Chicago Bulls Could Trade Joakim Noah And Luol Deng During 2012 NBA Offseason
The Chicago Bulls had their season end a lot quicker than most people would have ever expected. Then again, losing Derrick Rose to a torn ACL in Game 1 of the playoffs can easily do that. With the season over, the Bulls are staring salary cap issues right in the face. This means they could look to move the contracts of Joakim Noah and Luol Deng in the offseason.
First off, many fans will be looking to move Carlos Boozer, but let us face it. He has absolutely no value right now. His playoff struggles are the fresh in the mind of everyone, so it is not like he has a ton of people lining up to trade for him. There is no reason to sell low. However, when it comes to Noah and Deng, you can sell high and try to rebuild.
If the Bulls ship out Noah, they can add a possible shooting guard that can create his own shot. This would allow the Bulls to keep Omer Asik without any financial hits. Asik isn’t as good on the offensive end as Noah, but with some practice and experience, he could easily average 9/12/3 in about 30 minutes a game or so.
Deng getting traded is a little bit more iffy. The coaching staff loves him, but they are also determined to run him into the ground. They could ship him off and get a couple of cheaper pieces. Then again, the Bulls will probably not bring back Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver, so they are going to need a 3. Jimmy Butler can’t handle all of that by himself.
It will be an interesting offseason in Chicago. It probably won’t be fun for the fans as the Bulls look to cut salary. However, it is all necessary to keep the title window open. The Chicago Bulls will be without Rose for a significant portion of the season, so rebuilding the core without killing it too much is essential.
Riley Schmitt is a writer for Rant Sports. He plans on spending the summer mourning Rose’s knee injury and using the NBA Trade Machine to come up with wacky deals.
