| Bulls Now Thin At Center Authored by Tim Donakowski - October 19, 2005 - 10:15 pm
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One thing is for sure, the Bulls are solid and deep at every position except center. They are so deep at four positions that some good role players may never see the floor.
Tyson Chandler now gets moved up to center. The move should not be a huge adjustment considering Chandler is a seven-footer and has played minutes there before. Who the Bulls have playing behind Chandler is what scares Bulls fans coming into this season.
The first thought is to pick up a center that is still unsigned. Unfortunately, with preseason already on the way, the centers available are few and far between. One possibility is Elden Campbell. He is old and slow, but could come in and play some spot minutes against the bigger centers.
A second idea is to acquire a center through another trade. That seems unlikely because of the few moveable pieces on the Bulls. One player the Bulls could shop is Eric Piatkowski. A team that needs outside shooting and at the same time has good depth at center would consider a trade for Piatkowski. When you think about the salary cap issues, the possibility for a trade seems close to impossible.
Another player the Bulls would not mind trading is the newly acquired Tim Thomas. He is a talented player but plays a position the Bulls were already clustered at. With Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni and Thomas all at small forward, it makes you wonder how the Bulls will split the playing time around. Deng can play a little at shooting guard and Nocioni could play a little at power forward, but both are better suited at small forward.
Thomas can not be traded right now because he was just recently traded. Once his trade restriction is removed, a player the Bulls could look at is Blazers’ center Theo Ratliff. Ratliff is a perfect Bulls type of defensive player. But if the Blazers lose Ratliff, they now become thin in the front court. The Bulls could then throw in Malik Allen who at 6’10” has the size to play both front court positions.
Both Thomas and Ratliff have similar contracts. Ratliff’s contract is for two more years compared to Thomas who has just one year remaining. The Bulls may not want to give up the cap room next off-season, but should. The Bulls number one concern should be to keep their young core together, which they will be able to do if they got Ratliff.
The last and most likely suggestion for Bulls is to do nothing, or at least nothing for now. In the next couple of weeks teams will be trimming down their rosters to 15 or 14. Hopefully for the Bulls, a center gets cut that they can pick up. Their will obviously not be player with much talent who gets cut, but the Bulls do not need anyone with a lot of value.
With all the talent the Bulls have at every other position, all the Bulls need is hardworking player with size. They have Mike Sweetney now who will provide some of the low-post scoring the Bulls lost with Curry. But behind Chandler, the Bulls simply just do not have anyone to throw in against the four or five dominating centers in the league.
What the Bulls can not allow is making an average center look dominating. If no additions are made, guys like Sweetney, Allen, Darius Songalia and Othello Harrington will be forced to guard players at least three inches taller. All are tough players, but at the same time are vertically challenged. |
