Joakim Noah, Luol Deng Prove Chicago Bulls Made Right Choice Regarding Anthony

Last night the Chicago Bulls beat, quite convincingly one of the best teams in the NBA in the Portland Trailblazers. Furthermore, in the game, both Joakim Noah and Luol Deng played critical roles. Noah had his third double-double in three games, and Deng scored a career high 40 points.

Yet, in spite of this, some look at the achievement and said, "If the Bulls could get Anthony they'd be right there with the elite teams in the NBA." I would like to point out they are there already.

In fact not only are they there, adding Carmelo Anthony would make the team worse, especially at the cost of Noah and Deng. Estimations of what the Bulls "could be" with Anthony are based on a combination of an over-estimation of Anthony's worth combined with and under-estimation of the value of Noah and Deng.

Bear in mind that I am not suggesting that either player alone is superior to Anthony, but the pair exceed the value of Anthony, and it's not really close. 

Consider first what the two contribute to the Bulls. As a pair they combine for an average of 35 points per game, 19 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 2.7 blocks. Anthony's career averages are 24.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, .4 blocks, and 1.1 steals.

That means that whatever player stepped into Noah's starters role would need to average 10 points, 13 boards, better than 2 blocks and half a steal a game. Sorry but that kind of production is not out there waiting to be signed in the D' League. So, just on the surface the argument that Noah is "worth it" is put to the test. 

But some people will argue that "numbers don't mean everything." It's true—they don't. In fact numbers barely begin to tell the story about why trading for Anthony would be a really, really bad move. Part of the reason that numbers "don't tell the whole story" is that the traditional numbers hardly say much about defense.

However, there is defensive rating, which is a measure of how many points per opponent's 100 possessions the player surrenders, and both Deng (104), and Noah (103),have superior defensive rating's to Anthony (107).  And this isn't just a numbers game either. He's actually visibly bad. He doesn't fight through picks, he's backs off shooters too quickly, and he often gets lost. And you don't just have to take my word on that.

Deng on the other hand is actually a pretty sound defender. Witness not only his 40 point  performance last night but also Nicolas Batum's who was rendered a virtual non sequitur last night. In fact, Deng's counterpart's at small forward, including Kevin Durant, have gone a combined 17-42 from the field against him. That amounts to a little under 37 percent, and that's pretty good defense.

At least part of what you get from Anthony on offense is lost on defense. The Bulls are a better offensive team with Anthony, but they are a better defensive team Deng. And when was the last time you heard the adage, "Offense wins championships?"

Additionally there is the  style that both Deng and Anthony play with. In the Bulls system, Rose handles  the ball. That's the way it needs to be. The Bulls don't need someone to come in and "take over" the team. Carlos Boozer recognizes that. Rose is the leader. Boozer is a co-captain, but Rose is the team leader.

Anthony is a shot creator. What he does, he does with the ball. That's not a criticism, it's an observation. It's just going to clash with Rose's style.

Contrarily, Deng's best play on offense is how well he moves away from the ball. He's good at movement, and finding open spots. He's actually not very good with the ball, which is how Del Negro tried to use him, which is why he wasn't very good the last couple of years.

Tibs sees his strengths and has designed plays around it. If you watched the Bulls during the preseason, you know that the first two games, not the Portland game were the anomaly. Deng isn't going to score 40 a game, but he will score close to are even over 20 this year.  

Again, I believe the Bulls are a better team overall with Anthony than with Deng, I'm just saying it is somewhat mitigated by Deng's better defensive play, and by his better movement away from the ball. When you throw in Noah into the discussion though the trade becomes a no-brainer. 

Noah is already one of the leagues best rebounders. He's at the top right now, and might very well be at the end of the season. It's not impossible that he will average more than 12 rebounds and 12 points per game this season. In the last decade the players that have done that are Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Antonio McDyess (before he got injured).

That's pretty rare company. That's not the kind of player you trade away lightly. People are too quick to dismiss the value of Noah. People talk about whether you can find a "poor man's Joakim" to fill in for him. Such consideration fails to realize, Joakim is the poor man's Dwight Howard. 

Still, there's more that needs to be considered in this trade, especially in the matter of chemistry. Joakim is not just one of players on the team, he's also one of the most important people on the Bulls. It's evident in his play with the energy he brings.

It's also evident int he players around him when they discuss him. He's one of the most liked players on the team, and all things considered, that's pretty important. Consider all the new players that were brought into the team this year.

The fact that they have gelled so well is almost miraculous. You don't want to take the key elements out of that, and bring in a player that is presently complaining about his current situation, especially one that might challenge D-Rose for the leadership of the team.

In Deng and Noah you have two of the three players who started last year, and two of the only four players that were with the team last year. It doesn't make sense to take them out of the equation. 

And finally, don't forget that this team just beat what many consider to be an elite team. Most of the power polls have them as one of the top three or four teams in the West. They also went toe to toe with Oklahoma, in a game which was far closer than the final score would indicate.

Yes, it's still early in the season, but this is a club that's far more likely to get better than be surviving off of early luck. They are getting used to one another and a new system, and their key offsesason acquisition is yet to play. The Bulls don't need another player to join the elite because they are already there.