Proposed Bulls Trade for All-Star Forward Would Be Disastrous

The Chicago Bulls have a ton of work to do this offseason to give their fans any semblance of hope. The front office and ownership have consistently refused to rebuild. Instead, they have spent resources on building mediocre teams that chase the eight-seed. Embarrassingly, they have failed even in that objective, in a weak Eastern Conference.

Everyone except for the Bulls' top brass knows that the right thing to do is to blow it all up. Let DeMar DeRozan walk, trade Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic for whatever you can get, and start over. Unfortunately, however, we know that this is unlikely to happen.

What is more likely to happen is along the lines of what Bleacher Report just proposed. In their article where they find an ambitious trade for each team, Dan Favale and Grant Hughes have identified Brandon Ingram as a potential Bulls target.

"Chicago could build a trade by sending LaVine and his remaining three years to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for a one-year test run with Ingram. That'd allow a season to evaluate his fit with fellow three-point-attempt-eschewer DeMar DeRozan (who seems destined to return in free agency) and Coby White."

- Bleacher Report

On paper, replacing Zach LaVine with Brandon Ingram seems like a big win for Chicago. In practice, however, it is a disastrous move.

First of all, the Bulls will need to give up significant assets in addition to LaVine to be able to get Ingram. Most teams, presumably including the New Orleans Pelicans will treat Lavine as a negative contract.

Secondly, the Bulls will have to give Ingram a contract extension. This will put Chicago in the exact same spot that they were: expensive and not good.

Finally, the fit between Ingram and DeRozan is absolutely atrocious. They are basically the same player. Ingram is a better three-point shooter than DeRozan but he still likes to have the ball in his hands and operate in the mid-range. The spacing will be miserable on the offensive end, while the defense doesn't improve at all.

If the Pelicans are willing to trade Ingram straight up for LaVine, the Bulls need to jump on that. But that is almost certainly not happening. In that case, Chicago is better off staying put rather than throwing good money after bad on Ingram.

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