Chicago Bulls: Grading every move this season

It’s been over a month since the Bulls dealt away Justin Holiday, and a lot has changed since.

The Grizzlies made a play for Justin Holiday at the beginning of January with the intent to stay in the playoff hunt. They sent MarShon Brooks (waived), Wayne Selden, and their 2019 and 2020 unprotected second round picks. Unfortunately, the trade has since soured for Memphis, as Holiday has been rather ineffective:

• Holiday pre-trade: 11.6 points, 38.3 percent from the floor, 35.9 percent from three
• Holiday post-trade: 8.1 points, 33.8 percent from the floor, 29 percent from three

While the Grizzlies are in full rebuild mode, they whiffed badly thinking that they could try and compete in the competitive Western Conference by adding an at best seventh man to their roster.

For the Bulls, they made out like bandits. Those second-round picks look really good right now, considering Memphis’ decision to tank away this season and likely next year as well. No doubt the picks will be in the grey area where they are “fringe first-round picks”. Given the front office’s love for dealing those away, they could even be real trade assets down the road.

Also, who seemed to be nothing more than a throw-in, Selden has turned out to be a nice find. He’s shown positional flexibility in what is a position-less league. His shooting and passing have also been a nice addition. At the very least, they have a quality bench player that they could bring back at a cheap price should Denzel Valentine be moved or is unable to come back from his injury.

Grade: B+ (with the potential to be higher)

This deal looked pretty mundane on the surface. Chicago was planning to move Holiday this year and his expiring contract when they realized they weren’t going anywhere. What they didn’t expect was that he would crater in Memphis. Thus, they didn’t expect the draft picks to be such a steal. Lastly, they didn’t expect to get something of a contributor in Selden.

Not bad, GarPax, not too bad.