*** OFFICIAL *** Running Bulls IGT

[Enasic]

You do not trade LaVine. Ever. Get this man some help.

 

[wonky73]

Drive home safe Chicago

 

[knoxville7]

You do not trade LaVine. Ever. Get this man some help.

exactly. I don’t know how there can still be bulls fans that doubt Zach as a star in this league. You build around stars, you don’t trade em away...especially when he’s on the best contract in the league currently

 

[Master Debater]

exactly. I don’t know how there can still be bulls fans that doubt Zach as a star in this league. You build around stars, you don’t trade em away...especially when he’s on the best contract in the league currently

Its never been about trading him because people think he sucks, that's what idiots say which is just themselves projecting their stupidity onto everyone else. You may or may not fall into that category, I have a pretty good idea about where you fall but I dont care anymore.

Anyway its about him leaving for nothing or for far less in return in a trade next trade deadline or after next year. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, you don't need him to say he's leaving. He is leaving if this roster doesn't improve and you got one year to drastically improve it and a less than impressive FA market to do it in. He's not spending his best years in a rebuild because we can offer him more money than anyone else.

Trading him to the nets, mavs or lakers would be dumb. Trading him to Denver for MPJ and a pick, smart. Trading him to NYK for Barret and a pick or picks....smart. Trading him and WCJ to Atlanta for Okongwu a 2021 pick and a future pick....smart.

Trading him a year from now to a playoff team or a fringe playoff team on the last year of his contract....not smart

Donovan for whatever reason has no interest in getting Williams the ball even with WCJ and Lauri out so his development is already delayed at least another season.

For this team to win Zach has to be the 2nd option not the first and the only Batman in 2021 FA is the Klaw and everyone says hes not coming here.

Then in 2022 FA (2022-23 season) Kyrie is the only one that will be 30 or younger that you might be interested in, even then he has to opt out and everyone else like KD, Steph, Harden will be in their mid 30's (33-37) unless you want Beal and want ZL playing PG which I dont think he would be great at. Then you still need either Beal to agree to team up with ZL here because he too is a FA (ZL) or Kyrie to opt out and team up here.

Patrick Williams is the only one that could develop in his own way and a different way into a player on ZL's level or higher on this entire roster and again we arent interested in that for whatever reason. White AINT ever going to be an average starting caliber PG in this league, Lauri is likely gone either via trade now or FA cause we aint paying him, WCJ is more fragile than a 95 year old woman. The rest of the roster is just league average or below average role players and save me Otto Porter. I like him, I'm not paying him.

 

[Master Debater]

You do not trade LaVine. Ever. Get this man some help.

and you dont build around one all-star or star player thats not how this league works anymore. look at us with Rose, then with butler, and now butler in Miami. I like ZL a lot I wanted him the year before we actually traded Butler when rumors were flying and every other Bulls fan said the Bulls had to get Wiggins or no deal. I knew then just like I know now. You dont have Bill Self coached players on your roster. Dwill and Embiid, thats literally it out of all the draft picks hes coached that any casual fan knows about because at one point or the other they were household names. Bill Self for whatever reason takes high school seniors who are projected to be lotto picks and destroys their whole NBA career in just a few months.

ZL could average 40 a night and he still wouldnt be a batman, sucks but its the truth. batmen dont show up in the stat sheets but forget their cape everywhere else.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Say what you want about the man, Lavine is a bucket

 

[RacerX]

Lonzo and a post player who can defend and stay healthy would make this a playoff team.

Personally I believe that scenario to be a curse, never want to be a 6-8 type seed that cannot legit contend for a title and wins too many games to gain draft assets. It is NBA purgatory.

Must either contend for a title or suck.

 

[RacerX]

You do not trade LaVine. Ever. Get this man some help.

Strong disagree, that's a fanboi take.

Every player is tradeable, the only relevant measure is the return consideration. I can never understand how someone can want to keep or trade a player as an absolute.

Lavine must go on the market, there is no downside to assessing return value. And this is business so **** his feelings.

 

[Enasic]

Strong disagree, that's a fanboi take.

Every player is tradeable, the only relevant measure is the return consideration. I can never understand how someone can want to keep or trade a player as an absolute.

Lavine must go on the market, there is no downside to assessing return value. And this is business so **** his feelings.

Ok sure. Here’s a game...could you speculate on a realistic package that would be worth trading LaVine?

 

[Icculus]

Personally I believe that scenario to be a curse, never want to be a 6-8 type seed that cannot legit contend for a title and wins too many games to gain draft assets. It is NBA purgatory.

Must either contend for a title or suck.

As long as AK and Eversley don't pull a Ryan Pace and **** up the cap to do so, getting to the playoffs this or next season could encourage two or more star free agents to sign with the Bulls (Kawhi perhaps?).

 

[RoseMVP1]

I think with how the current landscape is, you have to keep him. All the big free agents re-signed so we might as well use the cap space to give him a raise. Then hopefully we can acquire someone via trade. At some point Karl Anthony Towns is going to request a trade. Zach is one of his best friends so maybe that’s a guy they have a shot at getting.

 

[RoseMVP1]

no, just no. I dont want someone who cant shoot being the 2nd option on this team its bad enough having someone be the 2nd option who can shoot and we still suck

Lonzo has really come on the last 12 games. I think people would be surprised at the impact he’d have on a team like this.

 

[Enasic]

Lonzo has really come on the last 12 games. I think people would be surprised at the impact he’d have on a team like this.

I think you're right. I was down on Lonzo and didn't want the Bulls to make a move on him, but it's hard to argue with the way he's been playing. IF he could keep it up, and IF this isn't just a hot stretch before he comes back down to reality, he would greatly help this team. I would definitely be interested in obtaining him if I were AK.

