The Bulls biggest problem

[HearshotKDS]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

[Ice Man]

I mean, it's a lot of things. The Vuc trade was damaging but it's not like that made the entire difference. If we had Wendell/Gafford + Franz instead of Vuc + nothing, we would be a 45 win team, give or take. Maybe 48. Still a long ways from the promised land.

Other problems include the Lonzo/Zach injuries and the Pat selection. But even if those were fixed, the fact remains that every true contender has a Top 10 player (or at least very close), and the Bulls would have none. So even if everything broke right they would be, a best, a new version of the 2015 Hawks, the team that had all 5 starters named to the January Players of the Month, but which everybody know would go down in the playoffs the moment that it ran into LeBron. Yep, it did.

[League Circles]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

[HearshotKDS]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

OK IMO the biggest problem is the Bulls have no top 10-15 players in the NBA, no players in development who can likely reach that level of play, and an aging roster that beyond 2-3 guys will likely not be here when they finally get one. Building a team around players you shouldnt build a team around is a management issue, I dont think its reasonable to say "well if Vuc could just be prime Jokic or if Lavine was SGA we'd be on the right path" or whatever equivalent of that you want, the problem was the decision to bring in or extend one player when you really needed a different better player instead.

[Ice Man]

OK IMO the biggest problem is the Bulls have no top 10-15 players in the NBA, no players in development who can likely reach that level of play

Spot on, although in truth that should be changed to "no top 25 players." Somehow the Bulls need to get two players who are better than anybody on the current roster. Without players at that level, we're shuffling deck chairs.

[2weekswithpay]

Seeing as the Vuc trade opened an entire can of worms (losing a great potential pick in Franz, and another lotto pick... less urgency resigning or finding better trade value for Lauri, Gafford, Wendell)... and we're stuck with one of the highest usage, lowest percentage, least efficient Cs in the game with the biggest defensive deficiencies... it's like the cancer that keeps spreading. There's going to be no happy ending. Just a huge sunk cost.

Franz is not a franchise player just a nice third option on a championship team and Jett Howard is a bust

Franz has more value than anybody on the Bulls. The Vuc trade was a disaster.

[jnrjr79]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

Not really. If everyone on the list is a problem, you don't really need a power ranking to know what you need to do with this roster.

[Bullflip]

Biggest problem is they need more 3 point shooters

[jnrjr79]

OK IMO the biggest problem is the Bulls have no top 10-15 players in the NBA, no players in development who can likely reach that level of play

Spot on, although in truth that should be changed to "no top 25 players." Somehow the Bulls need to get two players who are better than anybody on the current roster. Without players at that level, we're shuffling deck chairs.

I don't know for how long, but this version of DeMar could probably be the #2 on a championship team if your #1 were, say, Jokic, Doncic, Saha, etc.

But yep, the issue here isn't so much the players listed, it's the lack of a real #1.

[League Circles]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

OK IMO the biggest problem is the Bulls have no top 10-15 players in the NBA, no players in development who can likely reach that level of play, and an aging roster that beyond 2-3 guys will likely not be here when they finally get one. Building a team around players you shouldnt build a team around is a management issue, I dont think its reasonable to say "well if Vuc could just be prime Jokic or if Lavine was SGA we'd be on the right path" or whatever equivalent of that you want, the problem was the decision to bring in or extend one player when you really needed a different better player instead.

I don't necessarily disagree. But you have to start somewhere, and that somewhere has to be the contracts we're actually holding right now. The past is the past. This wasn't intended to be an exercise in grading the past or anything, just an assessment of the relative sizes of our current roster problems.

[League Circles]

I dont think one single player is "THE" problem so I didnt vote. THE problem is there isnt enough talent on the team to carry it through some of the holes in the roster contruction. You can replace almost any single one of the guys with their first team all NBA equivalent and all it does is turn a playin team to a 2nd round exit team in my opinion. I blame management for continuining to double down a team that was a day late and a dollar short 2 years ago and has continued to be even more out of time and short on cash.

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

Not really. If everyone on the list is a problem, you don't really need a power ranking to know what you need to do with this roster.

You can't do things with rosters, you can only do things with contracts. In a sense, this is a question of which player or coach contract we most need to move.

[Hangtime84]

If Vuc hit his shots at the NBA avg for wide open shots chicago bulls probably 4-5 seed this season.

[League Circles]

OK IMO the biggest problem is the Bulls have no top 10-15 players in the NBA, no players in development who can likely reach that level of play

Spot on, although in truth that should be changed to "no top 25 players." Somehow the Bulls need to get two players who are better than anybody on the current roster. Without players at that level, we're shuffling deck chairs.

I don't know for how long, but this version of DeMar could probably be the #2 on a championship team if your #1 were, say, Jokic, Doncic, Saha, etc.

But yep, the issue here isn't so much the players listed, it's the lack of a real #1.

Fair enough, and I agree. But this is about the specific personnel problems that we have, not problems of who we don't have. We need to do things with these crappy contracts, whether you believe we need to tank, clear opportunities for mew guys, or clear cap space, it's really all the same - guys need to GO.

