Not to beat a dead horse here, but the four-team blockbuster trade centering around Dwight Howard only further illustrates the gap between the NBA's haves and have-nots.
Unfortunately, the Bulls appear to be sinking into the latter category.
That may sound preposterous to some, as the Bulls are in one of the NBA's biggest markets, have one of the league's highest payrolls, won the most regular-season games for two consecutive seasons and are doling out four eight-figure salaries -- including a true superstar in Derrick Rose -- but in this summer of the rich getting richer, the franchise is falling behind in basketball's arms race. And while Rose is still only 23, going on 24 and this fall will begin the first season of his five-year contract extension, despite the fact that he's currently on the shelf, it doesn't appear that at this point, the obsessive winner will have a legitimate shot at hoisting a championship trophy during at least the early prime of his career.
This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to the organization not acquiring Howard, an idea that's been dead for some time now. The game's top center simply didn't want to be in Chicago on a long-term basis and, unlike the Lakers, the Bulls weren't willing to roll the dice on the notoriously indecisive big man not signing a contract extension, even before Rose suffered his devastating ACL injury.
Perhaps more significantly, the Magic clearly were looking for a trade package different from any permutation of Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and future assets, just as they somehow didn't want the Rockets' proposed deal of draft choices and young talent or even the Nets' offer of Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks and four first-round picks -- while ridding themselves of Hedo Turkoglu's infamously bad contract -- scenarios that in retrospect, seem preferable to what Orlando reportedly will receive.
Regardless, now that Howard is headed to Hollywood to join a star-studded cast featuring fellow All-Stars Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and free-agent acquisition Steve Nash, the Lakers have seemingly one-upped the defending-champion Heat, at least on paper, by putting together a "Big Four" in the wake of Miami's "Big Three" delivering on its promise and winning a title in June. Games still have to be played and it's no guarantee that with Howard, the Lakers will leapfrog the West's reigning top dog in Oklahoma City, but even though it's the other conference, one can't help but notice how the Bulls are increasingly less relevant in the conversation about the league's upper crust.
Even in the East, the efforts of the Heat to maintain its standing, the Celtics' attempts to upgrade their aging roster for another run to the Finals and splashy summer moves of the Knicks, Nets and now Sixers -- not to mention the Central Division rival Pacers' resolve to continue building on their recent success, if not jump into the fray of contenders -- has only exacerbated the impact of the Bulls' cost-cutting offseason maneuvers.
Whether or not you believe the decimation of the "Bench Mob" has been overblown, or will hurt even worse most would have you believe, even if Rose's eventual late-season return provides a boost, the Bulls no longer possess the same advantages in depth, size, chemistry and defense (based on losing the likes of backup center Omer Asik and reserve swingman Ronnie Brewer, though Tom Thibodeau's infamous preparation will have something to say about that) that made them such a special group over the past two seasons.
That isn't the point, one might say, as Chicago is a city used to championships, and with Rose still recuperating, a celebratory parade down Michigan Avenue wasn't in the making next summer anyway, so why not exercise some fiscal responsibility in hopes of winning big in the future?
Except it's being proven that to the aggressors go the spoils, both in free agency and in the trade market, so sitting back until 2014 to catch a big fish or two is no guarantee, especially with cap-space competitors like the Magic assuredly going to throw their hats in the ring. And even that is a very uncertain proposition, as superstars in their prime like LeBron James won't necessarily opt out of their contracts, leaving only aging stars like Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki to pursue, a scenario that already foreshadows the disappointments of 2000 and more recently, 2010.
Sure, some intriguing trade possibilities will be on the horizon and the Bulls definitely have assets and flexibility: Trading Rip Hamilton's expiring deal this season, Luol Deng's contract coming to an end after the 2013-14 season and amnestying Carlos Boozer to more-remote considerations, like the rights for 2011 draft choice Nikola Mirotic, the trade exception acquired from Atlanta in the Kyle Korver trade and the increasingly-valuable future pick from Charlotte.
But in the meantime, the reality of the situation is that big-market Chicago has firmly slipped into the NBA's middle class. In a way, that isn't the worst thing in the world, as the Bulls clearly studied the league's punitive new CBA and resisted joining their free-spending peers while still fielding a team that should be competitive enough to make the playoffs.
But after being a true contender for two seasons, is that enough, both for fans and the team's "nucleus," as the franchise's brass so often refers to it, of Rose, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah, to remain content? (Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer, while integral to the team's success now, have had their names bandied about in speculation so much that, as the old adage goes, "Where there's smoke, there's fire") Only time will tell if the front office's cautiousness will pay off, but in the meantime, the realization that the Bulls don't have the firepower or the desire, in the present, to keep up with the Joneses, has become even clearer.