I’m also worried that they’re just waiting until the holiday weekend to announce the Giddey contract.
However, I do find it interesting that an actual credible national reporter (Windhorst) apparently said he heard there won’t be a deal for Giddey anytime soon.
AK should just wait as long as it takes for Giddey to accept a very team friendly offer. I’m not even convinced he’s much better overall than Tre Jones, so what’s the rush?
I think that's the reason they traded for Okoro. He can talk to Giddey in the building and tell him how this was a difficult negotiation and he settled for less in the end but it's alright!
Yeah I think I may have seen the quote also and not the article, though also had seen the Grimes thing. Regardless it definitely seemed legit that it wasn't just some news suppression.
I don't understand the idea that low first round picks are important for TEAM BUILDING. They aren't. Most end up as bench players at equal or lesser replacement value than G Leaguers (more than 50% of NBA players play in the G League at some point) or the usual free agent roster fill ins. As a path to significant players low first rounders are a shot in the dark.
Yes low first rounders and second rounders have trade asset value, but largely because in the NBA the number of tradeable assets is low overall. There's just not that much to package up into trades.
To me, the question for AKME is whether they are building a roster and asset base with a goal of acquiring a star? Because intentionally or unintentionally in my opinion they've done exactly that. They have all their picks and swaps. They've got some decent young talent. They've got depth to have something left if they trade some of that young talent away. And they've got contracts to aggregate.
Any competent front office could do some good work with this sort of setup.
Anyway, while the Bulls - by virtue of not being good enough to sell out their future much - have a decent stockpile, among the non playoff teams they are pretty far down the list that I cobbled together pre-draft: https://www.blogabull.com/p/the-bulls-didnt-win-but-were-draft
You partially answered your own question when you said "Yes low first rounders and second rounders have trade asset value".
Beyond that, saying that "most" low picks end up as unimportant players is misleading. Most high picks also end up as unimportant players.
If you don't know what you're doing, everything is a shot in the dark. If you're good at what you do, then every pick is an opportunity.
But the bigger issue is that you can't "unintentionally" build anything. Maybe the Bulls could "trade for a star" but they've been pretty clear that they're not gonna do that.
It goes back to issue that if you don't know what you're doing, you can't get anywhere. There's no lucking into sustained success.
Not true. Plenty of late first rounders become above average players on actual good teams. Hello most of the Pacers starting lineup were drafted in the 20s or the early second round(Siakam, Nesmith, Nembhard). Not to mention players like Desmond Bane, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, Herb Jones, Daniel Gafford, Dillon Brooks, Jokic.
plenty of top 10 picked players don't amount to jack. The draft is a crapshoot so it serves you to take as many rolls as you possibly can to hit something good.
And yes they are pretty damn important as trade assets.
So yea I'd rather take a blind shot in a pick rather than taking a player that i already know is mediocre(Okoro for example)
I was looking at a “winners and losers” article, and it was interesting to see what teams that actually want to win the most possible games do, and the West is going to be so brutal, even at the top:
Thunder: SGA, Dort, Williams, Holmgren, Hartenstein, Wallace, Caruso, Joe, Williams2, Wiggins, and of course, they’re going to have 2 lottery pick rookies in Topic and Sorber
Rockets: VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Eason, Kevin freaking Durant, Sengun, Adams, Capela, Jabari Smith, Dorian Finney Smith, Aaron Holiday and Reed Shepherd. Reliant on Van Bleet, but that’s fearsome.
Nuggets: Murray, Braun, Cam Johnson, Gordon, Jokic, Valencuianas, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Bruce Brown, Peyton Watson, Strawther? Some actual depth and a viable back-up Center finally.
Not to mention the older but good teams of Minnesota, Lakers, Golden State, Clippers.
(I wonder who will get the still good if not great Chris Paul.)
And my not-so-sleeper pick, the Spurs: Fox, Castle, Vassell, Barnes, Wemby, Harper, Sochan, Johnson, Kornet
Here’s my dumb trade idea. It won’t happen, but why not have “fun?”