[League Circles]

If Vuc hit his shots at the NBA avg for wide open shots chicago bulls probably 4-5 seed this season.

We have a lot of big problems but he's the biggest, which is why I'm so focused on trying to find ways to move him.

He's bad on offense.

He's bad on defense.

Our coach is strangely enamored with playing him over the more effective Drummond that even if we somehow got an actual good prospect or piece at C (that we draft at #11 or whatever), Vuc would still probably play well over 30 mpg.

I'm definitely willing to sacrifice Caruso and possibly more in the right move to dump Vuc. Mostly just looking to get rid of him, though perhaps there is a larger package deal out there that could bring back some kind of useful piece.

[League Circles]

Also, any Vuc deal will make things way more clear in terms of what best to do with Demar, Patrick, and Drummond.

[Charlesareed]

The Bulls biggest problem is to many one dimensional players the biggest elephant in the room is Zach lavine negative contract the biggest weakness is a plethora of things ball not being playable for 2 plus season a combination of bad coaching & poorly build roster resigning vuc the underwhelming performances from pat & terry bringing in Javon Carter or signing a pf 6’9 or taller not cashing in on Alex caurso the past 2 trade deadlines did I miss anything

[MrSparkle]

Seeing as the Vuc trade opened an entire can of worms (losing a great potential pick in Franz, and another lotto pick... less urgency resigning or finding better trade value for Lauri, Gafford, Wendell)... and we're stuck with one of the highest usage, lowest percentage, least efficient Cs in the game with the biggest defensive deficiencies... it's like the cancer that keeps spreading. There's going to be no happy ending. Just a huge sunk cost.

Franz is not a franchise player just a nice third option on a championship team and Jett Howard is a bust

Franz would undoubtedly be the best 2-way player and likely leader of these team, and with Demar co-leading, could probably take us to a comfortably +500 record.

[GoBlue72391]

Some people must expect Vuc to be Jokic. Look he's no worse on defense than DeRozan, at least as able as Lavine, when the three of them were playing, the defense couldn't be seen. Considering he hasn't played with a respectable 6-9 or more PF basically while here, at least he rebounds the ball.

I took Zach mainly because he didn't play much but I think he more than Demar would buy into the pass the ball when you're covered and trust the other guys to make a wide open shot. Plus they really miss his 3 point shooting, if they were playing the 28 assists type game he and Patrick would have made this a different team, and I think them being healthy was part of what the run it back plan counted on.

Even if this is true, center defense is a lot more important than wing defense so Vuc's poor defense hurts us more than Demar or Zach's does.

[jnrjr79]

Everybody I listed is a problem. I'm asking who is the biggest problem, not the only one. That's the only coherent way to identify ways to improve.

Not really. If everyone on the list is a problem, you don't really need a power ranking to know what you need to do with this roster.

You can't do things with rosters, you can only do things with contracts. In a sense, this is a question of which player or coach contract we most need to move.

Ehh, the rosters vs. contracts terminology is just semantics.

My point here is that you don't need to know which problem is worst - it's sufficient to identify the problems and say "these are the people that need to go." Identifying whether something is a problem is more important than trying to rank them.

Spot on, although in truth that should be changed to "no top 25 players." Somehow the Bulls need to get two players who are better than anybody on the current roster. Without players at that level, we're shuffling deck chairs.

I don't know for how long, but this version of DeMar could probably be the #2 on a championship team if your #1 were, say, Jokic, Doncic, Saha, etc.

But yep, the issue here isn't so much the players listed, it's the lack of a real #1.

Fair enough, and I agree. But this is about the specific personnel problems that we have, not problems of who we don't have. We need to do things with these crappy contracts, whether you believe we need to tank, clear opportunities for mew guys, or clear cap space, it's really all the same - guys need to GO.

Agreed. When I say that the biggest problem is the lack of a #1 player, I think that's important because, like your'e saying, it suggests what needs to be done. If we had a #1, then that would suggest you need to reshuffle some pieces to build a better team. But the Bulls have a bunch of vets that are good enough to drag them to the play-in (likely making it a lot harder to build through the draft) and are light on draft assets in the first place. There isn't a path to make this current core a contender, so really all the vets should go. Continue developing Coby and Ayo, get draft assets, and let's try to build/reboot this thing properly.

Now, if you're going to keep doing what AK has been doing, then sure, you can care more about self-evaluating the vets and figure out how to try to make a presumably Zach-free roster more competitive. There are better and worse ways to execute that plan, and we talk about a lot of those on this board, but the overarching thing is that it's just fundamentally the wrong course of action.

So, getting to your original post, the entire list is a problem and the Bulls should be moving on from all of it, regardless of which is the "worst." Some of those guys are only "problems" as it pertains to the Bulls - DeMar is an actual impact player, he just doesn't make sense for this team long-term. Others would be problems anywhere, like Vooch, given his decline and contract. So some are going to be more moveable than others, and you just might have to wait out the guys that have a negative asset value, but the Bulls should be exploring options to get rid of all of it.

[LateNight]

Our biggest problem is that we have almost $80m tied up in Lonzo, Vuc and Zach. Who either can’t play, aren’t winning players, or are basically average