Lauri Markkanen Thread: PG. 13 - KC: Bulls Extend QO to Lauri

[sco]

There was an interview of Lauri few days ago on a Finnish site. I'm lazy so I'll just translate the page to English and copy paste it for you guys.

- It's nice to be in Finland and see family and friends. A couple of weeks was taken for a break and then we jumped to workouts again, Markkanen describes to Yle Sport.

According to Markkanen, the past season was the most intact of his career, although the minutes were short in the spring.

- After all, this is an old man when experience has come. The head stayed well together despite adversity, 24-year-old Markkanen says.

Markkanen is currently training in Jyväskylä to keep fit. Towards the end of the season, Markkanen's minutes were the smallest, so the physical exertion was not as intense as in previous periods.

- For a couple of weeks, mental recovery is just fine, after a too long break, it is difficult to get back to the training rhythm, Markkanen says.

The summer training program has focused especially on developing speed and explosiveness.

- What else would you do in the 30-degree (celsius) heat when you come to the hall to run lines, Markkanen grins.

Return to the United States only after the team is confirmed
Markkanen plans to return to North America only when next year's team is clear. Markkanen is currently a limited free agent and the club for the coming season is still a question mark.

Markkanen's status means that if another club makes an offer for the man, his current club Chicago Bulls can make a counter-offer on the same terms and conditions and stick to the Finn.

- It's the business side that matters, it's the game pieces in the end. I am open minded wherever I end up, I give my all on and off the field.

Markkanen does not intend to stress his contractual situation, because in his own words, he cannot influence it in any way at the moment. Non-obligation also seems liberating.

- Quite an interesting and fun situation here. Last summer we only had time to be in Finland for a couple of weeks, it was really short. We returned to the United States as early as July and the season only started in December, it had a pretty long preparation process, Markkanen in.

Demand for display is enough - even top statistics are not satisfied
Markkanen finished the season with 13.6 points per match and took an average of 5.3 rebounds per game. The averages are the weakest in Markkanen's four-season NBA career.

On the other hand, the Finn's responsibility was also smaller, especially towards the end of the season. Markkanen dropped out of the starting five with the player deals made in Chicago. The average time of the game was Markkanen's NBA career last season: Chicago had 25.8 minutes per match last season.

However, Markkanen's throw-in percentages were the best in his career and they also hit the goals set by the club management. The Finnish team's throwing percentage was 48 percent, and more than 40 percent of the throws sank from behind the third arc.

- It seems to fall short of the goals, but when it comes to numbers, there are always things that could have been done better, such as rebounds.

- I am still not satisfied with those throwing percentages, I feel that I can do even better, Markkanen emphasizes.

According to Markkanen, the biggest opportunity for improvement is in the free throw percentage (82.6). In it, Markkanen fell short of his career's best seasonal average (87.2).

Lauri Markkanen 5/15/2021
Lauri Markkanen has a challenging season behind him in a Chicago Bulls shirt. Photo: 2021 Getty Images
After a challenging season, Markkanen's display desires are strong.

- That way you can push forward, there is enough motivation for the coming season. Below are a few different seasons, the purpose would now be to get an intact and good season for the belt.

In contract negotiations, the man's desire to go hunting for a place in the starting five also weighs in the horizontal cup.

- Yes, I see myself in that role. Of course, it is the sum of many things and work needs to be done on it, Markkanen emphasizes.

The goal is to reach the playoffs
For Markkanen, the coming season does not matter so much.

- The options are going through, I just want to get to play. Of course, this is rampant outside of the playoffs and that too would be fun to change now.

Markkanen's continuation in Bulls is also still entirely possible.

- I have not yet considered concrete options. No one knows what will happen.

Markkaset will thrive in Finland for at least another month. Outside of training, the purpose is to spend time with the family, grandparents also want to see their grandchildren.

- I try to play frisbee golf with me every now and then, Markkanen suggests.

Google translate LOL - Thanks!!!

Lauri sees his biggest improvement area is his FT%? Wow...SMH.

