Chisoxfn

I can't believe Niko went to Europe. He would have been awesome in LA. Heck I'd take him back on Bulls as a bench guy at a fair rate.

Bulls supposedly meeting with Randle and Looney tomorrow plus potentially Beverly. Randle is an interesting one. Not a perfect fit but he has gotten better every year and is just 24. Beverly has a lot of suitors but maybe he takes two year deal at higher AAV to be in Chicago.

One other thought, but if the Bulls land a Randle or Brogdon, as long as the contracts aren't overblown, those can be guys leveraged in sign & trades or deals with other squads to push the Bulls to the next level. To me the Bulls only chance at being a top flight squad is to have a lot of quality pieces who can develop into a quality team, with a portion of those pieces that can than be flipped for bigger fish. I have confidence in front office doing the first part (I think Paxson knows how to build quality squads through the draft...the challenge is whether at that point, he can hit big on landing the star players necessary to make the team a true contender. I miss basketball so much...it has truly evolved into my favorite sport. Can't wait to watch some summer league. Might even see if I can take a road trip and bring the kids to watch some of the games. Presume prices are more reasonable than an NBA game.

This will be my optimistic post of the day. I've bashed Dunn a lot this past season (after he surprised me a season ago...dude was playing great ball before he whacked his head on that dunk) but he did miss 30+ games last year. With all of the injuries and the changes in style of play, he could be a guy that takes a big step forward with a good off-season. I wouldn't bet on it, but I could come up with good reasons why he had challenges last year.

I like Julius Randle but I don't necessarily love the fit. That said, WCJ is still very unproven and there are plenty of front-court minutes to go around. I'm presuming Randle will want more years than I'd like. If he would take a 3 yr deal which is really a 2+1 (where the team can do a buyout), I would be open to it. Don't love the idea of tying him up longer than that. Any reports on Bobby Portis? I know he wasn't happy when Bulls traded him but he's still made some recent references. I would think Bulls might have some appetite to bring him back as a bench guy too (maybe his contract demands have came down). Again, I'm not going longer than 2 years unless Bulls think they can get a big fish (and currently I don't see that happening, albeit, they now can from a cap perspective, now that they got the relief from Asik). Could go all the way to a max for a Durant type players as long as they stretch Felicio and move one of Dunn/Valentine. Not proposing or saying any of it will happen though. Paxson clearly wants to surround the Bulls young players with quality veterans and / or other good young players (who have a couple years in the league) in a push to get this team better so that they can be in a position where they can trade and or sign other free agents (once they've hit a point where they are at least back to being a playoff team). I think they recognize they can't do anything major until they hit that point and actually their overall roster design looks quite nice...but team as currently constructed is still way too young to be a playoff team, imo. If they don't land some pretty darn good veterans, I would still expect them to be a lottery team (which might not be a bad thing given the new lottery structure).

Caufield...either way, what does any of this have to do with Andrew Vaughn signing. This is non-nonsensical completely off-topic conversation that degrades the quality of the conversation that others are trying to have. In no way shape or form does it belong anywhere near PHT or this thread.

Congrats! Awesome news for you!

I don't think this is a bad idea for the Bulls. Get short-term vets in now while keeping all the flexibility down the road (whether acquiring individuals via trade and/or free agency). I am curious to see what they do with Brogdon. He seemed to be the only guy that they might look at who could take up long-term cap space, otherwise I expect any deal is 2 years or less (i.e., for Taj or Beverly (looking less likely given how much demand their will be for his services).

I've said it before but if I were the Sox, I'd target Q. He gives them innings and worse case is a back of the rotation guy and if the change of scenery back to the south side helps, even better.

That is my mo for managing my finance & accounting teams.

I always wonder what Rauch could have been if not for the labrum injury. He also had that game where he left the park or something early as well. Labrum's were a thing of that era as I think both Parque and Rauch suffered those injuries, plus didn't the Big Hurt tear his labrum as well.

Will be interesting if they still go for Brogdon. I really think I'm just going for some good, hard working vets, who can be good mentors for the young players and work well with Boylan and the staff (i.e., Beverly and Taj). They make the team better in the near term, help young players grow, and don't take too much opportunity for those young players, while leaving long-term flexibility in space (and ensuring the franchise can pivot if and when potential stars come available via FA and trade). However, I do get it if they go with Brogdon and than just figure they have one max spot in two years and presume Brogdon is a quality guy who helps bring franchise back to respectable levels. The reality is the Bulls aren't going to get any major player to show up without them reaching "respectable" levels from a W/L perspective. I just don't know that I tie up that much cap with Brogdon who is a good player but with much more muted upside, but I also presume, he'd be the type of guy you could eventually package (say 2 years from now when he only has 2 years left on his deal).

Denver adds another medical flyer (last year it was Porter).

Eh...I have no opinion but hope he crushes it. The bright side is he seems to be a very good athlete with a nice wing span. Pretty raw.

I'm going to guess his medicals don't look good at all. I wonder if he regrets staying in the draft.

Bulls on the clock.

Will Bol Bol be there. Is he the type of guy the Bulls would take a flyer on?

Oh yeah...I figured no chance Little was going to last that far. Little is a great pick for the Blazers, imo.

38th pick. If I were them I'd see what it would take to move up if they saw someone they liked still on the board (say a Bol Bol or whomever).

This is a really nice pick and the rosters is filling up nicely to be a solid team. I'd go sign Taj and Beverly to 1+1 deals for veteran leadership and bench strength and go into next year with a plan to be solid. It seems the Bulls view is to continue to build these pieces into a good team (and they definitely seem to have the makings of that as these players develop over the next couple years) while maintaining flexibility to trade for bigger fish and/or retaining salary cap for the 2021 off-season (i.e., 2 full off-season's away) where they would be looking at an ability to make some major moves (as long as they didn't do anything to tie up cap space). Basically any major moves they do have to be before they pay Lauri (who hopefully is playing like a guy who deserves that payday). Could the as-is roster become more than solid...sure, but Lavine is probably the guy who would have to develop into a superstar and White has yet to play a game so I'll wave all expectations of him. The overall fit of the guys seems very nice (WCJ, Lauri, Porter, Lavine, White). White is going to be a good running make and while he isn't a huge playmaker (at least not yet), he can shoot, run the floor, and finish at the hoop. His ability to spread the floor is huge as WCJ is really the only guy who can't shoot the 3 ball in that projected lineup and while he can't do it, he certainly has the form and stroke to be okay at it, which means, spacing should be fantastic as the team develops (again...I'm not necessarily projecting next year but as the young players develop). I like it.

I'm fired up. Nice to have a point guard who hopefully can turn into something. Nice length at the 1 as well.

I actually think that is who the Bulls wanted (Culver). Going to be curious to see what happens here. Obviously White is a need but if they were targeting Brogdon in FA, this wouldn't align to it. I'm curious if they go with the Euro guy. That said, getting White, at PG could end up being the best case scenario Bulls FA had all along.

I'm curious what New Orleans does with all of these picks. Who they are going to package them for?

Culver would seem to fit the type of guy the Bulls like. I would have preferred Minny not moving up but it will be interesting to see how everything plays out.

Presuming Suns take Garland than so it means the Bulls are looking at Reddish or Culver or the Euro guy or someone else. I think a more likely outcome is the Bulls moving down.