Reminds me of moneyball the movie. I believe there's a roster of 25 players we can afford that can win a championship. For the Bulls, I believe this roster has enough pieces to be turned into something interesting. But AK is no prime Billy Beane and nice guy Billy may just be Art Howe incarnate.
That said I'm not walking away (yet) maybe because I watched this yesterday lol
Yfbb's closing comments sum everything up nicely. AK hasn't been incredible so far this offseason, but he has made solid moves. That's about the best we can expect from him. And to be fair, because of my ridiculously low expectations, I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
I'll argue I don't think Vooch is the 20th best center in the league. I'd say he's easily higher up than that. Maybe around 15th without actually looking at a list of centers. The problem is he might as well be the worst center in the league to the Bulls because he doesn't fit this team at all. They desperately need interior defense and rim protection, which Vooch doesn't offer.
I also think the starting point guard spot is Coby's to lose. Neither Coby nor Carter are your typical point guard, so I'd imagine they let Coby prove himself. Not to mention, Coby was pretty adamant about wanting a starting position this coming season. I wouldn't be surprised if AK had to promise him he'd at least get the chance to start the season in the starting lineup during contract negotiations.
Bottom line, I'm cautiously optimistic about this season. I don't think this team is a contender, or even anywhere near a top four team in the East, but if they make one or two more solid additions, we could at least be in for a solid, fun (too much?) season.
Good moves, just a bad team. I don't want to see the same core keep losing half their games together. Even if it means taking a step back, the continuity being preached should be the idea for teams that can't get through in the playoffs (Grizzlies, Kings, even recently the Nuggets). But it shouldn't be the idea when your team is not good enough to even make the playoffs. I don't know if this LaVine/Harden talk is going anywhere, it's not even what I'd really like to see, but it would at least be something else for us to watch.
Trade Proposal (because why can't I look for blue skies!): Celtics get Lillard and Keon Johnson; Bulls get Brogdon; Blazers get Jaylen Bronw, DeRozan, the Portland pick received in the Markkanen deal back from the Bulls and the Celtics unprotected 2026 first rounder. I recognize all the caveats and problems (Lillard wants Miami, Boston doesn't want to trade Brown, AKME is visionless), but really I think this makes too much sense for everyone.
Would love a 4/5 that can play next to either pwill in a small ball lineup or next to Drummond. Drummond seems like he’s only got 50 games in him, so I’d want to make sure vuc can get some rest in those other 32
Excited to see this Bulls team lock up home court for the play-in. Sneaking in to the ass end of the playoffs is as good as another banner. You're looking at an 8th seed dynasty in the making. Can't wait to retire Vooch's jersey for getting us to the playoffs in nearly half of his seasons as a Bull.
I think they've simply overestimated the worth of their guys at this point and are heretofore competently executing the piss-poor strategy of running this team back. My three major questions surrounding such a strategy are:
1. Is Patrick Williams any good?
2. Is Coby white any good?
3. Will the aging core of DDR, Vucevic and LaVine stay healthy again this year? I don't think you can hope for as much availability out of them this year as you had last year.
Right now, I think the answers to the first two questions are entirely too important to the long-term prospects of this team.
-Craig and Carter are nice complimentary additions.
-This team is set up for long term mediocrity.
Until the Bulls recognize that they need to put all of their chips in the "acquiring a superstar" basket, they will be a perennial 10th-7th seed team. There are many routes to take to acquire a superstar, and the Bulls appear to be allergic to all of them.
I refuse to accept adding Jevon Carter as being worthy of any praise in the context of what Reinsdorf and AKME have force fed us. A Jevon Carter signing on a team with credibility (Heat, Nuggets, Warriors, etc.) ought to be praised given their history of team building. In the context of the Bulls, where we frame past-their-primes Boozer, Vuc, Gasol, and Wade as the best we can do - I simply cannot give any kudos for signing a good rotational player.
There isn't a franchise in Chicago that is more fun to follow when good. What a shame it is that we cannot do it more often.
The Bulls have gone without a PG since DRose (35 games of Lonzo not counting). They move out DeRozan, play Williams at the 3, start Craig at the 4 as a stop gap, and move forward. That seems like a better team than the one presently set. Don't have to fret over whether to overpay an aging DeMar and Brogdon covers them for at least the next two years.
My guess is Boston isn't putting Williams into that deal along with Brown. Yes, Brogdon's injuries are a concern, but so is the Bulls' lack of a real point guard. I think the team needs to take that chance. The Bulls will need to throw in a pick and probably can't get more since they are only trading an expiring contract (albeit a good player). I think a Scoot, DeMar, Brown, Grant, Nurkic lineup is, while flawed, pretty entertaining as well. And if the Blazers let DeMar go after next season they save themselves 28 million.
