Thabo Sefolosha: Gone. Traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a conditional first round draft pick. (OKC has the first-round picks of both the Nuggets and Suns; the Bulls will receive the lesser of the two.)
Makes sense. The Bulls traded for John Salmons but weren’t able to trick anybody into taking on Kirk Hinrich’s contract. That left them with a possible guard rotation of Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Hinrich, Salmons and Sefolosha. Vinny Del Negro would need a time machine to produce enough minutes for that many guards. But, despite the various and complex intricacies of the NBA salary cap, it’s still easier to trade a player than invent a Flux Capacitor. (Or produce the 1.21 gigawatts necessary to power it, for that matter.) Plus, it gets Sefolosha’s $2.75 million salary off the books for next season. And as we all know, it’s all about shedding salary, baby!
I’m fine with this trade. More than fine with it, actually. Thabo was next to useless on offense and his supposed benefits — size and defense in the backcourt — weren’t strong enough to make up for his offensive deficiencies. Salmons is a better player in every way. Well, except that he’s been known to throw hissy fits when he doesn’t get enough shots. And Thabo, for all his faults, never complained. (Loudly enough to make the news, at any rate.) But as long as we can keep John reasonably happy, this is a smart move. Heck, it’s a smart move regardless.
For the first time that I can remember, it looks like Chicago actually made moves that make sense. It’s going to be an interesting home stretch for the Bulls with their new-look roster.
I really like the addition of Salmons and Brad Miller. Now Chicago finally has a post presence, and as a former denizen of Seattle, I’ve even seen Jerome James play well (for a whole half of a season!), so the center spot is as strong as it ever has been in Chicago in recent memory.
All that needs to happen now is (and I’ve been saying this for 4 years) for Kirk Hinrich to commit to playing the PG position and stop pretending to be a 2-guard or a combo guard. Right now on paper Chicago looks awesome.
pg- Rose, Hinrich
sg- Gordon, Salmons
sf- Deng, (Salmons/Thomas/Noah/whoeverelseyouwannaname)
pf- Thomas, Noah
c- Miller, James, Grey
We’ll see how this turns out, but I think it’s going to be enough to put them in the playoff picture.
A nickel and a jack-high could get you into the playoffs in the East. But I overall agree – pretty good trades for limited offerings.
Congrats to OKC though. Thabo should be able to improve their turnover numbers.
What’s the deal with all these “pingback” comments?
Great analysis my friend!
Look at what Thabo is doing now in OKC.
David — What can I say? I guess Thabo just needed more minutes…