Why the Bulls-Cavaliers Trade Means More than You Think

When Chicago Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose tore his meniscus in late November, the team’s carefully assembled championship plan fell apart. Their decision to build around their young, explosive centerpiece seemed a risky decision in hindsight, given that two successive Rose knee surgeries would end up depriving the organization of nearly two full seasons of his talents.

Crucial decisions made in the preceding seasons, including the one to let Omer Asik sign with Houston, were undoubtedly second-guessed. Smaller roster moves, such as signing shooter Mike Dunleavy to a two-year, $6 million dollar deal, would matter little for the middling playoff team the Bulls had become. In the end, improving from a first-round playoff exit to a second-round defeat doesn’t mean a whole lot. 

If there’s a silver lining here for the Bulls, it’s that they’ve come to terms with reality and accepted this. Bulls' GM Jon Paxson and Gar Forman understand that the focus has shifted from the present to the future. There is simply no way they can compete with Indiana and Miami for a shot at winning the East, let alone aspire to win the Finals in June. So it became more about getting under the salary cap this season and acquiring picks and assets for future championship runs (assuming Rose returns to the MVP-level player he has been).

In this view, dealing Luol Deng and his expiring contract for Andre Bynum, who was immediately waived, and a collection of draft picks and possible future selections makes total sense. As Zach Lowe of Grantland reported, the Bulls save $20 million this year in salary owed to Deng and payments that would have been made to the NBA for exceeding the salary cap.

Seeing as how Deng recently rejected a three-year, $30 million offer from Chicago, noted by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, and still reportedly harbors ill will towards the organization over how it dealt with his spinal tap health complications during last year’s playoffs, it was a good bet that the All-Star small forward would not be resigning this offseason. If that’s the case, then it’s better that the Bulls got something rather than nothing for him. Adding in the chance to move up in a few future drafts and add a couple second round picks, this transaction fits nicely with Chicago management’s desire to look ahead reload on the fly for future Rose-led title runs.

While the Deng trade made serious financial and business sense for the Bulls, that doesn’t mean it was a bad deal for the Cavaliers. Ever since signing Andrew Bynum to a two-year, $24 million gamble of a deal this summer, Cleveland has been crossing its fingers and holding its breath hopping from one Bynum fiasco to another.

The undeniably talented seven-footer has shot an abysmal 42% from the field and reportedly failed to impress with his practice and conditioning habits. Before a $6 million portion of his salary became guaranteed this season, Cleveland had to move him. He had just become too expensive for a weak team struggling just to hold onto a playoff spot in a historically bad Eastern Conference.

Adding Deng’s salary this season and subtracting Bynum’s still leaves the Cavaliers under the salary cap thanks to some previous cap space. Thus the deal is nothing but a win on the court, as Kyrie and the Cavs add a floor-spacing glue guy who will make them better in every aspect of the game. His presence will likely be enough to spur Cleveland into the playoffs.

But there are still too many holes for the Cavs to seriously contend for supremacy in the East and hope for a chance to make the Finals. Did Cleveland mortgage some of their future by dealing so many picks for a temporary upgrade on a middling team? Perhaps. But if they can resign Deng (which many believe they have better odds at doing than Chicago did) then Dan Gilbert and company can point to that as upward trajectory for the franchise.

Owing greatly to the Cavaliers traditional lower-rung status league-wide and smaller media market, they’ve never been a team that has commanded attention in free agency or sparked much fan enthusiasm. Year after year of futility, minus LeBron’s glory days, have been very much all the city has seen from its professional basketball team.

While it is laudable to try to stock up through the draft and wait for the right moment to go all-in during the supposed “championship window” that opens up in superstar players’ primes, there is something to be said for management, at a certain point, deciding that they need to slide their chips in and just try to win as much as possible right now. That moment appears to have arrived, as the Cleveland brass has grown tired of trying (and failing) to rebuild year after year in the wake of LeBron’s decision to ship off the South Beach. On an emotional, human level, no fan can blame the Cavaliers’ owner for saying enough is enough.

So in the end this could actually be a trade where both teams turn out to be winners. The Bulls jettison salary they don’t need and prepare for a future bright enough they hope it will block out memories of painful 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. The Cavaliers decidedly improve their team while simultaneously hoping to build on whatever sliver of success they achieve this season. Maybe the Bulls will be judged to have won this deal economically, but Cleveland will argue that there’s more to it than that.