End of Season Player Grades

[GoBlue72391]

Giddey A
He improved his 3-point shot and established himself as a building block. His defense is still a concern, but pretty much everything else is promising. The only question is how much are we going to pay him? I hope we don't bid against ourselves like we did with Vuc and Pat. Let him hit RFA and let the market determine his value.

Coby B+
Had a very bad first half of the season, and a very great second half of the season. He's a very good scorer, but still streaky, inconsistent, and relatively easy to negate when the games matter. He's become more than just a shooter, but I still don't think he's a top 2 option on a good team. I think we shoud explore selling high on him this offseason to avoid the conundrum of having to pay him next offseason. If we can get a decent young player with potential and a 1st round pick, do we pull the trigger?

Huerter A-
He was viewed as pretty much cooked, but then after a rough start with the Bulls he filled the role of a shooter just about perfectly. Everything you expect from that type of role, he fills it. His defense is a concern, but he's a solid role player.

Matas A
He barely played early in the season, but when he got his chance he made the most of it. The biggest question mark was his shooting, and he managed to get his 3-point percentage up to league average on good volume (6.3 attempts per 36). He flashed high level skills with his ballhandling, shot creation, athleticism, etc. Most importantly he has that "it" factor. He could be the team's best player in a year or two.

Vuc B+
He had a great offensive season, the best year of his career efficiency wise. If you had told me he'd shoot 40% from 3 after his shooting struggles in the past I would have thought you were crazy. If only he wasn't atrocious on defense. Given his age, lack of defense/mobility, and the fact that he's a poor fit defensively next to the guys we're likely to build around (Giddey/Coby), we really need to move him. Trade him for whatever we can get, rather than letting him walk, or even worse, re-signing him. He can definitely help a defensive oriented contending team that can cover his weaknesses.

Collins B
Solid, versatile back up big. He's very overpaid, but he's a solid role player.

Smith B-
Pretty much the same as Collins, except with a better contract and more perimeter oriented. If we trade Vuc, the combination of Collins and Smith should be able to hold down the C spot for a year until we find a long term solution.

Jones A-
Really impressive true PG. We're so guard heavy that I'm not sure it makes sense to keep him, but he's a quality starting PG. He's probably going to get paid by some other team, deservedly so.

Pat F
What is there to say? We all know. He's one of, if not the, worst rotation players in the league. No one is going to trade for him. If we can get someone to take him off our hands, we need to jump on it. Otherwise, maybe give him the first half of next season to turn it around so we can dump him. If he doesn't, just bench him and/or explore just eating that contract and waive him. He's taking up valuable minutes that could go to either more effective players or young players with better upsides.

Terry C+
He can kind of shoot now, which opens up everything for him. I've always kind of liked him, but he's still no more than like a 8th or 9th man at best. If he can keep improving his shot and if he can slow down and play smarter he could become a solid bench player. If not, he'll stay as he is, a fringe rotation player. He might be worth retaining if he'll take a minimum or near minimum contract when that time comes.

Phillips C-
He needs to develop a consistent 3-point shot. His defense has never matched his reputation coming out of college. He's very athletic, but I feel like he rarely utilizes it. Has zero creation ability. We'll probably have to choose between him and Terry at some point. I lean towards Terry, but neither are worth worrying about.

THT C+
He's basically a volume chucker. He was actually kind of effective in that role. He's very athletic for how fat he is. Imagine if he was in shape. His basketball IQ is atrocious. Not worth worrying about. Could bring him back on a minimum or let him walk, doesn't really matter.

Ayo C+
His inconsistent jumpshot holds him back from being a great role player. He's great in transition going downhill and he's a solid defender. Hopefully he comes back well from that injury and can get his shot back to where it was. It might be worth shopping him around.

Lonzo A
The fact that he played at all is why he gets this grade. He still doesn't play enough and hopefully he gets his shot back in time. Other than that, he makes a huge impact on the game and contributes to winning more than most players.

Carter F
I can't believe I liked this signing when it happened. He probably has no value, so he's probably stuck for another season riding the bench.

[sco]

Are these absolute grades or vs. expectations or factoring in $?

[GoBlue72391]

Are these absolute grades or vs. expectations or factoring in $?

Versus expectations. That's why I gave Lonzo an A. At one point I was thinking his career was over.

[dougthonus]

Grades are always interesting because it depends what you are grading them against? Is it against your expectations? Against the league average at their position? Against their contract?

So these grades are against my expectations for the player:
Giddey: B
He was more or less a completely empty stat low efficiency non defense terrible shooting player for about 50 games, then he turned it on at the end of the year. Serious concerns about whether any of that was real or whether it was the product of getting most of his stats against teams trying to lose, but he did show some improvement.

Coby: C
He declined from the previous year for most of the year, and ended the year strong, to overall have more or less the same year as last year.

