League source: Bulls talking Taj trade

[Mk0]

I love Taj, but with the direction we are going you have to move him. I just hope it is somewhere that he can flourish and either contend or get a big fat payday.

[BIG Game]

SnT with Memphis for Conley. He'd look really good next to Gasol

[MC3]

As I said it in another thread....if you are developing young guys, the last thing you want to do is be down by 20 points by the end of the first half. That's when guys like Portis, Niko develop bad habits and start chucking. You don't develop anything nor are you winning anything. You need good vets/defenders to play and slowly infuse young guys. You put 3/4 young guys at the same time, you are looking at the 76ers or the early 2000 Bulls when it becomes unbearable for the fans nor do you see anyone develop.

They better have some real idea before they start trading Taj because they have already lost Noah. It is one thing to trade MDJ because he is 35 years old but have a plan of not just inserting Portis in there to take Taj's minutes and say let's go.

Our "young guys" already passed that. They arent rookies. Many of them are free agents year from now. What young guys? Mirotic is in his 3rd year, Doug is in his 3rd one. That's the year they will swim or drown. What bad habits for god sake. We arent 76ers or early 2000 Bulls. Our rookies are 22 to 23-24 year old. They have no upside. They are what they are for god sake. Some people act like we are putting raw 19 years old in lineup with no vets.

Bobby, Niko, Doug played with HoF's, vets. Valentine was leader on his team, Zipser played organized pro basketball in Europe with pro's.

[The Force.]

Bulls desperately need to move one of their 4's for a perimeter defender.

This

[HomoSapien]

As I said it in another thread....if you are developing young guys, the last thing you want to do is be down by 20 points by the end of the first half. That's when guys like Portis, Niko develop bad habits and start chucking. You don't develop anything nor are you winning anything. You need good vets/defenders to play and slowly infuse young guys. You put 3/4 young guys at the same time, you are looking at the 76ers or the early 2000 Bulls when it becomes unbearable for the fans nor do you see anyone develop.

They better have some real idea before they start trading Taj because they have already lost Noah. It is one thing to trade MDJ because he is 35 years old but have a plan of not just inserting Portis in there to take Taj's minutes and say let's go.

Our "young guys" already passed that. They arent rookies. Many of them are free agents year from now. What young guys? Mirotic is in his 3rd year, Doug is in his 3rd one. That's the year they will swim or drown. What bad habits for god sake. We arent 76ers or early 2000 Bulls. Our rookies are 22 to 23-24 year old. They have no upside. They are what they are for god sake. Some people act like we are putting raw 19 years old in lineup with no vets.

Bobby, Niko, Doug played with HoF's, vets. Valentine was leader on his team, Zipser played organized pro basketball in Europe with pro's.

I wouldn't discount the importance of veteran leadership. Doug and Niko are heading into their third years, but they're still unproven and them plus guys like Portis, Valentine, and Grant are all young guys. You want someone in that locker room that can lead by example and show them how to properly be an NBA professional.

That said, if Gibson can get us a great asset, then we should trade him and fill the end of the bench with strong vets.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

I'd trade Taj for a good piece, not to make time for Portis/Niko/Doug.

[RedBulls23]

I wonder if there's any world where Taj/Dunleavy for Rubio could be worked out.

I don't know the fascination with Rubio. He is a complete mis-fit for this team especially with Jimmy. And, you kind of have an young guy who can be do what he does in Grant.

If they are trading Taj, they should get a combo-guard who can play with Jimmy or a decent SF which Snell never became or some future pick.

A few things:

Rubio's going to be a value contract very soon. He's a solid defender, and a great passer who might be able to thrive in Hoiball. The biggest issue (and it's a big one) is that he struggles to make shots. Hoiberg supposedly helped Holiday and Niko with their shots this past season. Maybe he can help Rubio.

If Rubio can figure that part of his game out, he's a get.

All Rubio needs to learn is the set shot. Like J Kidd did.

[MC3]

As I said it in another thread....if you are developing young guys, the last thing you want to do is be down by 20 points by the end of the first half. That's when guys like Portis, Niko develop bad habits and start chucking. You don't develop anything nor are you winning anything. You need good vets/defenders to play and slowly infuse young guys. You put 3/4 young guys at the same time, you are looking at the 76ers or the early 2000 Bulls when it becomes unbearable for the fans nor do you see anyone develop.