[GoBlue72391]

There was an interview of Lauri few days ago on a Finnish site. I'm lazy so I'll just translate the page to English and copy paste it for you guys.

- It's nice to be in Finland and see family and friends. A couple of weeks was taken for a break and then we jumped to workouts again, Markkanen describes to Yle Sport.

According to Markkanen, the past season was the most intact of his career, although the minutes were short in the spring.

- After all, this is an old man when experience has come. The head stayed well together despite adversity, 24-year-old Markkanen says.

Markkanen is currently training in Jyväskylä to keep fit. Towards the end of the season, Markkanen's minutes were the smallest, so the physical exertion was not as intense as in previous periods.

- For a couple of weeks, mental recovery is just fine, after a too long break, it is difficult to get back to the training rhythm, Markkanen says.

The summer training program has focused especially on developing speed and explosiveness.

- What else would you do in the 30-degree (celsius) heat when you come to the hall to run lines, Markkanen grins.

Return to the United States only after the team is confirmed
Markkanen plans to return to North America only when next year's team is clear. Markkanen is currently a limited free agent and the club for the coming season is still a question mark.

Markkanen's status means that if another club makes an offer for the man, his current club Chicago Bulls can make a counter-offer on the same terms and conditions and stick to the Finn.

- It's the business side that matters, it's the game pieces in the end. I am open minded wherever I end up, I give my all on and off the field.

Markkanen does not intend to stress his contractual situation, because in his own words, he cannot influence it in any way at the moment. Non-obligation also seems liberating.

- Quite an interesting and fun situation here. Last summer we only had time to be in Finland for a couple of weeks, it was really short. We returned to the United States as early as July and the season only started in December, it had a pretty long preparation process, Markkanen in.

Demand for display is enough - even top statistics are not satisfied
Markkanen finished the season with 13.6 points per match and took an average of 5.3 rebounds per game. The averages are the weakest in Markkanen's four-season NBA career.

On the other hand, the Finn's responsibility was also smaller, especially towards the end of the season. Markkanen dropped out of the starting five with the player deals made in Chicago. The average time of the game was Markkanen's NBA career last season: Chicago had 25.8 minutes per match last season.

However, Markkanen's throw-in percentages were the best in his career and they also hit the goals set by the club management. The Finnish team's throwing percentage was 48 percent, and more than 40 percent of the throws sank from behind the third arc.

- It seems to fall short of the goals, but when it comes to numbers, there are always things that could have been done better, such as rebounds.

- I am still not satisfied with those throwing percentages, I feel that I can do even better, Markkanen emphasizes.

According to Markkanen, the biggest opportunity for improvement is in the free throw percentage (82.6). In it, Markkanen fell short of his career's best seasonal average (87.2).

Lauri Markkanen 5/15/2021
Lauri Markkanen has a challenging season behind him in a Chicago Bulls shirt. Photo: 2021 Getty Images
After a challenging season, Markkanen's display desires are strong.

- That way you can push forward, there is enough motivation for the coming season. Below are a few different seasons, the purpose would now be to get an intact and good season for the belt.

In contract negotiations, the man's desire to go hunting for a place in the starting five also weighs in the horizontal cup.

- Yes, I see myself in that role. Of course, it is the sum of many things and work needs to be done on it, Markkanen emphasizes.

The goal is to reach the playoffs
For Markkanen, the coming season does not matter so much.

- The options are going through, I just want to get to play. Of course, this is rampant outside of the playoffs and that too would be fun to change now.

Markkanen's continuation in Bulls is also still entirely possible.

- I have not yet considered concrete options. No one knows what will happen.

Markkaset will thrive in Finland for at least another month. Outside of training, the purpose is to spend time with the family, grandparents also want to see their grandchildren.

- I try to play frisbee golf with me every now and then, Markkanen suggests.

Google translate LOL - Thanks!!!

Lauri sees his biggest improvement area is his FT%? Wow...SMH.

I think that was in reference to strictly his percentages, as in out of his shooting percentages his free throw percentage is the one with the most room for improvement, not necessarily that it's his most important thing to work on overall.

