Satisfied with the off season?

[League Circles]

I'm definitely satisfied but I would have notably preferred signing Lance with Pau's money and then using Kirks Room MLE on a backup C for Noah. Still sign Niko. I was pissed at the trade for McD but I'm over it for now.

[Benedict Miller]

Our offseason could've been just a Big Baby Davis acquisition. I'm satisfied.

[Payt10]

I gave them a C.

If we are just going off of results, a C sounds about right. Would have been an A had they gotten Melo or Love.

Realistically, they did about as well as you could expect. I would have rather signed Lance Stephenson over Pau Gasol, but I like that they were able to trade up for McDermott and sign Mirotic.

I originally liked the Aaron Brooks signing, although I may regret it later.

I did not like that they re-signed Kirk Hinrich for that amount of money, and I didn't like the fact that Dunleavy is still on this roster despite needing more playmakers at the wing positions.

I'm also not sure about how this log jam at PF is going to work out with the additions we've made. I think eventually the Bulls will have to trade Taj or Noah to balance out the roster more evenly.

[musiqsoulchild]

I gave them a C.

If we are just going off of results, a C sounds about right. Would have been an A had they gotten Melo or Love.

Realistically, they did about as well as you could expect. I would have rather signed Lance Stephenson over Pau Gasol, but I like that they were able to trade up for McDermott and sign Mirotic.

I originally liked the Aaron Brooks signing, although I may regret it later.

I did not like that they re-signed Kirk Hinrich for that amount of money, and I didn't like the fact that Dunleavy is still on this roster despite needing more playmakers at the wing positions.

I'm also not sure about how this log jam at PF is going to work out with the additions we've made. I think eventually the Bulls will have to trade Taj or Noah to balance out the roster more evenly.

I would hate to take a class that you were teaching.

[MC3]

I dont know what he said wrong. Bulls FO's this summer did C lvl job which you could expect from them. I am sure nobody was serious when they said Lebron (2010), Carmelo (2014) would come here, chances were ZERO. I didnt believe them for instance and I was right at the end. That would be sure A+ move if one of them did get here.

We instead Lebron get Boozer and instead Carmelo we get Gasol, and veteran Gasol, not prime Gasol. We basically suck in free agency when it comes to bring star. It was expected to bring anyone else other than Carmelo, it was expected to at draft night we get small forward (other teams know it so we paid the fricking price of two first round picks for that move). Also it was bad move ridding of DJ (only scorer guard in team, our main shooter last year) and giving Hinrich new contract with trade exception. They should be lucky to get C.

[Payt10]

I gave them a C.

If we are just going off of results, a C sounds about right. Would have been an A had they gotten Melo or Love.

Realistically, they did about as well as you could expect. I would have rather signed Lance Stephenson over Pau Gasol, but I like that they were able to trade up for McDermott and sign Mirotic.

I originally liked the Aaron Brooks signing, although I may regret it later.

I did not like that they re-signed Kirk Hinrich for that amount of money, and I didn't like the fact that Dunleavy is still on this roster despite needing more playmakers at the wing positions.

I'm also not sure about how this log jam at PF is going to work out with the additions we've made. I think eventually the Bulls will have to trade Taj or Noah to balance out the roster more evenly.

I would hate to take a class that you were teaching.

Grade is based on results if you didn't read the post.

[musiqsoulchild]

I gave them a C.

If we are just going off of results, a C sounds about right. Would have been an A had they gotten Melo or Love.

Realistically, they did about as well as you could expect. I would have rather signed Lance Stephenson over Pau Gasol, but I like that they were able to trade up for McDermott and sign Mirotic.

I originally liked the Aaron Brooks signing, although I may regret it later.

I did not like that they re-signed Kirk Hinrich for that amount of money, and I didn't like the fact that Dunleavy is still on this roster despite needing more playmakers at the wing positions.

I'm also not sure about how this log jam at PF is going to work out with the additions we've made. I think eventually the Bulls will have to trade Taj or Noah to balance out the roster more evenly.

I would hate to take a class that you were teaching.

Grade is based on results if you didn't read the post.