They better have some real idea before they start trading Taj because they have already lost Noah. It is one thing to trade MDJ because he is 35 years old but have a plan of not just inserting Portis in there to take Taj's minutes and say let's go.

Our "young guys" already passed that. They arent rookies. Many of them are free agents year from now. What young guys? Mirotic is in his 3rd year, Doug is in his 3rd one. That's the year they will swim or drown. What bad habits for god sake. We arent 76ers or early 2000 Bulls. Our rookies are 22 to 23-24 year old. They have no upside. They are what they are for god sake. Some people act like we are putting raw 19 years old in lineup with no vets.

Bobby, Niko, Doug played with HoF's, vets. Valentine was leader on his team, Zipser played organized pro basketball in Europe with pro's.

I wouldn't discount the importance of veteran leadership. Doug and Niko are heading into their third years, but they're still unproven and them plus guys like Portis, Valentine, and Grant are all young guys. You want someone in that locker room that can lead by example and show them how to properly be an NBA professional.

That said, if Gibson can get us a great asset, then we should trade him and fill the end of the bench with strong vets.

you can always go in FA for small vet bench presence if you feel that way. If Taj can get you asset you do it. Cause Taj not only give you asset, he actually deserves to plays somewhere where they want to win. To play big role. He wont get that here. Taj deserves better than be development guy. He is better than that.

[DarthDiggler69]

I kinda like Taj to stay because hes a good guy and a experienced player who can help the young guys, but he also has some trade value. But on the other hand, Taj deserves better than this team. But It depends what we get for him of course, I only prefer a first round pick or a young talent

[Mech Engineer]

As I said it in another thread....if you are developing young guys, the last thing you want to do is be down by 20 points by the end of the first half. That's when guys like Portis, Niko develop bad habits and start chucking. You don't develop anything nor are you winning anything. You need good vets/defenders to play and slowly infuse young guys. You put 3/4 young guys at the same time, you are looking at the 76ers or the early 2000 Bulls when it becomes unbearable for the fans nor do you see anyone develop.

They better have some real idea before they start trading Taj because they have already lost Noah. It is one thing to trade MDJ because he is 35 years old but have a plan of not just inserting Portis in there to take Taj's minutes and say let's go.

Our "young guys" already passed that. They arent rookies. Many of them are free agents year from now. What young guys? Mirotic is in his 3rd year, Doug is in his 3rd one. That's the year they will swim or drown. What bad habits for god sake. We arent 76ers or early 2000 Bulls. Our rookies are 22 to 23-24 year old. They have no upside. They are what they are for god sake. Some people act like we are putting raw 19 years old in lineup with no vets.

Bobby, Niko, Doug played with HoF's, vets. Valentine was leader on his team, Zipser played organized pro basketball in Europe with pro's.

What??? Did you see Bobby's defense and shot selection last year with limited minutes? Imagine him getting 30 minutes regularly? When did Niko, Doug become great defenders or shot selectors? Valentine has not sniffed an NBA court and Zipster's the same.

What's your point...they are all useless but still let them swim or drown? Who are the vets here? Lopez and Jimmy as token participants. Calderon is useless because he can't even stay on the court. If your posting is all about encouraging tanking, I am not getting into that discussion.

What was the biggest gripe from Thibs...he can't play 2 rookies in the rotation. I don't think you have seen the 1999-2005 Bulls on how young guys(similar to Niko, Doug, Bobby etc..) developed.

It is not about upside/downside. Lottery teams are there not solely because they lack talent. Many lottery teams have talent/athleticism but have no clue how to function as a team and they never learn until they eventually end up on decent teams.

[Jvaughn]

I actually like this move. I am pro-tanking one season in deep and good NBA class. We will get ourselves better pick and we will get asset (pick) for Taj.

If we were actually tanking Jimmy would've been gone on draft night. This team is trying to build around Hoiberg's system, and around Jimmy, but they're going about it in an awful and misguided way. We don't have the necessary assets to retool the way they're attempting to.

You can always trade Jimmy on next draft night if you want. His value will likely be same, but he will grant you better return package. Minny didnt want to do Butler for Dunn and Wiggins, and didnt want any other deal for Dunn unless it includes Jimmy. And Celtics didnt want to do both Brooklyn picks, #3 (Dunn) + Crowder.

I think i can see what GarPax are doing. They are basically makin bulletproof plan for Bulls regardless of Jimmy. If they can't get package they like for Butler they will actively tank to see what players are worth keeping. And maybe someone have breakout year and that put us in 2017 plan. If it doesnt work they will get their own high lottery pick to pair it with Jimmy at the end of year.

