Bryson Graham was on TheScore this morning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3OHUY22UI), and was asked about the 2nd round. Graham made merely a halfhearted attempt to justify trading #38 (didn't even try with #56), but that's expected it was a literally indefensible move that is only only possible to even discuss with misleading statements
Graham said:
1) his board dried up
2) get something in the future
3) don't commit a roster spot
#2 didn't mention Kam Jones, and #3 means they're going to waive him and they are doing Indiana a favor in exchange for cash.
Wow! Is this mentality the core demographic of Blog-A-Bull? Is this his marketing niche? Is this the readership he keeps top-of-mind when he's writing?
I do admire the absolutely supreme confidence, but would prefer a lean more to creation than to destruction. How about stamping out hunger, illiteracy or crime? Root for Team USA in the World Cup and Olympics. The Cubs and Sox are competing for the postseason.
Unlike THEKILLERWHALE, I appreciate the ending of this post. You rightly called out the stupidity of this team and its unwillingness to spend money, but you also pointed out the very real fact that Graham can still succeed despite the limitations placed on him by ownership, even if it makes it harder to do so.
What is the point of fandom if you can't cling to some sort of hope? That's what makes sports so great - an irrational belief in something or someone that has nothing to do with your actual every day life.
I'm not saying we can't be frustrated by last night's moves or dislike the Reinsdorf's. I am very frustrated by last night's moves and very much dislike the Reinsdorf's. But if I had no hope of ever seeing my favorite basketball team win a championship, or even just compete for one, there would be no point in me being a fan.
I'm not calling out THEKILLERWHALE. I don't even know if they're being serious or not, and they can have whatever opinions they want. I'm just saying I appreciate the little glimmer of hope I've seen from Matt for the past couple of months. It's not unbridled optimism. Everyone here is still very aware that this team is owned by a family that could not care less about basketball. Nobody was fooled by Michael's press conference when Graham was hired. But despite all that, it's still nice to hold onto a tiny bit of hope that this new FO will be successful despite the best efforts of ownership, until they prove they aren't up for the task.
I was joking in the sense that I think it is a funny sentiment, but I am also deeply serious.
I honestly do not think that this organization is capable of becoming a normal basketball team. This goes beyond Jerry and more to the broader ownership group who are economically discinclined and maybe even incapable of making the long term, robust internal investments necessary to become normal, let alone competitive. They are pure rent seekers and have few other assets. And no GM can compete in the face of those disadvantages.
Yes, the point of fandom is supposed to be to cling to some sort of hope.
Most teams, understanding this, don't so aggressively and cynically stomp on that hope, shit on it, set it on fire, and then arrogantly gaslight you by insisting that you're wrong and stupid for expecting them to do the normal, basic things do that teams in their situation.
Yes to the cash nonsense, but I think it's way too soon to regret the Claxton pick up. Saying Beef Stew is unequivocally better than Nic Claxton is a STRETCH. He's better at certain things, and an awesome back up, but we needed a serviceable starting center and Stewart is not that.
Yeah, I went to bed disgusted Wed night, but woke up Thurs to learn that they "signed 2 undrafted players to two-way slots." I think you're making too much out of the "cash considerations" angle (a mountain out of a molehill, a knee-jerk reaction, seeing the glass half-empty).
They still have 4 open slots and enough cap space to add a couple prospects and a couple veteran role players.
Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka look good, granted, on paper and in their highligh reels. They have some skills and measurables that are comparable to many of the actual 2nd round picks. Keep your daubers up! The good news: They haven't overspent yet for marginal talent.
OK, every team is doing this, but I like the the looks of these two players, and am overjoyed that we've seen the last of McClung and Okawa, two fine human beings, but players who have no chance of moving the needle. Even if Jaylin or Tobe never make us forget Ayo, I think they'll make us forget Lachlin and have a decent chance of earning a second contract in the NBA.
I mean, I forgot McClung and Locklan long ago. Don’t know why you need these guys to help you do it. Is it just a lack of control over your emotions or why do you think that reason is?
The 1st round was great. That's the headline. At the other end of the scale, they've now fixed their 2-way contracts. The trade deadline firesale settled most of the roster timeline issues.
In RFA/UFA, it takes two to tango but I'm optimistic.
