Many Chicago Bulls fans scoffed at the notion that a 2008 second-round draft pick could contribute this season.

After all, Omer Asik appeared to be the latest NBA-European flavor of the month.

But those naysayers are eating their words.

Asik has asserted himself as a defensive presence inside, providing head coach Tom Thibodeau a reliable backup to starting center Joakim Noah.

Sure, he’s had his ugly moments, occasionally not going up strong enough on a put-back.

Yet if you’ve been following the Bulls closely this season, you’d know that Asik has made significant improvements throughout the course of this season.

You can see the light bulb in the seven-footer’s cranium is on, or at least flickering.

Some fans pitched the idea that trading Asik to land a shooting guard was the ideal move to upgrade the Bulls. Courtney Lee’s name came up, which would have been a “nice” move.

But unloading Asik for a little-used two-guard who likely had some cobwebs and dust on him? Not interested, the Bulls’ brass told the Houston Rockets.

Trading Asik would have been a poor move, both short and long-term.

Bulls’ color-commentator Stacey King isn’t going to be calling Kurt Thomas “Big Sexy” that much longer, as his days in the NBA are all but coming to a close after this season.

Taking a quote from a classic soap opera and adding my on touch to it, “These are the days of our NBA lives, and they appear all but over.”

Holding on to a legitimate center who has this much upside as Asik was the right move.

Size matters, folks.

If you know anything about the NBA, games are often won in the hardwood trenches with your bigs.

Putting Asik out to sea would have only weakened the Bulls’ interior batch, the best in the NBA may I remind you.

Plus, with Noah and Carlos Boozer’s health being so fragile at times, Asik gives you a reliable option on the bench. So give some love to the Turkish Missile.