Obviously a lot was lost in translation, but it seems like, from multiple recent interviews, that improving his speed and explosiveness is his biggest focal point this offseason, and that seems like a good thing to be focusing on. I hope that also ties in to ball handling, which I would think it does.

Sent from my SM-S115DL using RealGM mobile app

[Taikuri]

Google translate LOL - Thanks!!!

Lauri sees his biggest improvement area is his FT%? Wow...SMH.

You're welcome. Yeah I meant I google translated it on chrome with the right click drop down menu. Poor choice of words by me. Google translate is pretty good nowadays. Not perfect but gets the job done and translation by google is usually understandable as well. At least the Finnish to English one is good. GoBlue seems to disagree, but IMO it's pretty good.

[Louri]

Last off season Lauri said same ****. Goal was to be faster and more agile. Was he? No, he was stiff as a old tree. I bet that Lauri will have a good career in politics in Finland after his basketball career.

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

[Neonblazer]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

That's not really how offseason works in training. You are supposed to work on your strength and general physical training because when the season starts you are not going to have time to workout on that. During the regular season its not unusual for players to actually lose muscle mass because the schedule is so exhausting.

[DunkenDunk]

That's not really how offseason works in training. You are supposed to work on your strength and general physical training because when the season starts you are not going to have time to workout on that. During the regular season its not unusual for players to actually lose muscle mass because the schedule is so exhausting.

Training with and against the big/stronger mans in a play type of "rebounding" situations for example could however be useful for Lauri. While playing during his teenage years in Finland he was always so much taller than others in "division 2" games that he could get rebounds and passes even if not being in good position on the field. (He could grab the ball anyway over shorter players).
So some video analysis from his positioning for rebounds in Bulls games and then training how to do that better could be good to do in this this summer. Same thing also when cutting to paint to pass, there Lauri would need to do some more work to really get the position where others can pass the ball. (Instead of just running under basket and then from there back behind the arc). In Finish league guys the Jeremiah Wood (https://vilpasvikings.fi/jeremiah-wood/) is kind of player type that I am thinking could be good for that type of sparring.

[Swuul]

Training with and against the big/stronger mans in a play type of "rebounding" situations for example could however be useful for Lauri. While playing during his teenage years in Finland he was always so much taller than others in "division 2" games that he could get rebounds and passes even if not being in good position on the field.

He played as PG/SG until season 2014-2015 (when he played as a SF/PF hybrid when he had the growth spurt (and missed quite a few matches because of the growth ailments then)). He had lots of rebounds not because he was tall but because he was faster and more agile. I don't know how many matches of Division IB (ie the third highest division in finnish basketball) you have watched, but the teams are mostly made up on one hand of tall brutes who never have hope to get to a better team and on one hand by young still growing dudes. Many of the taller younger ones stop playing at this time, because it can be quite brutal as a scrawny teenager to face scarred 7 feet tall brutish cavemen if you can't outmanouver and outrun them.

[Andi Obst]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

[the ultimates]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

If Dirk would have spent summers in Germany but when the season started his game hadn't progressed yes people would have hated it. Lauri has had four off-seasons and his game has marginally improved at best. He still can't create for himself, his defensive awareness and rotations are still bad. He isn't a passer.

If you really want to go that route then somehow fans who want Simmons to get jump shot are wrong when we know they are not. Simmons was supposed to be improving his jumper all the way back when he got hurt in summer league and didn't play his rookie year.

[pipfan]

I still want to keep Lauri, unless someone makes a huge offer. We can find minutes for Theis, Young, Vuc and Lauri-I liked Lauri at the 3 off the bench. No reason to lose a solid player, who still has upside, unless the cost is too much

[Tetlak]

I still want to keep Lauri, unless someone makes a huge offer. We can find minutes for Theis, Young, Vuc and Lauri-I liked Lauri at the 3 off the bench. No reason to lose a solid player, who still has upside, unless the cost is too much

Merely having his contract on our books can ruin our ability to make fa signings next year.

