Lauri:' I can make the comeback'

[Louri]

Seems that Donovan found answers in 4 preseason games. Maybe egg was stupid enough.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Except Lauri was only decent in 1 of 4 games.

You might know that developing to new system and 9 month break from games takes time. It would have been shock to see guys ready to rock after that long break. Things gets better game by game. Unless your coach happen to be Boylen.

[sco]

tick, tick, tick...anyone thinking an extension is getting done? Last tweet said sides were far apart. I am happy of that from perspective that it doesn't seem that AK is desperate and likely to "Felicio" Lauri here. I was worried after the Valentine signing, which, IMO was an overpay, but at least that was a 1 year deal and we definitely have a hole at backup SG.

[Jiipee84]

I have an idea.
Lets change this threads title to Lauri Markkanen The Bust instead of Lauri i can make the comeback.
This thread has turned to unreadable bull and last 28-to 30 pages are mostly just bashing and **** talk about Lauri.

My eyes are so hurt of all this **** so i really can't read this crap any further anymore.
It also seems quite clear even all last hopes about so called comeback of Lauri are totally dead.

So lets agree together that Lauri busted and very near future he'll be out of NBA.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

[ChicagoSportsFan21]

If Lauri gets traded by the trade deadline, does the new team have his free agents right considering he would have been restricted with the Bulls or would he be a unrestricted free agent? Not sure if a team would be willing to trade for him for a half a season and give up assets when they can just sign him as a free agent and not lose any assets.

[Pax for Prez]

If Lauri gets traded by the trade deadline, does the new team have his free agents right considering he would have been restricted with the Bulls or would he be a unrestricted free agent? Not sure if a team would be willing to trade for him for a half a season and give up assets when they can just sign him as a free agent and not lose any assets.

Yes, look at Hernangomez and Beasley, they were sent to the Timberwolves at last years deadline.

[Stratmaster]

Seems that Donovan found answers in 4 preseason games. Maybe egg was stupid enough.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Except Lauri was only decent in 1 of 4 games.

You might know that developing to new system and 9 month break from games takes time. It would have been shock to see guys ready to rock after that long break. Things gets better game by game. Unless your coach happen to be Boylen.

That describes every player on the team. Lavine, White, Hutch, Williams all look like they came in ready. Even as bad as OPJ's body looks, he seems to be playing well. Why is everything anyone can possibly come up with an excuse for Lauri?

I was a big proponent of Lauri being picked by the Bulls. I want him to succeed. But he is 23 and in his 4th season now, right? When does he become responsible for his own performance instead of it being blamed on whatever else we can come up with?

[FranchisePlayer]

I have an idea.
Lets change this threads title to Lauri Markkanen The Bust instead of Lauri i can make the comeback.
This thread has turned to unreadable bull and last 28-to 30 pages are mostly just bashing and **** talk about Lauri.

My eyes are so hurt of all this **** so i really can't read this crap any further anymore.
It also seems quite clear even all last hopes about so called comeback of Lauri are totally dead.

So lets agree together that Lauri busted and very near future he'll be out of NBA.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

Hard to think anyone, who doesn't hold a grudge against the Markksman, willing to go on record for such an asinine idea.

If healthy and he himself willling, Lauri "The Finnisher" Markkanen, will play 10 more years in NBA.

But yeah, a lot of unknowledgeable smack talk in the late pages of this thread. A new thread with a neutral title like "Lauri Markkanen 2020-2021 season" would be a killer so people wouldn't join the thread with an attitude.

[Swuul]

That describes every player on the team. Lavine, White, Hutch, Williams all look like they came in ready. Even as bad as OPJ's body looks, he seems to be playing well. Why is everything anyone can possibly come up with an excuse for Lauri?

Williams isn't trying to unlearn things from last season, so he has it a bit easier in that sense. Hutch hasn't been playing anything meaningful. Lavine and White have been trying to unlearn their offensive (bad) habits from last season (Lavine is starting to look good though in his new role, but White has so far had a way too narrow tunnelvision for his new role), and they both have been outright bad on the defense so far. Otto isn't in shape, he should have started taking it a bit easier with beer and burgers a few weeks earlier. Lauri and WCJ have been bad in offense (except Lauri was fine in the last match), and their job on the defense has been impossible due to Lavine and White being so bewildered (which has then been seen by the uneducated as the fault of WCJ and Lauri).