"The Bulls are trying not to contend, but instead be an affordable, well-fitting team."
there was this sense that after forman got fired somehow, a radical outsider sneaked their way into management. but like, ak obviously got the job because of an alignment with reinsdorf, he didn't get the job in spite of him. after decades of company dudes, it made sense to think of *any* outside hire as an organizational shift. but it just turns out that they found external guys that were willing to be company men.
i sometimes wonder what the appeal is to acting as the bull's mid-market gm--but basketball nepotism exists (gar still has a job) and there's a shitload of job security here. i can see the appeal in showing up and being like, "sure i'll construct affordable, mildly interesting teams for the next 10 years. if a superstar lands in our lap that will be cool too."
ak gets paid the same to do the bare minimum as management who's trying to win a championship. and at the end of the day, my stockholm syndrome for this team is deciding to label that as commendable.
1. Coby wasn't re-signed to be their future PG, he's next season's DeRozan replacement. They will try to move DeRozan at the break and claim it's a move "for the future," to allow Coby to "blossom" as a scorer. Some rubes will believe this. 2024 Savings: $17 million.
2. The signings of Carter and Craig are not so much to fortify the 8 man rotation but to enable them to dump DeRozan and Pat Williams if necessary before his rookie extension begins.
3. Though it could be argued that the team should "move on" from DeRozan in his contract year and given his age and the rest of the roster, this will not be to pass the torch onto a younger player, just a cheaper and far less efficient one. In case you're scoring at home, Coby + Zach = Future was basically GarPax's plan before the last 2 years of carny spectacle.
4. The idea that Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig somehow make the team "more watchable" is a weird thing to say, if the team is "watchable" at all they won't be playing more than 15mpg each. The same core will be playing mostly the same minutes as before.
I think a lot about how AK's drafted almost exclusively Aaron Gordon-type players yet, looking at an Orlando team moving Vuc and Aaron Gordon, chose the older, more expensive, player who doesn't fit that established profile at all, and he's opted for three more years of backing himself into a corner with this (seemingly) total outlier of his team-building ethos. Not that AG would make us a contender or anything, but I'd rather be stuck in a mediocre AK utopia of lank lords who can't shoot because I'd rather watch a failed vision than a failure of vision.
the Bulls made their free agency splash in the kiddie pool
Reminds me of moneyball the movie. I believe there's a roster of 25 players we can afford that can win a championship. For the Bulls, I believe this roster has enough pieces to be turned into something interesting. But AK is no prime Billy Beane and nice guy Billy may just be Art Howe incarnate.
That said I'm not walking away (yet) maybe because I watched this yesterday lol
https://youtube.com/shorts/kldcvx1CZ9U?feature=share4
Yfbb's closing comments sum everything up nicely. AK hasn't been incredible so far this offseason, but he has made solid moves. That's about the best we can expect from him. And to be fair, because of my ridiculously low expectations, I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
I'll argue I don't think Vooch is the 20th best center in the league. I'd say he's easily higher up than that. Maybe around 15th without actually looking at a list of centers. The problem is he might as well be the worst center in the league to the Bulls because he doesn't fit this team at all. They desperately need interior defense and rim protection, which Vooch doesn't offer.
I also think the starting point guard spot is Coby's to lose. Neither Coby nor Carter are your typical point guard, so I'd imagine they let Coby prove himself. Not to mention, Coby was pretty adamant about wanting a starting position this coming season. I wouldn't be surprised if AK had to promise him he'd at least get the chance to start the season in the starting lineup during contract negotiations.
Bottom line, I'm cautiously optimistic about this season. I don't think this team is a contender, or even anywhere near a top four team in the East, but if they make one or two more solid additions, we could at least be in for a solid, fun (too much?) season.
Good moves, just a bad team. I don't want to see the same core keep losing half their games together. Even if it means taking a step back, the continuity being preached should be the idea for teams that can't get through in the playoffs (Grizzlies, Kings, even recently the Nuggets). But it shouldn't be the idea when your team is not good enough to even make the playoffs. I don't know if this LaVine/Harden talk is going anywhere, it's not even what I'd really like to see, but it would at least be something else for us to watch.
Trade Proposal (because why can't I look for blue skies!): Celtics get Lillard and Keon Johnson; Bulls get Brogdon; Blazers get Jaylen Bronw, DeRozan, the Portland pick received in the Markkanen deal back from the Bulls and the Celtics unprotected 2026 first rounder. I recognize all the caveats and problems (Lillard wants Miami, Boston doesn't want to trade Brown, AKME is visionless), but really I think this makes too much sense for everyone.