 

[Master Debater]

Personally I believe that scenario to be a curse, never want to be a 6-8 type seed that cannot legit contend for a title and wins too many games to gain draft assets. It is NBA purgatory.

Must either contend for a title or suck.

Thank you!

Growing up in the midwest, the real midwest west of the mississippi not the rust belt where someone thats bad at geography named it the midwest and nobody has correctly changed it since. I grew up far closer to STL than Chicago. Still a bulls fan thanks to WGN once carrying basically every game and cable. That said I've had this argument with Cardinals fans all winter who want to bring back Yadi and Waino. Waino dont care about so much because pitchers can pitch even when older, hitters well hitters suck with age like Yadi. And all the tardinals fanbois wanted Yadi back so "he can retire" a Cardinal.

Like what real fan gives a flying **** about that? Im a fan of the team not individual players. Do I like some players more than others? Yeah but its a team sport. Its like Common at the Chicago ASG. Common are you a Bulls fan growing up here in Chicago? "well I was growing up but now I dont have a team i root for players" ............... okay jackass! (and another case of celebrities/athletes proving that they are born with it and their fame isnt from intelligence)

Anyway fanbois are so annoying because they screech when you and even they know the team cant contend so the smart play is to rebuild because they dont want their favorite player on another team. Then when said player leaves for far less or nothing at all they are the first to screech about, at the very least, not trading them while they had value.

 

[Master Debater]

As long as AK and Eversley don't pull a Ryan Pace and **** up the cap to do so, getting to the playoffs this or next season could encourage two or more star free agents to sign with the Bulls (Kawhi perhaps?).

No.

But maybe you can get Russ after the 2021-2022 season and have him stink it up here. After all hes a star because of his name and his stat sheet. No real stars are dying to team up with him but hey why not bring someone who has never won anywhere to chicago on the backside of his career because of his name.

 

[RacerX]

Ok sure. Here’s a game...could you speculate on a realistic package that would be worth trading LaVine?

If I was GM of the Bulls, sure, it would be pretty simple to check Lavine's market interest and value. Straightforward due diligence.

No matter what you think of Lavine or any other player, a trade must be explored in an effort to improve the long-term trajectory of the roster. Only then can assessments and informed decisions be made on whether the ROI is positive, neutral, or negative.

Any GM that does not pursue this strategy is a fucking idiot and a fool.

 

[RacerX]

As long as AK and Eversley don't pull a Ryan Pace and **** up the cap to do so, getting to the playoffs this or next season could encourage two or more star free agents to sign with the Bulls (Kawhi perhaps?).

Hmmm, not so sure that an 8-seed vs 9/10/11-seed would be a decision tipping point for any premium FA.

BTW, Kawhi is turning 30 this summer, he's going to start slowing down pretty rapidly IMO given his style of play. We are 2-3 years away even if all the chips fall into place, and he will be in his mid-30s sucking out a yuge percentage of cap space.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Personally I believe that scenario to be a curse, never want to be a 6-8 type seed that cannot legit contend for a title and wins too many games to gain draft assets. It is NBA purgatory.

Must either contend for a title or suck.

I understand the logic, but at a certain point you need to see how guys play in meaningful games. Whether that means a year or two in the playoffs or at the very least fighting for the 8th seed down the stretch, there's not really anyone on this Bulls roster that actually knows how to win in the NBA. And unless you can guarantee yourself a Lebron or Tim Duncan in the draft, there aren't many examples of teams that have that major turnaround from just suck. Look at Philly. What have they actually gained from The Process?

 

[RacerX]

I understand the logic, but at a certain point you need to see how guys play in meaningful games. Whether that means a year or two in the playoffs or at the very least fighting for the 8th seed down the stretch, there's not really anyone on this Bulls roster that actually knows how to win in the NBA. And unless you can guarantee yourself a Lebron or Tim Duncan in the draft, there aren't many examples of teams that have that major turnaround from just suck. Look at Philly. What have they actually gained from The Process?

That's not really a necessity, countless players across all sports have won championships in their first playoff appearances.

 

[DirtyDutchDiggler]

This team has changed to fit the evolution of the game. Fast pace, no defense and lots of threes. I remember all the complaints: Rose is great, but has no three point shot. We need a starting SG with range cause Bogans is not helping spread the court for Rose. Deng is a ball stopper. We don't have enough shooters. We can't score.

Just from the eye test, we have checked all boxes only with different personnel. The one issue that needs to be addressed is our defense. At the pace we are playing, defense is going to be bad. Its happening all over the league. We need to make up for it in our front court. We have a start with Williams being a good defender. Lauri is offensive minded and wants to play perimeter which leaves WCJ on an island. Why do you think opposing teams constantly put WCJ on pick and roll. Its because he doesn't have any good defensive help down low. You exert a ton of energy playing defense and offensive minded players need will tend to play less defense to be able to put up there numbers on offense.
A good formula in today's NBA goes as such. Two offensive minded players. A versatile 3 and D player. A defensive minded player who can also spread the court on occasion and protect the paint. An authentic rim protector who can also score down low when game gets bogged down and guard pick and roll. Everyone needs to be able to run the floor. For this offence, Lauri is the only one who does not fit. Is he a bad player? No. He just doesn't fit in the new offence we want to play. WCJ needs to get better in pick and roll situations and have someone behind him in the front court to help him out. Other than that I have no issues with WCJ. Lauri is going to receive a ton of interest as and RFA. You are going to get better offers for Lauri then Zach in my honest opinion. Zach fits better in the offense we are running and we can't pay both right now, you pay Zach and early to show good faith and reward him for all the work he is putting in. Remember, while most players as we most certainly know decline after a catastrophic acl injury, Zach has taken his game to another level.