[Andi Obst]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

If Dirk would have spent summers in Germany but when the season started his game hadn't progressed yes people would have hated it. Lauri has had four off-seasons and his game has marginally improved at best. He still can't create for himself, his defensive awareness and rotations are still bad. He isn't a passer.

If you really want to go that route then somehow fans who want Simmons to get jump shot are wrong when we know they are not. Simmons was supposed to be improving his jumper all the way back when he got hurt in summer league and didn't play his rookie year.

Maybe people should begin to consider that many players never develop in specific areas because it’s just not that easy to do that on the highest level possible? It’s not a video game where you unlock a skill with some virtual currency and then you have it. Almost no player can do everything well at an NBA level and many only do one or two things well. That’s just the reality.

We fans have no actual idea how hard Lauri does or doesn’t work on his game. People just jump to conclusions because he can’t meet their unrealistic expectations. Saying that he doesn’t work hard enough just based on him being in Finland is laughable.

[HomoSapien]

I could see someone going all-in on Lauri and banking on his potential, but I could also see a situation where he's forced to take a one-year deal and rebuild his value (sort of like Portis has been doing). I'm curious to see how many believers he has around the league, because his reputation feels pretty poor to me.

[FranchisePlayer]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

I haven't and can't understand what'd be wrong with that. Care to enlighten me - thanks!

[Leslie Forman]

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

That old dude in a high school gym was enough to make him MVP. There's no need to change it up if what you're doing is already maxing you out.

Lauri is like a fighter who has a bad trainer and refuses to go to a better one. This dude just does the same goddamn thing every summer and whaddya know, he has added literally nothing to his game since college.

Would a better trainer help? Who knows. But at this point, he's like a boxer who doesn't even know how to jab but literally has never even questioned himself if he should maybe learn how to throw a jab. Nothing anybody else says matters, because he's totally content with his skillset as it currently is.

[moorhosj]

Maybe people should begin to consider that many players never develop in specific areas because it’s just not that easy to do that on the highest level possible? It’s not a video game where you unlock a skill with some virtual currency and then you have it. Almost no player can do everything well at an NBA level and many only do one or two things well. That’s just the reality.

We fans have no actual idea how hard Lauri does or doesn’t work on his game. People just jump to conclusions because he can’t meet their unrealistic expectations. Saying that he doesn’t work hard enough just based on him being in Finland is laughable.

I don't think anyone is questioning if he works hard, but the results of his work. He hasn't improved over the offseason in 4 years with the Bulls. People are questioning if following that same strategy is the best way to improve his game.

[the ultimates]

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

If Dirk would have spent summers in Germany but when the season started his game hadn't progressed yes people would have hated it. Lauri has had four off-seasons and his game has marginally improved at best. He still can't create for himself, his defensive awareness and rotations are still bad. He isn't a passer.

If you really want to go that route then somehow fans who want Simmons to get jump shot are wrong when we know they are not. Simmons was supposed to be improving his jumper all the way back when he got hurt in summer league and didn't play his rookie year.

Maybe people should begin to consider that many players never develop in specific areas because it’s just not that easy to do that on the highest level possible? It’s not a video game where you unlock a skill with some virtual currency and then you have it. Almost no player can do everything well at an NBA level and many only do one or two things well. That’s just the reality.

We fans have no actual idea how hard Lauri does or doesn’t work on his game. People just jump to conclusions because he can’t meet their unrealistic expectations. Saying that he doesn’t work hard enough just based on him being in Finland is laughable.

We've seen players that are less skilled than Lauri and don't have some of his decent physical attributes become better players and improve their skills.

Whatever so-called unrealistic expectations for Lauri probably ended after his second or third year. People were looking for him to be serviceable, not well or above average in other parts of his game especially when it comes to offense.

We've seen various stories, rumors, and quotes that people around Lauri including Lauri himself see himself as a better player and more skilled than he's shown. Yet every time we see him his skillset is virtually identical. So whether he trains in United States, Finland, Spain, Greece, Timbuktu doesn't matter it's logical to question what he's doing because he isn't getting better.

