Trade Deadline

March 15th is the NBA trade deadline so the question for the Bulls is are they going to make a move?  In my mind there are three options: the big deal, the small deal, or nothing.  The big deal would be a superstar deal for the league's best center, Dwight Howard.  A small deal would be for a shooting guard/wing player who can score.  Nothing obviously would be staying pat.  I believe they will do option #3, nothing.  I also believe this is the best option at this time.  The Bulls season can be summed up by one question, "Can the Bulls beat the Heat?"  That is what any trade speculation has to address.  (Just for fun here's a link to pictures of how other NBA players would look with Noah's hair.)

The Big Deal
The purpose of the big deal is to unite Adidas superstars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose.  In the process the Bulls would need to take on Hedo Turkoglu and give up most likely Deng, one or two big men and draft picks.  Your starting line up would look something like Rose, Brewer/Hamilton, Turkoglu, Boozer, Howard.  The reason why they will not do this now is, why blow up the core of your team when you have the best record in the league?  The Bulls are a top 3 team in the league right now and save for the Heat and possibly the Thunder, have the best chance of winning the title.  You never know what can happen between now and the Finals so just ride it out with this unit.  The Heat probably beat the Bulls in a seven game series more times than not, but that's why we play them because almost nobody would have picked the Mavericks to win it all last year. 

While I'm against this trade now, I think the Bulls should into this in the offseason, depending how the playoffs go.  I don't believe Howard will be dealt by March 15th because I think Orlando thinks it can still keep him with the right players and incentives so he should still be available.  Assuming the Bulls and the Heat match up, a lot will be riding on that series.  If the Bulls win, no question they will not go for any Howard offseason trade.  If they lose that's when things get interesting.  You then have to ask how close were the Bulls?  How did they lose?  Were they dominated? Were the Bulls a few last second shots away from winning?  If it's clear the Bulls will be unable to defeat the Heat, well then you get the trade done if you can.    Although Chicago might be back off Howard's list so that might be the end of this discussion.  

The Small Deal
The purpose of the small deal is to insert some instant offense to take some of the load off Rose.  With Hamilton's and Deng's ailing, another wing player would bolster wing player rotation and the scoring.  This option seems popular because the Bulls team that lost last year to the Heat doesn't seem that different from this unit.  If last year's team couldn't get it done, why can this year's team?  My answer is two-fold.  One, and this is the easy way out, but you can't predict what will happen in the playoffs.  Maybe the Bulls find fire and roll all the way to a title.  Maybe Lebron gets injured.  Maybe, maybe, maybe... but the bottom line is this team has a good shot at winning the title and a few bounces could put them over the top.  Two, Rip Hamilton.  Okay he's injured now and we don't know how fragile he is, but the Bulls looked good with him early in the season and he would be a nightmare for Dwayne Wade.  If Rip is healthy he could be that little bit to put this team over the top.      

Will a trade happen?  I don't believe this will happen because the Bulls would probably need to give up one of their bigs (Boozer, Gibson, Noah, Asik) to get anyone of value in return.  This is something they don't want to do because their advantage on the front line is something they can hold over Miami.  Once again, I think the Bulls just ride it out and hope Deng and Hamilton recover to make a playoff run.

Nothing
Nothing might not be the flashiest answer, but I think it is the right answer.  It is the safe answer.  You see how far this team can go and decided what needs to be addressed in the offseason.  This is a team with incredible depth and chemistry.  I don't think the Bulls want to break it up while they are sitting on the best record.  That being said if the right deal comes along of course they should make it.  The end goal is winning a title and if Bulls management finds the right deal they should make it, but I just don't believe that deal is going to be out there in the next few days.