NBA: 15 Eastern Conference Trades That Need To Happen Before The Deadline
By Mason McFee
Falling out of Favors
The Utah Jazz are an interesting squad. They were picked as a sleeper squad to make the playoffs, and barring a major late-season collapse, will be heading there.
Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert were once considered to be Utah’s frontcourt of the future, but as this season has shown with Favors only playing in 38 games (and starting in 30), they don’t need him. Joe Johnson has been a huge get for Utah, and veterans like Boris Diaw can hold down the fort.
While Favors hasn’t done much this season to really drive up his trade stock, they could most certainly sell him to a team that is set to lose a lot of frontcourt depth like……
Chicago could potentially lose Nikola Mirotic (RFA), Wade (player option), Gibson (UFA), Felicio (RFA), and MCW (RFA) this offseason.
Mirotic has definitely shown flashes of his 3PT prowess in the playoffs and regular season alike (34.0 career % from 3), but is shooting 29.9% from deep this year. That number should be taken with a grain of salt considering the Bulls are the worst 3PT shooting team in the NBA, but even in today’s market, is Mirotic worth bidding 10s of millions of dollars for? Let someone else overpay.
Wade is almost certain to depart IMO as his dream of being competitive in the Eastern Conference has proven to be just that – a dream. He could push for a trade or a buy out to go join a legitimate contender.
Felicio is a big body and has offensive skill, but I am not convinced he’d be worth getting in a bidding war over either.
MCW… I don’t really know where to start. He can play and defend the 1 and 2 spots, but he’s terrible from 3 (25% career average), and isn’t much of a facilitator (5.7 APG career average). If Chicago retains him, it should be for defensive purposes.
Oh, and I haven’t even gotten to how dysfunctional Chicago’s front office is.
If the Bulls are smart, they should look to sell high on well-respected vets like Taj Gibson, who, by the way, has started every game for Chicago this year, and get a guy who’s fallen out of a rotation who could be their big guy for the future.
The potential wrench in this plan is Bobby Portis. I think he’s a building block, but Hoiberg doesn’t play him that often. Maybe Chicago is waiting around for everyone else to leave to get him more playing time, but it seems odd not to give him time now.
Utah gets rid of Favors, and adds a veteran who isn’t afraid to get dirty in the paint and is just a hard-nosed defender who would fit seamlessly in Snyder’s style of play. He can start or come off the bench, still allowing for a consistent rotation in Utah.