In his first 8 months on the job, John Paxson has selected himself in the draft, has hired himself as coach, and now has rolled the dice on another gamble of intense, defense-oriented professionalism over flash and dash. Last week’s heavily-rumoured Jalen Rose trade has now finally been consumated with the Toronto, Ontario, Canada Raptors – Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter sent north for Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies. It’s a gutsy move by a gutsy former player – one that sets up new, gutsy coach Scott Skiles with a vastly different team than the insipid outfit that started the season and which Paxson could not bear to let continue.

On the 19th February 2002, the Chicago Bulls decided to exchange mercurial forward Ron Artest, solid 2-guard Ron Mercer and legit center Brad Miller to the Indiana Pacers for 2 bench players, a 2nd round pick, and the dynamic, versatile Jalen Rose. Co-incidentally, 2 days earlier, Scott Skiles stepped down as coach of the Phoenix Suns. What does the fact that that these two, at the time totally unrelated, events have now been juxtaposed together in John Paxson’s Fantasy League team mean for the Bulls and for the NBA?

A number of things;

1. Chicago should not have made the original trade in the first place. Imagine how dominant the Bulls would have been last season, let alone now, with Artest shoring up the defense at the 3 spot and Miller in the middle teaching the youngsters. Even if then-GM Jerry Krause had still gone ahead with the Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler swap which this team still has not recovered from, the Bulls would be at least 2 seasons ahead of their current re-re-bulding effort, and loaded with talent, particularly defensive talent. Yes, they may well have become the most uncoachable team in league history, and yes, they may well have still needed to hire a new coach last week. But this recent Rose trade was made for the completely obverse reasoning from the original Rose trade – defense and toughness vs scoring competence. And even without considering the actual merits of the weekend’s swap of Rose and a pair of productive forwards for some no-name and a pair of productive forwards, the application of perspective on this deal is not a joyous one for Bulls fans and administrators alike.

2. You can’t cash in a point forward if you don’t bank on a point forward. For some reason, the Bulls never fully committed to the concept of handing Rose their team. This was a guy who, if he had a fault, wanted to do too much – handle the ball, shoot the ball, pass the ball, rebound the ball. Control the ball. Nonetheless, in 3 of 4 drafts, Krause selected point guards. Why, if you bring in a guy to be the man, if you pay a guy to be the man, don’t you let him? The Bulls flirted with Rose, then they moved in together, but they never totally committed. And it’s not as if Chicago are a settled squad that’s a role player away from the NBA Finals – in 2002 they needed help everywhere on the floor, and in 4 weeks time it’s going to be 2004 and the situation is more or less exactly the same. Although Rose played some huge games in Chicago, perhaps it’s true he was never going to be the franchise guy he thought he was good enough to warrant. But least they should have given him a try, especially with their new coach, instead of insisting he was part of the problem.

3. Paxson should change the way he spells his surname, as these moves are all about taking action. John Paction. The only thing about making an omlette is, if you don’t like the way it tastes, it’s impossible to return the eggs to their shells. But Pax isn’t concerned about making a personnel mistake or 2 along the path of what he plans will be a successful General Managership. Expectations this season weren’t high, but they were hardly fulfilled by a 4-12 start either. And the Bulls, despite their passive play thus far, are less than 10 games behind the Conference Leading Pacers, and are hardly out of contention for that playoff berth that was so fondly gazed upon just a month or so ago. Patience is a virtue, but mediocrity isn’t, so credit Pax with the rocks to dump a good friend and pull the trigger on a deal that makes them bigger and tougher but not necessarily better in the space of a week. It’s a challenge, a message to the players and to the coach. You can win, I’m behind you, but it’s your choice.

4. The value of Depth. There’s not many non-playoff teams that can give up a 2 of their best players and, irrespective of who they get in return, have legit replacements ready to plug straight in. Rose has been the Bulls starting small forward for the past 2? seasons, but now Pippen, if fit, could start, or the almost forgotten Marcus Fizer, or Eddie Robinson may finally get a chance to play minutes commensurate with dollars. And the same goes for Donyell Marshall, traditionally the first man off Cartwright’s bench, where now all manner of frontcourt options exist for Coach Skiles. The loss of Baxter, a true gem, will also be adequately covered, as the angrier, fresher Bulls, in the skinny East, now have more than enough muscle to be a presence in every building, every night.

5. Toronto are on the rise. Under new coach Kevin O’Neill, the v2003 Raptors are much more ferocious defensively that at any other time in their history, but the downside to this is their complete inability to score. Without anything resembling a true point guard, the Raptors are dead last in the league in scoring, averaging less than 80 points a game, and are shooting less than 40% from the floor as well. No, Rose isn’t a true point either, and nor is Marshall or Baxter for that matter, but what Toronto will do is allow Jalen to be Jalen – run the ship, handle the rock, initiate the offense. Plus, score the ball himself. The Raps have been trying to find a way out of Antonio Davis’ contract/attitude for a while now, and although the Junk Yard Dog’s relentlessness and positive chemistry will be missed, the Raptors have replaced the bulk lost in the move. They may take a while to gel, as O’Neill’s quote here suggests, but Toronto will now be a more dynamic team with Rose in the lineup: “I’ve always wondered how they do these mail-order bride things. I mean, you are going to marry someone without knowing them? In actuality we are all married now and we really didn’t know each other very well.” Quite.

In an hour’s time, the new Bulls will tip off the first game of their newest iteration – hosting the over-achieving Bucks. If I were a betting man, I’d pick the Bulls by 9, whether Davis, Williams and the other guy play or not. John Paxson has shown he’s a betting man. He’s picking the Bulls too.