Saying the excuse only fits Lauri is intellectual dishonesty, and I wouldn't have expected to see that on this forum. Fact is the team was dysfunctional in the first three matches, but the fourth match did show there is hope the team will get their act together. Remains to be seen.

[Kukoc-Lauri]

He need to put his faith in his own hands. Put ball on the floor and attack and finishing with dunks,layups or drag step. Lot of and 1 opportnities. He is unfortunate to play with worst pointguard crew in the whole league. Only Sato is average passer on Nba level. Ryan Arch is g league player, White is maybe the worst passing guard in Nba and you cant count on Lavine and Valentine in passing. Said that WCJ is best passer on this team.

[ZOMG]

Frank Kaminsky got waived. 7ft, career 35% 3pt shooter, 17.5pts/8.2rbs per 36 last year.

Wonder what this guy thinks when he sees Lauri with his brand new 60-80 million deal?

[Jvaughn]

Well Kuz just got 3 years $40 mil and it's hard to argue Lauri is better than him right now. I'd say that's the current market, and even that I wouldn't feel safe giving Markannen.

[ZOMG]

Well Kuz just got 3 years $40 mil and it's hard to argue Lauri is better than him right now. I'd say that's the current market, and even that I wouldn't feel safe giving Markannen.

Hard to argue? Kuz is a total afterthought on the Lakers and shot a dismal 31.7% from the perimeter last year despite being spoon fed. That's a big no-no on a LeBron team.

He STILL got 13 million per. He's also two years older than Lauri.

Lauri is in an interesting situation, though - if he bets on himself now and plays well, he might be in for a huge payday later. He shouldn't sign for anything under 16 right now.

[Andi Obst]

Well Kuz just got 3 years $40 mil and it's hard to argue Lauri is better than him right now. I'd say that's the current market, and even that I wouldn't feel safe giving Markannen.

Oof...and I thought I was down on Lauri.

3/40 would be an extremely good deal for the Bulls right now imo. Lauri wouldn't sign it though.

[Stratmaster]

That describes every player on the team. Lavine, White, Hutch, Williams all look like they came in ready. Even as bad as OPJ's body looks, he seems to be playing well. Why is everything anyone can possibly come up with an excuse for Lauri?

Williams isn't trying to unlearn things from last season, so he has it a bit easier in that sense. Hutch hasn't been playing anything meaningful. Lavine and White have been trying to unlearn their offensive (bad) habits from last season (Lavine is starting to look good though in his new role, but White has so far had a way too narrow tunnelvision for his new role), and they both have been outright bad on the defense so far. Otto isn't in shape, he should have started taking it a bit easier with beer and burgers a few weeks earlier. Lauri and WCJ have been bad in offense (except Lauri was fine in the last match), and their job on the defense has been impossible due to Lavine and White being so bewildered (which has then been seen by the uneducated as the fault of WCJ and Lauri).

Saying the excuse only fits Lauri is intellectual dishonesty, and I wouldn't have expected to see that on this forum. Fact is the team was dysfunctional in the first three matches, but the fourth match did show there is hope the team will get their act together. Remains to be seen.

You misread my post. I didn't say the excuse only fits Lauri. I said the exact opposite.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

There isn’t an offer the Bulls should make that Lauri should sign. He hasn’t done enough to warrant big money, imo, but he’ll almost certainly get it next summer.

How would folks feel about a 2+1 (player option) at 15m per? That’s about as good an offer as I’d be willing to make. But like I said, if I’m Lauri I pass.

[Robin Jones]

Well Kuz just got 3 years $40 mil and it's hard to argue Lauri is better than him right now. I'd say that's the current market, and even that I wouldn't feel safe giving Markannen.

Hard to argue? Kuz is a total afterthought on the Lakers and shot a dismal 31.7% from the perimeter last year despite being spoon fed. That's a big no-no on a LeBron team.

