By: Nick DeMarco

Another year another NBA trade deadline, unlike many years' deadlines this year was jam packed with blockbuster trades, salary cap helper trades and youth movement trades. The trade that I'm talking about though that should have been made last year is probably not the one your thinking of. I'm talking about the trade that would have saved Scott Skiles' job and would have the Bulls chasing a championship, AGAIN. Yes, the Ben Wallace and Drew Gooden trade is the trade I'm talking about in case you could not have figured it out.

Lets break the main part of this trade down which was Ben Wallace to the Cavs and Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes to the Bulls. First I'll tell you how the Cavs having Wallace last year would have made them even better and maybe helped the Cavs win a game in the Finals: 1) Defense, Defense, Defense. Wallaces' tremendous Defensive abilities in making steals and getting blocks and defensive rebounds would have helped speeded up the Cavs offensive attack on the other end and allow LeBron James to get even more fast break and easy dunks. 2) His lack of offense. Believe it or not the fact that Ben Wallace does not get or want plays called for him is a huge plus and because of this he would be free to roam like he did in Detroit meaning more put back/tip in dunks and more offensive rebounds creating more possessions and 3) No more post ups. The Cavs already have a post-up threat in Z when needed so why do you need two? The way I saw it was that Gooden slowed down there offensive and took easy touches away from Z underneath. With Ben now more focused on rebounding again he can trigger there fast break faster after a steal or block or rebound and since he runs the floor really well for a big man he can trail the pack and "clean up" if needed.

Now lets look at how this trade would have saved Scott Skiles' job in Chicago, thanks to Drew Gooden. The way Skiles coaches is that he needs a successful post-up man, the Bulls thought they had one in Wallace but they were sadly mistaken. With Gooden he could have dumped it down to him and had many options from there, 1) if no double came to Drew let him use his post-up moves, 2) Use Gooden as a passer and have him either kick it back out to one of his shooters or hit a cutter down the lane for either an easy lay-up or free throws.

The Bulls signed Ben Wallace to be there post-up threat and a 20-10 guy, since Wallace was not and probably never will be any of those things, that is why the Bulls did not go that far in last years playoffs, Skiles was fired and the Bulls were struggling early this year. Only time will tell how these two teams will finish this year but they have both improved and got better and have both filled a need with these trades, it's just a shame a coach had to lose his job over it