Lauri Markkanen Discussion Thread: PT 2

[TheStig]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

[sami71]

Again as I think money is not an issue for Lauri - in the unreal context that is the money in NBA, if he makes 12 or 16 a year - I don't think it matters that much. What I do think matter is that NBA is where the best basketball is played. I am completely sure that if he has a chance to play in the NBA that's where he will be. Sign and trade is what I think Bulls should do if there is a market for Lauri. Which seems to be the case as surprising as it might be.

[coldfish]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

The Knicks have up to 72m in capspace.
Spurs have 52m.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/2021/

1/3 of the NBA will be able to offer him $20m per year. If you look at the free agent list, its putrid. Markkanen will be one of the biggest prizes.

I'm sure the Bulls will offer him the QO and retain his rights in hopes of a sign and trade.

[TheStig]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

The Knicks have up to 72m in capspace.
Spurs have 52m.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/2021/

1/3 of the NBA will be able to offer him $20m per year. If you look at the free agent list, its putrid. Markkanen will be one of the biggest prizes.

I'm sure the Bulls will offer him the QO and retain his rights in hopes of a sign and trade.

The Knicks have a good pf in Randle. Why do they make an offer on Lauri? I can't see Pop giving a massive offer to Lauri. He likes smart 2 way guys.

[coldfish]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

The Knicks have up to 72m in capspace.
Spurs have 52m.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/2021/

1/3 of the NBA will be able to offer him $20m per year. If you look at the free agent list, its putrid. Markkanen will be one of the biggest prizes.

I'm sure the Bulls will offer him the QO and retain his rights in hopes of a sign and trade.

The Knicks have a good pf in Randle. Why do they make an offer on Lauri? I can't see Pop giving a massive offer to Lauri. He likes smart 2 way guys.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/

You tell me, who are NBA teams going to spend their massive amount of capspace on?

[sco]

What should give the Bulls FO just a tiny bit of pause is that (based on latest rumors & comments) teams like the Raps, Spurs, and Mavs (maybe even Thibs' Knicks?) are the ones that may throw money at Lauri, not some scrub teams like the Cavs, Pistons or Kings.

If successful playoff teams are willing to shell out some major $ for your demoted, "not going to be featured any longer" F, that's probably as good as reason as any to look into the mirror and make sure how you're handling said player makes sense. Unless they're not going to match, period, in which case, it doesn't really matter.

I’m firmly on board the “just match Lauri and hope for the best” bandwagon as a consequence of the trade deadline deals.

But if AK and BD spent an entire season evaluating Lauri and then only changed their mind because of the outside opinions of a few teams, that would be a terrible sign of strength of leadership.

I wouldn't match anything, if how they're currently using Lauri is how they plan to use him in the future. He's not worth the MLE to the Bulls in his reduced role. A 20 min / game player that gets 20 touches a game is known as your 8th/9th guy, and that person is not worth $9M / per. That's a $5M role player like Temple.

I have a suspicion that other teams view Lauri potentially as a 50-touch/game, 20ppg scorer on 60%+ TS. That guy is worth 20M+. But that guy no longer exists for the Bulls, IMO, even as a possibility. If he can't crack 30 min with Zach out and can't crack 30 touches / game, he's done as a major contributing piece on this team.

Unless the FO and/or Donovan change his role over the last 20 games, it's stupidity to spend what little cap room the Bulls have on a demoted Lauri. And... on the other hand, if ZOMG is correct and they sign him for say 14M per, only to turn around and put him back in the starting lineup with 30+ minutes / game and 45+ touches, word of that is going to spread and it won't be pretty. Nobody likes being cheated off $ in this league so I'm assuming that's not the plan.

I think it was simply a case of "We got ourselves Vuc (FebruLauri), we don't need two of these on the team", because of the overlap of skills and floor real estate occupied by both. I genuinely think it's as simple as that. They just got a better version of Lauri and were happy with that.

To me, however, it is intellectually lazy to do what they did. You don't discard talent in the NBA for nothing, or you'll forever be stuck in limbo. And they did. From a team perspective, what they did makes ZERO sense to me, as I've written previously. I've seen plenty of execs making well into seven figures in other industries make dumb decisions. Being short-sighted is not something exclusive to hoop executives, especially if there is simplistic logic to justify said short-term calls and excuse their lack of foresight.

I think the Bulls tried to get a first for Lauri at the deadline, but nobody was offering it.

[Pentele]

I’m firmly on board the “just match Lauri and hope for the best” bandwagon as a consequence of the trade deadline deals.

But if AK and BD spent an entire season evaluating Lauri and then only changed their mind because of the outside opinions of a few teams, that would be a terrible sign of strength of leadership.

I wouldn't match anything, if how they're currently using Lauri is how they plan to use him in the future. He's not worth the MLE to the Bulls in his reduced role. A 20 min / game player that gets 20 touches a game is known as your 8th/9th guy, and that person is not worth $9M / per. That's a $5M role player like Temple.

I have a suspicion that other teams view Lauri potentially as a 50-touch/game, 20ppg scorer on 60%+ TS. That guy is worth 20M+. But that guy no longer exists for the Bulls, IMO, even as a possibility. If he can't crack 30 min with Zach out and can't crack 30 touches / game, he's done as a major contributing piece on this team.

