New front office skill acquired: Turn everything into an asset

[FriedRise]

AKME at work

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[meekrab]

I have to admit after watching AKME essentially do nothing to the team during their first off season I was worried but the trade deadline and this off season so far have been an absolute masterclass.

I mean. They had a very disjointed first offseason with COVID screwing everything up and had to hire a new coach and whole new front office staff.

[Dominator83]

Who's actually doing the wheelin and dealin? Isn't that's Eversleys specialty?

Would love to know the behind the scenes of the Lonzo trade. Whatever the case though, nice to see us get away from the Draft-or-bust builds

[BullChit]

I think we sometimes also get caught up being so negative on our own players we forget that some GMs out there think differently than we do.

Seeing some of the money given to some players today has made me realise that there are definitely GMs out there who could see turning a Coby White trade into something if AK wanted to go down that route.

Lauri too... If we could trade Temple and Sato to get Lonzo surely there are markets out there for our "trash" (according to bulls fans) that we can't see

[Michael Jackson]

Anyone that doubted AK should be converted now. We definitely not in treadmill Hell.

Well we are improved for sure, but still a treadmill team IMHO. We are far from a contender. Definitely moving in the right direction but they haven't shed that it will work or that we aren't a low seeded playoff team. AK is an out of the box thinker though for sure.

This is a necessary step though. If you sign guy to fair deals, you can always trade them for cap space. This means come 2022 as long as no one becomes an albatross contract, you can talk to Beal, Durant, etc.. If one of them wants to join, you just trade the necessary guys to make it happen. First step is being a playoff team and having that star or two already (Lavine + Vucevic?).

I agree, this is the path he started on with Vuc.... You have to improve to even be in the conversation of contending. You don't jump from nothing to contender. Depending on draft picks has been bust so far for almost all teams (I mean even Philly who is the best case scenario... Embiid being the one true hit)

[Michael Jackson]

Who's actually doing the wheelin and dealin? Isn't that's Eversleys specialty?

Would love to know the behind the scenes of the Lonzo trade. Whatever the case though, nice to see us get away from the Draft-or-bust builds

Yeah the draft or bust rarely works out. It is also painful to watch. Look at the Hawks they got one good player via draft, one gem in Collins who panned out and then a good amount of smart moves.

[WindyCityBorn]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

The Bulls have had one edict: Avoid luxury tax.

They will not be paying it this year. The old regime kept falling into the same trap regarding this: They would go for capspace, keep all their young guys, throw a massive amount of money at mediocre players and then spend a buttload more to retain their young guys. This put them at the tax line and frequently tied their hands.

AKME has avoided this trap by dumping young guys and/or not giving into their huge demands

Even going forward, I doubt they give big money to Coby and Thad/Aminu's expiring deals will prevent them from exploding salary wise. This team will not see any type of monetary handcuffs on it for a few years.

And maybe that is the only edict, but it's hard to see AK not running into limitations if the plan ends up being a LaVine new deal after 2021.

We need PWill to become a star and Ball to become a upper tier(top 10) starting PG. We are banking a lot on the young guys.

[MrSparkle]

I kept saying it... but I don't think most Bulls fans truly realized how useless GarPax were, despite the big fire-GarPax campaign. Completely inept. It wasn't even about the poor drafting after 2012. There are 100 options every off-season after your draft pick, and all they knew how to make were point-blank 1-to-1 transactions, poorly evaluating their own talent and chiseling their turd rosters while letting potential talent slip away (like Dinwiddie).

Temple would've been resigned to a $7m extension if GarPax were at the table, and our entire FA options would've been hamstrung by that and the Lauri RFA matched offer. We'd also still have WCJ on the roster, along with Franz Wagner joining the PF/C sh*t-show.

Even if this Bulls team sucks next season (it's entirely possible; Zach, Vucevic and Lonzo have quite a bit to prove), the bottom line is we have a roster full of actual NBA players/assets, not Arci, Felicio, Kornet and high-hope/low-performance #7 picks on billboards starting games for no deserved reason. You can re-tool this if it doesn’t work. Not fall into a 5-year abyss.

They simply didn't stretch their options (and address roster problems) beyond the most obvious solutions.

[FriedRise]

Who's actually doing the wheelin and dealin? Isn't that's Eversleys specialty?

Would love to know the behind the scenes of the Lonzo trade. Whatever the case though, nice to see us get away from the Draft-or-bust builds

I assume AKME are the ones doing the wheelin and dealin and talking to the players/agents, but they have a salary cap expert now in JJ Polk who likely is responsible for all the creative money finding acrobats we've been seeing today. I don't think GarPax had anyone like that on their staff (or were even aware that such position existed).

[PlayerUp]

AKME doing things that GarPax didn't even know were possible.

[R3AL1TY]

Yea, that Lonzo deal was a nice move the more I look into the details and cap results. I'm so used to the Bulls mostly signing leftovers, bottom feeders or hasbeens this time of the year. But I still gotta give GarPax credit for signing Thad despite Jimbo not using him right. And Sato was a positive asset too.

