I think they actually have decent depth (which would help in a consolidation trade). Playing .500 without a strong top of the roster star kind of shows it. Losing to these sh*tty teams is due to the 'depth' doing things -- especially, taking shots -- they aren't built to do. I'd say some of that falls to Billy allowing it, but the roster doesn't have enough quality shot-making to not have to rely on an over-proportion of simply bad shots: Vuc blind tosses at the rim; anything Okoro shoots; Matas wild flings (he needs to watch Cooper Flagg work to his spots); PW robot-moves; on and on. Coby's return will help some. Adding at least one more quality scorer + Billy taking away shots that by profile will be no more than 20%-makes will help. And that's not even taking into account what subtracting Vuc's abysmal no-defense would do.
yes I still think they have good depth in their top 8
but they fashioned themselves as having good 9-15 depth that could fill in the top 8, and nope.
It especially sucks because they likely won't pull the trigger on trading one of their quality role players because they know the drop-off is too huge for their precious competitiveness. They are .500 but not 'playing .500', especially after the injuries
I don't think it's the kind of depth that they could make a consolidation trade with. Nobody is trading their star for role players. Unless you're talking consolidating with Coby and Giddey included
Salary matching plus ALL the draft picks would be the play. Also Noah because he's useless for several years, but had a nice G League debut that has trade value.
You add a primary scorer alongside Coby's scoring and Giddey's playmaking and everyone else becomes VERY secondary. And even then, Ayo, Matas and Huerter are competent offensive players. EVERYONE else has a very tight shot profile plus exiting Vuc.
To me that's a path to being pretty decent, depending on who you can bring in, especially with the tightened cap penalty rules limiting three-star teams.
I do agree that they have good complementary players, but was pushing back on the idea that they could be used in a consolidation trade. Their expiring salaries are valuable but that's irrespective of how good they are.
though maybe - this would stretch creativity beyond what AKME is capable of - they can involve other teams, get assets for their good role players and consolidate all that in a trade and still have good role players left over
On the Patrick Williams front, he just shot 33% in November and had just 3 games in which he shot better than 37.5%. 6 games were under 30%. He's somehow shooting worse from 2 this season than last season (38.5%!!!). I know there are some awful teams with total bums playing real minutes, but Pat might be the worst rotation player in the NBA right now, at least on teams theoretically trying to win.
I do these roster snapshots for every team and Pat would be indistinguishable with any 6'8" 24 year old 15th man or 2-way spot if you took away his draft pedigree and contract. Except maybe if he came in with that status he wouldn't even try to dribble once per game anymore
For me, it all comes back to the draft. There is no fix for a GM/President who can’t draft.
Even the super teams that were assembled via free agency or trades (2008 Celtics, 2010 Heat, and 2016 Warriors) were built around players who were drafted by the franchise.
If you can’t draft, you’re not going to make it. AK chose Patrick Williams over Tyrese Haliburton, Daley Terry over Walker Kessler, Noa Essengue over a chance at a top 3 pick from the Pelicans (granted, Noa could still become something).
I’m a big fan of Matas, but even he is looking like he might just end up being a good role player. As of right now, Ayo is his pick who has produced the most and he’s basically a sixth man.
So if your draft record is a bunch of duds and a couple of role players, and your strategy centers around paying all-star replacement level guys, why should you remain employed?
They may actually not even make the play-in this time (do we really think they'll finish ahead of the 76ers, Celtics and Bucks?). So might get a high draft pick in a decent draft. They could still pick the wrong guy.
Pat Williams is getting worse. It’s inexplicable. He doesn’t seem to care. I think the worst part is that now he’s completely untradeable. He can’t even be a throw in. I swear to god he may get bought out and be out of the league this summer.
The rotations have been screwey last 5 or so games. The roster imbalance is really highlighted when you have injuries to big guys. The Bulls can’t afford 2 of the 3 of Collins, Vuc, Smith to be out. The Bulls habit of picking undersized and under skilled power forwards (Essengue, Phillips, Williams, Buz (?)) is starting to catch up. At least some of these guys need to be playing (not Williams) and getting minutes at the 3.
Also rebounding is a skill. AKME and BD really need to understand that. Yelling box out and stocking the team with guards won’t work.
of note: Coby White is out tonight because of a strain in his OTHER calf:
>"Donovan says Coby White told him today that the tightness in his left calf "doesn’t feel like the other one did,” referring to the strain which obviously kept him out from August up until a couple weeks ago. Says Bulls are operating with an “over abundance of caution.”"
As I was writing that sentence, Pat just boxed out for a tough rebound (a rare but encouraging moment) and then proceeded to step out of bounds after catching a pass on the next possession. And then after I finished that next sentence, he air balled a three on an incredible pass by Giddey.
So I've decided, I just cannot tolerate Pat anymore (he just got stuffed at the rim on another Giddey dime as I wrote that...). Also, the fun early season Bulls are no longer that fun, and there's no reason to think this current roster is going to evolve into a contender (especially if we keep drafting around the 12-15 spot every year).
So I say, if we can find a way to get AD that also allows us to dump Pat in the deal, I'm in. No matter how stupid it is to get a constantly injured AD, and how much I'm aware that AKME will give up far too much in a trade. Emotionally my fandom needs this, even if my rational side would push back. C'mon, AKME... Just throw caution to the wind and go for it. (But don't forget to dump Pat, that's important!)