Unless the FO and/or Donovan change his role over the last 20 games, it's stupidity to spend what little cap room the Bulls have on a demoted Lauri. And... on the other hand, if ZOMG is correct and they sign him for say 14M per, only to turn around and put him back in the starting lineup with 30+ minutes / game and 45+ touches, word of that is going to spread and it won't be pretty. Nobody likes being cheated off $ in this league so I'm assuming that's not the plan.

I think it was simply a case of "We got ourselves Vuc (FebruLauri), we don't need two of these on the team", because of the overlap of skills and floor real estate occupied by both. I genuinely think it's as simple as that. They just got a better version of Lauri and were happy with that.

To me, however, it is intellectually lazy to do what they did. You don't discard talent in the NBA for nothing, or you'll forever be stuck in limbo. And they did. From a team perspective, what they did makes ZERO sense to me, as I've written previously. I've seen plenty of execs making well into seven figures in other industries make dumb decisions. Being short-sighted is not something exclusive to hoop executives, especially if there is simplistic logic to justify said short-term calls and excuse their lack of foresight.

I think the Bulls tried to get a first for Lauri at the deadline, but nobody was offering it.

They probably did but was there really any hope to get the 1st? I understand the situation in which you want to lock a player who is going to get max offers the next off-season but what is the rationale for offering the 1st for a player whose expected pay is somewhere in the region of, say, 17-20m/year? Even mid to high firsts are more valuable than saving a couple of million a year, I think, so you might just take a swing at the RFA in the off-season. That is why I did not really get all the fuss about what Lauri could return in terms of picks at the deadline. It seemed almost certain that the Bulls are not happy with 2nd round pick(s) and there is most probably not a team willing to part with the 1st.

[kingkirk]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

[CaPiTanAK]

I am matching 10 mil for Lauri. Easy decision for the fact that it will be the new MLE in an inflated salary cap.

[dougthonus]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

[kingkirk]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

Agree on the bold. But if not possible, then I'm letting Lauri walk, living with the sunk cost, and looking to find a better fit for the space created by letting his cap hold ($20.1m) come off the books.

[TheStig]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

You can always renounce the QO if you find someone you really like. Who are we signing? The only guy of interest worth a lot of cap space is Ball.

[TheStig]

The Knicks have up to 72m in capspace.
Spurs have 52m.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/2021/

1/3 of the NBA will be able to offer him $20m per year. If you look at the free agent list, its putrid. Markkanen will be one of the biggest prizes.

I'm sure the Bulls will offer him the QO and retain his rights in hopes of a sign and trade.

The Knicks have a good pf in Randle. Why do they make an offer on Lauri? I can't see Pop giving a massive offer to Lauri. He likes smart 2 way guys.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/

You tell me, who are NBA teams going to spend their massive amount of capspace on?

Honestly, I'd rather have Theis than Lauri. There are also other names on that list.

[TheStig]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

If we let Lauri walk. Our cap space is going to lock up Lavine. AK is going to have a real uphill battle if he can't land a real long term piece or lock up Lavine this summer.

[kingkirk]

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

If we let Lauri walk. Our cap space is going to lock up Lavine. AK is going to have a real uphill battle if he can't land a real long term piece or lock up Lavine this summer.

It makes zero sense for LaVine to look to extend this offseason.

[kingkirk]

Why not just hold his bird rights and see what he gets? Outside of maybe the Mavs (if they strike out on Collins). Who is making a big time offer?

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

You can always renounce the QO if you find someone you really like. Who are we signing? The only guy of interest worth a lot of cap space is Ball.

If you wait around to see what you want to do with space, all the guys will be gone, therefore no one left to renounce is QO for.

Also, who cares? Markkanen is destined to be a backup here. We don't need more wings. Why prioritise his RFA when he's redundant and there are other needs?

[dougthonus]

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

If we let Lauri walk. Our cap space is going to lock up Lavine. AK is going to have a real uphill battle if he can't land a real long term piece or lock up Lavine this summer.

Doubt you waive Sato and Thad just to lock up LaVine.

[TheStig]

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

If we let Lauri walk. Our cap space is going to lock up Lavine. AK is going to have a real uphill battle if he can't land a real long term piece or lock up Lavine this summer.

Doubt you waive Sato and Thad just to lock up LaVine.

Aren't we projected to have 25 mill of cap space with no Lauri? Why would you need to waive both. If anything just Sato.

[TheStig]

Ideal off-season for me is something like:
Convince some team to do a S&T for Lauri, get 18M exception. Use exception to take back Rubio. Keep Sato/Thad, be massively under the cap in another year and give yourself a good stop gap roster for the next year.

Ideal in the sense that I think it is feasible anyway. Obviously getting a true 3rd star would be way better. I just don't see how it happens.

If we let Lauri walk. Our cap space is going to lock up Lavine. AK is going to have a real uphill battle if he can't land a real long term piece or lock up Lavine this summer.

It makes zero sense for LaVine to look to extend this offseason.

Absolutely it does. They can give him a raise to the max next year and extend the deal.

Pippen will definitely turn on us after that.

[TheStig]

Because if you want to be a cap space team the only way to get there is by letting him walk.

You can always renounce the QO if you find someone you really like. Who are we signing? The only guy of interest worth a lot of cap space is Ball.

If you wait around to see what you want to do with space, all the guys will be gone, therefore no one left to renounce is QO for.

Also, who cares? Markkanen is destined to be a backup here. We don't need more wings. Why prioritise his RFA when he's redundant and there are other needs?

Why would you be waiting around? There is moratorium. If you can't get who you want, then go for Lauri.