Wiretap: Bulls Hope To Re-Sign Zach LaVine At $14M-$16M

[MisterRoy]

I struggle with this report. Seems like non-news after a benign draft. Nick must be bored.


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[terry]

I don't know why people keep talking about a 1+1 deal or things like this. Here's what is going to happen. We have already heard this from Paxson. Three times in the last month he's said it. Bulls are going to let Zach go out and get an offer. That offer sheet has to be for 3 years at least. Rule. Then, he will come back with his best offer and the Bulls will either match the offer or say goodbye to Zach. That's it. There won't be any preemptive offer from the Bulls for anything close to $20M per year as some are suggesting. That would be pure idiocy. If nobody offers more than $15M per year for 3 or 4 years, the Bulls probably match and it's probably a good gamble. Worst case is we have a tradeable contract that should be fairly easy to move.

There will be a preemptive offer from the Bulls... according to KC Johnson in an article this morning...

"The Bulls are expected to make a good-faith, proactive offer to LaVine, but if he seeks a maximum contract, he likely will need to get an offer sheet. The Bulls are prepared for at least one Western Conference team to make a run at LaVine, for whom they can match any offer."

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-bulls-free-agency-20180622-story.html

So yeah, there is a chance of a 1+1 deal from the Bulls.

[bad knees]

I don't know why people keep talking about a 1+1 deal or things like this. Here's what is going to happen. We have already heard this from Paxson. Three times in the last month he's said it. Bulls are going to let Zach go out and get an offer. That offer sheet has to be for 3 years at least. Rule. Then, he will come back with his best offer and the Bulls will either match the offer or say goodbye to Zach. That's it. There won't be any preemptive offer from the Bulls for anything close to $20M per year as some are suggesting. That would be pure idiocy. If nobody offers more than $15M per year for 3 or 4 years, the Bulls probably match and it's probably a good gamble. Worst case is we have a tradeable contract that should be fairly easy to move.

I’ve seen it said several times that another team must offer Zach at least a three year contract. Can someone cite a source for that?

Because I read Coon’s CBA FAQ to say that a three year contract is required only if the Bulls give Zach a max qualifying offer - meaning max years and max salary. If the Bulls offer him the regular one year QO, I read the rules as saying that teams must offer at least a two year contract.




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[Axolotl]

In stock market there are two ground rules:

- Cut your losses
- Only future matters

Those could be used to decide what to do with Zach LaVine's free agency, but unfortunately we lack the necessary information.

If it is projected that he doesn't develop into a net positive player, he is not worth keeping long term. If the projection is the opposite, the question is how much a net positive, and what is the value of that in currency.

The secon point is more straight forward: the Butler trade should not have any role whatsoever over the decisions made on LaVine's future with the Bulls. That trade has zero effect on how LaVine plays now and in the future. If you have bought a stock that crashes, will you buy more? Only if you assess that the difficulties the company is facing are temporary.

This is the kind of decision the front offices have to make; decisions where there is not enough information available, and they essentially have to rely on guesswork. If the information was available, there would be no albatross contracts, other than due to injuries.

The information that is available outside the front office says LaVine is not getting anything near the maximum contract. But basketball contracts are not only like stock markets, they are also like casinos.

[johnnyvann840]

There's KC contradicting himself AGAIN. This is the opposite of what he said yesterday or a couple of days ago. Anyway, sounds like the Bulls are going to be idiots about this just like they were last year around this time with Felicio.

Jesus. Let's hope they don't offer him anymore than Niko got last year, because Zach isn't worth half of what Niko is right now. In fact, I wish we still had Niko on the deal he is on.

[bad knees]

As far as strategy, I agree that the Bulls should make a good faith but low multi year offer at the outset which they know LaVine will reject. Then let him go find an offer. When there are none (ATL I see as the only real competitor), then you squeeze him with a 1+1 offer. That way the Bulls, if they want, could have room next summer for two max FAs.

If he does get an offer, then what the Bulls should do depends entirely on the offer. Kind of pointless to speculate now on that.


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[Houston_Bulls]

Bulls Fans,

As you know, I was not a fan of the Mirotic trade. I'm still not, but that's water under the bridge. I've noticed Bull's fans panicking that the Bulls selected the safe boring pick, Wendell Carter, and may not resign "potential" all-star Zach Lavine. Before you send GAR-PAX hate mail, let me point out that there are much more promising players on the Bulls roster than Lavine. We don't need to spend cap space on a guy who's absolute best case scenario is Bradley Beal or CJ McCollum.

