August 2, 20214 yr FA starts today, the draft happened. I will try not be a downer, but my NBA fandom took a ginormous hit and I'm trying to recover because sports should be fun.
August 2, 20214 yr Lets hope the Bulls surprise us all and the moves they make this off-season pan out and really get the team positioned to be fun, competitive, and have some real upside. Despite my recent pessimistic views - I'll try to be optimistic. At the very least - it should be an interesting offseason for them in terms of people in/people out.
August 2, 20214 yr Author I do want to broaden my pessimism from hating on just the bulls to broader NBA. I obviously think Paxson and forman were shit, and ran the bulls as if they were a lemonade stand and did nothing to take advantage of the things Jordan gave that franchise globally. And you can point to obvious examples of pieces they could have drafted to still make it all work. But what sucks to me so much is that we basically became the Orlando Magic, and it sucks that the Orlando Magic were forced to have a decade as the Orlando magic. What does that mean? Well, the bulls were friggen awful from 17-20. Especially the 17-19 bulls were just in no way awful, but so were many awful teams, and bulls happen to play in the awful central-east division. Meanwhile the equally awful suns and grizz played in the West getting destroyed and ended up with the worst records. So now despite inconsistent drafting for years, they had runs of (since 2013) 5 (Alex Len), 14, 13, 4, 4, 1, 6. And that 1-1 pick they get ayton and really did a great trade on getting bridges. They signed some guys, and succeed, and get chris paul. The Memphis Grizzlies after a great run fall apart, and they get rewarded with years of 4th overall and 2nd overall and get JJJ and Ja and they are a smart org who knows how to win. So yeah the bulls should have drafted Mitchell or Bam, in 2018 they should have drafted Sexton or SGA, in 2019 they should have drafted eerh...I think still Herro or Huichimara, and then in 2020 they should have drafted Halliburton. But it's kinda asking to pull an inside straight. Granted the Nuggets pulled off those inside straights. But anyway bulls got unlucky, and also made horrible decisions. And it sucks that in other sports when you have a FO that makes horrible decisions you have the draft to try to correct it but in the NBA you may have only once a decade where the draft really works in your favor. As a fan this sucks, I don't work for the bulls. Nothing I can do.
August 2, 20214 yr Report from a NY reporter that Lonzo will sign his restricted contract with Bulls pretty much immediately. Also - evidently Twolves might offer 1st round pick + some contracts for Lauri (not sure who). Both sound intriguing to me.
August 2, 20214 yr 5 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said: Report from a NY reporter that Lonzo will sign his restricted contract with Bulls pretty much immediately. Also - evidently Twolves might offer 1st round pick + some contracts for Lauri (not sure who). Both sound intriguing to me. Rumor comes from this passage, so, take it for what it's worth: Quote Chicago’s Lauri Markkanen will be an interesting “second wave” free agent after teams miss out on their primary targets. Chicago can do a sign-and-trade with him, in theory, but likely can’t take any money back if the Bulls sign a point guard with their cap space. Minnesota is surely one possibility for Markkanen, and for any other ambulatory power forward. The T’Wolves have little room below the luxury tax line and will be looking at trades and sign-and-trades with some of their less desirable contracts and a future pick. https://theathletic.com/2745940/2021/08/02/hollinger-as-nba-free-agency-opens-what-im-hearing-and-what-teams-actions-are-saying/
August 2, 20214 yr Bulls could still get Lonzo and take on S&T for Lauri. They would need to use Santo and some other contracts in the S&T with New Orleans (just a matter of New Orleans presumably doing its own S&T for the PG it gets).
August 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, Quin said: Rumor comes from this passage, so, take it for what it's worth: https://theathletic.com/2745940/2021/08/02/hollinger-as-nba-free-agency-opens-what-im-hearing-and-what-teams-actions-are-saying/ The Bulls should be in the pick accumulation phase of a rebuild. 100%
August 2, 20214 yr Author Annoying how Miami if they wanted Ball would just have Ball say "I'ms igning with Miami" and NO would just be like "okay sign and trade", because the bulls are so much better off if they absorb the salary through trade. They could then re-sign Theis with bird rights and have a MLE.