He STILL got 13 million per. He's also two years older than Lauri.

Lauri is in an interesting situation, though - if he bets on himself now and plays well, he might be in for a huge payday later. He shouldn't sign for anything under 16 right now.

Exactly!

Kuzma is 2 years older (= less potential), shoots threes with clearly lower percentage (both career & last season), free throws clearly lower percentage, more TOs, and about 2 rebounds per game less.

If Kuzma gets 13,5 M 2+1 (last with a player option) with this type of performance, Lauri should get at least 16-17 M 2+1 (last year player option).

All this WITH the evaluation based on Lauri's last year's performance, with injuries and the Boylen system.

The Bulls have inside information on the issues mentioned. If they feel that the reasons for the modest last season are valid and can be fixed, they should offer clearly more now and still get a bargain deal.

Let's say 18-19 M per year 2+1 (last year player option), or 17-18 M 3 years, or some other combination at this level that suits both parties.

[sco]

There isn’t an offer the Bulls should make that Lauri should sign. He hasn’t done enough to warrant big money, imo, but he’ll almost certainly get it next summer.

How would folks feel about a 2+1 (player option) at 15m per? That’s about as good an offer as I’d be willing to make. But like I said, if I’m Lauri I pass.

I'd rather pay a declining deal at something like $17 the 1st year, $14 the 2nd year with the 3rd year team option at $12M.

[WindyCityBorn]

I would only feel comfortable right now with 48/4 years with a player option and might go up to 60/4 years with a team option if push comes to shove. We shall see if anything gets done by the deadline Monday.

That's exactly where I am. Also, I won't be at all upset if nothing gets done before the season. I'd rather pay up for a guy who demonstrates he's a top 10 PF than get a good deal on a bottom quartile starting PF.

OK. So how would Markkanen go about "demonstrating he's a top 10 PF"? I assume that the offense would have to be built in such a way that he wouldn't be an afterthought? Otherwise, such an expectation wouldn't make any sense.

Hustling for garbage and spacing the floor aren't exactly the hallmarks of a Top 10 PF... I guess. I really don't have a clear idea of what it means to be a "Top 10 PF" right now.

He is top three option right now. If he is a top 10 PF we will see it.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

There isn’t an offer the Bulls should make that Lauri should sign. He hasn’t done enough to warrant big money, imo, but he’ll almost certainly get it next summer.

How would folks feel about a 2+1 (player option) at 15m per? That’s about as good an offer as I’d be willing to make. But like I said, if I’m Lauri I pass.

I'd rather pay a declining deal at something like $17 the 1st year, $14 the 2nd year with the 3rd year team option at $12M.

With max 8% YoY declines, a 3/$45M contract could be:

16.2
15.0
13.8

That works for me.

Edit: this is slightly off since you’d start declining by 8% at 16M. Hard math for my phone calculator.

[cjbulls]

There isn’t an offer the Bulls should make that Lauri should sign. He hasn’t done enough to warrant big money, imo, but he’ll almost certainly get it next summer.

How would folks feel about a 2+1 (player option) at 15m per? That’s about as good an offer as I’d be willing to make. But like I said, if I’m Lauri I pass.

I'd rather pay a declining deal at something like $17 the 1st year, $14 the 2nd year with the 3rd year team option at $12M.

With max 8% YoY declines, a 3/$45M contract could be:

16.2
15.0
13.8

That works for me.

I would think Lauri turns this down. This offer you two mentioned would be essentially 2/30 and he’s obligated to play that 3rd year at a discount or get cut if he’s hurt or whatever. He might as well just play out the year at that point. He is already due 9M plus next year just by not accepting an offer and playing out that final 5th year. That leaves such a small window of upside for him.

He should assume his realistic floor is something like 3/45 after Kuzma. His realistic ceiling is 4/90 if he has a great year (which I highly doubt but you’d think a pro athlete would expect/be optimistic about) and FA dollars are flowing.

A good hedge for the the Bulls and Lauri is something like 4/60-64 with that 4th year as a player option. Lauri needs some sort of carrot to take less money now. If the Bulls value him like they say, then the deal makes sense for them. I’d rather move him personally but that window is closing.