Bulls out: Ayo, P. Williams, 2026 Top 10 protected, Phillips
Bulls In: Walker Kessler, John Collins, Kuminga on a 4-year, $100 mill S&T starting at 28 and going down to 23.5
Warriors Out: Kuminga, Santos, 2026 Top 10 protected
Warriors In: Ayo, Vucevic
Jazz Out: Kessler, Collins
Jazz In: Williams, Phillips, 2two 2026 Top 10 protected
Bulls:
Giddey - Jones - Carter
White - Huerter - Terry
Kuminga - Okoro
Buzelis - J. Collins - Essengue
Kessler - Z. Collins - Smith
You’re trying to figure out a way that Kuminga, Buzelis, and Essengue work out long-term, and there’s not enough bankable shooting with this team, but I think with Okoro, Kuminga, Buzelis, Kessler, and Collins, you have enough defense to make up for Giddey and White and Heurter.
Warriors:
Curry - Poedzimski - Dunsunmo
Hield - GPIII
Butler - Moody
Green - Post
Vucevic - Jackson-Davis
Jazz:
Who cares? They get two 1st rounders next year and Williams, Santos and Phillips for whatever they’re trying. Maybe after getting Clayton and Bailey this year, with their own pick and these two, they might get some actual talent.
I’m also worried that they’re just waiting until the holiday weekend to announce the Giddey contract.
However, I do find it interesting that an actual credible national reporter (Windhorst) apparently said he heard there won’t be a deal for Giddey anytime soon.
AK should just wait as long as it takes for Giddey to accept a very team friendly offer. I’m not even convinced he’s much better overall than Tre Jones, so what’s the rush?
Source on that Windhorst quote?
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/bulls-rumors-chicago-labeled-fit-165942143.html
Thank you! To me that is actually legitimate reason for hope.
So can we just sign Grimes to the MLE and let Giddey kick rocks? I think a backcourt of White and Grimes would be better than White and Giddey.
they could do both! have a $17M TPE if Sixers would sign-and-trade Grimes
I don't think Grimes is better than Giddey or a better fit with Coby, BUT it's closer than what the contracts will indicate
actually if Grimes is commanding ~MLE, Sixers would probably keep him.
I think that's the reason they traded for Okoro. He can talk to Giddey in the building and tell him how this was a difficult negotiation and he settled for less in the end but it's alright!
Yeah I think I may have seen the quote also and not the article, though also had seen the Grimes thing. Regardless it definitely seemed legit that it wasn't just some news suppression.
I don't understand the idea that low first round picks are important for TEAM BUILDING. They aren't. Most end up as bench players at equal or lesser replacement value than G Leaguers (more than 50% of NBA players play in the G League at some point) or the usual free agent roster fill ins. As a path to significant players low first rounders are a shot in the dark.
Yes low first rounders and second rounders have trade asset value, but largely because in the NBA the number of tradeable assets is low overall. There's just not that much to package up into trades.
To me, the question for AKME is whether they are building a roster and asset base with a goal of acquiring a star? Because intentionally or unintentionally in my opinion they've done exactly that. They have all their picks and swaps. They've got some decent young talent. They've got depth to have something left if they trade some of that young talent away. And they've got contracts to aggregate.
Any competent front office could do some good work with this sort of setup.
Lebron incoming??
it's not that hard to understand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgct3Jn8pFA
Anyway, while the Bulls - by virtue of not being good enough to sell out their future much - have a decent stockpile, among the non playoff teams they are pretty far down the list that I cobbled together pre-draft: https://www.blogabull.com/p/the-bulls-didnt-win-but-were-draft
You partially answered your own question when you said "Yes low first rounders and second rounders have trade asset value".
Beyond that, saying that "most" low picks end up as unimportant players is misleading. Most high picks also end up as unimportant players.
If you don't know what you're doing, everything is a shot in the dark. If you're good at what you do, then every pick is an opportunity.
