NO TRADES

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and John Paxson stood pat. Not only did he fail to land a legit post presence, he didn't even feel a minor move was necessary to improve his extremely average junior varsity conference team.

So, it looks like it will be another year of exiting the playoffs with a first round loss. The Bulls will not catch the Detroit Pistons for the division lead and thus wind up with a seed somewhere between No. 4 and 6. Out of the other teams positioned in that group, the only team they can beat in a series is probably the red-hot Toronto Raptors. Unfortunately, they would fall to the Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic or Cleveland Cavaliers.

The door has been open to make a run to the NBA Finals and a possible championship, but it is slowly closing. Paxson can't hang on to all four of his young talents when they become free agents and Ben Wallace's final three seasons will just see him continue to physcially decline.

I sure hope Paxson knows what he's doing and the upcoming off-season nets the Bulls Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph or Pau Gasol. Bulls fans want to win big and they want to do it now. Slightly above-averge seasons with early playoff exits won't cut it that much longer.

A Plea to Pax

With the trade deadline right around the corner, I really don’t envy any general manager in the NBA. While journalists can throw around trade rumors by playing with their trading cards, it’s the GM’s around the league that have to deal with the actual players and the affect it will have on their team.

This season, the GM I least admire is the Bulls’ John Paxson. Paxson has done a tremendous job turning the organization around since Jerry Krause ran it into the ground when the Jordan era came to an end. He’s drafted talented players, hired a smart coach in Scott Skiles and stockpiled tradable parts in the form of young players, draft picks and expiring contracts.

Now, he is at a crossroads however; at 29-25 the Bulls stand sixth in the eastern conference and there haven’t really been any signs they are better than their record suggests. Two years in a row, they’ve been knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, and barring a change it’s quite possible that will happen again.

So, Paxson must now decide which of his young players he should continue to build around and which are expendable in a trade for the final piece of the puzzle: a legit big man who can post-up and score with his back to the basket.

At this point, Kevin Garnett seems like nothing more than a dream. Despite the fact that the Timberwolves are barely hanging on to the eighth seed in the west and appear to have no overall direction, GM Kevin McHale seems unwilling to trade the “Big Ticket.” There’s no point to dwell on this anymore, as the reasons continue to grow as to how a trade would benefit the TWolves. But, McHale continues to prove that he doesn’t have the mental capacity to build a winning team.

A few rumblings suggest that Portland might be willing to move Zach Randolph, but at the moment none seem to be substantial. However, Randolph would be the best fit for the Bulls and would probably come relatively cheap.

The rumor that refuses to go away revolves around Memphis Grizzlies All-Star Pau Gasol. The 26-year-old from Barcelona carries career averages of 18.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game. Yet, in 12 chances he has yet to win a single playoff game.

Grizzlies’ GM Jerry West won’t just trade Gasol for spare parts. His initial request from the Bulls asked for both Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, the only two players the Bulls appear completely unwilling to part with.

Deng continues to improve each season, and at the age of 21 he can really turn into a Josh Howard type of player. Meanwhile, Gordon is the one guy Paxson absolutely cannot trade. He is a pure scorer who continues to improve and genuinely enjoys being in Chicago. While his game seemed relatively one dimensional as a pure shooter before this season, he has shown the willingness to drive to the basket by creating his own shot. Often times, he takes a mugging and goes to the free throw line where he shoots around 90 percent.

This is where the beauty of Paxson’s roster and assets should come into play, if he can only get West to listen.

The fact of the matter is that in order to get a legit star big in the NBA, you’ve got to give something up. If that isn’t going to be Deng or Gordon, then it will have to be the other two of the Bulls’ four young talents. While Bulls fans have grown to love Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni, they are expendable in this situation.

Hinrich is a legit point guard, but he has serious flaws in his game. His shot is incredibly inconsistent and when it’s not falling, it becomes awfully hard for the Bulls to win. He tends to dribble too much and run around in circles on the offensive end. Meanwhile, a common misperception is that Hinrich is one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the league. In fact, Hinrich does play a solid defense, but he is also slow when moving side-to-side. Quicker point guards tend to blow past Hinrich rather easily, leading to defensive breakdowns for the entire team.

Nocioni would even be more difficult to part with than Hinrich. Nocioni has raw talent and is still developing. Some nights he resembles Dirk Nowitzki, while others he looks like Dino Radja’s twin brother. Yet, no matter which part of his game is functioning, “Chapu” plays extremely hard each game. He is constantly drawing charges, playing tough defense and diving for loose balls. Those components are essential on any team with championship aspirations.

Beyond Hinrich and Nocioni, the Grizzlies could still ask for a bit more. If that’s the case, give them the choice between Tyrus Thomas and the first-round draft pick the Bulls will receive from the New York Knicks. While the Knicks are playing better this season, it should still be somewhere from the middle to end of the lottery, thus netting one of the ten big men in next year’s exceptionally deep draft class.

Thomas is still extremely raw and isn’t ready to help a team that wants to win now. The only element he brings to the floor is his ability to block shots, but Gasol brings the same attribute and so much more.

