NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls Should Consider Swapping Luol Deng for Monta Ellis

The Chicago Bulls need a scorer who can create his own shot. The Golden State Warriors could use a shutdown perimeter defender to mask their deficiencies on that end of the floor.

Hmm, sounds like the perfect scenario for swapping Luol Deng and Monta Ellis before the NBA trade deadline on March 15.

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News certainly thinks so, as do some folks with the power to do something about it:

"

NBA source notes probably most sensible GSW trade is Ellis for Luol Deng & a few people on both teams like it. But Bulls won't do it.

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) Feb. 28, 2012"

It should come as little surprise that the Bulls would be at least somewhat reluctant to make such a deal. After all, Deng, a terrific player and a first-time All-Star, is Chicago's best defensive player overall, with the talent and athleticism to slow down the likes of LeBron James and Andre Iguodala in the East and Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant in the West.

That sort of ability is vital to the Bulls' hopes to bring the Larry O'Brien Trophy back to the Windy City for the first time since the Michael Jordan era.

Then again, what makes Tom Thibodeau's team so good on defense is how the five guys on the court play with each other, rather than the individual ability of any one defender. Losing a lanky perimeter player like Deng would hurt, to be sure, but his absence wouldn't exactly be one that a player like, say, Ronnie Brewer could make up for to some extent.

For the Bulls, the greater necessity for postseason success is a second scorer to slot alongside Derrick Rose. Last year's defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals made all too clear the danger of Chicago's sole reliance on Rose to create offense for himself and the rest of his teammates.

Taking down LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and company won't be any easier this time around, seeing as how they're already playing far better than they did at just about any point during their first season as the Heatles.

If the Bulls are doing to beat the Heat this time around, they'll need a scorer of some sort to take pressure off D-Rose and force the opposition to defend more than one guy on the floor.

Why not Monta Ellis?

Granted, the guy's not exactly a model citizen and has spent the vast majority of his NBA career putting up big numbers for bad teams.

That being said, Ellis is arguably one of the 10 best pure scorers in the Association today and would slide in instantly as the second option that Richard Hamilton was supposed to be but hasn't been healthy enough to be this season.

As good as the Bulls are as currently constituted, they'd be hard-pressed to sneak past Miami and into the NBA Finals on Rose's shoulders alone. Monta Ellis could change all that, but only if Bulls GM Gar Forman is first willing to gamble a bit with Luol Deng.

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