Bulls Trade Rumors: The Only Two Trade Rumors Worth Keeping an Eye on

Frankly, there is a ridiculous amount of trade speculation regarding the Bulls acquiring the likes of Dwight Howard or Monta Ellis or some other star caliber player. These rumors involve sending Carlos Boozer and/or Joakim Noah and/or Luol Deng.

Most of this gobbledygoop can be, and should be, ignored. There are only two players, OJ Mayo and Courtney Lee, the Bulls will trade for. 

Now having said that, let's first establish that they will only be doing that if they strike out in the free-agent market, which is highly unlikely. There is a veritable host of players available to be had that would fill the Bulls needs in free agency and then through amnesty. They aren't going need to go straight for the trade market. 

However if by some bizarre set of unforeseen circumstances they decide to go the trade route, there are two players they might trade for, Lee and Mayo. I say this because the Bulls management has indicated previously that they are interested in the two players. 

At the same time while they have made it known they are interested in those players, they've also been pretty clear that they aren't ready to spend on of their "bigs" on either of them. Nothing has happened between now and then to change their mind. 

If they do make a trade for Mayo or Lee, it won't involve Taj Gibson or Omer Asik, nor should it. Why would the Bulls spend one of their bigs on a player to meet their needs when they can do so without spending their bigs? It doesn't make for good business. 

No. If the Bulls make a move for one of the two players, it will involve either Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver to make the money work. It will involve other assets, either draft picks or perhaps their picks from this year. It will not involve their bigs, though. 

The fact is the Bulls are close, very close to a championship right now. If they make a trade, it's going to minimize the impact to the rest of the team. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And it ain't broke. It's just a little bit defective. 

Ignore rumors involving Howard or Ellis or anyone else. The Bulls aren't getting rid of Boozer. They won 80 percent of the games he played last year. They aren't looking to get rid of that kind of success despite the postseason where he was obviously limited by turf toe. 

They won't be shipping out Noah. They weren't going to last year and they aren't going to do so this year. They sure aren't trading Deng. I'd be concerned about Tom Thibodeau following Deng were he to get traded. 

Nope, the core of the players will stay together. Keep an eye on the trade market, but be discerning. For the most part only two players have a chance of getting traded, and neither of them is going to fetch a haul from their current teams.