Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are Too Important to Trade

It's pretty clear the Bulls need a scoring big man to be considered a legitimate title contender -- there's a reason why they're mentioned in so many Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph and (most recently) Jermaine O'Neal rumors.

But moving an expiring contract (cough, P.J. Brown, cough) can only get you so far -- to get a top-shelf talent, you have to be willing to give up talent, as well. To pull off such a blockbuster, the Bulls may need to trade Ben Gordon or Luol Deng. But is that a wise move?

Gordon, if you haven't noticed, is leading the Bulls in scoring despite coming off the bench in 28 of 34 games, putting up nearly 21 points a game in just under 30 minutes a night. Why isn't he starting? Only Scott Skiles or Gordon can say for sure, but he's obviously comfortable and hasn't complained considered he leads the team in shots and is finishing games. At 6-3, he's too small to ever be much of a force against bigger shooting guards on defense, but on a team that struggles to put points on the board he fills a valuable niche.

Like Gordon, Deng is also in the midst of a career year, averaging 18.5 points a game up more than four points from last season. What is he doing differently? It's easy: as the Chicago Sun-Times points out, he's shortened up his game. Deng has struggled with the three-point shot since coming into the league, so this year he's simply removed it from his repertoire -- in 34 games, he's attempted all of three shots from downtown. He's been far more efficient as a result, as his shooting percentage has jumped from .463 last season to .542 so far this year. And unlike Gordon, he has the potential to cause a lot of problems on defense given his outstanding length.

In Monday's 84-77 loss to the Rockets, it was blatantly obvious how much the Bulls rely upon these two players. After Gordon's 24 points and Deng's 20, Andres Nocioni (11) was the only other player to crack double-digits in scoring, Kirk Hinrich shot just 1-11 from the field and Chris Duhon 0-3, including his 17th consecutive missed three-point attempt.