Hold on to the guards. All of the guards.

At least for now.

Granted, this may be completely unwise.  The Bulls have a glut of very good guards, guards who just a season ago were regarded as the talented core of a rising team.  Kirk had just averaged 16 and 6 with 43% shooting from 3, and added a spot on the NBA's all-defensive second-team.  Gordon had just averaged 21.5 ppg, and his fg%, assists and rebounds had risen each year he played.  Led by these two guards, as well as Luol, they thrashed the defending champs in the playoffs and gave Detroit a run for their money in the second round.   Then, last year, a combination of contract squabbling, selfish play, injuries and obscenely inept coaching derailed everything.  Cats and dogs living together.  Mass hysteria!

Now the Bulls have added a rare talent at point guard.  Rare as in uncommon, but also rare as in raw.  (wow that was awful.  this is why there are professionals for sportswriting, no?)

I'll say point blank that I put more stock into a three year trend of good, improving play, than I put in one awful year: especially with all the confounding factors of coaching, contracts, and injuries.  It's not either/or, of course.  However: Kirk and Gordon can play at a very high level in this league, and I know this because I've seen it.   I don't think it's inconciveable that they'll return to a level that, if it's not the same, is at least elevated from where they are.  And in Gordon's case, playing with a penetrating, pass-first point like Rose may actually elevate his game.  Even (gasp) to tropospheric Monte Ellis heights.

I want the season to open with a three guard rotation of Kirk, Gordon and Rose.  Thabo and LH will have to ride the pine for awhile.  Here's why:

1) Every potential trade out there stinks.  There's nothing at present that makes sense for the Bulls.  Just look at the right column of our much enjoyed BaB.  It's like a potential-trade graveyard.  It's like Sam Smith's shoebox.  Luckily, the season changes these things.  "Contenders" start to blow; people get injured; player's stocks fluctuate.  I believe our players' values will rise because I think they're going to have a stable coaching system, health, and (hopefully!) contracts.  Then, when they've elevated NBA opinions (which are absurdly fickle), we can make a deal.  For something that doesn't stink.  But it doesn't make sense to deal just because of an unsightly glut of guards when...   

2) Rose isn't ready to run the point alone.  Or if he is ready, we shouldn't simply assume that he is.  The kid is 19, possesses an exceptional handle, physical and mental attributes,  and will be (I think) a top point guard in the next few years.  Summer league doesn't mean much, granted.  But what does strike me as apropos is his development at Memphis.  It took time, not because he couldn't take over at the beginning of the season, but because the important thing from his (and I would argue, from an elite point guard's point of view) is facilitating team success.  Getting everybody involved.  And then you get yours, or take over, which is exactly what he was doing at season's end.  I'm not sure we want to screw with this successful pattern by having him be the only point on our roster (ie don't trade Kirk).  And I damn well want the dude at the end of those passes to be an elite shooter (ie don't trade Ben). 

3) The best players should play.  There's a lot of Thabo love on this site, and I've been guilty of it myself, but I'd like throw out the idea that he might be the fifth-best guard on our roster.  For me he's lost the allure of the unknown, and whatever cred he got for spraying JoeJoe with silly string.  He doesn't have elite lateral movement, which is why he isn't an elite defender, and his shot has the trajectory of a bullet.  He can rebound, yes, but I'd rather my guards could actually handle the rock.  And he's never produced more that Kirk, Ben, or even LH, who I hope never to see out of his warm-up uni.  This isn't to say I wouldn't mind Thabo as a fourth guard/back up small forward.  Which brings me to my final point...

4) Trade the players who ain't that good who can still be traded.  And that means Noce.  Somehow his gritty, flopping, gunning and grunting game still has value around the league.  But I don't think he's near the caliber of Kirk or Ben, and he's getting up there in basketball years.  (Someone should do a scale of human-years, basketball-years, and dog-years.  We'd probably find out that Robert Horry played to the ripe old age of 100.)    Anyhow, Noc is the only player on the Bulls whose value I see declining.  His frenetic play is going to wear down his body, and frankly, I think he's one of the worst team defenders in basketball.  God only knows why people think he can play D...but they do. 

So that's my defense of inaction.  Or at least, temporarily abated action.  Rose, Hinrich and Gordon at guard.  Deng and Sefo and sf.  T2, Gooden and Noah down  low.  VDN lathering equal parts brilliantine and groovy vibe over it all.

 Not great, but I could live with it.