Chicago Bulls analysis: Re-evaluating the pre-trade deadline move

Does the Chicago Bulls pre-trade deadline move look any better in hindsight?

In a 3-team deal in mid-February, the Bulls traded point guard Kirk Hinrich to the Atlanta Hawks for shooting guard Justin Holiday and a second-round pick from the Utah Jazz.

The move didn’t look good at the time because it failed to significantly improve the roster. At the time of the trade deadline, the Bulls had a disappointing 27-26 start to the season and had just lost eight of their last ten games. The move served as more of a money-saving measure than anything geared towards improving the short-term complexion of the roster.

Rumors had circulated prior to the Feb. 18 trade deadline that the Bulls were looking to make a high-impact move possibly involving one of its big men. Veteran center Pau Gasol suggested in December he would opt out of his current contract after the season commenced. It seemed logical for the Bulls to trade him at the deadline to prevent the 35-year-old veteran from walking at the conclusion of the season without compensation. Power forward Taj Gibson also saw his name entangled among the web of pre-deadline trade rumors.

Obviously, a high impact move never happened and the Bulls settled with the Kirk-Hinrich-for-Justin-Holiday-and-a-second-round-pick trade.

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The fallout from this move was extreme; fans berated it as yet another example of the incompetence of the Bulls front office tandem of Gar Forman and John Paxson. It failed to address the pressing limitations of the Chicago Bulls roster in the short term and prevented the Bulls from receiving a return on a player they would probably lose in free agency the coming summer.

Fast forward a month and a half later and the Chicago Bulls really aren’t in better position in terms of record than they were before the trade deadline. However, with the advantage of hindsight, does the move look any better than it did in February?

While the move looks a bit better now than it did in February because of Holiday’s solid performance, the underlying issues the Bulls should have addressed at the trade deadline remain.

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