Vuc: B-
He shot the ball well this year, and probably played well enough that if our FO wasn't incompetent, they could have gotten out of his contract for next year. He also seemed to finally adapt to not trying to run the whole offense through him without crying in his pillow at night, so that's a plus. Still one of the worst defenders in the league at his position and still hate a lot of his offense and fit with the team, but none of that is really his fault at this point, and the year was a step up from last year.

Matas: B
He showed more and more signs as the season progressed. I think people are way more excited about him than they should be because he's young and still has the potential tag, but he had a decent rookie year and has some hope he could be a starting caliber guy and definitely looks like a strong pick in a weak draft.

Huerter: C+
Looked like a bench rotation player which was more than he was doing with the Kings when we got him.

Collins: C+
Looked like a bench rotation player which was more than he was doing with the Kings when we got him.

Patrick Williams: F
Not much more to say, this season couldn't have gone much worse for him

Jalen Smith: D+
Liked him a lot early, but his shooting fell off a cliff.

Tre Jones: B+
Looked really solid. Not super helpful given he's a UFA this off-season, but he looked like a player.

Julian Philips: C
Didn't expect much, didn't do much

Dalen Terry: B+
Thought he was a non NBA caliber player, and he looks like an end of roster defensive specialist, at least that's something.

Ayo: D+
Shooting fell off a cliff. Thought he might step up, but he regressed, he's a fringe rotation player that can do a bit of everything but nothing at an above average level.

Carter: C-
I didn't expect much, had hope maybe we'd get a tiny bounce, but we didn't. He's useless, but still only a C- given my really low expectations

Lonzo Ball: B
He got on the court which was more than I expected, and he looked kind of okay for a small stretch before getting hurt yet again. In the end, barely played.

[Hangtime84]

IMO Terry and Phillps have a chance of out preforming Patrick Williams.

Ayo gets an incomplete from me he was playin through injury most of the season. He will most likely suck next year with shooting again tho.

[Ice Man]

Tough grades, Doug, given that the team won 10 more games than the Vegas line expected! But if you say that your grading is old school, when a B actually meant "good" as opposed to "meh," then sure I can go with that list.

[MrSparkle]

Giddey: A- (but the play-in and rough fall debut might downgrade him to B+)

Coby: B- (amazing stretch in March, but many mediocre months, almost feel like C+ing him)

Vuc: C- (good shooting year, terrible defense)

Matas: B- (raw and rough moments, but love his potential and IMO Billy could’ve played him more)

Our undisputed “most valuable” players?

The rest:

Lonzo: C+
Collins: C+
THT: C+
Tre: C+
Huerter: C+
Ayo: D+
Jalen: C-
Jevon: D
Terry: D+
Phillips: D+
Pat: F-

I’m not even taking salaries into consideration. This is kind of where I stand. We have a bad team until some of these farm guys move into atleast C+ range. I think cutting ties with Vuc is long overdue unless they want to move him to the bench or compliment him with an excellent two-way PF. Pat is a total disaster, let alone at $18M for another 4Y. Lonzo is a great IQ player, but his availability and rusty shooting almost don’t even qualify for a grade- if healthy for atleast 60 games, he’s easily our top-5 guy.

[DuckIII]

Giddey: A+

Coby: B (but got there with a bunch of A grades down the homestretch)

Matas: A (based on expectations and proven development)

Pat: F (complete fail of a season in every way imaginable)

Zo: A (love and respect - what an accomplishment)

No one else really matters to me except Ayo and since we didn't really get to see him play with Giddey and White in an offense that is more or less perfectly suited to his strengths, I'll give him a grade next year if he is still on the team.

I guess my "grades" for some of the others would be:

Smith: I like - probably the only thing BD did that really bothered me this year. I didn't understand why he fell out of the rotation.

Huerter: I like

Collins: I like

Tre Jones: I like

Vuc: Please leave

Terry: Vuc is leaving, wasn't he your ride? Better catch him.

Phillips: Cheap labor worth hanging into for cheap.

[sco]

Giddey: A+ Showed enough 3 and D added to his game to go from liability to big asset.

Coby: B+ I give him credit for adding to his game, but still an average starting caliber SG...not sure that's what we want to commit to

Matas: A His game showed more playmaking, 3pt shooting and defense than I expected. Grading for a rookie. Still has a long way to go to become even a near-allstar, but at least I see the tools.

Pat: D Not an "F" because he did seem to get back in shape during the season. He should be back to a C next season with offseason work.

Zo: B He came back. Would have gotten an A if he didn't miss so much for non-knee issues.

Smith: B He's my favorite C. We probably need to trade him because Billy won't play him, so we might as well get some value.

Huerter: C He's a good 7th man, but he's being paid like a 4th starter. If he could just find his 3 ball again he'd be a keeper.

Collins: B He did great for us. We should keep him as our back-up next season, then try to resign on a back-up contract.

Tre Jones: B He started slow, then was great, then was out. Would love to keep him and let him compete for last starting spot.

