Bulls Trade Rumors: Why Chicago Should Stay Away from Dwight Howard Sweepstakes

The Chicago Bulls are the latest team to be thrown into the mix for Dwight Howard, but they'd be sorry if they pulled the trigger on a big deal to land the most coveted player on the trade market. 

Howard still has a chance to stay with the Orlando Magic, but with so much talk going on and the fact that he is a free agent after this season, Howard is likely to be on the move. 

There are a number of teams in play for Howard this offseason, and Chicago should not be one of them. Yes, the pairing of Howard and Derrick Rose would be tremendous, but it would cost the Bulls too much to have such a dream combo. 

Chicago is one piece away from being an even more dangerous contender in the Eastern Conference, but if the Bulls blew their team up just to get Howard it would create a number of problems.

They're very close to being a complete team that will capitalize of last year's success, which means they don't need to screw it all up just to land Howard.

They're better off financially with what they have, and it would benefit them more if they stayed away from all the Howard trade talk. 

On Tuesday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Bulls are slightly in contention for Howard. 

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The Chicago Bulls are still a sleeper for Howard, several league executives believe. “Chicago may tell Orlando to take any two players – or three – besides [Derrick] Rose,” one GM said. 

Would a combination of [Joakim] Noah and Luol Deng or Carlos Boozer—bringing back Howard and one of those bad Orlando contracts—be enough? The Magic need a force to replace Howard, an anchor.

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Those are the three guys Chicago would definitely have to part ways with, but it's not worth it just to have Howard. 

While Omar Asik is developing into a solid player, there's no guarantee he'd end up as a viable replacement for the relentless baller that Noah is. And even though he's younger, Taj Gibson isn't as skilled as Boozer.

There's no denying that Howard and Rose would be the sickest point guard center combination in the league, but the Bulls already have a very strong team in place, and they don't need to mess with it.

Rose's desire for a contract extension hinders the Bulls in their free agency search, and while he is their top priority, their focus should soon shift to finding a legit shooting guard.

Adding another scorer to the team will take pressure off of Rose, who was essentially playing two positions last year, hence the MVP Award.

Of course it would be nice for the Bulls to have Howard, but they have to wake up and realize a mega deal like that would be detrimental to the structure of their team.

Expect the Bulls to back away from Howard and to soon put all their attention on finding that missing link for their team; a shooting guard who will be a great compliment to Rose.