The New-Look Chicago Bulls

Republished, with permission, from the Chicago Sports Review

Thursday's deadline three-way trade by John Paxson may well go down one day as the move that saved his legacy as GM of the Chicago Bulls.

Doing the impossible and trading what is easily one of the NBA's worst current contracts allows Paxson to finally move on from the most egregious error of his tenure.

As many have said, losing Wallace is addition by subtraction, and so long as the Bulls didn't get Vin Baker back in a trade for him they would instantly become a better team as soon as he left.

What they did actually yield in the deal that also saw Joe Smith and Adrian Griffin leave town was considerably better than Vin Baker: Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons, Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. Somehow, Paxson managed to find somebody stupid enough to give him more talented, younger and cheaper players in exchange for Wallace.

Thank god the Matt Millen of the NBA, Danny Ferry, does his trading based solely on the whims of LeBron James.

The move is a huge positive for Chicago and a astronomical negative for the Cavs. Some may say, especially after Sunday night where the Cavs were victorious, while the Bulls lost their debut with the new players that Cleveland "won" the deal.

I'll say it now and remember you heard it here first: if the Cleveland faces the Bulls in the playoffs, the Bulls will win the series.

Now that that's established, I'll examine the skills of the new players the Bulls brought in and try to see how they'll fit with the current roster. In his comments Friday, Paxson harped on how the biggest thing about the move was giving more time for the Bulls young big men. If you watched the past two games, you've noticed just how talented the pair of Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah are. They will only get better with more minutes as the Bulls make their playoff run this year and into the future.

More importantly, though, moving Wallace, Smith and Griff means all the Bulls veteran "leaders" are gone. The younger Bulls are more talented than this trio and any success this team has today or tomorrow depends solely on its youthful core. It is time for them to take responsibility for the team's success into their own hands.

Shannon Brown

Contract:
20007/08 - $1,044,120

The Proviso East graduate returns to Chicagoland amid little fanfare. He was included in the deal only essentially to make the salaries equal out, and anything the Bulls get from him will be a bonus. Given the backlog at the guard position, and his expiring contract at the end of this year, doing anything in a Bulls uniform seems unlikely.

Just in case, though here's what the excellent folks at DraftExpress.com were saying about Shannon before the Cavs picked him 25th overall in the 2006 draft,

Strengths:

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