Vuc: C He played well during our bumslaying March stretch. Showed that he shrinks against good teams. He'll be back because it will cost us a 1st to be rid of him.

Terry: C Up from an "F". Showed improvement, but still not a rotation level talent.

Phillips: B All-around better than PWill. Don't hate him as a 9th man. His 3pt stroke and hustle show he can be a decent bench guy.

THT: C I hated his ball hogging ways, but he is a decent bench scorer and that has value on a min deal.

[Am2626]

Giddey A
He improved his 3-point shot and established himself as a building block. His defense is still a concern, but pretty much everything else is promising. The only question is how much are we going to pay him? I hope we don't bid against ourselves like we did with Vuc and Pat. Let him hit RFA and let the market determine his value.

Coby B+
Had a very bad first half of the season, and a very great second half of the season. He's a very good scorer, but still streaky, inconsistent, and relatively easy to negate when the games matter. He's become more than just a shooter, but I still don't think he's a top 2 option on a good team. I think we shoud explore selling high on him this offseason to avoid the conundrum of having to pay him next offseason. If we can get a decent young player with potential and a 1st round pick, do we pull the trigger?

Huerter A-
He was viewed as pretty much cooked, but then after a rough start with the Bulls he filled the role of a shooter just about perfectly. Everything you expect from that type of role, he fills it. His defense is a concern, but he's a solid role player.

Matas A
He barely played early in the season, but when he got his chance he made the most of it. The biggest question mark was his shooting, and he managed to get his 3-point percentage up to league average on good volume (6.3 attempts per 36). He flashed high level skills with his ballhandling, shot creation, athleticism, etc. Most importantly he has that "it" factor. He could be the team's best player in a year or two.

Vuc B+
He had a great offensive season, the best year of his career efficiency wise. If you had told me he'd shoot 40% from 3 after his shooting struggles in the past I would have thought you were crazy. If only he wasn't atrocious on defense. Given his age, lack of defense/mobility, and the fact that he's a poor fit defensively next to the guys we're likely to build around (Giddey/Coby), we really need to move him. Trade him for whatever we can get, rather than letting him walk, or even worse, re-signing him. He can definitely help a defensive oriented contending team that can cover his weaknesses.

Collins B
Solid, versatile back up big. He's very overpaid, but he's a solid role player.

Smith B-
Pretty much the same as Collins, except with a better contract and more perimeter oriented. If we trade Vuc, the combination of Collins and Smith should be able to hold down the C spot for a year until we find a long term solution.

Jones A-
Really impressive true PG. We're so guard heavy that I'm not sure it makes sense to keep him, but he's a quality starting PG. He's probably going to get paid by some other team, deservedly so.

Pat F
What is there to say? We all know. He's one of, if not the, worst rotation players in the league. No one is going to trade for him. If we can get someone to take him off our hands, we need to jump on it. Otherwise, maybe give him the first half of next season to turn it around so we can dump him. If he doesn't, just bench him and/or explore just eating that contract and waive him. He's taking up valuable minutes that could go to either more effective players or young players with better upsides.

Terry C+
He can kind of shoot now, which opens up everything for him. I've always kind of liked him, but he's still no more than like a 8th or 9th man at best. If he can keep improving his shot and if he can slow down and play smarter he could become a solid bench player. If not, he'll stay as he is, a fringe rotation player. He might be worth retaining if he'll take a minimum or near minimum contract when that time comes.

Phillips C-
He needs to develop a consistent 3-point shot. His defense has never matched his reputation coming out of college. He's very athletic, but I feel like he rarely utilizes it. Has zero creation ability. We'll probably have to choose between him and Terry at some point. I lean towards Terry, but neither are worth worrying about.

THT C+
He's basically a volume chucker. He was actually kind of effective in that role. He's very athletic for how fat he is. Imagine if he was in shape. His basketball IQ is atrocious. Not worth worrying about. Could bring him back on a minimum or let him walk, doesn't really matter.

Ayo C+
His inconsistent jumpshot holds him back from being a great role player. He's great in transition going downhill and he's a solid defender. Hopefully he comes back well from that injury and can get his shot back to where it was. It might be worth shopping him around.

Lonzo A
The fact that he played at all is why he gets this grade. He still doesn't play enough and hopefully he gets his shot back in time. Other than that, he makes a huge impact on the game and contributes to winning more than most players.

Carter F
I can't believe I liked this signing when it happened. He probably has no value, so he's probably stuck for another season riding the bench.

Top 4 pick in this draft is a possible franchise changing player. If the Bulls do not move up into the top 4 I think the Bulls should look at packaging Coby White with their 1st round pick to move up to 3 or 4 and pick either Ace Bailey or V.J. Edgecombe. I can see Edgecombe projecting as a young Dwayne Wade and Bailey may be the best talent in the draft. I think now is the time to sell high on Coby White.