NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls Would Be Foolish to Send Luol Deng to Golden State

If all the Chicago Bulls can get for Luol Deng is the No. 7 overall selection they need to hang on to the well-rounded small forward. 

According to Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times, Chicago would like to ship out Deng to get into the draft lottery. 

Their desire to ship out Deng makes excellent sense for one very big reason. The Bulls will be, in a sense, in a rebuilding year next season. 

That statement seems ridiculous to utter for the team that entered these past playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it is true because of what happened in those playoffs. Star point guard Derrick Rose tore his ACL. 

As ESPN's Nick Friedell pointed out, Rose's surgeon, Dr. Brian Cole, said after the surgery that the expected timetable for return is eight months to a year. In the same article, Cole is noted as saying Rose is ahead of schedule, but I still contend it would be foolish to expect Rose to be back near 100 percent at any time next season. 

Getting on the court is one thing, but playing at an MVP level is another, and without Rose at his dominating best, the Bulls can forget about contending for an NBA title. 

So this leaves the Bulls at a crossroads: They can try and patch it together and make a run at the title next year, or they can reshape their roster and aim for the seasons ahead, while possibly ending up with their own lottery pick the following year. 

Their willingness to trade Deng for a draft pick is a sign they are going for the latter. This plays right into the Warriors' hands, who Thompson points out, are aggressively looking to add a small forward. 

Still, the Bulls must do better than the No. 7 pick the Warriors have to offer, because not only would they be getting the pick, but they would also be forced to add a Warriors castoff—Thompson mentions Richard Jefferson or Andris Biedrins. 

Bringing in the contracts of either would limit what the Bulls would be able to do this offseason, and the kind of player available at No. 7 simply isn't worth it. 

If the Bulls are going to make this trade, they need to do so for a player with the potential to be an All-Star, and it would be a huge gamble to think they could find that kind of player at No. 7. In that case, they'd be better off holding onto the 27-year-old Deng.