By Khamani Cooper
Based on the title of this article, you might be scratching your head, saying, “This guy makes no sense” and all that. However, in this article, I take a deeper look at some of the major trades of the deadline, specifically with the Chicago Bulls. As you may have heard, the NBA trade deadline passed last week and helped a lot of teams gain one final push towards the NBA playoffs, while some others began the long journey of the rebuilding process.
The Chicago Bulls have always been one team that is close to chasing their past success, but something seems to push them away. The Bulls are a young team that is currently flirting between the end of their rebuild and being a serious contender in the Eastern Conference. They have shown magnificent improvement in recent years and star shooting guard Zach LaVine earned his first all-star game appearance this March. Some Chicago fans have argued that Lavine has filled in the Michael Jordan Role, but that is definitely pushing it. The Bulls have a lot of young talent surrounding him including a young point guard in Coby White. However, the North Carolina product was recently benched for Tomáš Satoranský. White is as quick as lightning, is a great space creator, and has a great overall skill set that compliments his teammates. I simply do not understand why head coach Billy Donovan is benching him, but that is not the point. The media has a tendency to “over-hype” a lot of moves made by teams at the trade deadline. Now, the Bulls and Magic deal was apparently the “trade of the deadline”. Here is the full breakdown of the deal:
Chicago Bulls receive: Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu
Orlando Magic receive: 2 1st Round picks, Otto Porter, and Wendell Carter Jr.
While Chicago did receive a great piece in Nikola Vucevic, I do not believe that this was the right move. Nikola is a great talent, but his teammate, Al-Farouq Aminu is a problem: He is only putting up 5 points a game on 40% shooting. The worst part is that Aminu eats up 29 million dollars of Chicago’s cap space for the next 2 years. Orlando got a great young asset in Wendell Carter Jr., but he will not fit into Orlando’s system because they are not and never have been a physical, rebounding basketball team, which would have matched Carter Jr.’s skill set. It also explains why former first-round pick Mo Bamba hasn’t found success in Orlando. Despite that, the Magic made the right decision to start a rebuild and they got the best they could out of trading Nikola Vucevic, and the Bulls did not get as much as many fans and media believe they did. Finally, here is the official deal with my thoughts.
Chicago Bulls receive: Nikola Vucevic (Solid starting Center) Al-Farouq Aminu (A bad contract)
Orlando Magic receive: Wendell Carter Jr. (Young Center) Otto Porter Jr. (Expiring Contract), and 2 Future 1st Round picks. Now you tell me who won this trade. Yes, the Bulls have a higher chance of making the playoffs right now but what they had to give up will hurt their future greatly. Hope you enjoyed the article!
Hi, This is Khamani Cooper, the person who wrote this article, I would like to apologize for not writing more and being more into this. Writing means A lot to me and now I am realizing that writing is really special to me, so expect more articles and expect to see me grow every article. I hope you love my stuff and keep supporting me! Thank You!
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