Nice to see Carter have another solid game in the summer league. Not as good as his first game and the team as a whole played sloppy ass d, but Carter had quite a few more blocks. Showed very good footwork and confidence. Very nice to see, especially since the Bulls were probably going up against one of the better summer league squads. Lakers have some solid and experienced second year guys on their squad, most notably Josh Hart (last year, even excluding Ball, Lakers had a fantastic draft in landing Kuzma and Hart).  

Hutchinson has a nice build and length. He had some bad turnovers and you can tell he needs confidence on his shot, but just his length and stride and the way he glides across the court remind me a bit of Paul George (please note I am not saying that Hutchinson will be Paul George or anything like that). Defensively it would appear he has the pure physical tools to be good. He showed glimpses of ability on offense but is going to need some work on that jumper (speed up the tempo of the shot and consistency of it). Didn't look bad, but not great.

Huge thing for Hutch is even though he is older, development is so key, and he has consistently improved each and every year in college (kind of like Buckets) so that might make him more projectable than others (since he was pretty raw at the start of his career at Boise St).  The tools he possesses are nice though.  

Summer league so you take good performances and kind of ignore them. If I recall, there has been a lot of statistical analysis done on summer league play and good play is statistically irrelevant, but players that totally suck in summer league are more likely to suck in the NBA.  

Edit: One minor ramble, but I really wish the Bulls had a more "facilitative" point guard playing in summer league.  Helps to ensure guys are actually playing (for developmental purposes) vs. a Blakeny who is what he is. He's that microwave guy off the bench who you know is either going to be "on" or "off" within like the first minute and a half he is on the court. Yesterday, he was "off" and was a gigantic hog.  

Where is this Melo to Chicago stuff coming from? Because it needs to be deleted.

16 minutes ago, Brian said:

Where is this Melo to Chicago stuff coming from? Because it needs to be deleted.

All i have seen is trade for him so you can get rid of a bad contract like Felicio, get a pick from OKC and waive him for the cap space( no idea if it is feasible, only what I have seen on twitter and in this thread).   If the idea is to actually take him and play him, that is really gross

17 minutes ago, Brian said:

Where is this Melo to Chicago stuff coming from? Because it needs to be deleted.

He wouldn't play here, you absorb the cap and buy him out and get an asset.

Ok. I'd be down for that. I don't know how you guys understand NBA caps and salaries. It's too complicated for me.

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

All i have seen is trade for him so you can get rid of a bad contract like Felicio, get a pick from OKC and waive him for the cap space( no idea if it is feasible, only what I have seen on twitter and in this thread).   If the idea is to actually take him and play him, that is really gross

I think it is pure speculation.  But if Bulls acquired him, as you said, the presumption is, we would buy him out and he'd be a FA to go elsewhere (presumably Lakers?).  

10 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I think it is pure speculation.  But if Bulls acquired him, as you said, the presumption is, we would buy him out and he'd be a FA to go elsewhere (presumably Lakers?).  

Houston would be a reasonable destination as they just lost Ariza.

The reason you trade for Melo is you can ditch assets that may be under contract for next year that can help OKC some now and then buy Melo out. This could allow us to afford two max FAs next year.

2 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Nice to see Carter have another solid game in the summer league. Not as good as his first game and the team as a whole played sloppy ass d, but Carter had quite a few more blocks. Showed very good footwork and confidence. Very nice to see, especially since the Bulls were probably going up against one of the better summer league squads. Lakers have some solid and experienced second year guys on their squad, most notably Josh Hart (last year, even excluding Ball, Lakers had a fantastic draft in landing Kuzma and Hart).  

Hutchinson has a nice build and length. He had some bad turnovers and you can tell he needs confidence on his shot, but just his length and stride and the way he glides across the court remind me a bit of Paul George (please note I am not saying that Hutchinson will be Paul George or anything like that). Defensively it would appear he has the pure physical tools to be good. He showed glimpses of ability on offense but is going to need some work on that jumper (speed up the tempo of the shot and consistency of it). Didn't look bad, but not great.

Huge thing for Hutch is even though he is older, development is so key, and he has consistently improved each and every year in college (kind of like Buckets) so that might make him more projectable than others (since he was pretty raw at the start of his career at Boise St).  The tools he possesses are nice though.  