[coldfish]

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

If Dirk would have spent summers in Germany but when the season started his game hadn't progressed yes people would have hated it. Lauri has had four off-seasons and his game has marginally improved at best. He still can't create for himself, his defensive awareness and rotations are still bad. He isn't a passer.

If you really want to go that route then somehow fans who want Simmons to get jump shot are wrong when we know they are not. Simmons was supposed to be improving his jumper all the way back when he got hurt in summer league and didn't play his rookie year.

Maybe people should begin to consider that many players never develop in specific areas because it’s just not that easy to do that on the highest level possible? It’s not a video game where you unlock a skill with some virtual currency and then you have it. Almost no player can do everything well at an NBA level and many only do one or two things well. That’s just the reality.

We fans have no actual idea how hard Lauri does or doesn’t work on his game. People just jump to conclusions because he can’t meet their unrealistic expectations. Saying that he doesn’t work hard enough just based on him being in Finland is laughable.

I agree and just to tack on: By the time we see someone play basketball in the NBA, they have played and trained at basketball for thousands of hours and could destroy most "good" basketball players that people know personally. Improvement in the NBA frequently doesn't revolve around adding skills so much as it is about just getting used to the speed of the game and size of the players. If a guy isn't a good ball handler by the time they are 20 after playing and practicing constantly through their teens, he probably isn't going to be a good ballhandler.

Sometimes people act like NBA players just picked up a basketball. More likely than not, what you see is what you get and the only development/improvement is just going to be decision making.

[Andi Obst]

If he really cares about improving. Then he should be in US now. Working/training his ass off against tall and stronger players. There is zero NBA talent to work with in his hometown.

Fans telling pro players how to do their jobs will never not make me laugh.

I'm sure this board would've hated Dirk. Going home every summer to practice in a tiny high school gym in Würzburg with a weird, old dude? No wonder he had such a terrible career! I'm not a Lauri fan at all, but I've seen people on here getting mad because he took some half court shots after practice. It's ridiculous.

I haven't and can't understand what'd be wrong with that. Care to enlighten me - thanks!

Lauri posted a video of himself taking half court shots for fun and some people here argued that he should only focus on shots he’s actually taking in games, that he doesn’t seem to take practice seriously…stuff like that.

But hey, it seems like we have quite a few regulars at Lauri‘s offseason practices here. Maybe they just know more than I do.

[HomoSapien]

If Dirk would have spent summers in Germany but when the season started his game hadn't progressed yes people would have hated it. Lauri has had four off-seasons and his game has marginally improved at best. He still can't create for himself, his defensive awareness and rotations are still bad. He isn't a passer.

If you really want to go that route then somehow fans who want Simmons to get jump shot are wrong when we know they are not. Simmons was supposed to be improving his jumper all the way back when he got hurt in summer league and didn't play his rookie year.

Maybe people should begin to consider that many players never develop in specific areas because it’s just not that easy to do that on the highest level possible? It’s not a video game where you unlock a skill with some virtual currency and then you have it. Almost no player can do everything well at an NBA level and many only do one or two things well. That’s just the reality.

We fans have no actual idea how hard Lauri does or doesn’t work on his game. People just jump to conclusions because he can’t meet their unrealistic expectations. Saying that he doesn’t work hard enough just based on him being in Finland is laughable.

I agree and just to tack on: By the time we see someone play basketball in the NBA, they have played and trained at basketball for thousands of hours and could destroy most "good" basketball players that people know personally. Improvement in the NBA frequently doesn't revolve around adding skills so much as it is about just getting used to the speed of the game and size of the players. If a guy isn't a good ball handler by the time they are 20 after playing and practicing constantly through their teens, he probably isn't going to be a good ballhandler.

Sometimes people act like NBA players just picked up a basketball. More likely than not, what you see is what you get and the only development/improvement is just going to be decision making.

Boy, I don't know about this take. Not once have I looked at Lauri Markannen and thought this is a man who has maximized his abilities.

Showing arguably no meaningful improvement since you joined the league is usually an indicator of a lack of focus or work ethic with your training. Very few players have maximized their craft at 20 years old. In fact, I can't think of a single one that has done that.