I was joking people....we are all entitled to our grades. Carry on.

[kyrv]

I dont know what he said wrong. Bulls FO's this summer did C lvl job which you could expect from them.

...

No, I expect them to do a good job and they did. I expect you to give them a C or lower, which you did.

[Indomitable]

Hey wscr just said the Bulls are to white. They would give the bulls a D

[Indomitable]

Let's compare teams

2013 2014
Rose vs Rose
Butler vs Butler
Deng vs Dunleavy
Boozer vs Pau
Noah vs Noah

Taj vs Taj
Kirk vs Kirk
Dj vs Brooks
Naz vs Naz
Snell vs Snell
? vs McDer
? vs Nikola
? vs Barstow
? vs Etau Moorhe

I will discuss the changes mainly.

PF The homerun is the Pau over Boozer move. This has win written all over it.

SF Looking at the sf Bulls trade Deng great versatility for the superior shooting of Dunleavy and McD. McD is a big question and I preferred Hood. We could have draft Josef Nurkic too. I believe the jury is still out on this because I seen a mix of good and bad out him. I give them a C at moment. Because Deng right now is the better player of the 3. The upside is all McD. If he becomes a 15 to 20 scorer then this become a A plus.

Bench Mob 2014
Nikola is guy amongst the rookies who has flashed. He has potential to become a real all star level talent. He is 6'11 quick, runs well, is long, can shot, and has good ball skillz. He lead a break and looked good doing it.

Backup pg. Well Brooks looks bad but if it makes you feel better Nate looked pretty lost to start off to. Therefore, you can hold out hope. The good news so far. He is a better player then Teague or the Turd. The bad is DJ was a lot better last yr then Brooks has shown so far.

The rest of the bench is Taj a 6 man candidate. Naz with the 6 fouls and hard foul job. Brastow is a big body.

Snell who shows flashes and he is so close. He is a lot like that Detroit game. He hit a big 3, hit all 3 of his shots with no time. Then comes within inches of making a game winning breakaway dunk. Instead he misses and Detroit wins. There is argument to made for pro Tony or neg Tony. He makes good passes, plays respectable D, and never seems to be a problem.

The negative is Tony sooner or later you have to stop teasing. I am willing to give him this year and would rather play him over Brooks.

The over all grade is between a C or B in my opinion. If I felt McD was a definite starter this Season, I would give them a B. If Nikola was going to be a definite player this season. I would give a strong B. If Tony was playing over Bricks I would give them a B.

This team has some interesting pieces for this season and the next 3. MCD, Nikola are the prized pickups when we look back on it in my opinion. This is not to say Pau will not have his moment but he is a player on the decline. How MCD,Nikola play and Drose health will dictate how far Bulls can go this season. Teams are going pack the paint and will force us to shot it.

[Wingy]

C

Lance over Pau. This roster imbalance will lead to the sum being less than its parts.

I want to believe w/Dougy. Every part of my Bulls fandom wants him to succeed, however I still strongly dislike the move. Give me Gary Harris and James Young over McDougy any day.

[the ultimates]

The roster imbalance is a myth. Noah is having knee issues and may be on a minutes limit for the whole year. Gasol we know isn't going to be 35+ minute a game player. Gibson and Mirotic have looked alright in the pre-season. I still can't believe people feel Stephenson is an impact player for a team trying to win a title. Was he not a key part in that juggernaut Pacers offense that ranked 24th in points per game and 23rd in offensive rating?

[Wingy]

The roster imbalance is a myth. Noah is having knee issues and may be on a minutes limit for the whole year. Gasol we know isn't going to be 35+ minute a game player. Gibson and Mirotic have looked alright in the pre-season. I still can't believe people feel Stephenson is an impact player for a team trying to win a title. Was he not a key part in that juggernaut Pacers offense that ranked 24th in points per game and 23rd in offensive rating?

Myth how?

Jimmy gets in foul trouble or is injured. How we doing in the playoffs checking the star wings of the league?

Right. We've got Kirk. No worries.

