Would you trade for a small forward who scores six more points per a game than your current starting small forward? Oh and throw in your starting center who is a walking double-double and a defensive presence in the paint. We’re not done yet throw in a key bench player, a couple draft picks and the small forward you’re trading for makes six million dollars more a season than your current starter. How many people can honestly say they would make this trade?
If you put names to it then some Chicago Bulls fans think that this is the key to the Bulls contending for a championship this year. The big trade some Bulls fans are calling for just seems ludicrous to me. Trading for Carmelo Anthony is the biggest mistake the Bulls could make this season.
Even if the trade were Anthony for Luol Deng straight up, I’d still be hesitant to pull the trigger. Then you add in Joahkim Noah, possibly Taj Gibson and some draft picks and I say you’re out of your mind. If you compare Anthony’s and Deng’s numbers this season the biggest difference comes in the PPG category. The difference in PPG is exactly six. Anthony scores six more PPG while also shooting five more shots a game. That’s five shots a game that you have to take away from someone the Bulls aren’t going to trade. Is one PPG worth a million dollars in the NBA?
The Bulls currently rank third in points allowed per game. That would certainly drop off with the acquisition of Anthony who is a sub-par defender. In that trade the Bulls would be giving up a better defender in Deng and one of the league’s best defenders in Noah.
Carmelo is just a bad fit for this Bulls team. He doesn’t stretch the floor, shooting only 29 percent from 3-point land and only 31 percent for his career. He’s a reluctant defender. Anthony’s scoring comes mostly from him going one on one with his defender. He doesn’t always seem to be playing his hardest every night.
Deng is a much better fit for this Bulls team and here are the reasons why I wouldn’t even just swap the two players. Deng has improved his 3-point shooting this year. Although his percentages wouldn’t suggest that, he’s already shot more three’s this year than he has in the last four season and connecting on 35 percent. As a scorer Deng is more apt to cut and spot up than to go one on one with his defender. The Bulls already have a player that can break down the defense by going one on one if need be in Rose. Deng is also one of the best defenders at his position in the league fitting perfectly with Tom Thibodeau stresses the most…defense. I don’t believe I’ve ever
The Bulls are rolling right now they shouldn’t disrupt their chemistry too much. What they should do is trade for a starting shooting guard to plug in place of Keith Bogans who has no business starting on any NBA team. This talk about trading for Anthony should have been dropped by now with the Bulls winning ways.
Change of plans. Trying to give all those season previews on tonight’s match-ups was a little bit too much to chew. Instead I’ll take the nationally televised games and do the questions about the team and if they have already played I’ll be able to give even better answers to the questions each team had coming into the season. If there are no nationally televised games I’ll pick two match-ups of four teams I have yet to write about. Today however isn’t going to allow me to get to both televised games so we’ll go with the one that has two teams I have yet to touch on.
Tonight’s match-up features three players from the USA men’s gold medal team. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder will take on Derrick Rose and his Chicago Bulls at 8pm ET on ESPN. The point guard position is going to be a fun individual matchup to watch. Both are rising stars in the league and have a boat load of potential.
The Bulls were one of the teams that were in the running for two of the three players that went to Miami. They started clearing cap space last year by trading away Tyrus Thomas, John Salmons, and Kirk Hinrich (over the summer) to clear cap space for the most anticipated summer in NBA history. The Bulls ended up missing out on all three of the top free agents this past summer. If you watched the Miami game last night it’s tough to get acclimated to having another player who is basically the same player as you are just a different position and size. I thought that missing out both LeBron and Wade was a good thing for the Bulls, they already have a player that has a ball in his hands all the time in Derrick Rose.
The Bulls ended up signing Carlos Boozer who will provide the low post offense that has been lacking in Chicago ever since Elton Brand was traded in 2001. They brought along two other players that Boozer played with just last year. Kyle Korver gave them the deep threat they were seeking and Ronnie Brewer is an athletic wing who can defend. The same day they signed Korver they also signed Omer Asik who is a 7-foot center who is extremely raw on the offensive end but can block shots and rebound. About a week later they added back court depth and a viable back up to Derrick Rose at the point with C.J. Watson. A week later they addressed the need for front court help in Kurt Thomas. After missing out on sharp shooter J.J. Reddick the Bulls felt the need to add more back court help and outside shooting. They flirted with Tracy McGrady but he was unwilling to take a backup role which forced the Bulls to look elsewhere. They signed veteran guard Keith Bogans. The Bulls kept their core together while adding pieces they thought would fit better than the role players they already had.
The biggest acquisition the Bulls made this off-season might have been someone that will never leave the bench but to argue bad calls by the officials. The Bulls hired Tom Thibodeau as their head coach. He is known for his tireless game preparation and attention to detail. Most people inside the NBA were surprised it took this long for him to finally get a shot to run his own team.
