Bulls Trade Derrick Rose To New York

Wednesday, the Bulls traded Derrick Rose to the Knicks along with Justin Holiday and a 2017 2nd-round pick for Robin Lopez, Jose Calderon, and Jerian Grant. Mike or Kelsey (once she calms down) might end up talking about this in more detail, but I just wanted to get a quick discussion about this up.

First, kudos to GarPax for recognizing that something needed to be done, and then (and this is the key part) actually doing something. Whether or not you feel this was a good thing to do, the point is they didn’t just sit on their hands again, so progress.

I really don’t think Rose was going to re-sign after this season, so you might as well get what you can for him. Robin Lopez is a legitimate starting C and Jerian Grant has a high upside. The Bulls were interested in drafting him last year. Calderon is a solid shooter with an expiring contract. I would have liked to get a draft pick, even a lottery-protected one, but they got a couple nice pieces for a guy who probably wasn’t going to be around after this season anyway, so I can’t complain too much.

As for what this means going forward, Forman said Butler fits into what they want to do, this is a re-tool not a rebuild, and picking up Jerian Grant means there’s no reason to go after Kris Dunn, so I find it highly unlikely that Butler would be traded. Which is a good thing, unless you can get a ton for him, i.e. a top 5 (or at least top 10) pick, another first-round pick, and a solid player. Trading Butler for a role player and a pick makes no sense unless you’re 100% sure that the pick is going to turn into a superstar. Jo is probably gone, which from a personal standpoint sucks, because he’s a real leader and has a ton of heart, but from a purely on-floor standpoint, it’s probably time to move on unless Jo is willing to give the Bulls a huge hometown discount. Gasol had better be gone, although they mentioned at the press conference announcing the trade that Pau and Calderon are good friends, so who knows. Taj could work as the backup C and you have a couple younger PFs that need minutes, so spending any real money on an old Gasol would be a bad idea. As for the draft, my guess is that the pick will be Denzel Valentine if he’s there.

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