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With the trade deadline here, the Chicago Bulls did the absolute right thing—absolutely nothing. The players that have manned the Bulls' roster this year will be the ones that take them through the playoffs, which is the best thing for the franchise.
This isn't to say that there weren't rumors. Plenty of those have surfaced. Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times addressed a trade that would have sent Pau Gasol to Chicago, but also talked about why it didn't work.
The Bulls are unwilling to part with a package of players in any trade, especially if that package includes Joakim Noah. The Bulls are interested in Gasol to pair him with Noah in an attempt to use their size advantage against the Miami Heat and other playoff rivals. Including Noah in a trade makes little sense for the Bulls, so no deal is imminent.
According to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, the Bulls were interested in Courtney Lee, but again common sense prevailed.
The Chicago Bulls have been after Courtney for almost two years, but sources say the Rockets want either Omer Asik or Taj Gibson in return for Lee and that’s likely too steep a price for the Bulls.
Lastly, we have Dwight Howard. According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, the Magic would have been interested in a trade with the Bulls, but there was one major holdup.
The Orlando Magic would like to seriously engage the Bulls in trade talks for Dwight Howard, but the All-Star center's apparent reluctance to make a long-term commitment to Chicago has all but killed the discussions, league sources told CBSSports.com.
All those may be big name players, but they wouldn't make the Bulls a better team. That is an important distinction often lost in the NBA. Bringing in a well-known player is not always the best thing to do for a team looking to win a title, which the Bulls are.
In a way, Wednesday night's game was the perfect final pre-trade deadline game for Chicago to play. In that game, the Bulls beat the superstar laden Miami Heat 106-102. More impressive is that they won the game without their own star, point guard Derrick Rose.
Yes, they beat the Heat without Rose, when Miami got 36 points from Dwayne Wade and 35 from LeBron James. How did this happen? Well, Michael Wallace of ESPN summed things up in a pretty good way.
Bulls winning this game with balance. 10 players have scored for Chicago. Role players are beating Superstars right now.
— Michael Wallace (@WallaceNBA_ESPN) March 15, 2012
No team in the NBA has the depth of the Bulls. Even at home, no team in the NBA should beat a team like the Heat without the reigning MVP.
Any potential trade would only put that depth at risk, which would be extremely costly for Chicago. The Bulls will go as far as their depth takes them. Rose is a fantastic player, but he thrives because everyone on the court has to be respected. That limits double teams and opens lanes, which he is phenomenal at hitting.
Making trades like these would minimize that, at best. Opponents would know that they can put extra pressure on Rose, not having to worry about a weaker player beating them.
By standing pat at the deadline, the Bulls maximized their greatest strength. Nothing Chicago could have done would have brought them closer to winning a championship than they are right now.
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