You didn’t answer my question at all. Why do you think you needed these new 2-way contracts to get over the past ones? Why were you still hung up on McClung and Lachlan?
I kinda ignore subjective phraseology like "lack of control over your emotions" and "hung up on." As to your objective points:
I saw no reason for the 2-way contracts to McClung and Kawamura, other than as a gate attractions. Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka have the measurables and college stats that give them a chance in the NBA, primarily as 3-point threats.
Lachlin has a chance to fill a #13-15 roster spot for some team. This season he isn't a prospect for one of the Bulls need positions. GSW signed him.
I have not read on who the Bulls got, but it struck me as odd that ESPN was talking the two way route of teams utilizing that option. It was a small but brief thing. Bulls wernt only team to do cash either. Doesn't make it right for CHI but saying.
But what’s the point of this? They can still draft someone and not sign them. In fact, it’s almost à free look at a player because they’re on your roster without a contract and will play in summer league. If someone is an undrafted free agent, you have to give them something more to get them to your team. And if they go for nothing, they aren’t that good.
I have no problem with trading that pick. Trade it for a future 2nd rounder that might end up in the 30s. Fine. But the only reason to trade it for cash is to make a billionaire richer, and that doesn’t make a better basketball team.
If you find out your girlfriend has a wart on her ass, do you throw her out into the street? No. You accept her, warts and all.
The Bulls franchise has won six championships, because of MJ, Scottie, Phil, Krause, the Reinsdorf's and many others. We all have our favorites. None of them are villains in my book. I've accepted the new GM and HC; they look good. Maybe they can win another one.
yep, this is clearly part of how he "wow'd" them in the job interview. He promised he could do this very modestly, including the money saved in retaining John Paxson - who's in the freaking interview - and all his toadies.
I wonder if Tiago Splitter sold the same lie upwards, telling Graham he doesn't need a huge development staff and hey Billy Jr. is alright and his keycard works
Anyone who actually wanted the Buils GM job would know to say exactly that in the interview, and they would also know they had to mean it, to some extent. (Maybe in the back of their minds, they think "I can convince them to change and spend more once I win them over")
They might also be confident/arrogant enough to believe they could succeed under the austerity measures put in place by Bulls ownership.
There's a chance that we lucked into a guy who's smart and competent enough to do just that. But time will tell.
I would be fine with these types of moves if the Bulls were using this money for basketball operations. I don’t know how much they sold this pick for, but let’s say it was a million dollars. With that money, they could use it to hire two more scouts which could lead to getting better players. However, the Bulls front office is still comically small so it’s just ownership pocketing the money. At least KC Johnson didn’t try to justify the Bulls cheapness like he when they sold that second round pick to the Warriors years ago.
>>But c’mon, you can’t fool me with that — second-round pick swaps are near-worthless and the Pacers were likely cutting Jones and his partially guaranteed contract. Y’all sold the pick. <<
There’s no avoiding that the Bulls will always do silly crap like sell late second rounders, because the Reinsdorfs will always hire executives who are willing to do that.
Michael Reinsdorf has often been compared to Michael Scott and it makes sense. They’re both naive and dorkish. But another trait that can’t be overlooked is that neither of them want to be challenged. They want to succeed, but they don’t want to have to change who they are in order to achieve that success. That’s what makes them both so comical.
The Reinsdorfs are always going to hire people who will go along with their cheapness. Our only hope is for Graham to be good at everything else. I’m a fan of everything he’s done so far outside of this second round, so I remain optimistic about him. I’m definitely not optimistic that the Reinsdorfs have changed though.
Agree with the overall point here but in fairness if Indiana wants to compete next year, they wouldn't want a project player on the team. While the Bulls are in the situation to take a "swing". Top 40 picks often produce NBA players, so I'm not a fan, but I do see a logic there.
that's my point. Indiana is punting on Jones to take a younger player at #38. Though as Moon says below maybe Smith, while younger, is less of a project. Also he has a house in their area.
I think Jones was a reasonable 2nd round pick last year, though he wasn't someone I would have taken personally.
Smith just seems like a better prospect, to my mind. Jones G League performance was also pretty lousy. And if you read the write up linked in the OP, it's pretty much conceeded that Jones needs to improve a lot at everything. Which is probably true of Smith as well. But almost. A huge difference is that Jones conceeds he needs to work on making better reads. Pretty big job for a PG. And not something Smith is likely to ever have to say of himself.
