NBA Trade Rumors: Why Monta Ellis and the Chicago Bulls Are a Perfect Fit

Monta Ellis would instantly make the Bulls the Eastern Conference favorites. He brings the offensive fire power to take the scoring load off of Derrick Rose, and he would make the Bulls' offense as dominant as their defense.

Filling a Need

The Bulls have a huge need at shooting guard. Last season, they rolled with Keith Bogans as the starter in the backcourt opposite of NBA MVP Derrick Rose. They also brought Kyle Korver off the bench to provide shooting.

Both these guys are severely limited players. Bogans brings little to no offensive game to the table. He averaged just 4.8 points in 17.8 minutes per game last season.

Korver brings far more scoring, but little else. The spot up shooter averaged 8.3 points in 20.1 minutes per game, but the guy is a huge liability on the defensive end, he can't drive and he bombed in the playoffs.

This is by far the biggest hole on the roster.

What Ellis Brings

Ellis brings ample scoring, and a complete offensive game.

Last season, Ellis averaged 24.1 points per game, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. He can shoot from the outside (36 percent on three point shots) and he can penetrate.

Ellis is far from an elite defender, but with the Bulls team defense philosophy he also wouldn't be a big liability.

Ellis would also have more energy to expend on the defensive end. He averaged just over 40 minutes a game last season, and the offense clearly ran through Ellis. This left him with little energy to expend on the defensive side.

Bulls' Outlook with Ellis

The Bulls offense would be infinitely better with Ellis at the 2-guard. Ellis' defender could not help off of him. This would ease the pressure on Rose and help open things up for the big guys.

Ellis would also give the Bulls another guard to penetrate the lane and dish. It would allow the Bulls to be far more effective in the half-court offense. This would extend and spread out a defense.

The opposition would have to be ready to defend on penetration from both sides of the court. 

Probability

The price tag for Ellis is not going to be cheap. The Warriors aren't going to give him away for free. Helping the Bulls is that they are rumored to be one of Ellis' preferred destinations (Ellis has Bird rights).

This is most likely to happen via a three way trade, but the bottom line is that the Bulls would likely have to part with Joakim Noah, Luol Deng or Carlos Boozer. The best guess is that this move will only happen if the Bulls can put together a package that is centered on Deng.

Prediction: This move won't happen

Someone will make the Warriors an offer that the Bulls are not ready to match.