[the ultimates]

The roster imbalance is a myth. Noah is having knee issues and may be on a minutes limit for the whole year. Gasol we know isn't going to be 35+ minute a game player. Gibson and Mirotic have looked alright in the pre-season. I still can't believe people feel Stephenson is an impact player for a team trying to win a title. Was he not a key part in that juggernaut Pacers offense that ranked 24th in points per game and 23rd in offensive rating?

Myth how?

Jimmy gets in foul trouble or is injured. How we doing in the playoffs checking the star wings of the league?

Right. We've got Kirk. No worries.

How many games has Butler ever fouled out of? The Bulls even with bad defenders in Boozer, Robinson and Augustin still had elite level defenses they just couldn't score. Stephenson had a career year yet the so called championship level team he was on was in the bottom third of the league offensively. Unless you think Lance will become some 18-20 ppg scorer his impact on the Bulls would be the definition of style over substance.

[Stratmaster]

How much did they improve the team? A-
How did they do given the situation they started the summer in? C+

I think its really important to separate that out. The team is a lot better than it was. That said, they entered the offseason with the rights to Mirotic, two mid first round picks, no critical free agents and $10M+ of capspace. It doesn't take much skill to improve the team in that situation.

I'll through an alternative scenario out to what they did:
- Sign Lance for what he got in Charlotte ($7M)
- Trade up for Doug
- Dump dunleavey
- Sign Gasol for what he got
- Leave Mirotic overseas
- Resign DJ instead of Hinrich

Rose / DJ
Lance / Snell
Butler / Doug
Gasol / Taj
Noah

All of that was doable and IMO, its a better team.

I agree with all of this. Sure they improved but the scenario you painted is better than what we have and does not require any extraordinary move or luck, jusy better choices.

Lance signed for 9mil not 7 so not sure that scenario works. Also look at that roster you're basically trading depth for a tad bit more talent that's all that is. Bulls still have pieces and can probably use them to put together a team better than that one with more depth

I agree. The addition of Lance into the starting lineup is likely a slight improvement; but other than Taj and an unproven rook, that bench is putrid. I will let the CBA experts figure out if it was even possible. That is above my pay grade

[DanTown8587]

Let's say the Bulls sign Lance but then have to dump Dunleavy to afford Mirotic (who they couldn't let walk because he was without a contract so if the Bulls said wait a year, they probably weren't getting him).

Rose/Hinrich/Brooks
Stephenson/Snell
Butler/McDermott
Gibson/Mirotic
Noah/Mohammed

That team has horrific shooting. And how you plan on beating teams on the offensive side of the ball? You don't have any sort of spacing with your lineup unless you play Mirotic and sit one of Butler/Stephenson.

The Bulls need to figure out how to get a SG via trade. They haven't done that and because of that, they're asking for Dunleavy/McDermott to be an efficient 3rd option.

[AhUtopian]

Bernard James and Ivan Johnson were waived by Mavs,any consideration since we hav one spot allowed?

Sent from my SM-G900I using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Rerisen]

Let's say the Bulls sign Lance but then have to dump Dunleavy to afford Mirotic (who they couldn't let walk because he was without a contract so if the Bulls said wait a year, they probably weren't getting him).

Rose/Hinrich/Brooks
Stephenson/Snell
Butler/McDermott
Gibson/Mirotic
Noah/Mohammed

That team has horrific shooting. And how you plan on beating teams on the offensive side of the ball? You don't have any sort of spacing with your lineup unless you play Mirotic and sit one of Butler/Stephenson.

The Bulls need to figure out how to get a SG via trade. They haven't done that and because of that, they're asking for Dunleavy/McDermott to be an efficient 3rd option.

The shooting might not be great, but it doesn't look great now either and is hampered by not enough creating. So not a reason that what we did is better.

Mike Dunleavy is a career 37% 3pt shooter, Lance shot 36% last year, should have done even better with Rose. Shooting isn't the whole game and Dunleavy 1% better shooter or not is simply not a better offensive player than Lance, nor helps our lineups more. Lance's secondary playmaking and attacking would be more useful, as well as he's way better defensively, and can guard 2s and 3s. The nice thing with that is you can keep him on the floor with McDermott, up Doug's minutes, and then have a better wing tandem offensively if Butler isn't shooting well this year. If Butler does shoot well, the combo is fine. Lance is also a way better transition and up tempo player to play with Rose. With Dunleavy and Pau both in the lineup we are slow and unathletic vs high flying teams.

