The Chicago Bulls got the raw of the deal when it traded away its All-Star forward Luol Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Bynum, said ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy who expressed belief that the Bulls could have gotten more valuable assets in exchange for the versatile swingman.
Van Gundy, who once coached the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, pointed out that the Denver Nuggets were able to secure a lot of valuable pieces when it traded away Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks in 2011. In that deal, the Nuggets got forwards Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, guard Raymond Felton, center Timofey Mozgovv and various draft picks. In contrast, the Bulls got Bynum who was immediately waived for financial savings and a protected first-round draft pick.
Van Gundy said that while Deng may not be as decorated as Anthony, the two players are still very much alike.
"Even if you don't believe that Luol Deng is as good as Anthony, he's pretty close because he's a two-way player. ... He's not as good, but they didn't get much back for him," Van Gundy said on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000 and as quoted by ESPN.com. "They only got rid of Bynum's contract, and to me, when you're trading no question your second-best player, and I don't think anybody can question that, and you get very little back for him ... I was surprised they didn't explore trading for guys who have similar-sized contracts that weren't going to expire to see if they could have gotten more of a Carmelo Anthony-type haul where they had real valuable assets."
He added that Deng has a lot of value in the market, considering that he is a good defensive player and a potent offensive weapon.
"Everybody talks in abstract like those guys are lining up to either go to Chicago or there are a lot of guys out there," Van Gundy said. "You can say we want to do better than Deng, but there's very limited players in this league that are available that are better than Deng, and they will cost huge money, too, more than Deng would cost. To me, when you have a guy in his prime who is a very good two-way player, those guys are hard to find. You're going to be, in Chicago, hoping that you find a guy as good as Deng."
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