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Bulls Wed Feb 18 2009
Let's Make a Deal: Bulls and Kings Swap Mediocrity
The Chicago Bulls have agreed to send power forward, Drew Gooden, small forward, Andres Nocioni, and small forward, Cedric Simmons to the Sacramento Kings for center, Brad Miller and guard, John Salmons. The trade works nicely for the cash-strapped Kings who will be acquiring Gooden's expiring 7.2 million dollar contract and Simmons's expiring 1 million dollar contract, both of which, will come off the books this summer. For Chicago, the Bulls get Brad Miller, a decent big man with a surprisingly developed handle for a center, along with a solid, if not spectacular, defensive game. Salmons is a very, ahem, "interesting" pick up for Chicago, as they already have two other shoot-first guards in the forms of Ben Gordon and Larry Hughes.
The move won't really fix the Bulls myriad of problems on the court: lack of discipline on offense; no go-to-big that can force his will in the paint on offense and defense; Vinny Del Negro still being their coach; and the addition of Salmons will potentially create an even larger issue in the back court with only so many players able to take so many shots per game. Time will tell, but for the Bulls this trade seems like the moves of a desperate team looking to "shake things up," while not really doing anything to make the team, y'know, actually better. What exactly the trade will do for the long run benefit of the team remains to be seen, but after the hope and hoopla of potentially getting Amare Stoudemire, Brad Miller is a slight concession.
Eric / February 18, 2009 6:28 PM
A mediocre trade from a mediocre man. Just one more established failure on the resume of John Paxson. This team is on track to finish just as badly as they did last year 33-49, and we have John Paxson and Uncle Jerry to thank. Feel free to give that two weeks notice any time Pax...