Smith is 5'10" (and only 166 lbs - literally the smallest player at the combine). He was hunted on defensive mismatches in the B10 - only mitigated by having an even worse defender on the team in Fletcher Loyer.
Neither is likely to amount to much, but I'd take my chances on the guy with superior size and athleticism.
Agree generally with the sentiments in this post, but has it been mentioned yet that after the Lakers bought our pick for cash considerations, they turned around and SOLD the same pick for cash considerations?
What I want to know is whether the Lakers or Bulls got more $$$ for #56? Was it a successful flip? And should the Lakers FO also be similarly indicted for their actions to sell a pick for cash (even if they just owned it for a few hours)?
Also, was this just some Russian money laundering or sanction-evasion scheme given the guy who was chosen at #56? (I kid...sort of)
Well, it's going to be year 21 on this site of trying to convince people to convince themselves to believe in things unseen vis a vis the Reinsdorfs holding. It's never come close to convincing even one person. But it continues apace. If that's not a testament of faith, I don't know what is.
Bryson Graham was on TheScore this morning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3OHUY22UI), and was asked about the 2nd round. Graham made merely a halfhearted attempt to justify trading #38 (didn't even try with #56), but that's expected it was a literally indefensible move that is only only possible to even discuss with misleading statements
Graham said:
1) his board dried up
2) get something in the future
3) don't commit a roster spot
#2 didn't mention Kam Jones, and #3 means they're going to waive him and they are doing Indiana a favor in exchange for cash.
Never stop hating gang. NEVER.
Do not slip into optimism for even a second. Take a minute, every day, find some quiet time, and hate. This team cannot and will not ever change.
Thank you.
Wow! Is this mentality the core demographic of Blog-A-Bull? Is this his marketing niche? Is this the readership he keeps top-of-mind when he's writing?
I do admire the absolutely supreme confidence, but would prefer a lean more to creation than to destruction. How about stamping out hunger, illiteracy or crime? Root for Team USA in the World Cup and Olympics. The Cubs and Sox are competing for the postseason.
Authors and publishers inspire the public.
It’s less optimism and more the general comfort that this at least seems like a front office that has any degree of professionalism and process.
But that isn’t enough. Play in games. 41-41. 8th overall picks. None of it is good enough.
It was a seemingly good week (aside from the ridiculous cash considerations). Let’s hope it’s the first step in a championship contending roster.
I was almost optimistic but then I remembered the age old saying, "Bulls gonna Bulls."
Unlike THEKILLERWHALE, I appreciate the ending of this post. You rightly called out the stupidity of this team and its unwillingness to spend money, but you also pointed out the very real fact that Graham can still succeed despite the limitations placed on him by ownership, even if it makes it harder to do so.
What is the point of fandom if you can't cling to some sort of hope? That's what makes sports so great - an irrational belief in something or someone that has nothing to do with your actual every day life.
I'm not saying we can't be frustrated by last night's moves or dislike the Reinsdorf's. I am very frustrated by last night's moves and very much dislike the Reinsdorf's. But if I had no hope of ever seeing my favorite basketball team win a championship, or even just compete for one, there would be no point in me being a fan.
I'm not calling out THEKILLERWHALE. I don't even know if they're being serious or not, and they can have whatever opinions they want. I'm just saying I appreciate the little glimmer of hope I've seen from Matt for the past couple of months. It's not unbridled optimism. Everyone here is still very aware that this team is owned by a family that could not care less about basketball. Nobody was fooled by Michael's press conference when Graham was hired. But despite all that, it's still nice to hold onto a tiny bit of hope that this new FO will be successful despite the best efforts of ownership, until they prove they aren't up for the task.
I was joking in the sense that I think it is a funny sentiment, but I am also deeply serious.
I honestly do not think that this organization is capable of becoming a normal basketball team. This goes beyond Jerry and more to the broader ownership group who are economically discinclined and maybe even incapable of making the long term, robust internal investments necessary to become normal, let alone competitive. They are pure rent seekers and have few other assets. And no GM can compete in the face of those disadvantages.
i suppose it's also giving some solace that another deeply weird basketball team, the Knicks, just won the title
all it takes is 2-3 players which a blind squirrel finds every 50 years or so
Yes, the point of fandom is supposed to be to cling to some sort of hope.
