Potential Zach Trade Partners? 24/25 Edition

[coldfish]

Zach wants to play on a good team. No good team is even in a position to take on Zach without offloading a huge amount of bad contracts. Chicago isn't going to make a trade that actually makes them worse. It seems that even Klutch understands this.

Overall, Zach and the Bulls are married to each other. Either Zach is going to have to play for the Bulls as is or he is going to have to fake injuries for the next few years. I get the impression that the Bulls are OK with either.

[Am2626]

Zach wants to play on a good team. No good team is even in a position to take on Zach without offloading a huge amount of bad contracts. Chicago isn't going to make a trade that actually makes them worse.It seems that even Klutch understands this.

Overall, Zach and the Bulls are married to each other. Either Zach is going to have to play for the Bulls as is or he is going to have to fake injuries for the next few years. I get the impression that the Bulls are OK with either.

If the Bulls are trying to stay in the top 10 in next year’s draft so they can keep their pick wouldn’t they want to be bad at least for 1 year? Unless the Bulls still see Zach as a cornerstone and foundational piece for their future all he will do is raise the floor of this team in the short term.

[DuckIII]

I’m all for keeping Zach and rehabbing his trade value. I think his skill set is a really good fit with the current roster and 25/5/5 on 40%+ from 3 is realistic which should bring something nice at the deadline from a contender looking to go all in. On the other hand, I’d hate to repeat the Nikola Mirotic mistake and have Zach go on a heater landing us at #12 and losing our pick. It’s a tightrope.

If it were not for the pick situation I would be much more open to Zach returning than I am. That’s really the only wrinkle for me. I like Lavine.

[coldfish]

Zach wants to play on a good team. No good team is even in a position to take on Zach without offloading a huge amount of bad contracts. Chicago isn't going to make a trade that actually makes them worse.It seems that even Klutch understands this.

Overall, Zach and the Bulls are married to each other. Either Zach is going to have to play for the Bulls as is or he is going to have to fake injuries for the next few years. I get the impression that the Bulls are OK with either.

If the Bulls are trying to stay in the top 10 in next year’s draft so they can keep their pick wouldn’t they want to be bad at least for 1 year? Unless the Bulls still see Zach as a cornerstone and foundational piece for their future all he will do is raise the floor of this team in the short term.

Rumors have it that the Bulls have to send picks out with Zach to get him off the books. I don't see Chicago doing that.

In their minds, him just staying and staying home would be preferable because they get bad and don't have to send out picks to accomplish it.

I'm not 100% convinced the Bulls are trying to get bad. I just think they are changing the guard. They would have traded Caruso for picks if they wanted to get bad.

[ChettheJet]

Do you think he'll have moments when he's focused on his stats in a way that doesn't consider the overall play of the team?

If that happens that could be a problem.

If he starts trying to pad his stats then I think he'll get benched, mainly for being a fool. That helps them lose. I don't see the Bulls aiming to be #6-10 for the pick. They'd rather win the 5 more games and see the playoffs.

He's well aware of why the Bulls, and his agent, are having so much trouble finding a trade. His side signed the max contract, he is getting paid and now he's paying the price for his contact, his style of play and his injury history. It's not that the Bulls are asking way too much or other teams not having what the Bulls want or teams don't know what they would be getting. He's just in a bad spot.

We're approaching the point where he's going to stay, and hope some team has the injuries that make Zach a solution. Until then he doesn't need to show that he can score 45, or that he can run and jump all game long. To me he'd look more attractive to other teams if he was willing to step back, not try to dominate the ball, find himself in the spots for open shots, pass the ball more willingly, show a better team first attitude, hustle on defense, Blend in with the rest of the rotation not try to stand out above the rest.

Those are the things that will get him traded sooner than later

[Rusty64]

How bad of a deal would you take to dump Zach?

[sco]

How bad of a deal would you take to dump Zach?

I think the FO would take on middling NBA players with 1 year shorter deals and no picks.

I think it's crazy to sell low when your team is tanking. I'll say this, whatever the Bulls/Lavine situation has become, it has become mutually detrimental. A healthy Zach is a very good player. Given last season, I think he is getting painted with his "worst of" moments brush both here and around the league. IMO, he has matured into a guy who isn't the stupid ball hog/chucker he may have been in his early career (he'll still take one stinker a game, but it's better), and his defense improved as well. All he needs is a chance to remind folks. I personally hope it's here next season - win-win.

[CROBulls]

So...Warriors are now completely out from any kind of sweepstakes for Zach. I mean makes sense, Buddy is a lot better than zach on Buddy's contract than zach lavine is on zach's contract.

[WindyCityBorn]

How bad of a deal would you take to dump Zach?

I would not take a bad deal at all. That’s my stance on it.

