. He will be walking at seasons end so getting even a second-round pick is better than nothing.
I assure you that the Bulls can trade him in a win now move, even with his huge contract. When healthy he is a solid two or three on any team he goes to. He just has not worked out for us and it is time to move on.
Lauri Markkanen is another name the Bulls should be selling on as well. I am very critical on him only because I expect more from him and I think he does not have that will to want to win and improve his game to the level we all expect from him. I feel he will never reach his maximum potential in Chicago.
Markkanen can possibly fair very well somewhere else at this point in his career. He has massive potential and could prove me wrong if the Bulls decide to keep him around. I assure you though he will walk anyway because he is not worth a near max contract. The Bulls are not going to offer him the huge payday he is going to expect.
The hope would be that Karnisovas and Marc Eversley will be focused on LaVine’s max contract extension and patching the holes in our roster. The Bulls have the foundation they need to build on with or without Markkanen on the roster. February has already proven we can strive and win plenty without him.
There are much better power forwards in the league that are not often injured who play more than half a season per year. Again, I get confused how people take value in players who are solid but hardly play. Injury prone players suck up so much salary cap that it puts teams in handcuffs. Better to part ways than to continue the question marks of the what ifs.
It will be interesting to continue to listen to all the trade rumors and buzz around the Bulls. The front office is silent so far, not knowing is the unknown for us all. I am excited to see if we can find out something soon.