We could also play Lance with Kirk as our playmakers in the 2nd unit and forget about terrible Aaron Brooks.

Moreover, you get to actually develop Mirotic as your backup PF, get him minutes, and you yourself have claimed he's the future.

Pau Gasol already looks old and we'll have 2 more years after this one. I shudder to think about his signing if he declines any more or starts/keeps missing many games per year. Then the last 2 years might well be reminiscent of Boozer. Not a good bet vs a 23 year old who lead the league in triple doubles last year. If we are waiting on upside from Doug and Niko, I don't know why a player with Lance's tools and age would be seen to have none himself left. Worse now, the redundancy with Taj and Niko behind Pau will also continue until a move is made.

The Bulls didn't need another PF and Gasol is a marginal upgrade over Taj even offensively, based on what we've seen so far the last two years. Add in the slow defense and its a wash at best. Very possible we payed 7m to keep our best PF coming off the bench for another year.

There are already signs the Gasol / Noah pairing on defense isn't ideal, as people just claimed Noah would guard the 4s. Not only does this hurt our interior (no Pau's blocks don't make him a better defender than the DPOY), but Noah already got torched by Thad Young because he isn't used to guarding stretch shooters and likes to cheat near the rim for rebounds and defense. Wait till we have to face Kevin Love for a whole series.

Once Melo blew us off there was no way to produce a team without flaws, no matter Lance, Afflalo, Kevin Martin, or whoever. So nothing we could do was going to make us favorites. But we built one with pretty much the same problems we've had for 6 years, with only one dynamic offensive playmaker and ball handler. What title teams have won that way. I can't think of any.

The Championship Spurs backcourt shot 35% (Manu) and 37% (Tony) on threes last year, with Parker hardly shooting any (25 total made the whole year). Not so far off what Rose and Lance could do. They put shooting around their playmakers elsewhere.

[Drellberg]

A+

I am thrilled that the bulls did not get Lance and for the $ that Melo was asking I am disappointed that he did not come but not distraught. Unless Melo had come for $5M per year less than what the Knicks were offering, there was never any scenario where the bulls could have significantly narrowed the gap with the Cavs.

The bulls' best strategy all along has been to aim for the #2 seed in the East for this year, to continue building cost-effective and liquid (i.e., tradeable) assets for the long term, and to position the team to capitalize if the Cavs stumble due to injury, for example, or poor chemistry. In all of this the FO succeeded brilliantly.

Every NBA team has holes, nearly all as big or bigger than the bulls'. The bulls' problems on the wing are relatively small compared to what other contenders face by way of holes and there is a riches of options that the bulls can pursue both by re-configuring PT internally and also by trading assets away at the deadline.

This is the best that the bulls could have done to start the season, and by May the roster will look very different, either via trades or the experience that McD and Mirotic gain between now and then.

[DanTown8587]

Let's say the Bulls sign Lance but then have to dump Dunleavy to afford Mirotic (who they couldn't let walk because he was without a contract so if the Bulls said wait a year, they probably weren't getting him).

Rose/Hinrich/Brooks
Stephenson/Snell
Butler/McDermott
Gibson/Mirotic
Noah/Mohammed

That team has horrific shooting. And how you plan on beating teams on the offensive side of the ball? You don't have any sort of spacing with your lineup unless you play Mirotic and sit one of Butler/Stephenson.

The Bulls need to figure out how to get a SG via trade. They haven't done that and because of that, they're asking for Dunleavy/McDermott to be an efficient 3rd option.

Mike Dunleavy is a career 37% 3pt shooter, Lance shot 36% last year, should have done even better with Rose.
Shooting isn't the whole game and Dunleavy 1% better shooter or not is simply not a better offensive player than Lance, nor helps our lineups more. Lance's secondary playmaking and attacking would be more useful, as well as he's way better defensively, and can guard 2s and 3s. The nice thing with that is you can keep him on the floor with McDermott, up Doug's minutes, and then have a better wing tandem offensively if Butler isn't shooting well this year. If Butler does shoot well, the combo is fine. Lance is also a way better transition and up tempo player to play with Rose. With Dunleavy and Pau both in the lineup we are slow and unathletic vs high flying teams.