Most teams, understanding this, don't so aggressively and cynically stomp on that hope, shit on it, set it on fire, and then arrogantly gaslight you by insisting that you're wrong and stupid for expecting them to do the normal, basic things do that teams in their situation.
Completely agree! But I'd also say both can be true at the same time.
Yes to the cash nonsense, but I think it's way too soon to regret the Claxton pick up. Saying Beef Stew is unequivocally better than Nic Claxton is a STRETCH. He's better at certain things, and an awesome back up, but we needed a serviceable starting center and Stewart is not that.
Yeah, I went to bed disgusted Wed night, but woke up Thurs to learn that they "signed 2 undrafted players to two-way slots." I think you're making too much out of the "cash considerations" angle (a mountain out of a molehill, a knee-jerk reaction, seeing the glass half-empty).
They still have 4 open slots and enough cap space to add a couple prospects and a couple veteran role players.
Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka look good, granted, on paper and in their highligh reels. They have some skills and measurables that are comparable to many of the actual 2nd round picks. Keep your daubers up! The good news: They haven't overspent yet for marginal talent.
but woke up Thurs to learn that they "signed 2 undrafted players to two-way slots."
Why would this change anyone's opinion? Literally every team is doing this.
OK, every team is doing this, but I like the the looks of these two players, and am overjoyed that we've seen the last of McClung and Okawa, two fine human beings, but players who have no chance of moving the needle. Even if Jaylin or Tobe never make us forget Ayo, I think they'll make us forget Lachlin and have a decent chance of earning a second contract in the NBA.
I mean, I forgot McClung and Locklan long ago. Don’t know why you need these guys to help you do it. Is it just a lack of control over your emotions or why do you think that reason is?
I'm pretty stress-free.
The 1st round was great. That's the headline. At the other end of the scale, they've now fixed their 2-way contracts. The trade deadline firesale settled most of the roster timeline issues.
In RFA/UFA, it takes two to tango but I'm optimistic.
You didn’t answer my question at all. Why do you think you needed these new 2-way contracts to get over the past ones? Why were you still hung up on McClung and Lachlan?
I kinda ignore subjective phraseology like "lack of control over your emotions" and "hung up on." As to your objective points:
I saw no reason for the 2-way contracts to McClung and Kawamura, other than as a gate attractions. Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka have the measurables and college stats that give them a chance in the NBA, primarily as 3-point threats.
Lachlin has a chance to fill a #13-15 roster spot for some team. This season he isn't a prospect for one of the Bulls need positions. GSW signed him.
I have not read on who the Bulls got, but it struck me as odd that ESPN was talking the two way route of teams utilizing that option. It was a small but brief thing. Bulls wernt only team to do cash either. Doesn't make it right for CHI but saying.
But what’s the point of this? They can still draft someone and not sign them. In fact, it’s almost à free look at a player because they’re on your roster without a contract and will play in summer league. If someone is an undrafted free agent, you have to give them something more to get them to your team. And if they go for nothing, they aren’t that good.
I have no problem with trading that pick. Trade it for a future 2nd rounder that might end up in the 30s. Fine. But the only reason to trade it for cash is to make a billionaire richer, and that doesn’t make a better basketball team.
If you find out your girlfriend has a wart on her ass, do you throw her out into the street? No. You accept her, warts and all.
The Bulls franchise has won six championships, because of MJ, Scottie, Phil, Krause, the Reinsdorf's and many others. We all have our favorites. None of them are villains in my book. I've accepted the new GM and HC; they look good. Maybe they can win another one.
What on earth??
Michael Tulig will go to war(ts) with anyone.
"The Reinsdorfs will financially support my vision”
... because they hired me knowing that my vision had little ambition and very modest financial requirements.
yep, this is clearly part of how he "wow'd" them in the job interview. He promised he could do this very modestly, including the money saved in retaining John Paxson - who's in the freaking interview - and all his toadies.