Summer league so you take good performances and kind of ignore them. If I recall, there has been a lot of statistical analysis done on summer league play and good play is statistically irrelevant, but players that totally suck in summer league are more likely to suck in the NBA.  

Edit: One minor ramble, but I really wish the Bulls had a more "facilitative" point guard playing in summer league.  Helps to ensure guys are actually playing (for developmental purposes) vs. a Blakeny who is what he is. He's that microwave guy off the bench who you know is either going to be "on" or "off" within like the first minute and a half he is on the court. Yesterday, he was "off" and was a gigantic hog.  

A facilitating point guard you say? I happen to know of one that Hoiberg coached at Iowa State that led the country in A/TO ratio for three years and set the NCAA record for A/TO ratio that just is bouncing between the G league and the NBA ?

2 hours ago, Heads22 said:

A facilitating point guard you say? I happen to know of one that Hoiberg coached at Iowa State that led the country in A/TO ratio for three years and set the NCAA record for A/TO ratio that just is bouncing between the G league and the NBA ?

That's nice

So does anyone else like the Bulls chances:

 

The good news (well, for some): We're set for another unprecedented July in 2019. The cap is projected to rise from $101.8 million to $109 million -- and then reach $116 million in 2020-21. At least 15 teams should have room north of $20 million. 

Regardless, it's better to have a seat at the table then not. 

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

So does anyone else like the Bulls chances:

 

The good news (well, for some): We're set for another unprecedented July in 2019. The cap is projected to rise from $101.8 million to $109 million -- and then reach $116 million in 2020-21. At least 15 teams should have room north of $20 million. 

$20 million is still pretty darn far from a Max deal, especially for a 10 year veteran, and is that $20 million in 2019-2020 or $20 million in 2020-2021? No link is provided so I can't follow to look for details. 

4 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

$20 million is still pretty darn far from a Max deal, especially for a 10 year veteran, and is that $20 million in 2019-2020 or $20 million in 2020-2021? No link is provided so I can't follow to look for details. 

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.  

11 teams right now will be able to offer a max deal next summer.

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).  

 

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 Bulls related, but Kevin Knox looks like a player himself. Liked him alot in Kentucky but even I didn't expect him to look this good. Extreme upside. Knicks got a good one.. maybe they should start booing all their top picks. Seems to be working well for them. 

19 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

Not Bulls related, but Kevin Knox looks like a player himself. Liked him alot in Kentucky but even I didn't expect him to look this good. Extreme upside. Knicks got a good one.. maybe they should start booing all their top picks. Seems to be working well for them. 

Yeah Knox is getting a lot of praise, but after watching Carter the last few games I still prefer him. Carter actually seems longer and more athletic than I thought he was in college. 

1 hour ago, SoxAce said:

Not Bulls related, but Kevin Knox looks like a player himself. Liked him alot in Kentucky but even I didn't expect him to look this good. Extreme upside. Knicks got a good one.. maybe they should start booing all their top picks. Seems to be working well for them. 

Knox was ID'd as one of those players where the college style (and what Calipari asks of his wings) set them back compared to the spacing and options of the NBA.

I really like what I've seen with Carter, his defense has been plus plus and he finishes with both hands and variety of moves.

This looked like it was a pretty good draft class so far as a whole.

Hutchinson in so many ways reminds me of a taller Denzel Valentine.

8 minutes ago, bmags said:

Hutchinson in so many ways reminds me of a taller Denzel Valentine.

Definitely as a passer/vision on the court, but he's a much better athlete than Denzel.

1 hour ago, Soxbadger said:

Yeah Knox is getting a lot of praise, but after watching Carter the last few games I still prefer him. Carter actually seems longer and more athletic than I thought he was in college. 

We'll see how athletic Carter looks when the rest of the players on the court are much better.

9 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

Definitely as a passer/vision on the court, but he's a much better athlete than Denzel.

And it doesn't translate to finishing at the rim at all.

5 minutes ago, bmags said:

And it doesn't translate to finishing at the rim at all.

Already in the small sample size (minus last game) he gets to the FT line often. For a team 26th in FTA last season, he's a welcomed addition. Once he actually gets confidence in his shot (and stops getting contested shots to the rim and starts initiating more contact) he'll be very solid. 

I think I've only seen Denzel dunk once or twice as a pro. Dude has had knee problems since college (borderline 40 year old knees at this point now).