Bulls trade

So the Ben Wallace era has ended. What can we conclude and what can we assume for the future?

The basics
What we gave up: Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Adrian Griffin, 2009 second-round draft pick.
What we got: Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown

I think that we can conclude that Ben Wallace signing did not work as the Bulls had hoped. He was not the same player and did not provide the veteran leadership the Bulls had envisioned. When they brought him, they traded away Tyson Chandler. While Tyson has improved, he is still not a dominant player on a Hornets team that is very hot. (Due mostly to Chris Paul, who I think is quickly becoming on of the elite players in the league) While he certainly was not worth the price, he did weaken the leading contenders the Pistons and provide occasionally boost on defense and rebounding.

I think we can assume the era of the Post Curry-Chandler Bulls, the era of the 2003/2004 draft is done. In those drafts, they picked up Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Duhon, and Nocioni. It looks like Gordon is through. Possibly, Nocioni and Duhon as well. The Bulls have too many shooting guards with Gordon, Thabo, and now Hughes and Brown. It should be interesting to watch Gooden and Hughes. Shannon Brown is also an interesting player to watch because he is a native of Chicago and because of his time a Michigan State. While there are an overload of guards now (which would have been helpful a couple weeks ago when they were essentially down to Duhon and Thabo), there are more spots for Noah, Thomas, and Gray to contribute. The Bulls and other teams should get a good look at these players. They should be able to evaluate them for the future, and possibly for trades.

I'm taking the optimist's view on the trade. The Bulls still have a collection of good, quality players. They still have enough to attract free agents with a quality core or put together enough pieces for a superstar trade. They still have enough talent to make the playoffs, which I think should be a goal, regardless of how well they do in it. So while things look to be going backwards, remember that this is still basically the same team that made it to the second round last year in an Eastern Confrence which was stronger.

Sam Smith as usual has an interesting analysis of the trade.