Lance and Jimmy both shot sub 30% on non-corner threes last year so yes, they are both bad shooters. You can't simply put a guy on the floor who can dribble if you can't give him space. I've said it before, Lance and Jimmy do alot of similar things off the ball so you're paying a lot to ask Lance to be the second dribbler on a team. Lance helps in some ways (second ball handler) but he also takes bad shots, drifts through games, and doesn't make threes.

We could also play Lance with Kirk as our playmakers in the 2nd unit and forget about terrible Aaron Brooks.

Moreover, you get to actually develop Mirotic as your backup PF, get him minutes, and you yourself have claimed he's the future.

That's great, if you're going to give Mirotic minutes, why do you need to keep Taj Gibson too?

Pau Gasol already looks old and we'll have 2 more years after this one. I shudder to think about his signing if he declines any more or starts/keeps missing many games per year. Then the last 2 years might well be reminiscent of Boozer. Not a good bet vs a 23 year old who lead the league in triple doubles last year. Worse, the redundancy with Taj and Niko behind Pau will also continue until a move is made.

I've had this argument before and I'll say it again: Pau Gasol gives this team an actual advantage to beat teams with where as Lance Stephenson does not. I tend to believe Pau is going to be a bench player starting next year but at least Gasol gives the team a big man who can kinda score. I don't think Gasol is going to be dynamic but I think he can score once he gets used to playing in more P&R than he has the last few years.

The Bulls didn't need another PF and Gasol is a marginal upgrade over Taj even offensively, based on what we've seen so far the last two years. Add in the slow defense and its a wash at best. Very possible we payed 7m to keep our best PF coming off the bench for another year.

How is Gasol a marginal upgrade at the 4 and Lance is dynamic upgrade over Dunleavy when Lance, on the 23rd ranked offense in the league, averaged 14 points per 36 on very low volume? At least Gasol gives the Bulls a big man rotation that will be hard to guard for 96 minutes. Think of last year in the playoffs when Taj dominated the WIzards second bigs, by signing a guy like Gasol, you can get that matchup now.

There are already signs the Gasol / Noah pairing on defense isn't ideal, as people just claimed Noah would guard the 4s. Not only does this hurt our interior (no Pau's blocks don't make him a better defender than the DPOY), but Noah already got torched by Thad Young because he isn't used to guarding stretch shooters and likes to cheat near the rim for rebounds and defense. Wait till we have to face Kevin Love for a whole series.

Thad Young is a fast small ball 4 that can really put the ball on the floor so to say he's like Kevin Love is incredibly false. Also, let's see how the team looks end of the year instead of today. Gasol might move to the bench/get hurt, who knows?

Once Melo blew us off there was no way to produce a team without flaws, no matter Lance, Afflalo, Kevin Martin, or whoever. So nothing we could do was going to make us favorites. But we built one with pretty much the same problems we've had for 6 years, with only one dynamic offensive playmaker and ball handler. What title teams have won that way. I can't think of any.

The Championship Spurs backcourt shot 35% (Manu) and 37% (Tony) on threes last year, with Parker hardly shooting any (25 total made the whole year). Not so far off what Rose and Lance could do. They put shooting around their playmakers elsewhere.

The obvious move was to do Snell+Dunleavy for Martin because that's the highest combination of having scoring in the backcourt next to Rose with scoring options in the front court. The Bulls NEED to make a trade because without a trade, they have an imbalanced roster. The same would be true if they signed Stephenson and had a fourth/fifth big rotation of Mohammed and Bairstow. The IDEAL situation would have been to get both Lance and Gasol but getting Gasol and trading for a backcourt partner is a better idea than getting Lance and hoping your front court had enough. Because with Lance, who is a volume shooter on that team? You're going to ask Taj to do more and ask Lance to do more.