Should the Chicago Bulls trade Luol Deng?

Here’s ESPN Chicago pondering a very important question for the Chicago Bulls:

Should the Bulls trade Luol Deng?

It’s the question that Bulls fans continue to wonder about as another lost campaign rolls along. The question for the organization remains the same as it was the instant Derrick Rose went down Nov. 22 with a torn meniscus. How much is Deng, who will become a free agent at the end of this season, worth on the trade market — and the open market?

Let’s tackle the trade-market aspect of this first. I might be in a minority, but I’m still convinced that if the Bulls get the right package in return for Deng, they will deal him before the Feb. 20 trade deadline. The problem for them is that no team appears to be willing to give up a future first-round pick plus the expiring contracts it would take to get it done. The biggest hurdle for the Bulls in any potential Deng trade, aside from his impending free agency, is that he is making more than $14 million this season. That will take a lot of excess money to get something accomplished in order to make the numbers work. The Bulls love Deng, but they have a pretty clear indication that there is a wide gap between how they value him and how Deng and his agents value him in the future.

Knicks embarrassed on the boards in loss to Grizzlies

Here’s the New York Post on the latest Knicks struggles:

Knicks embarrassed on the boards in loss to Grizzlies

The coach admitted his team’s rebounding was embarrassing, and the star player acknowledged the home struggles have gotten into their heads. There was no denying either after the Knicks’ 95-87 defeat to Memphis Saturday, when they got humiliated on the boards and matched their home loss total for all of last season.

Mike Woodson tried to counter their matinee woes with a 10 p.m. curfew Friday night, and tried to match up against Memphis with a big lineup of Carmelo Anthony, Andrea Bargnani and Tyson Chandler. Neither worked, as they were badly out-rebounded and booed by the Garden crowd yet again. After going 31-10 at home last season, they fell to 4-10 at the Garden this season.

“You look at the rebounding, it was 55-29. That’s embarrassing, especially when you start a big lineup,’’ said Woodson, whose Knicks are 0-3 in noon starts. “Tyson, Bargnani, Melo, they’ve got to rebound the ball better. We’ve got to do it as a unit as well. That was the difference, then the fact that we gave so much up at the rim. … We couldn’t keep them out of the paint. That was the problem.’’