Viktor Khryapa Traded to the Bulls

[stuart]

In last nights Portland Trailblazer NBA Draft day craziness, Viktor Khrypa was traded to the Bulls.

The Trail Blazers traded the No. 4 pick, Tyrus Thomas, to the Chicago Bulls along with forward Viktor Khryapa and a conditional second-round pick for the No. 2 overall pick, LaMarcus Aldridge.

Stuart

[BBallfanJ]

Chicago is going to have a problem keeping everyone on the wings happy. The anaylists said that Tyrus Thomas is probably more of a 3 than a 4 right now and you bring him and Khryapa in. That creates a logjam at small forward with Deng and Nocioni already there. Also at the SG, you have Heinrich, Gordon and now Thabo S. Although both Ben and Kirk can play some point.

[stuart]

Having a lot of good players can be a problem, but it's better to have more than not enough.

I would think that Tyrus Thomas is more a PF than anything, and I thought that Nocioni was a PF too? Unfortunately, I don't think that Khrypa is going to do much but ride the bench/limited minutes with the Bulls. i think they can work it out with Tyrus possibly playing a little center (a la Boris Diaw with the Suns) with Deng, Nocioni, and Tyrus Thomas splitting time on the forward positions. The guards are pretty set - Hinrich and Gordon are their future there... Duhon off the bench and I hear that Thabo is a year or two away from contributing anyways. I guess we'll see.

Stuart

[Czarkazem13]

Chicago is going to have a problem keeping everyone on the wings happy. The anaylists said that Tyrus Thomas is probably more of a 3 than a 4 right now and you bring him and Khryapa in. That creates a logjam at small forward with Deng and Nocioni already there. Also at the SG, you have Heinrich, Gordon and now Thabo S. Although both Ben and Kirk can play some point.

Tyrus Thomas is not a 3 by any means or at any level. He is a 4 or maybe even an undersized 5 (which isn't rare), but he doesn't have any perimeter skills to play at the 3.

I agree with the logjam at the 3 w/Deng and Nocioni, though Deng may be able to play the 2 (his defense against smaller/faster players would be the problem).

Ben and Kirk are both combo guards, while Duhon is a pure 1. The Bulls definitely have depth at the skilled positions. They need big men, hopefully Thomas can help Songaila and Chandler, and give them muscle.

[BBallfanJ]

Looks like Chicago just nabbed Big Ben Wallace - 4 years/$52 million.

[stuart]

Looks like Chicago just nabbed Big Ben Wallace - 4 years/$52 million.

And there goes some more of Khryapa's minutes...

Stuart

[LuDux]

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com on Monday night that the Bulls were close to shipping Tyson Chandler to the Hornets for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2508889