The NBA trade rumors continue as more teams get involved in the Philadelphia 76ers center sweepstakes.
The Chicago Bulls is most likely clearing up their once rich frontcourt. Pau Gasol is not even being considered as a Bull anymore and there is also chance that Joakim Noah will leave.
That leaves only Taj Gibson and rookie Bobby Portis as the main bigs on the roster. Getting one of the Sixers' twin towers would be a great starting point for a rebuild.
As GM Gar Forman mentioned, no one is safe and he could not even exempt their new star Jimmy Butler. However, when he was assigned to represent the team in the draft lottery, the belief is that it's a vote of confidence more than Butler being a good luck charm (he wasn't because they stayed at no.14).
If it's settled that the Bulls would rather trade Rose than Butler, the next assignment is which center should the Bulls target, Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel?
A feature from News Hub accurately pointed out that Okafor would be a cheaper alternative because Noel will be a restricted free agent next season. With the expected spike in the salary cap, the Bulls may have to spend or even overpay and the Chicago front office is not known to be very loose with the purse strings.
Another factor that Bleacher Report brought up is Okafor's Chicago roots. The Bulls like local boys, and even at this point, a sizable part of their fanbase is against trading Derrick Rose for the sole reason that he's a homegrown hero.
The other Chicago bred stars would be harder to acquire (Anthony Davis, Jabari Parker) so Okafor would be a better bet.
The News Hub article had Derrick Rose as the trade bait. It would save them precious cap space that could make the Bulls players for free agents-even Kevin Durant (every team can dream). There are also Mike Conley rumors (which is extra motivation to trade Rose) swirling about.
The Sixers need a point guard and Derrick Rose has ties with the Colangelos courtesy of his Team USA participation. Still, that would most likely not be enough for Philly.
A scenario of sending Derrick Rose, Nikola Mirotic and the 14th pick, a possible future pick for Jahlil Okafor and the 24th and 26th picks could be a plausible deal at the speculative level.
Mirotic is a player the Sixers could use since the Bulls don't have quality guards to trade aside from Jimmy Butler. The Sixers would rather trade their lower picks to move up, hence the 14th pick.
For Chicago, they will have Okafor and cap space. The Bulls are pretty good drafting in the lower first round (see Jimmy Butler, Bobby Portis) rather then the mid-first round (see Doug McDermott) so they might actually value those picks more than the Sixers would.
Having Butler and Okafor could be a selling point for a free agent point guard. Mike Conley would be the obvious target, but Jeremy Lin, Rajon Rondo or Brandon Jennings could be alternatives.