Dwight Howard to the Bulls is a No-Brainer
SOURCE: Associated Press
With the NBA about ready to come out of “nuclear winter” as NBA Commissioner David Stern called it, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul rumors are swirling. Today in particular, there is heavy speculation out of Chicago that the Bulls and Magic are in talks involving Chicago signing free agent swing-man Jason Richardson and sending him with small forward Luol Deng, power forward Joakim Noah, and center Omer Asik for Howard and forward Hedo Turkoglu.
At first blush, Bulls fans don’t seem as excited as you would expect given how resoundingly disappointed they were last year when Miami Heat forward Lebron James decided to take his talents to South Beach. Maybe they’re back on the Luol Deng bandwagon – nothing new there. Deng has been up and down in his career, ranging from the guy the Bulls considered a deal breaker in a 2007 trade that would have landed Kobe Bryant to a guy who couldn’t stay healthy and struggled even when he was. In fact, even headed into last year, Bulls fans seemed to simply hope Deng performed well enough for him to get some trade value back. And that he did. Might be time to sell high. Luol is one of the better defenders in the league, but the offense has always been too inconsistent for the guy who has needed to be the Bulls #2 scorer.
The same types of arguments can be said for Noah. His agility and quickness are excellent for a big guy, and he is a high energy performer that all teams like. But even with his quickness, he is a defensive liability at times and definitely doesn’t provide the Bulls with the consistent inside scoring that they desperately need. There aren’t any Dwight Howards coming around soon, and his track record speaks for itself. With Derrick Rose able to slash and dish to a finisher like Howard, that would instantly move to arguably the best 1-2 punch in the entire NBA. Sure the Miami Heat have a guard to guard combo with James to Wade, and have James/Wade to Bosh, but Bosh’s game is best from the outside while Howard is the most dominant player in the league at the basket both offensively and defensively.
Derrick Rose is the MVP after 2 seasons for a reason – he’s probably the fastest guard in the league and a defensive nightmare. The only players who are as much if not more of a nightmare are Lebron James and Dwight Howard. And without the 3rd monster salary like the Heat have, the Bulls could still sign another player to go with an already deep young core. They’d get a little worse defensively, and Asik could turn out to be a very good player as well. But given that Howard is a perennial NBA defensive player of the year, I think the defense could manage and that it is worth it even if they have to give up some very solid players.
If the Bulls fail to capitalize here, it will be like the Kobe for Deng trade that never was. Bulls fans would sure like a mulligan on that one. Here it is.
12/9/11 Update: As a follow up, it sounds like Dwight may be headed towards the Jersey Shore.
4 Rants to “Dwight Howard to the Bulls is a No-Brainer”
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Except you are forgetting the Dwight doesn’t want to play in Chicago.
you are a moron
joakim is not a defensive liability
you know what’s a defensive liability? losing luol deng, joakim noah, and omer asik
this would destroy the team and fuck us over big time, there is no time during a 66-game season for a thrown-together team to get its legs under it
with fewer injuries and more time to gel, we will do better than we did last year with THE SAME TEAM or the same team + maybe one or two new cheap role players
Only an idiot or a true homer wouldn’t give up Noah, Deng, and Asik for Howard. It’s laughable to suggest otherwise.
Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, and Omer Asik are never going to be superstar players. In the NBA where teams with multiple superstar players have always and will always be the ones who win championships, I don’t see the Bulls being able to win a one with the current core no matter how good Derrick Rose is. Compete for one, sure. But that’s not good enough. With Howard they are plenty good enough