Former Chicago Bulls player named a winner at NBA Trade Deadline

The Chicago Bulls made a flurry of moves this week s the NBA Trade Deadline came and went. Chicago’s roster looks at lot different than it did a week ago and with a 24-28 record, they sit 12th in the NBA draft order right now. How close to the top five they get is still a question to be answered.

With the team deciding to go in a new direction, it meant they had to move on from center Nikola Vucevic. The veteran was in the last year of his contract and for the Bulls, it made a lot of sense to move him. In return, they landed a player in Anfernee Simons. The guard is a free agent after this year but could play his way into a contract as he’s just 26-years-old.

Vucevic now gets the chance to compete in the Eastern Conference with Boston. And that led him to be named a winner at the trade deadline.

Nikola Vucevic named a ‘winner’ at deadline

As mentioned above, Vucevic is going to a better situation now. He was stuck with a Bulls franchise that believed they had enough to get to the playoffs each year. In reality, they were a play-in team.

Here is some of what The Ringer had to say on Vucevic being a winner:

This is pretty simple. Vucevic is exiting an organization that’s completely indifferent to success, has no identifiable team-building strategy beyond a sudden obsession with second-round picks, and isn’t very good. He’s joining an organization that’s committed to winning the championship every single year, boasts a rock-solid culture that’s based on accountability, and is very good. The Bulls are asleep. The Celtics are awake. The Bulls are unserious. The Celtics are shrewd.

This move is a life raft for Vucevic, a 35-year-old center who’s never won a playoff series. He’s also on an expiring contract and now finds himself in an ideal position to alter how he’s perceived around the league. Most likely sliding in as a backup center who can make spot starts when tapped for it, Vooch is still skilled enough to have a second unit run its offense through him. He can facilitate from the mid-post, stand on the perimeter and space, pop out for open 3s, set sturdy screens, and duck into the paint to seal smaller defenders who’ve switched on to him.

This also helps the Bulls at least get something out of a deal for an expiring contract. So it makes sense for them, as well.

A trade like this could be a win-win for both sides. The Bulls just have to hope they are finally going in the right direction with the decisions they made.

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