[PlayerUp]

But I still gotta give GarPax credit for signing Thad despite Jimbo not using him right. And Sato was a positive asset too.

How soon you forget that Gar/Pax:

- Scammed/mislead millions of Bulls fans over the years
- Spied on staff/players
- Banned fans for wearing Fire Gar/Pax shirts
- Turned a golden franchise into a joke
- Caused yearly drama inside the organization
- Completely disrespected our coaching staff
- Were completely understaffed having 1 trainer and limited health staff
- Focused on maximizing profits versus winning
- Didn't know how to draft talent
- Didn't know how to hire proper coaches
- Didn't know how to hire proper trainers
- Didn't know how to hire proper assistants / front office staff
- Lacked creativity
- Didn't know how to make any productive trades
- Didn't know how to utilize cap space
- Didn't know how to attract free agents
- Never properly utilized the G League
- Never took risks, always conservative

I could go on and on here. If you want to give them credit, give them credit for nearly destroying this franchise. I didn't think that could be possible after MJ but they nearly pulled that off.

[Rowland Garrett]

But I still gotta give GarPax credit for signing Thad despite Jimbo not using him right. And Sato was a positive asset too.

How soon you forget that Gar/Pax:

- Scammed/mislead millions of Bulls fans over the years
- Spied on staff/players
- Banned fans for wearing Fire Gar/Pax shirts
- Turned a golden franchise into a joke
- Caused yearly drama inside the organization
- Completely disrespected our coaching staff
- Were completely understaffed having 1 trainer and limited health staff
- Focused on maximizing profits versus winning
- Didn't know how to draft talent
- Didn't know how to hire proper coaches
- Didn't know how to hire proper trainers
- Didn't know how to hire proper assistants / front office staff
- Lacked creativity
- Didn't know how to make any productive trades
- Didn't know how to utilize cap space
- Didn't know how to attract free agents
- Never properly utilized the G League
- Never took risks, always conservative

I could go on and on here. If you want to give them credit, give them credit for nearly destroying this franchise. I didn't think that could be possible after MJ but they nearly pulled that off.

Other than all that. and maybe more. They were GREAT!

[R3AL1TY]

But I still gotta give GarPax credit for signing Thad despite Jimbo not using him right. And Sato was a positive asset too.

How soon you forget that Gar/Pax:

- Scammed/mislead millions of Bulls fans over the years
- Spied on staff/players
- Banned fans for wearing Fire Gar/Pax shirts
- Turned a golden franchise into a joke
- Caused yearly drama inside the organization
- Completely disrespected our coaching staff
- Were completely understaffed having 1 trainer and limited health staff
- Focused on maximizing profits versus winning
- Didn't know how to draft talent
- Didn't know how to hire proper coaches
- Didn't know how to hire proper trainers
- Didn't know how to hire proper assistants / front office staff
- Lacked creativity
- Didn't know how to make any productive trades
- Didn't know how to utilize cap space
- Didn't know how to attract free agents
- Never properly utilized the G League
- Never took risks, always conservative

I could go on and on here. If you want to give them credit, give them credit for nearly destroying this franchise. I didn't think that could be possible after MJ but they nearly pulled that off.

There's no need for this rundown. I was only being specific to them signing Thad and acquiring Sato in a trade. I wasn't giving them kudos on how they ran the franchise. Plus, half of the things you mentioned are really subjective.

[Zucchini]

"Plus, half of the things you mentioned are really subjective." Really? Again you're in the corner of the suits and management? Do you see a winning record anywhere? What fantasy world are you referring to, where the Bulls have won championships and made playoff runs. Those would be the facts necessary for you to suggest subjectivness.

[Am2626]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

I think this has more to do with the ineptness of GarPax as well as the overly conservative mindset of Paxson than it had to do with the Bulls ownership not allowing them to be aggressive. We’ve seen guys like Kenny Williams be very aggressive for an owner like Reinsdorf. I still do think Bulls ownership strongly values profits but a smart and creative as well as connected FO can get around those constraints. There is no way any of these acquisitions happen if Paxson is still running this team. Good riddance to him!

[Am2626]

Who's actually doing the wheelin and dealin? Isn't that's Eversleys specialty?

Would love to know the behind the scenes of the Lonzo trade. Whatever the case though, nice to see us get away from the Draft-or-bust builds

I assume AKME are the ones doing the wheelin and dealin and talking to the players/agents, but they have a salary cap expert now in JJ Polk who likely is responsible for all the creative money finding acrobats we've been seeing today. I don't think GarPax had anyone like that on their staff (or were even aware that such position existed).

Yes well put. GarPax were simply not qualified for their jobs and their league wide reputation was horrible making any type of deals with other teams and FA impossible.

[nomorezorro]

it would be reassuring to, at some point, see that the front office is as capable of securing future assets as it is at trading them away

[Axl Rose]

My post before FA saying Bulls were in one of the worst positions asset wise is looking quite silly. Bravo to this front offices creativity in getting things done Now lets just see if it works.

[meekrab]

Remember when Deng went to the Cavs and he was impressed because they had sandwiches?

GarPax.