Chicago Bulls Trade Rumors: Former Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah First to Leave Windy City?
There were a lot of high expectations for the Chicago Bulls last season due to the returning Derrick Rose, and a number of offensive reinforcements, particularly Pau Gasol, whom the Bulls acquired from the Lakers during the off-season.
Unfortunately, in spite becoming the best offensive Bulls squad in the Tom Thibodeau era, Chicago still bowed to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East semifinals.
Thibodeau was fired, and a new coach was installed, so the rebuilding process for the Bulls is underway.
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According to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Cowley, new Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg has showed interest in the team's bigs, particularly Gasol and backup forward Taj Gibson.
This leads to the rumor that the first man in the list to leave the team could be Joakim Noah, who has battled several injuries the past season. Now that the Bulls will definitely offer a max contract to last season's Most Improved Player, Jimmy Butler, they have to clear some cap space in order to do so.
At 30 years old, Noah is still among the best defensive centres in the league, and his passing ability from the high post is a weapon NBA teams can use next season to break down defenses.
But with four effective players rotating in the front line for Chicago, it would probably help if they lose one to give more playing time to the others.