Lavine has been in the NBA for four years. He has had four years to prove himself, and he is a below average player (check his stats). He was a top five pick (EDIT: he was the 13th pick, but whatever, you get my point), with every opportunity to prove himself. Top five picks get the best individual coaching in the world, teams invest heavily in their development. If a top five pick can't prove himself after four years, chances are they just don't have a very high ceiling.

Lavine seems like a nice guy, but I'm not going to kid myself about his potential. Lavine is an exceptional athlete who is a good but not great shooter. He's a career 37% three point shooter and a career 47% two point shooter. His number this year actually dipped a little, but that can be blamed on injury. He also isn't exceptional in any other area. In other words, his ceiling is Bradley Beal not Victor Oladipo.

Meanwhile, we have players on the roster who've shown a lot of promise. Despite not receiving the same opportunities, Bobby Portis has steadily improved every year and posted great stats last year. Portis has become an inside outside threat on offense, and an above average rebounder. Last year he shot 51% from two, and 36% from three. He also averaged 21/11 per 36 minutes.

David Nwaba, undrafted in 2016, has dramatically improved his three point percentage, 35% last year. Nwaba has also shown an ability to get to the line (4.4 free throws per 36 minutes), and an ability to finish at the basket (62% from 0-3%). Yes, Nwaba's 2 point fg% went down last year, but he has the tools to become a solid NBA player on both sides of the ball.

Kris Dunn, Lauri Markhannen, and even Cameron Payne have all shown promise. Dunn improved dramatically since his rookie season, and Markhannen is an athletic seven footer with elite shooting ability. After recovering from his injuries, Cameron Payne came on strong at the end of the year.

There are also a bunch of good young players and solid vets available in free agency, both this year and next.

Point being: Don't depair Bulls fans, if the Bulls are smart and a little lucky they can build a contender. If some team rolls the dice on Lavine, and he becomes an allstar I can live with that. Lavine wasn't going to take the Bulls to the promised land, and there are players on our roster with higher ceilings anyway.

[Houston_Bulls]

Lavine was a top five pick

He was not.

Not even a top 10 pick. Not even a top 12 pick

You are correct, he was #13. For some reason I thought he was picked fourth.

[johnnyvann840]

I don't know why people keep talking about a 1+1 deal or things like this. Here's what is going to happen. We have already heard this from Paxson. Three times in the last month he's said it. Bulls are going to let Zach go out and get an offer. That offer sheet has to be for 3 years at least. Rule. Then, he will come back with his best offer and the Bulls will either match the offer or say goodbye to Zach. That's it. There won't be any preemptive offer from the Bulls for anything close to $20M per year as some are suggesting. That would be pure idiocy. If nobody offers more than $15M per year for 3 or 4 years, the Bulls probably match and it's probably a good gamble. Worst case is we have a tradeable contract that should be fairly easy to move.

I’ve seen it said several times that another team must offer Zach at least a three year contract. Can someone cite a source for that?

Because I read Coon’s CBA FAQ to say that a three year contract is required only if the Bulls give Zach a max qualifying offer - meaning max years and max salary. If the Bulls offer him the regular one year QO, I read the rules as saying that teams must offer at least a two year contract.




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Maybe you're right. I can't find anything either. I assumed that was the rule because somebody as stated that the other day and it was never challenged.

If the Bulls do make a "good faith offer", (which they shouldn't do), it better be really really low.

[ChettheJet]

Friedell said on 670 today that the Bulls offensive playbook has already shifted from featuring LaVine to featuring Lauri.
If that is actually true, no way in hell Bulls match a large offer for LaVine.

What a load of crap, makes NO sense.

They were both acquired at the same time, LaVine didn't come close to playing for half the season while Markkanen increased his minutes every week, LaVine finally did play a few games. Is Friedell's position that the Bulls played all of last year featuring a guy who hardly played or that when the season ended they put in the LaVine playbook knowing damn well he is a RFA but now after the draft they are switching over to Lauri?

This is laughable that he could come up with something so absurd. That's not worthy of message board expertise.