Would love a 4/5 that can play next to either pwill in a small ball lineup or next to Drummond. Drummond seems like he’s only got 50 games in him, so I’d want to make sure vuc can get some rest in those other 32
Excited to see this Bulls team lock up home court for the play-in. Sneaking in to the ass end of the playoffs is as good as another banner. You're looking at an 8th seed dynasty in the making. Can't wait to retire Vooch's jersey for getting us to the playoffs in nearly half of his seasons as a Bull.
I think they've simply overestimated the worth of their guys at this point and are heretofore competently executing the piss-poor strategy of running this team back. My three major questions surrounding such a strategy are:
1. Is Patrick Williams any good?
2. Is Coby white any good?
3. Will the aging core of DDR, Vucevic and LaVine stay healthy again this year? I don't think you can hope for as much availability out of them this year as you had last year.
Right now, I think the answers to the first two questions are entirely too important to the long-term prospects of this team.
Both things can be true:
-Craig and Carter are nice complimentary additions.
-This team is set up for long term mediocrity.
Until the Bulls recognize that they need to put all of their chips in the "acquiring a superstar" basket, they will be a perennial 10th-7th seed team. There are many routes to take to acquire a superstar, and the Bulls appear to be allergic to all of them.
I refuse to accept adding Jevon Carter as being worthy of any praise in the context of what Reinsdorf and AKME have force fed us. A Jevon Carter signing on a team with credibility (Heat, Nuggets, Warriors, etc.) ought to be praised given their history of team building. In the context of the Bulls, where we frame past-their-primes Boozer, Vuc, Gasol, and Wade as the best we can do - I simply cannot give any kudos for signing a good rotational player.
There isn't a franchise in Chicago that is more fun to follow when good. What a shame it is that we cannot do it more often.
The Bulls have gone without a PG since DRose (35 games of Lonzo not counting). They move out DeRozan, play Williams at the 3, start Craig at the 4 as a stop gap, and move forward. That seems like a better team than the one presently set. Don't have to fret over whether to overpay an aging DeMar and Brogdon covers them for at least the next two years.
I would love to see Dame here..Harden not so much
My guess is Boston isn't putting Williams into that deal along with Brown. Yes, Brogdon's injuries are a concern, but so is the Bulls' lack of a real point guard. I think the team needs to take that chance. The Bulls will need to throw in a pick and probably can't get more since they are only trading an expiring contract (albeit a good player). I think a Scoot, DeMar, Brown, Grant, Nurkic lineup is, while flawed, pretty entertaining as well. And if the Blazers let DeMar go after next season they save themselves 28 million.
"The Bulls are trying not to contend, but instead be an affordable, well-fitting team."
there was this sense that after forman got fired somehow, a radical outsider sneaked their way into management. but like, ak obviously got the job because of an alignment with reinsdorf, he didn't get the job in spite of him. after decades of company dudes, it made sense to think of *any* outside hire as an organizational shift. but it just turns out that they found external guys that were willing to be company men.
i sometimes wonder what the appeal is to acting as the bull's mid-market gm--but basketball nepotism exists (gar still has a job) and there's a shitload of job security here. i can see the appeal in showing up and being like, "sure i'll construct affordable, mildly interesting teams for the next 10 years. if a superstar lands in our lap that will be cool too."
ak gets paid the same to do the bare minimum as management who's trying to win a championship. and at the end of the day, my stockholm syndrome for this team is deciding to label that as commendable.
Haven’t been on Blogabull since Vox ruined the comments.
Sad we still have to talk about the same old mediocrity. But great blog Matt.
My Godfather Post:
1. Coby wasn't re-signed to be their future PG, he's next season's DeRozan replacement. They will try to move DeRozan at the break and claim it's a move "for the future," to allow Coby to "blossom" as a scorer. Some rubes will believe this. 2024 Savings: $17 million.
2. The signings of Carter and Craig are not so much to fortify the 8 man rotation but to enable them to dump DeRozan and Pat Williams if necessary before his rookie extension begins.
3. Though it could be argued that the team should "move on" from DeRozan in his contract year and given his age and the rest of the roster, this will not be to pass the torch onto a younger player, just a cheaper and far less efficient one. In case you're scoring at home, Coby + Zach = Future was basically GarPax's plan before the last 2 years of carny spectacle.
4. The idea that Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig somehow make the team "more watchable" is a weird thing to say, if the team is "watchable" at all they won't be playing more than 15mpg each. The same core will be playing mostly the same minutes as before.
Bol bol available…
I think a lot about how AK's drafted almost exclusively Aaron Gordon-type players yet, looking at an Orlando team moving Vuc and Aaron Gordon, chose the older, more expensive, player who doesn't fit that established profile at all, and he's opted for three more years of backing himself into a corner with this (seemingly) total outlier of his team-building ethos. Not that AG would make us a contender or anything, but I'd rather be stuck in a mediocre AK utopia of lank lords who can't shoot because I'd rather watch a failed vision than a failure of vision.