If Rockets are giving CP3 away, the Bulls should take a stab at him
Trust me, I know your initial thought as a Bulls fan was probably reluctance towards Chris Paul, but hear me out. It wouldn’t hurt to shoot our shot at least.
The cons are the first things that come to mind and are very noticeable, such as his contract (3 years left on a $160 million deal), age (34), and injuries (played only 58 games for 2017–18 & 2018–19). But the pros definitely outweigh them if we can get Chris Paul on a lopsided deal (in favor of the Bulls).
Let’s explore the pros.
Chris Paul’s level of leadership in the NBA is unmatched.
The Bulls lacked leadership and direction on the court until Otto Porter Jr. stepped in at the trade deadline. Even though Porter Jr. is like the chill big brother and mentor on the team, leadership is a quality that Chris exudes aggressively. Chris Paul is the President of the Player’s Association; a task that most players would not want to take on because it consists of a lot of meetings, emails, and paperwork. Chris Paul is a 9-time all-star, a 4-time assist leader, and is known for having one of the highest basketball IQ’s in the game, probably only inferior to LeBron. Chris Paul has a hands-on type of leadership approach where he will vocally call people out and be transparent with players about the issues going on and try to make players better through his tips and outspokenness. The young Bulls roster needs this nagging and push type of leadership on the court and there would be no veteran better than Chris Paul to fill that role.
Chris Paul makes everyone on the court better whether they like it or not.
Let’s look in the past, Chris Paul has gotten players ginormous contracts that may have been questionable if he did not play with them. He has had a positive influence on the careers of players like David West in New Orleans and Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in LA. David West had a solid career before and after Paul but David West made two All-Star appearances (2007–2009) at power forward and averaged more than 20 points per game only when he had Paul as a teammate. In the case for Griffin and Jordan, if not for Paul, there would be no “Lob City.” Even with Paul’s dip in production last season only averaging 15.6 points and 8.2 assists a game the Rockets still made it into the second round of the playoffs. The past two seasons in Houston he has propelled Clint Capella to being a remarkable big man averaging 16.6 points and 12.7 rebounds a game compared back to 2016 before Paul when Capella averaged 12.6 points and 8.1 rebounds a game.
This forces you to consider the incredible impact he can impose on Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen’s careers as they are considered the poster children of the Bulls and the only untradeable assets. Chris Paul is a pick and roll god. Markkanen and Carter Jr.’s progression would amplify instantly with Chris Paul on the floor. Chris Paul’s exceptional decision-making and ability to set up easy shots for everybody is something the Bulls would deeply value. Even with diminishing numbers due to age, iso ball with his current team, and his minor health issues, you cannot underestimate the amazing impact he could bring to this offense that lacks guidance and a true point guard.
The impeccable nit-picky defense Chris Paul brings is another reason why he should be considered.
He is a leader on both sides of the floor and makes intention effort on defense which happens to be another weakness of the Bulls. Chris Paul led the league in steals six times and has made nine NBA All-Defensive teams over his career and his defense hasn’t let up. With Chris Paul on the team, we would have a guard that would happily guard players like Kyrie Irving and D’Angelo Russell. Chris Paul has made all team Defense does his dirty work on defense with a passion. Chris Paul would absolutely increase the Bulls defensive efficiency.
Chris Paul would bring a personality that matches Boylen’s culture.
Boylen has a lot of quirks similar to Chris Paul and another big priority of Boylen and the Bulls is to establish a culture. Chris Paul’s stature and qualities could help mold this almost non-existent identity that the Bulls currently have by bringing passion and tenacity. The only identity the Bulls have right now is that they are young, Paul doesn’t fit the timeline, but he checks too many boxes to ignore.
For the Bulls to acquire CP3 it would have to heavily weigh in the Bulls favor. The caveat is it would be important that the Bulls do not give up a lot of future assets. We would have to see some type of bargain such as Chris Paul for Felicio, Valentine, Kris Dunn, Blakeney, and a 2nd Round 2020 pick and use the rest of the cap space to pick up his huge contract. (Very unlikely to happen and clearly very one sided but one can only dream.)
Basically, This trade only works if the Rockets are as desperate to purge CP3 as the rumors that are being spread.
It would be nice to see the Bulls capitalize on another organization’s problems for a change. The only thing we can hope for in this case is if the Rockets are practically “giving him away”. It wouldn’t hurt to shoot our shot and give an offer. With point guards like Lonzo Ball and Mike Conley moving fast before the NBA draft you would the Bulls need to do something in the point guard department.
