Chisoxfn

I would have thought this would have been a good fit for him. Toronto is a great city (also a big city) but doesn't have the same pressure / dynamics as say a New York / LA.

Lets try and get this discussion broken up in multiple threads. This is becoming kind of just a random catch-all thread with lots of good discussion, but becomes harder to follow, especially as news and other things get embedded within.

It will be interesting to see how Fred makes all of the pieces work, but the parts fit into his up-tempo style/pace of play. It isn't like he's getting forced parts that don't fit into what he wants to do. Teams this young will suck defensively no matter what...at this point I think they are just trying to see what young parts work vs. what young parts might be moved (since they aren't the right fit). Don't get too worked up on "perfect" fit at this moment and instead maximize the amount of guys with upside. With that, there will bring some challenges of playing time. That said, Hoiberg did a solid job last year and seems rejuvenated. I'm a lot more upbeat on Fred than I was a year ago. Doesn't mean I'm sold on him but I could at least see him panning out and being a long term coach, but he has a tough road ahead of him.

I think the Bulls know that to land an attractive max free agent there are going to have to prove they are a team that can win and that is why they made the move (bet on a young asset / former #2 pick) while trying to get your team to be mediocre. Still very unlikely we are a playoff team but if we do, fine, it means your young guys have probably emerged better/quicker than expected and you now are a more marketable destination. Bare minimum you have to have your young talent showcase itself in a way that a max free agent sees himself + continued youth as a difference maker. Obviously the very ideal scenario (other than everyone just takes it up a notch or two and we become some great super team with our existing guys) is that you are close to the playoffs (but your youth and talent has a nice upward trajectory based upon their performance), we get lucky in the lottery (odds are much flatter) and we than have a young roster with an upward trajectory, a nice asset (pick wise) and cap space to lure a big time free agent (with the ability to create space for two if two want to come). If you completely suck this next year, than you aren't landing any big name free agents. Not happening.

Had just finished reading this article. Was a good piece. It is the 2nd example that I look forward to the most. Parker and Laurie should be a pretty effective pick and roll / pick and pop offense. In a similar way to how Niko / Lauri played with each other (which was pretty well). Fred was pretty creative with Niko & Lauri and I presume he'll be similarly creative with these two. Add in a Lavine to provide good spacing and it should be interesting. We certainly have offensive flexibility and to be honest a good amount of guys who can be versatile defenders, however, the team is extremely young and Parker/Lavine don't have good defensive metrics (or good advanced metrics).

The big difference between the "Alpha's" experiment and this one is that Lavine and Parker are both extremely young. We could argue fit, but this isn't a team ready to win a championship, this is just part of continued asset accumulation none of us have the crystal ball for who is going to develop. Maybe they all pan out and we find out we need more team d or something, who knows, but this is still part of that "asset accumulation" phase and next off-season, hopefully you have many flexible ways to get better, whether it is using cap space on a max player (something they can do without making any major changes) or if they prefer to flip guys for a player who has become available (again, you hope that Lavine and others haven't sucked and now you package a few of those guys and trade for a star while still having a number of quality assets + cap space). Bottom line, there is still a lot of flexibility on this roster and improved talent. That said, the roster is still extremely young and it takes time to learn to win in the NBA. I haven't watched enough of Parker to be able to make an intelligent comment on his post ACL (x2) play but the stats would indicate he's a pretty advanced and efficient scorer (really nice "true shooting percentage" for a guy who can also score quite a bit of points). And in terms of "fit", I really can't talk about Lavine's fit in an honest way. The dude was rehabbing and when he got back Dunn went out and they never really had a very set unit, so hard for me to knock how awkward Lavine played when he came back and not only had to train himself phyiscally (and get past the mental hurdles related to the injury) but also had to learn new teammates and a new system. Look at the 1st year of Bron / Bosh / Wade and the adjustment it took them to figure things out (and NO I AM NOT COMPARING THE BULLS TO ANYTHING LIKE THAT) just making the point that even with 3 great players (who weren't coming back from injury), it took a lot of regular season action to gel (even with a full off-season training camp). And we'll need to remind ourselves of that this upcoming season as I would expect we'll see lots of inconsistent basketball given the new faces and youth of the team.

Loved it

Let's sign Okafor too. All offense squad! In all honesty, he is in awesome shape and knows if he is going to have a career this will be his last chance. Saw a recent clip of him and he is in amazing shape. His jumper looked good too.

This has become a great deal. I had been really worried for a while but am fully on board with this.

Exactly. This would be bulls trying to put out as good of a team possible to market to a max guy in the offseason. Or they leverage some of these guys in a trade for a superstar (of course that assumes someone is demanding to come to Chicago and for the players to look good)

Woj confirming Parker to Bulls. Don't have access to twitter where I'm at or I would post. From what I read elsewhere, sounded like quite a bit of money over 3 years. Seems like a steep price for a guy coming off of 2 ACLs'. Of course Bucks can match.

Wow - Throwback. I'm amazed that domain has been maintained for that long.

Possible upside (depending on contract); I would hope we put a lot of protections (from an injury perspective).

Agree with both of you. Big unfortunate is that if we didn't have the Felicio contract (we were trying to unload), we would have been able to land that Nuggets protected 1st round pick + Faried (at least I presume we could have).

That would have been nice!