I wonder if Tiago Splitter sold the same lie upwards, telling Graham he doesn't need a huge development staff and hey Billy Jr. is alright and his keycard works
Anyone who actually wanted the Buils GM job would know to say exactly that in the interview, and they would also know they had to mean it, to some extent. (Maybe in the back of their minds, they think "I can convince them to change and spend more once I win them over")
They might also be confident/arrogant enough to believe they could succeed under the austerity measures put in place by Bulls ownership.
There's a chance that we lucked into a guy who's smart and competent enough to do just that. But time will tell.
I would be fine with these types of moves if the Bulls were using this money for basketball operations. I don’t know how much they sold this pick for, but let’s say it was a million dollars. With that money, they could use it to hire two more scouts which could lead to getting better players. However, the Bulls front office is still comically small so it’s just ownership pocketing the money. At least KC Johnson didn’t try to justify the Bulls cheapness like he when they sold that second round pick to the Warriors years ago.
and if KC does justify it now - wait for his Tweet when the Bulls to cut Kam Jones "as expected" - he at least is serving his bosses
John Hollinger called this out: new leadership, same ownership.
Yep and he's not buying the non-cash return:
>>But c’mon, you can’t fool me with that — second-round pick swaps are near-worthless and the Pacers were likely cutting Jones and his partially guaranteed contract. Y’all sold the pick. <<
There’s no avoiding that the Bulls will always do silly crap like sell late second rounders, because the Reinsdorfs will always hire executives who are willing to do that.
Michael Reinsdorf has often been compared to Michael Scott and it makes sense. They’re both naive and dorkish. But another trait that can’t be overlooked is that neither of them want to be challenged. They want to succeed, but they don’t want to have to change who they are in order to achieve that success. That’s what makes them both so comical.
The Reinsdorfs are always going to hire people who will go along with their cheapness. Our only hope is for Graham to be good at everything else. I’m a fan of everything he’s done so far outside of this second round, so I remain optimistic about him. I’m definitely not optimistic that the Reinsdorfs have changed though.
Maybe Michael Reinsdorf is secretly great at selling paper like Michael Scott was!
Graham and the Bulls did a great job this week. Wilson, Swain, Claxton and Jones. Off to a great start as far as I am concerned.
what makes you excited about Kam Jones?
Jones can hit 3s. Only on the hook for $2.5 million. Not much ventured.
Agree with the overall point here but in fairness if Indiana wants to compete next year, they wouldn't want a project player on the team. While the Bulls are in the situation to take a "swing". Top 40 picks often produce NBA players, so I'm not a fan, but I do see a logic there.
that's my point. Indiana is punting on Jones to take a younger player at #38. Though as Moon says below maybe Smith, while younger, is less of a project. Also he has a house in their area.
I think Jones was a reasonable 2nd round pick last year, though he wasn't someone I would have taken personally.
Smith just seems like a better prospect, to my mind. Jones G League performance was also pretty lousy. And if you read the write up linked in the OP, it's pretty much conceeded that Jones needs to improve a lot at everything. Which is probably true of Smith as well. But almost. A huge difference is that Jones conceeds he needs to work on making better reads. Pretty big job for a PG. And not something Smith is likely to ever have to say of himself.
Jones isn't a PG.
Smith is 5'10" (and only 166 lbs - literally the smallest player at the combine). He was hunted on defensive mismatches in the B10 - only mitigated by having an even worse defender on the team in Fletcher Loyer.
Neither is likely to amount to much, but I'd take my chances on the guy with superior size and athleticism.
Ok well if Jones isn't a PG then he'll likely be out of the league very shortly.
That's likely for all 2nd round picks. The position being a PG vs a shooting guard isn't really a factor in that likely outcome.
Agree generally with the sentiments in this post, but has it been mentioned yet that after the Lakers bought our pick for cash considerations, they turned around and SOLD the same pick for cash considerations?
What I want to know is whether the Lakers or Bulls got more $$$ for #56? Was it a successful flip? And should the Lakers FO also be similarly indicted for their actions to sell a pick for cash (even if they just owned it for a few hours)?
Also, was this just some Russian money laundering or sanction-evasion scheme given the guy who was chosen at #56? (I kid...sort of)
Well, it's going to be year 21 on this site of trying to convince people to convince themselves to believe in things unseen vis a vis the Reinsdorfs holding. It's never come close to convincing even one person. But it continues apace. If that's not a testament of faith, I don't know what is.