After the Chicago Bulls’ 110-93 win over the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night, extending their winning streak to seven, they announced some devastating news stating that Joakim Noah would miss the next 8-10 weeks because of surgery to his ulna collateral ligament in his right thumb.
Noah first injured his thumb on November 27 against the Sacramento Kings and has played the last nine games because it was determined that he couldn’t do any more damage. The Bulls decided he should have surgery now so Noah is 100 percent for the playoffs.
The Bulls were finally back to full strength after Carlos Boozer missed the first 15 games because of an injury to his shooting wrist. Boozer is just now starting to get his feet under himself again averaging 20.7 points and 12 rebounds per game over his last 4.
Noah and Boozer were starting to gel as well, rebounding the ball, playing the high-low, and starting to mesh on defense. The Bulls will again look to forward Taj Gibson to fill the void. The second year Gibson and Boozer will be very undersized at the forward/center positions.
The only other bigs on the bench are rookie Omer Asik and Kurt Thomas. The Bulls will either have to play way undersized and pick up the pace, pick someone up or look to make a trade.
With Carmelo Anthony still looking to get out of Denver, the Bulls should take a shot at getting the franchise player. Anthony is a clutch shooter, an excellent back to the basket scorer and good rebounder.
Anthony recently said that he would only sign an extension if he was traded to New York. Earlier in the year though, he also said that he would accept a trade to Chicago. After playing with Rose, he might change his mind.
It would take a lot to get Anthony and it may need to involve a third team and some draft picks, but the Bulls have been willing in the past to give up Luol Deng and Gibson.
Deng is having a good year averaging 17.8 points and 6.3 rebounds and has improved his 3 point shot, shooting 41 percent for the season. Gibson is a young tough nose kid, good defender and can hit a 15 foot jumper.
The Bulls should feel comfortable giving away their first round draft picks for years to come because they have the pieces to compete. Getting another big would be a necessity if Gibson goes, but when Noah comes back in late February-March the Bulls will have a team that could compete with anyone.
Imagine Rose, Melo, Boozer, Noah on the floor at the same time. The only question is would Melo give up some of the pride and glory for the up-and-coming superstar Rose and the veteran Boozer? Does Melo really care about winning as much as LeBron “says” he does? Will his wife, LaLa, move to Chicago or will her “career” get in the way?