[Houston_Bulls]

I don't know why people keep talking about a 1+1 deal or things like this. Here's what is going to happen. We have already heard this from Paxson. Three times in the last month he's said it. Bulls are going to let Zach go out and get an offer. That offer sheet has to be for 3 years at least. Rule. Then, he will come back with his best offer and the Bulls will either match the offer or say goodbye to Zach. That's it. There won't be any preemptive offer from the Bulls for anything close to $20M per year as some are suggesting. That would be pure idiocy. If nobody offers more than $15M per year for 3 or 4 years, the Bulls probably match and it's probably a good gamble. Worst case is we have a tradeable contract that should be fairly easy to move.

I wouldn't spend 15% of the cap on a guy who's likely upside is good sixth man. I wouldn't spend 45 million on the 3% chance that he morphs into CJ McCollum or Bradley Beal.

[musiqsoulchild]

KC said earlier today that the Bulls are bracing for an offer from a Western Conference team.

KC hasn't been right about much lately. He's also contradicted himself a couple of times in the last week. Can only be Lakers or Sacto in the West. The only other teams would be Philly, BKN and Indy. Nobody has the cap space to offer much.

I wouldn't doubt Sacramento. They have a hard time attracting talent and are desperate to be competitive.

Plus they might be under the impression that Zach is Kevin Martin.

[waffle]

no

[blicka]

Lavine was picked 13th not 5th and there isnt one player on the roster with a higher ceiling than zach lavine

[Houston_Bulls]

Lavine was picked 13th not 5th and there isnt one player on the roster with a higher ceiling than zach lavine

You are correct. For some reason I thought he was the fourth pick.

Gerald Green is also a freak athlete with a smooth jumpshot (better than Zach BTW), does Gerald Green have a higher ceiling than James Harden?

[Scalaboner]

If we don’t resign LaVine would the game plan then be to possibly go after Klay next off season? We would have a long term hole at the 2, though I definitely prefer a Klay or Butler manning the spot for the foreseeable future. If LaVine could actually learn how to play off ball and pass he could be good but he has yet to show that ability.

[Kurt Heimlich]

Some folks just need to take a deep breath. We just completed year ONE of the rebuild.

Those who wanted MPJ and believe hes gonna be KD with a back as strong as adamantium are still mourning passing him.

But for one year in there are a ton of positives and promise to look forward to. We have 2 1st round rookies, including a near unanimous BPA taken at 7, both filling our 2 most glaring positional needs moving forward. 2019 we should be in the lotto again. Add that pick to significant 2019 cap space and then our rebuild "final" outcome should start to take shape.

[blicka]

Lavine was picked 13th not 5th and there isnt one player on the roster with a higher ceiling than zach lavine

You are correct. For some reason I thought he was the fourth pick.

Gerald Green is also a freak athlete with a smooth jumpshot (better than Zach BTW), does Gerald Green have a higher ceiling than James Harden?

Does gerald green have the ability to create his own shot? No

Does gerald green have the playmaking ability like lavine has? No

Does gerald green do anything good besides jump high and catch n shoot? No

There's a reason gerald green has been on 7-8 teams in his career.

Like I've said in many other threads lavine does have to improve his defensive awareness,bball iq and cut back the questionable kobe shot taking but these weirdo bulls fans hate of him is group think herd mentality.

Meanwhile lavine is currently working his butt off to accomplish his goal of being an all star



not fair to judge a young raw player who has had 4 different coaches in his 4 years in the nba

[danzou]

He was not.

Not even a top 10 pick. Not even a top 12 pick

You are correct, he was #13. For some reason I thought he was picked fourth.

Kris Dunn was a top five pick though...

I'm not a huge Lavine fan, but it's interesting that when he dropping forty burgers when he was younger than Hutchison is now. He's still only 23.

[greenl]

Keep it under 18M and Id sign him. Shame we don’t have more time to evaluate him. Curious if by not offering him right away he’ll find it insulting

Who give a F if he does find it insulting? It's not going to be a preemptive offer from the Bulls. They will let him test the market which should not be an insult to anyone. If nobody offers him more than he thinks he's worth, great, then he can find the entire NBA insulted him.

I'd have to question the mental makeup of anyone insulted my a multi-million dollar offer to throw a ball through a hoop.