You knew this was coming, right?
As soon as the Bulls reversed course on not wanting to deal Luol Deng and traded him away for center Andrew Bynum and draft picks, they effectively gave up on making a run at, well, anything this season. Despite Derrick Rose potentially coming back later in the year (as unlikely as it may sound), the move means that Chicago is building for the future instead of playing for anything of consequence this season.
The trade also meant that the Bulls will be the center of NBA trade rumors until the deadline opposing teams likely to try to raid the Bulls’ roster. One such player that’s already drawn some interest is Kirk Hinrich. According to USA Today’s Sam Amick, the Golden State Warriors are interested in the veteran guard.
As I wrote recently, Golden State wants to acquire another guard so that would make sense. They reportedly had interest in the Nuggets’ Andre Miller, who is almost certainly on his way out and Hinrich would be another reasonable option for the Warriors.
Averaging 7.8 points and 4.7 assists this year, Hinrich is putting up a bit more in terms of numbers than his counterpart, but he’s also playing about ten minutes more per game this year. In addition, he’s shooting only 34 percent from the field and under 30 percent from three-point range. Obviously, if the Bulls weren’t in such a predicament with the Rose injury, there’s no way he’d be playing so much. A guard shooting so poorly and putting up modest numbers generally doesn’t deserve 31 minutes a game.
When it comes right down to it, both Hinrich and Miller have their flaws. Both are well past their prime, but if you gave me a choice, I’d probably take Miller. With more time, his stats would likely top Hinrich’s. He’s a more accurate shooter, even discounting Hinrich’s poor season this year, and his PER of 14.04 is significantly better than Hinrich’s 9.33.
That said, both have about the same amount of playoff experience and would fit what the Warriors are looking for – a veteran point guard to help out off the bench. This one could come down to the asking price since the two really aren’t all that far apart in terms of ability at this stage in their careers.
