Chisoxfn

By the way - isn't Eversley currently the Bulls GM - so this would be a lateral move. Is that purely because in this role he doesn't have a president on top of him? I don't quite get it and presume the Bulls may not let it happen. But I suppose if we got Nurkic plus they got rid of the protection on the FRP I might oblige

On Thad - I stand corrected. If the Spurs outright waved him (vs. bought him out) - and he made it through waivers - than the Bulls could pounce on him. I don't know whether he would make it through waivers - but I presume he might cause not many teams likely have the cap space to take on someone via waivers? That said - I don't pretend to know how NBA waivers work. Thad has also made a direct quote now to the media - indicating he IS NOT HAPPY with the Spurs. Total match made in heaven and I'm okay with him not being on the court w/Vuc much at the same time at all. I think he's just another point forward type option off the bench who can play ocassional starters minutes and maybe help down the stretch where appropriate.

It kind of seems like the Sox really didnt' talk to many free agents, maybe just some smaller fish. I have to presume since they keep saying they plan on making the roster better - this had more to do with wanting to wait until post CBA than pre CBA to make bigger moves. A Graveerman deal - no biggie, they can live with it as is - but a big $100M contract, they don't want to take that type of swing without more clarity. Or at least the optimist in me is going to use that and stick to the story

Famous last words - but I don't worry about Cleveland. Half their bigs are hurt most of the time, but they do have two good bigs, but I like our chances playing D against them as they are elite defensive bigs, not necessarily elite offensive bigs.

Not many guys play like Randle though and have the speed. Jokic can bully, but he isn't fast - so Vuc, while not perfect can help. You just need to throw a lot at him. Im not overly worried - this team is really good and we'll get a better read on different players as the season progresses and I got to imagine at some point, if we are as good as they have been playing, they will have a shot in the buy-out market or dangling assets. Right now I'm kind of in a, lets see what White can do and don't sell low on Patrick Williams. I feel like at this point - Bulls would be getting pennies on the dollar for 2 guys that if they developed right would fill some nice needs (Williams with some extra size and ability to play 3/4 and White who I believe will become a pretty effective bench / scorer and oddly enough I think his defense will benefit a lot from being on court with Caruso and Ball as well.

He could get traded to another team and than subsequently traded / cut and at that point the Bulls can get him. But they can't trade for him directly or get him on the buyout market (unless he is traded to another team and than subsequently bought out).

But he is pretty tight with Lavine.

Rodon is coming off a season where if he pitched a few more games he might have won a Cy Young. He actually was pitching at the end of the year. Paxton has barely pitched. If anything - Paxton getting that much money tells you another team WOULD absolutely be willing to give a decent contract to Rodon. I do think one point holds true though - Sox could have not accepted QO because they either wanted to go more aggressive on a bigger name on a short-term move (vs. Rodon on 1 yr) or they wanted Rodon on a longer term deal. Or it is they don't want Rodon at all cause they don't think they can take the risk on his arm given their inherit payroll limitations.

Nah - I think Lakers front office? Lakers could have had Caruso, DDR, and kept Kuzma - and instead went with Westbrook, and some other 35+ year old players. Seriously though - AK/ME were stellar. Wizards front office was also really good.

Yeah - he needs to learn to initiate body on the finish - to shield out the defender. If he does that, which happens to be a skill two of his teammates are elite at - he will finish so many of those layups that get swatted. He doesn't put the contact - which means the defenders with long arms go up and have free range to swat that layup away. His floater game has improved - but with more practice and confidence should also improve. So between that and learning to better leverage his body in the paint (not play as physical as Zach - just minor tweaks) - I think we'll see another step forward. Which at that point - you might be talking about a guy who is a top 5 PG in the league (NO guarantees but I have to believe is work ethic is very strong given how much he has improved his shot).

It is so fun to say these things. But seriously - right now - I'm just enjoying watching how unselfish this group is, how they play defense, how they play basketball. I think they are 1st in the league in assists and they are still figuring things out. I still think Ball will grow significantly this off-season, where he'll learn a lot more about how to finish in the interior (just 1 or 2 moves would be a huge improvement and make his whole game way more diversified) from Derozan and Lavine, two experts at it.

I know the Knicks battled back but that was a good road win. All of the big three played real well and Ball had an off night shooting or it would have been a much easier win. Caruso is my vote for early season defensive player of year. Had a huge steal and pass late that led to Lavine go ahead free throws. This team is so refreshingly fun to watch. Love them.

How amazing. I wonder if Bears would go Tomlin route if Steelers move on. I have never known what to think of Tomlin but hard to argue how many years they were .500 or better.

