The trade for Cameron Payne by the Chicago Bulls sent Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. At the time the move was thought by most as a bad one. Taj Gibson alone made it a bad trade but the Bulls are trying to get younger and faster.
John Paxson spoke to the Chicago Tribune after the trade and gave his thoughts on Cameron. “When Cam came out in the draft, we were very, very high on him,” Pax said. “We had some really good discussion about even trying to get him in that draft. We see him as a young guy who will develop and get better.”
Why trade for him?
The Chicago Bulls have too many guards on their team even before the trade.
He was sitting at fourth string behind Jerian Grant, Rajon Rondo, and Michael Carter-Williams. The two young point guards, Payne and Grant, were supposed to get more minutes being the future for the Bulls at the position. Most of the season so far, they have been DNP-CDs. Rondo and Carter-Williams have been splitting all the 48 minutes this season. The bad thing, in this case, is the Bulls process doesn't seem to make any sense. You are not giving your future players any time to progress at the NBA level. The whole trade looks like you just gave away players for the sake of doing it. There is just still no direction in this Chicago Bulls team.
Bulls confusion continues
Even the veteran players on the Chicago Bulls can't make sense of what they are up too.
They were complaining even before Dwyane Wade went down for the season. The constant changes and goals of developing young players but still trying to win as many games as they can don't progress the team. Reaching the playoffs is what the Bulls brass are reaching for but instead should be progressing your players for multiple late playoff pushes.
The goal will always be to win a championship not just be the eighth seed. Now that Cameron Payne is in the D-League it makes it clear that they are all about the extra revenue and not about winning championships anymore.