One other item to note but apparently today (or maybe tomorrow) would be the last day for the Bulls to be able to rescind the QO. One other option would be Denver (who had been looking to dump salary). Or maybe Deng is about to rejoin the Bulls haha.

KC Johnson has reported that the Grant and Nwaba develoments were to set-up another move. Johnson only reports things that will absolutely happen (since he's largely a voice of the team). Wonder what is about to happen (obviously nothing that major in the grand scheme of things). Got to think their are more legs to this Melo deal.

From a cap perspective, after waiving Kilpatrick and renouncing Nwaba, the Bulls are a Zipser release away from being able to trade felicio for Melo straight up. Or are the Bulls about to take a flyer on Jabari Parker? Not that they'd need to clear cap space for Parker.

This seems odd. Bulls typically try to make right by guys and give them opportunities to play elsewhere if they aren't fits on the team, but Nwaba would have been a good add (in general). Presume too big of a gap existed between two teams and Bulls had enough intel that a RFA was going to come in that we wouldn't match anyway, but it still seems odd to make him outright (unless they needed to immediately clear his cap space for some other "impending" move...none of which I'm expecting). In general, I'm kind of bummed cause I liked Nwaba but If he gets a LT deal at 6+M, I have a hard time justifying it (not because Nwaba isn't worth it...he absolutely is, but unfortunately, we aren't at the stage of the rebuild that we can afford having a Nwaba tie up cap space that can be used for more impactful FA's). That said, Nwaba is one of those guys, that if he build a better jumper, could really turn into a quality player (who'd be a bargain at 6M/yr).

I agree that moving Felicio will be tough. Bulls might need to dangle a pick (and the only way you are doing that is if you already know you have two max guys lined up, imo). The more preferred approach would be to take on a bigger expiring contract this year to help a team save in luxury tax (win / win...i.e., Carmelo Anthony) or you try to package Felicio with a guy like Portis or Valentine. Lets also hope that Felicio plays better this year (cause that would be a big help as well). On your comment regarding the Thunder. Fantastic point. Certainly throws a wrench into those plans. Realistically I don't see the Thunder just giving up a draft pick which is why I think the "Felicio" type package makes a lot of sense with OKC. Doesn't mean it happens and there are plenty of other teams who might be interested.

KC is incorrect in his presumption. Bulls can get to two max...albeit that is pretty dependent on moving Felicio (a big if). KC's number ignores a lot of other factors that should be considered. The data I had pulled was from one of the better cap spots and kind of looked at the "true" projected cap of each team (gives a much better gauge at what teams will have). It does not include moving guys like Felicio, rather includes ways you can maximize cap space with existing guys, projected cap growth, etc. He is going at the pure number though, so it isn't factually wrong, but it is misleading in the full context of the equation.

Rodon crushing it is huge for the rebuild, imo. Things are a lot better if he emerges as the ace he can be. A lot better.

Its summer league but another strong performance from WCJ. Probably the most impressive thing was how his footwork on switches when he was guarding Trae Young out in 3 point land (no, he was not the reason Trae Young had a massive amount of points). Hutchinson looks to be a pretty solid passer (had 8 assists). Nice to see given how much summer league is typically iso / chuck ball (see Antonio Blakeny and pretty much every other wing Bulls are playing). Sounds like Hutchinson is putting in a lot of extra work on his shot, which will be good. He's likely going to need to initially establish him as a 3&D guy off the bench and than you hope the rest of his game can mature to the point he can be a pretty darn solid all around player (who becomes a pretty elite defender). Not explosive off the dribble but lanky and his vision very much impressed me (he's had some really nice passes in the summer league).

Not many teams can have two max deals. Bulls are projected to have top 4 (in terms of available cap space) along with Mavericks, Brooklyn Nets, and Sacramento Kings. Next closest are Atlanta, Clippers, Indiana (before they pay Oladipo) and the Knicks but they are all well below (as currently constructed) the ability to add two max players (let alone a max player and a big time RFA or near max guy). Clippers and Mavericks are probably the biggest competition (although the lure of Brooklyn or Knicks could always be tempting). Obviously Lakers will be a major threat (in the standpoint of one max is still a huge lure). But not a lot of other "one max" teams sitting out their with massively strong rosters (outside of Philly). So competition yes, but I'd still put odds in a solid place, albeit there is a bit of luck (in the sense that sometimes guys just have preferences and fits within rosters, etc). Fact that we are in the east should be a major selling point (albeit by the time next offseason rolls around the whole playoff structure might be redone and end that "selling" point).

Yep - There is a difference between having $20M, which isn't even enough for a max deal and having possibility of offering up two max contracts (which the Bulls might be able to do). The free agent crop looks fantastic and while there will be competition and Lakers could likely be the #1 team on the list, you can't even try if you don't have the space (and instead had saddled yourself with garbage). You also want to have an attractive core that can be a "lure" to those potential free agents. It is actually why I think 2018 will be relatively important in the sense that if we can be a sneaky playoff type team (in a crappy east) while guys like Lauri, Dunn, Lavine, Wendell, etc, develop, it could ultimately be a huge selling point come next summer. Unfortunately I don't know that we can be that team as young players take time, however, having the depth from Lopez, Portis, Valentine combined with the fact that the east sucks, might make us surprisingly competitive.