I actually don't know that is true. I actually don't think the pro-scouting is easy to evaluate cause they haven't done a lot of mega deals anyway but they certainly have had their misses, etc. But as bad as their system has been from a rankings perspective, you could field a pretty good team based upon guys acquired at minor league levels (via trade draft international etc). They did have a period though that was not good - but had they just not made the Smardtza trade they would have been so much better depth wise (Bassit, Semien, Montas). That alone is a combined 45 WAR for .3 WAR (Jeff's WAR with Sox) Anderson Tatis Jr Sale Quintana Robert Abreu Moncada Kopech Semien Escobar Vaughn Engel Montas

On Mack - for a team acquiring him - he is relatively cap friendly, still relatively young, and all advanced metrics still have him as one of the top pass rushers in the game (and he is complete - plays run etc). If Von Miller at his age gets you a 2 and a 3 - than Mack, who is widely viewed as elite, younger, and under a reasonable contract for a bit longer (for the acquiring team) - you are getting a 1st rounder +. Maybe it is a 2nd rounder this year and a future 1st or vice versa - but you are getting something good for Mack if you want to flip him and take cap hit (I WOULD - mainly because I think the Bears are 2-3 years from where they could use a Mack type of player to put them over the top and at that point - he wont' be the player they need him to be). And If I am the Bears - I do it - because I want to draft at least one young wideout, maybe two - plus I presume we will want to draft a center and DB relatively early as well. Some might be able to be handled in FA too.

Oh Roquan should be 100% paid. I have said many times - I don't think this team is far off, as long as Justin Fields is good. Roquan will look even better next year when he has a decent younger LB next to him too vs. the slow aging LB's Bears have had next to him.

Yeah - I think if he gets to that point - it goes a long way. I think if Pace is here - less likely you see Quinn/Mack flipped. If Pace is gone, than I think there would be more dramatic change when it comes to some of those aging vets and maybe a greater willingness to invest in '23/'24 with '22 being all about Fields and putting more weapons around him. That said - I still think if Pace stays - he could change the narrative dramatically by moving at least one of Mack/Quinn. The problem is - trading those guys completely ties up cap space in the current year (at least Mack does) - so the draft capital helps in the LT and the cap situation is also aided in LT but in '22 the team will get "pinched" a bit, but to me its a necessary pinch for the greater good. But those type of moves don't get made if a GM is under SIGNIFICANT near term pressure. If Pace moves up to president - Champ comes in new - than I think everything is fair game for that mini-refresh that they started when they drafted Fields this past year.

I don't think a 1st rounder - but I think you could get a 3rd rounder and maybe even a 3rd and a future 3rd. I don't even know if you could get a 2nd, but who knows. Robert Quinn is a year younger than Von Miller and has over double the sacks. If he finishes strong teams would have to be pretty interested in a guy who doesn't have a ton of guaranteed money etc, who gets the QB. Miller fetched a 2nd and 3rd so maybe Quinn can get you a 2nd (but remember it was a low 2nd given Rams are good so practically a 3rd). Miller had a bum year in '20 just like Quinn did, both due to injury (Miller didn't play at all while Quinn deal with drop foot that CLEARLY impacted him cause the eye test this year has been stellar).

I saw this on MLB tv so hopefully this isn’t stale or fake news.

Reports swirling that Astros and Verlander never finalized deal prior to lock out. Uncertainty what that means but Verlander may be in play again coming out of the lock out. Had agreed to a 2yr 50M (2nd yr option) deal agreed to 2 weeks ago. No clue what hold up was but this would be good news. I still think Verlander would be a nice take a swing move at the rotation.

100% - If Kimbrel was a free agent he would be getting a 3 yr 35-45M deal. The fact that he is on a 1yr deal - his AAV is a bit high, but its one year which counters any of that risk. At most someone could say he is a couple M overpaid but since I presume Sox are acquiring MLB talent they are okay with that and fine taking on another deal which more than negates that. Bottom line - they will get something serviceable for Kimbrel. I still wouldn't have bothered/taken the risk and would have not picked up the option, cause I'd rather have full flexibility - but to each their own.

This is pretty exciting. I don't know if it will work - but he's young, energetic, and sounds like he impresses everyone he talks to. Rees is a really solid OC as well. This could all blow up in ND's faces but if it did - they can take a different swing in a few years. If this works - they could have a new dynamic face of college football. That said - I am sure there will be bumps along the road as he learns.

But if they are living in the can't spend $1 when we have .50 cents world - than timing/how matters and you got to get more cute. Years ago I would have said that was the case - but with this team - despite the offseason - I still think they are committed to going up to luxury tax and quite frankly after the CBA and with the luxury tax raised - I suspect that gives them a new record payroll and puts them in a spot where they can fill all the needs (maybe not the way a Dodgers or Yankees would...but still pretty good all things considered).

This makes sense if they are managing to a # that is extremely tight. If the inverse is true and they basically know they are going to upgrade those other 2 spots + had a need on the bench and feel they have resources to execute on those - than I think it is okay to do what they did. If they only have $20M to do 3 things - than spending $6M here would not be wise, leaving you with $14M for more pressing needs. The problem is - none of us know the exact situation but my impression is - they have enough - that doesn't mean a blank check, but that they should be able to do what they want and hit on those positions. Maybe said another way - the $6M given to Leury wouldn't make a difference if instead they gave a Leury equivalent $3M and spread it to the other holes (JR would be okay absorbing that difference given the team).

On nights that Gordon is sitting on bench - he will be in the booth as they are only going to pay announcers on a per game basis.