I think they actually have decent depth (which would help in a consolidation trade). Playing .500 without a strong top of the roster star kind of shows it. Losing to these sh*tty teams is due to the 'depth' doing things -- especially, taking shots -- they aren't built to do. I'd say some of that falls to Billy allowing it, but the roster doesn't have enough quality shot-making to not have to rely on an over-proportion of simply bad shots: Vuc blind tosses at the rim; anything Okoro shoots; Matas wild flings (he needs to watch Cooper Flagg work to his spots); PW robot-moves; on and on. Coby's return will help some. Adding at least one more quality scorer + Billy taking away shots that by profile will be no more than 20%-makes will help. And that's not even taking into account what subtracting Vuc's abysmal no-defense would do.
yes I still think they have good depth in their top 8
but they fashioned themselves as having good 9-15 depth that could fill in the top 8, and nope.
It especially sucks because they likely won't pull the trigger on trading one of their quality role players because they know the drop-off is too huge for their precious competitiveness. They are .500 but not 'playing .500', especially after the injuries
I don't think it's the kind of depth that they could make a consolidation trade with. Nobody is trading their star for role players. Unless you're talking consolidating with Coby and Giddey included
Salary matching plus ALL the draft picks would be the play. Also Noah because he's useless for several years, but had a nice G League debut that has trade value.
You add a primary scorer alongside Coby's scoring and Giddey's playmaking and everyone else becomes VERY secondary. And even then, Ayo, Matas and Huerter are competent offensive players. EVERYONE else has a very tight shot profile plus exiting Vuc.
To me that's a path to being pretty decent, depending on who you can bring in, especially with the tightened cap penalty rules limiting three-star teams.
I do agree that they have good complementary players, but was pushing back on the idea that they could be used in a consolidation trade. Their expiring salaries are valuable but that's irrespective of how good they are.
though maybe - this would stretch creativity beyond what AKME is capable of - they can involve other teams, get assets for their good role players and consolidate all that in a trade and still have good role players left over
On the Patrick Williams front, he just shot 33% in November and had just 3 games in which he shot better than 37.5%. 6 games were under 30%. He's somehow shooting worse from 2 this season than last season (38.5%!!!). I know there are some awful teams with total bums playing real minutes, but Pat might be the worst rotation player in the NBA right now, at least on teams theoretically trying to win.
I do these roster snapshots for every team and Pat would be indistinguishable with any 6'8" 24 year old 15th man or 2-way spot if you took away his draft pedigree and contract. Except maybe if he came in with that status he wouldn't even try to dribble once per game anymore
For me, it all comes back to the draft. There is no fix for a GM/President who can’t draft.
Even the super teams that were assembled via free agency or trades (2008 Celtics, 2010 Heat, and 2016 Warriors) were built around players who were drafted by the franchise.
If you can’t draft, you’re not going to make it. AK chose Patrick Williams over Tyrese Haliburton, Daley Terry over Walker Kessler, Noa Essengue over a chance at a top 3 pick from the Pelicans (granted, Noa could still become something).
I’m a big fan of Matas, but even he is looking like he might just end up being a good role player. As of right now, Ayo is his pick who has produced the most and he’s basically a sixth man.
So if your draft record is a bunch of duds and a couple of role players, and your strategy centers around paying all-star replacement level guys, why should you remain employed?
there is a fix to a spotty draft record, and that's getting more chances with more draft picks. But they are incapable of that.
They may actually not even make the play-in this time (do we really think they'll finish ahead of the 76ers, Celtics and Bucks?). So might get a high draft pick in a decent draft. They could still pick the wrong guy.
Pat Williams is getting worse. It’s inexplicable. He doesn’t seem to care. I think the worst part is that now he’s completely untradeable. He can’t even be a throw in. I swear to god he may get bought out and be out of the league this summer.
The rotations have been screwey last 5 or so games. The roster imbalance is really highlighted when you have injuries to big guys. The Bulls can’t afford 2 of the 3 of Collins, Vuc, Smith to be out. The Bulls habit of picking undersized and under skilled power forwards (Essengue, Phillips, Williams, Buz (?)) is starting to catch up. At least some of these guys need to be playing (not Williams) and getting minutes at the 3.
Also rebounding is a skill. AKME and BD really need to understand that. Yelling box out and stocking the team with guards won’t work.
his long-as-fuck contract actually makes him easier to buy out.
the minimum cap hit after this season would be $7.71M/year for the next seven years
Game Thread and roster preview for Bulls-Magic is UP: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/b0f5d353-da5d-495e-a026-be6443007552
of note: Coby White is out tonight because of a strain in his OTHER calf:
>"Donovan says Coby White told him today that the tightness in his left calf "doesn’t feel like the other one did,” referring to the strain which obviously kept him out from August up until a couple weeks ago. Says Bulls are operating with an “over abundance of caution.”"
AD whispers being leaked by the Bulls FO again.
As I was writing that sentence, Pat just boxed out for a tough rebound (a rare but encouraging moment) and then proceeded to step out of bounds after catching a pass on the next possession. And then after I finished that next sentence, he air balled a three on an incredible pass by Giddey.
So I've decided, I just cannot tolerate Pat anymore (he just got stuffed at the rim on another Giddey dime as I wrote that...). Also, the fun early season Bulls are no longer that fun, and there's no reason to think this current roster is going to evolve into a contender (especially if we keep drafting around the 12-15 spot every year).
So I say, if we can find a way to get AD that also allows us to dump Pat in the deal, I'm in. No matter how stupid it is to get a constantly injured AD, and how much I'm aware that AKME will give up far too much in a trade. Emotionally my fandom needs this, even if my rational side would push back. C'mon, AKME... Just throw caution to the wind and go for it. (But don't forget to dump Pat, that's important!)