During season ofcourse exist a chance they get actual package they like for Jimmy or in next draft night so Bulls will trade him.
Bulls could actually rebuild on the fly in that year with Jimmy on roster and without Jimmy on the roster. They just want to get right value for him. Year of Bulls keeping him will not change much.

I must say from that stand point GarPax are geniuses. To bad they suck in everything else.

If they're dense enough to think they can always just trade Jimmy at the next draft day, I'm even more pessimistic about our direction. Getting the #5 pick, Lavine, and fillers is about the most you can hope for in terms of Jimmy. There's no way we could've expected Wiggins to be part of that return.

What if Jimmy had a down year being the man, and his stock drops? You really expect a better return in a better draft. This is the same old Bulls, waiting until it's too late to cash in on a prospect. We always over value our players until they don't have enough value to get decent returns.

Trading Rose should've been the spark that ignited the rebuild. Yet, we once again (if we're to believe Mcgraw) refuse to start over. They keep trying to hold onto what they thought they had. The Boston model is the way a team is supposed to rebuild. You trade away your big contracts, stockpile draft picks, and young potential. You'll suck for a few years, but you don't have to suffer through NBA hell like we're currently doing.

[pylb]

Taj is a great asset this year at his salary for a contender. Teams like the Raptors should definitely be interested if they lose Biyombo for example.

[R3AL1TY]

I still like Taj but he is expendable. They can always sign a defensive specialist big or pick up an undrafted one with potential. I just can't put my finger on which team would want him. Boston seems to make the most sense with Bradley, but they may have to also give up a draft pick.

[Benedict Miller]

Wouldn't doubt Dunleavy Jr & Taj ending up as salary dumps without much in return.

[Threekola]

I don't know the fascination with Rubio. He is a complete mis-fit for this team especially with Jimmy. And, you kind of have an young guy who can be do what he does in Grant.

If they are trading Taj, they should get a combo-guard who can play with Jimmy or a decent SF which Snell never became or some future pick.

A few things:

Rubio's going to be a value contract very soon. He's a solid defender, and a great passer who might be able to thrive in Hoiball. The biggest issue (and it's a big one) is that he struggles to make shots. Hoiberg supposedly helped Holiday and Niko with their shots this past season. Maybe he can help Rubio.

If Rubio can figure that part of his game out, he's a get.

All Rubio needs to learn is the set shot. Like J Kidd did.

Sure, but he's had a lot of years to work on it and still can't shoot.

[coldfish]

I'm starting to wonder if the Bulls are considering a mini tank. That is to say, keep Butler but make the team around him so crappy that the team continues to get lottery picks.

[HomoSapien]

I'm starting to wonder if the Bulls are considering a mini tank. That is to say, keep Butler but make the team around him so crappy that the team continues to get lottery picks.

Wouldn't be the worst idea. I don't expect us to sign any meaningful free-agents. I think this is basically our roster. There's a reason KC Johnson is telling us from June that Jose Calderon is starting.

[bad knees]

From the perspective of the 2017 plan, the only thing we can trade Taj for is a pick. We cannot take any long term salary back.


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[MC3]

I'm starting to wonder if the Bulls are considering a mini tank. That is to say, keep Butler but make the team around him so crappy that the team continues to get lottery picks.

Wouldn't be the worst idea. I don't expect us to sign any meaningful free-agents. I think this is basically our roster. There's a reason KC Johnson is telling us from June that Jose Calderon is starting.

I agree with this. We will do Spurs tanking.

[SearsTower]

We are making this team in the image of Fred Hoiberg.

Have you or anyone else ever noticed how GarPax always make reactionary, copy-cat moves but always seem to end up with a cheap "knock-off" of what they were seeking? For instance, when Kawhi Leonard broke out in the Finals a few years back, GarPax drafted Tony Snell thinking he could be the next Kawhi. Sure, they played the same position, had similar bodies, came from the same HS, and were both really quiet but they overlooked the fact that Tony Snell plays like a sleepwalking idiot.

After Steve Kerr coached the Warriors to a championship, GarPax responded by firing Thibs and hiring Hoiberg. Sure, Hoiberg was a former NBA guard, both played for the Bulls, both have blonde hair, but Kerr was mentored by Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich and played with MJ, Pip, Duncan, Manu, Parker, Robinson, etc... Hoiberg was mentored by Tim Floyd and played alongside Ron Mercer.