JOHN PAXSON: ACE OF TRADES?

by Noce, Chicago Bull

With the Bulls hosting a surprisingly good Lakers team tonight it would be very easy to rehash all the old Kobe trade rumors and whine about John Paxson's reluctance to break up his "core" of young talent.

It would be easy to place the blame on the Bulls' slow start on any number of factors, including: 21 games of Kirk Hinrich's inconsistent play, 274 personal fouls committed by Hinrich this season (10th overall), two contract extension problems in Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, one poor job by coach Scott Skiles to establish a flow with a starting lineup, El Nino, Jay Mariotti and a headband in a Pear Tree.

I'm going to go back a little further and take a look at a trade that would have worked out for the Bulls better if they had not done anything. On June 28th, 2006 a deal was made that put the Bulls on a path that would lead to this season's slump. I'll let the press release speak for itself.

June 28, 2006 - The Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers made the following trade tonight: Chicago traded the Draft rights to LaMarcus Aldridge (the second overall pick) and a future Bulls second round draft choice to the Portland Trail Blazers for the Draft rights to Tyrus Thomas (the fourth overall pick) and the contract of Viktor Khryapa.

A 6-9, 220-pound forward, Thomas comes to Chicago after leading LSU to the 2006 NCAA Final Four in his redshirt-freshman season. He averaged 12.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg (second in SEC behind teammate Glen Davis) and an SEC-leading 3.09 bpg.

A Kiev, Ukraine native, Khryapa is a 6-9, 210-pound forward entering his third year in the NBA. He has played in 101 career games, including 58 starts, and has posted career averages of 5.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 20.0 mpg, while shooting .455 from the floor, including .341 from three-point range, and .654 from the free throw line.

Aldridge, a 6-9, 240-pound forward, played two seasons on the campus of Texas and averaged 12.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 1.83 bpg, while shooting .585 from the floor and .649 on free throws.

Paxson wanted a guy who had potential for growth, which is what he saw in Thomas. However, it is Aldridge who has grown, literally.

Listed at 6'11 currently, two inches taller than he was not even two years ago, Aldridge dominates Thomas in every statistical category this season, unless you count the number of suspensions. The most glaring statistic is minutes averaged per night, with Aldridge at 34.3 MPG compared to Thomas' 18.8. The Bulls one need on offense has been a consistent low post scorer, which Aldridge very much is. His offensive skills are complete with a good back to the basket game, combined with a finesse shot that has him shooting 53% this season and averaging 18.8 points per contest. And he can dunk too. Maybe not the high-flying acrobat dunks that make Thomas an exciting player, but he's far more developed on both sides of the floor at this point in his career.

Thomas has been a pain in the ass for Skiles since they traded for him in 2006. He has shown flashes of the great player that Paxson saw during his freshman year at LSU but he has also been awful at times, struggling to find his defensive assignment and often getting lost in transition. He has also had problems with the media (remember his '07 Dunk Contest quotes?), with the coaching staff regarding his work ethic and with opposing players (Troy Murphy and James Posey are just two that come to mind). He's only started 11 games this year, while Aldridge hasn't missed any until this week when he was diagnosed with mild plantar fasciitis in his right foot, the same problem Andres Nocioni suffered through last year. While Aldridge is only projected to be out for a week, at this point in his career he is definitely projected to be a more valuable player than the combustible Thomas, who appears to have fallen to the Ben Wallace side of attitude problems. Thanks for the veteran leadership, Ben.

Speaking of Ben, the argument could be made that his defense is suffering this year from the lack of a big center who can guard an opposing team's big man, allowing Ben to play the physical game and challenge shots like he did in Detroit with Rasheed Wallace. Aldridge, at 6'11, would complement Wallace much better than Thomas simply because Ben wouldn't have to worry about whether or not he could jump out and challenge a shot with Aldridge alongside him.

Tonight the Bulls face the Lakers, who have two big men that will force problems for the Bulls defensively. Andrew Bynum, at 7-0, can score in the interior, and will bang with Wallace all night. They also have 6'10 forward Lamar Odom, who can go inside and play in the post, or jump out and drain a three. Joe Smith will most likely be matched up with Odom, so we'll see how well he can stop him.

With Aldrige on the Bulls, they could go big and put Smith, Wallace and Aldridge on the court with Gordon and Deng playing guard, forcing mismatches on the other end of the court. They could also sub Smith for Nocioni and try to run the bigger, slower Lakers around the court. They can still run with Tyrus, but he's no guarantee for anything other than a dunk or a block per quarter.

Oh yeah, and the Lakers have that guy named Kobe. I've heard good things about him too.