Like every team in the NBA coming into the season there are still questions about the Bulls. The one that will get answered before the rest is how will this team fare until Carlos Boozer gets back from his broken hand? Tonight will be a good measurement of what to expect from the Bulls without Boozer. They still have second year power forward in Taj Gibson who looks to be the steal of last year’s draft. The Boozer injury could actually be a blessing in disguise for the Bulls. It’ll get Gibson more game experience and playing time under a new coach.
Did the Bulls sign enough outside shooters to keep defenses from clogging the middle? Korver will be the biggest source of outside shooting on the roster but if the preseason was any indication of how Luol Deng will shoot for the year they might have improved that area internally. Deng shot 52% from outside the arc during the preseason on 29 attempts. Rose has been working on his long range game and said he’s confident in shooting the long ball but might still need to knock down some early in the season to get teams to respect his outside shot. Rose shot a dismal 24% on 21 attempts. Can the Bulls compete with the upper echelon of the east? They sure do feature one of the most complete teams in the NBA. They now have the inside and outside game. If Thibodeau can get the most out of his team defensively they can make a run at the eastern conference crown.
The Thunder stood pat this off-season besides signing Durant to a five year extension they didn’t make any noise. But why mess with a good thing especially when they have arguably the future of the NBA in Durant who is only 22-years-old, Russell Westbrook who is in discussion of one of the great point guards in the league is only 21-years-old and James Harden who is an athletic two who can shoot the ball from beyond the arc and is only 21-years-old. If the Thunder keeps this team together they could cause havoc in the western conference for the next decade and beyond.
The Thunder as good and as young as they are, is this team good enough to overtake the Lakers team who they took to game six last year? This is the biggest question coming into the season for the Thunder. Everyone is anointing Durant as this year’s MVP. He was the FIBA World Championship MVP on a stacked USA team. Durant is a far more athletic version of Dirk Nowitski a big man with plenty of range on his jump shot and at 22 years of age he only figures to keep getting better. Last year during the playoff series against the Lakers when Kobe Bryant was guarded by Durant, Kobe was bothered by Durant’s length tremendously. He was able to alter his shots and get his hands in the passing lanes. Durant’s length made it difficult for Kobe to look over the defense and pick it apart. The Thunder is my favorite to finish second in the western conference behind the Lakers and should have a shot to dethrone the defending champs in the western conference finals.
As far as tonight’s game goes, I think not having Boozer is going to hurt the Bulls. They will put up quite the fight but having a Durant at the end of the game will be key as he can hit a shot from just about anywhere on the floor. The Thunder squeeze out the W 101-98.
The second match-up on tonight’s NBA schedule features the Portland Trail Blazers hosting the Phoenix Suns. The Blazers had a relatively quiet off-season while the Suns watched their superstar power forward, Amare Stoudemire, ink a five year $100 million dollar deal in NY. These two teams are headed in opposite directions. The Suns will struggle to make the playoffs this year and the Blazers will be a tough team in the west.
Let’s start with the Phoenix suns that lost an athletic big man in Amare Stoudemire. His career numbers of 23 PPG and 9 RPG are going to be near impossible for one player to replace. They tried to salvage his leaving by signing free agent Hakim Warrick and traded Leandro Barbosa for Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu. They also re-signed their own 3-point shooting center, Channing Frye. The Suns come into the season with a bunch of questions. Even Steve Nash is wondering what the direction of the team is going to be. He told SB Nation Arizona that “To be honest, if I was outside this picture and a betting man, I would probably pick us to be outside of the playoffs considering all the changes and the new guys," after practice one day recently.
Where is the interior scoring going to come from Robin Lopez? Quite frankly Robin Lopez is the only inside threat on the Suns and he is still a raw talent on the offensive end. How will they beat opponents besides outscoring them? The Suns in order to win games will have to run and gun up and down the floor. The only decent defenders on this team are Grant Hill, Jason Richardson and Robin Lopez. Nash has been a defensive liability for years at the point guard position. The Suns will live and die by the 3-pointer this season. They will win games by outscoring opponents and taking and making an abundance of 3’s. I expect the Suns to take a significant dip in wins and to miss the playoffs this year.
The Blazers signed Welsey Matthews to an offer sheet of five years $35 million dollars that the Utah Jazz did not match. After having a better than anticipated rookie campaign the Blazers felt he could help their team for years to come. They let Travis Outlaw sign with the New Jersey Nets. They recently just sign Fabricio Oberto to add some front court depth while waiting for Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla to come back from injuries.
The biggest question facing the Blazers this year is can they finally realize their potential? This team has been young for a while and has always had the potential to have a breakout season. Without a healthy Oden we won’t really know what the ceiling is on the potential of this team. Oden could be a future dominant man in the middle if only he can stay healthy. Another intriguing thing to watch is how Rudy Fernandez is going to fit in with the team he so desperately wanted to be traded from this past off-season due to inconsistent playing time last season. My sense is that Fernandez will be traded before the trading deadline.
When it comes to tonight’s game I don’t see any team collectively coming out and shooting the ball lights out in the first game of the season. Therefore I think the Blazers behind Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge will prove to be too much for the defenseless Suns. The Blazers cruise to 102-92 win.
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