August 2, 20214 yr 37 minutes ago, bmags said: Annoying how Miami if they wanted Ball would just have Ball say "I'ms igning with Miami" and NO would just be like "okay sign and trade", because the bulls are so much better off if they absorb the salary through trade. They could then re-sign Theis with bird rights and have a MLE. Speak it into existence: Quote There seems to be legitimate traction on a three-team sign-and-trade framework between Chicago, New Orleans and Charlotte that would likely nullify any of the Bulls' fears of losing out on their preferred point guard target. From conversations with multiple league sources, the framework that would be discussed appears to focus on landing Ball in Chicago, Devonte' Graham in New Orleans and Tomas Satoransky, Josh Hart and draft capital to Charlotte. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2946741-nba-free-agency-intel-latest-on-dennis-schroder-and-lonzo-ball-sign-and-trade Edit: Different one here
August 2, 20214 yr Windhorst reporting Bulls wanting to pull off double sign and trade for Ball and Derozan
August 2, 20214 yr Author 24 minutes ago, Quin said: Speak it into existence: Edit: Different one here That's good, i'm pro this. Hope it pans out.
August 2, 20214 yr Author 6 minutes ago, Chi Town Sox said: Windhorst reporting Bulls wanting to pull off double sign and trade for Ball and Derozan holy crap, putting him at wing would be amazing.
August 2, 20214 yr 7 minutes ago, Chi Town Sox said: Windhorst reporting Bulls wanting to pull off double sign and trade for Ball and Derozan If AK pulls that off, the Bulls could (I believe, because the cap if fucking confusing) keep Thad and Theis.
August 2, 20214 yr Author Man, maybe I like offseason stuff more than real season stuff do I just like accounting?
August 2, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, Quin said: If AK pulls that off, the Bulls could (I believe, because the cap if fucking confusing) keep Thad and Theis. I keep seeing that they will trade Thad.
August 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, bmags said: Man, maybe I like offseason stuff more than real season stuff do I just like accounting? I do too, cause the Bulls aren't good haha. Always more fun to dream about what could be than watch an underperforming product on the court.
August 2, 20214 yr Author 5 minutes ago, Quin said: If AK pulls that off, the Bulls could (I believe, because the cap if fucking confusing) keep Thad and Theis. 1 minute ago, chw42 said: I keep seeing that they will trade Thad. Yeah I think because of Zach Lavine's desire for a deal, the thought is they would basically ship off things that have salary and use remaining budget for zach and then rely on exemption + min deals.
August 2, 20214 yr Just now, scs787 said: Ball-Lavine-Derozan-Thad/Theis/Marko-Vuk could be a wholllllle lotta fun. Honestly, I'm not sure how well DeRozan fits into all of this. It just feels like we're accumulating big name guys to sell tickets. I'm all for Lonzo cause he fills a need, but aren't DeRozan and LaVine a bit redundant role-wise?
August 2, 20214 yr 9 minutes ago, bmags said: That's good, i'm pro this. Hope it pans out. So Lauri for Lonzo. Huh. Not sure what to think.
August 2, 20214 yr Author Just now, chw42 said: Honestly, I'm not sure how well DeRozan fits into all of this. It just feels like we're accumulating big name guys to sell tickets. I'm all for Lonzo cause he fills a need, but aren't DeRozan and LaVine a bit redundant role-wise? DeRozan would need to play wing while Patrick Williams hopefully develops some aggression. I don't think it's an amazing fit, but because Zach has range, and because Vucevic has range, and maybe Ball's streaky 3pg is real, that should give DeRozan room to work. I think he was attractive in how he played in SA more than Toronto. But yeah...can 4 top 26-35 players win an nba championship? lol.
August 2, 20214 yr Author 2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: So Lauri for Lonzo. Huh. Not sure what to think. they weren't bringing Lauri back with Vucevic so it's all golden there. If the bulls rebuild, it's going to be if this year is a disaster and getting 2022 1st rounders is nice. They are pot-committed now.
August 2, 20214 yr 20 minutes ago, Chi Town Sox said: Windhorst reporting Bulls wanting to pull off double sign and trade for Ball and Derozan Things getting interesting.
August 2, 20214 yr Author So 30 minutes until the end of Christian Felicio, which I said was a great deal, because look at what these other trash bigs were getting.
August 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, bmags said: they weren't bringing Lauri back with Vucevic so it's all golden there. If the bulls rebuild, it's going to be if this year is a disaster and getting 2022 1st rounders is nice. They are pot-committed now. That's a good way of looking at it.
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