But the bigger issue is that you can't "unintentionally" build anything. Maybe the Bulls could "trade for a star" but they've been pretty clear that they're not gonna do that.
It goes back to issue that if you don't know what you're doing, you can't get anywhere. There's no lucking into sustained success.
Not true. Plenty of late first rounders become above average players on actual good teams. Hello most of the Pacers starting lineup were drafted in the 20s or the early second round(Siakam, Nesmith, Nembhard). Not to mention players like Desmond Bane, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, Herb Jones, Daniel Gafford, Dillon Brooks, Jokic.
plenty of top 10 picked players don't amount to jack. The draft is a crapshoot so it serves you to take as many rolls as you possibly can to hit something good.
And yes they are pretty damn important as trade assets.
So yea I'd rather take a blind shot in a pick rather than taking a player that i already know is mediocre(Okoro for example)
The Bulls just released their summer league roster and fucking Josh Primo is on it.
https://x.com/chicagobulls/status/1940832919452307679?s=46&t=ZSOVCRbS7N9ur50jmhMuqg
sigh...this would really look bad for ownership if they were paying attention
I mean - they signed him for like a day last year and he was also on the windy city bulls roster after that! it's now just beyond embarrassing.
Just looked at the roster and Maozinha Pereira was there!!
The Bulls are really scraping the barrel. This guy was playing in our local league a month ago and believe me, nobody was thinking "NBA player".
I was looking at a “winners and losers” article, and it was interesting to see what teams that actually want to win the most possible games do, and the West is going to be so brutal, even at the top:
Thunder: SGA, Dort, Williams, Holmgren, Hartenstein, Wallace, Caruso, Joe, Williams2, Wiggins, and of course, they’re going to have 2 lottery pick rookies in Topic and Sorber
Rockets: VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Eason, Kevin freaking Durant, Sengun, Adams, Capela, Jabari Smith, Dorian Finney Smith, Aaron Holiday and Reed Shepherd. Reliant on Van Bleet, but that’s fearsome.
Nuggets: Murray, Braun, Cam Johnson, Gordon, Jokic, Valencuianas, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Bruce Brown, Peyton Watson, Strawther? Some actual depth and a viable back-up Center finally.
Not to mention the older but good teams of Minnesota, Lakers, Golden State, Clippers.
(I wonder who will get the still good if not great Chris Paul.)
And my not-so-sleeper pick, the Spurs: Fox, Castle, Vassell, Barnes, Wemby, Harper, Sochan, Johnson, Kornet
Good lord. That’s just ridiculous.
Here’s my dumb trade idea. It won’t happen, but why not have “fun?”
Bulls out: Ayo, P. Williams, 2026 Top 10 protected, Phillips
Bulls In: Walker Kessler, John Collins, Kuminga on a 4-year, $100 mill S&T starting at 28 and going down to 23.5
Warriors Out: Kuminga, Santos, 2026 Top 10 protected
Warriors In: Ayo, Vucevic
Jazz Out: Kessler, Collins
Jazz In: Williams, Phillips, 2two 2026 Top 10 protected
Bulls:
Giddey - Jones - Carter
White - Huerter - Terry
Kuminga - Okoro
Buzelis - J. Collins - Essengue
Kessler - Z. Collins - Smith
You’re trying to figure out a way that Kuminga, Buzelis, and Essengue work out long-term, and there’s not enough bankable shooting with this team, but I think with Okoro, Kuminga, Buzelis, Kessler, and Collins, you have enough defense to make up for Giddey and White and Heurter.
Warriors:
Curry - Poedzimski - Dunsunmo
Hield - GPIII
Butler - Moody
Green - Post
Vucevic - Jackson-Davis
Jazz:
Who cares? They get two 1st rounders next year and Williams, Santos and Phillips for whatever they’re trying. Maybe after getting Clayton and Bailey this year, with their own pick and these two, they might get some actual talent.
Get Grimes and say good bye to Giddey. You will have enough money to keep White and get a decent shot blocker at least 6"11.