Meanwhile, the draft pick will not bring either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. While there are other talented players available, it’s likely that four of the 10 will be a bust or be slow to develop. The Bulls simply don’t want to wait any longer. Assuming, Oden and Durant find early success that means four of the remaining eight will struggle early or forever, thus making the Bulls pick a complete crapshoot.

Throw in the expiring contract of P.J. Brown, who has anticipated a trade for months and you’ve got a deal. Maybe the Grizzlies would even throw in point guard Chucky Atkins, whom they are desperately trying to trade.

So, the trade becomes Nocioni, Hinrich, Brown and Thomas or the draft pick for Gasol and Atkins.

The Bulls keep their top two players while adding the low-post presence they have needed for two years. Gasol not only improves the offense by becoming the go-to scorer, he also opens up more shots for Deng on the wing and Gordon behind the arc.

Gasol also helps Ben Wallace block shots and pull more rebounds underneath the basket. Chris Duhon is plenty capable of running the point and distributing the ball. In this new offense, he shouldn’t have to shoot more than a few times each game.

As for the Grizzlies, they add Hinrich to the mix as the veteran floor general to lead a talented group that includes Nocioni, Mike Miller, Hakim Warrick and Rudy Gay. Due to Brown’s expiring contract coming off the books at season’s end, the Grizzlies can add another player. They would also have two lottery picks next summer as well.

They are squarely in the running for Oden and Durant with their own pick and could pick up another big man such as UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough or Nevada’s Nick Fazekas with the pick they’d get from the Bulls. They instantly become a team with the potential to wreak havoc in the superior western conference for years to come.

It’s truly a win-win situation, the way every trade should be. Come on Pax, pick up the phone and make it happen.

SUPER BOWL DEPRESSION

Normally, I always pick up the local newspapers and read the daily articles on various sports sites. Today was different, mainly because the Bears loss in Super Bowl XLI has me really depressed. That being said, here are a few impressions from Super Sunday:

1—Peyton Manning is now officially the greatest quarterback in NFL history. The debates can finally end. Unless Manning breaks his leg and never returns to his current form, he finally has the ring to back him up. While Brett Favre will most likely break many of Dan Marino’s records in 2007, Manning will break Favre’s down the road. He is the QB that will be featured on “how to” tapes for Pop-Warner league QB’s in the future. His name can be penciled in along with Walter Payton and Jerry Rice as the best offensive players the NFL has ever seen.

2—While fans began wishing all forms of torture upon Rex Grossman only minutes following the game, he didn’t perform much different from what many experts, including myself, expected. First and foremost, after two mistake-free games, “Bad Rex” was due back. It had been too long (a full month) since we’d last seen him. Grossman wasn’t that terrible really, although the interception return for a TD was the gamebreaker. Bottom line is that after the first six games of the season, Grossman stopped doing his Manning impression and morphed into Heath Shuler. In order for him not to throw the ball away five times per game, the offense had to be "dumbed down" for him not to lose the game instead of to win the game. That’s not how the QB position needs to be played.

3—That being said, Grossman cannot take all of the blame. More of the blame for the loss should be blamed on the defensive line. Outside of Tank Johnson wrapping his arm around Manning in the first quarter, (which prompted Manning to throw a bomb to Reggie Wayne for a TD) they weren't close enough to smell Manning if he had bathed in a pile of duck droppings. Did Alex Brown, Adewale Ogunleye or Ian Scott even make the trip to Miami? If it wasn’t for a meaningless sack in the fourth quarter, the same question could be asked for Mark Anderson. Even when the Colts lost starting tackle Ryan Diem in the first half, it didn’t matter.

One thing is for certain: the Bears vaunted defense was NEVER the same after Tommie Harris went out for the season. While Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs are All-Pro linebackers and among the top-5 in the NFL at their position, it is crystal clear that Harris is the key to the defense for the Bears. He requires a double team on every play, thus allowing his fellow defensive line mates to get better pressure on the opposing QB. With him the line was the best in the league and possibly one of the best of all time, without him they were merely average and the Bears needed to blitz more frequently to get pressure.

4—Barring injury, Devin Hester will go down as the greatest kickoff/punt returner in the history of the league. He is so dangerous; teams simply cannot kick to him, which constantly ensures the Bears outstanding field position. Should the opposing team really mess up and give him a chance, he can change the game in the blink of an eye. He is as close to a guarantee on returns as there has ever been. If the kick coverage is poor, he will find the end zone and there is no argument about it. All he needs is the narrowest of holes and he won’t be caught. Hester will have a negative affect on concession sales for the rest of his career, as you simply can’t afford to get a beverage following a touchdown anymore. You would most likely miss the most exciting play of the game.

5—Finally, the Bears will be back and make a run at Super Bowls for the foreseeable future. They are relatively young and talented at every position. This off-season, the only real concern is the contract of Briggs, who will become a free agent. Even if they can’t reach an agreement, the Bears can still use the franchise tag on him. Briggs has said he wants to stay, so he should return for at least another year. General Manager Jerry Angelo has proven to be great at evaluating talent, having drafted Anderson, Hester, Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Alex Brown in addition to many others. He has also been shrewd in his spending with contracts going to unlikely stars such as John Tait, Thomas Jones, Desmond Clark and Robbie Gould. Under his construction and Lovie Smith’s development, a new dynasty might take Chicago by storm.