[WindyCityBorn]

So...Warriors are now completely out from any kind of sweepstakes for Zach. I mean makes sense, Buddy is a lot better than zach on Buddy's contract than zach lavine is on zach's contract.

LaVine is probably gonna be a Bull next season. If there was a deal to be made it would have been done with how aggressively the Bulls have shopped him.

What we are seeing now is the media setting up the expectation he will still be in Chicago next season. This is the second article in the last week by NBC Sports Chicago basically saying this situation isn’t Zach fault. Because the Bulls know they need to try to get a working relationship going again.

[ChettheJet]

As it stands, Zach is going to be here when the season starts. I don't want to wish anybody harm but I think it would take a season ending injury to some 1-2 guy on a contender for them to be desperate enough to come to the Bulls with an offer.

Zach starts next to Giddey, Coby and Ayo back them up and if he's not traded Carter fumes on the bench. That would just about work out if Lonzo can play and they let him play 5-10 minutes a game just to see what he's got.

The trade that would turn the off season from fair to good would be being able to move Vucevic. Just moving on from DeRozan is a good step but when so many players are moving around you'd like to clear 2 of the mid 3 at least.

[Rusty64]

This a conundrum. Coby believes he is a starter after last years performance.

[sco]

This a conundrum. Coby believes he is a starter after last years performance.

He'd still get close to 30MPG and he understands the team is featuring Zach to trade him.

[madvillian]

This a conundrum. Coby believes he is a starter after last years performance.

He'd still get close to 30MPG and he understands the team is featuring Zach to trade him.

I've reconciled myself to the idea of Zach coming back and trying to prove something and hopefully do it successfully and gets traded.

Any minutes concerns are laughable imo. Right now we've got something like:

Giddey (32)
Zach (32)
Pat (30)
Matas / Craig (35)
Vuc/Smith (45)

There's a lot of minutes for about 2 more bench guys at least after that. I'd expect Ayo and White to be playing around 25-30 mpg at min. We don't have much depth beyond that and injuries will happen. I don't expect anything really from Lonzo and little if anything from Terry and Phillips until proven otherwise.

[WindyCityBorn]

This a conundrum. Coby believes he is a starter after last years performance.

He'd still get close to 30MPG and he understands the team is featuring Zach to trade him.

I've reconciled myself to the idea of Zach coming back and trying to prove something and hopefully do it successfully and gets traded.

Any minutes concerns are laughable imo. Right now we've got something like:

Giddey (32)
Zach (32)
Pat (30)
Matas / Craig (35)
Vuc/Smith (45)

There's a lot of minutes for about 2 more bench guys at least after that. I'd expect Ayo and White to be playing around 25-30 mpg at min. We don't have much depth beyond that and injuries will happen. I don't expect anything really from Lonzo and little if anything from Terry and Phillips until proven otherwise.

Coby and Ayo get all the backup guard minutes with Ayo also getting backup minutes at the 3. Coby just has to accepting of a 6th man role which will probably be a hard pill to swallow initially. He could still be our 2nd or 3rd leading scorer coming off bench though. Outside of Zach not much firepower in that starting lineup.

[vxmike]

He doesn’t have to push us out of the lottery to screw us over, just to #11. With the projected strength of next year’s draft class the tanking will probably start early for teams who know they aren’t playoff contenders. A few hot games from Zach where he puts up 40 and carries us to a win over fellow lottery teams could be the difference. Can you imagine ending up in a 3 way tie for the 9th pick, losing the tiebreakers and ending up at #11? I don’t see anyone predicting a sure fire bottom 5 team, the margins could be tight.

I think they’re a bottom 5 team right now. DDR, Caruso and Drummond were three of the most effective players on a bad team last year. They actually played better without Zach so him coming back doesn’t add many wins. My guess is he’ll be focused on bumping up his stats to increase his trade value.

Do you think he'll have moments when he's focused on his stats in a way that doesn't consider the overall play of the team?

If that happens that could be a problem.

Perhaps but we have no idea how this team is going to play. Zach should be the clear #1 option again with DeMar gone. I think the team is going to be a bottom feeder either way, so it doesn’t really matter a whole lot.

[coldfish]

I'll repeat what I said before. The change in the apron rules basically has made Zach's wishes impossible. Good teams can't afford a 3rd or 4th banana on a max contract.

So, Zach either has to be traded to a bad team or stay on the Bulls. Neither one of those things is something he wants but he is going to have to get used to it. Quite frankly, him putting up empty stats on a sub par Bulls team surrounded by young guys might be the best case for him because it will allow him to opt out and have a market in 2 seasons.

[Ctownbulls]

I think they’re a bottom 5 team right now. DDR, Caruso and Drummond were three of the most effective players on a bad team last year. They actually played better without Zach so him coming back doesn’t add many wins. My guess is he’ll be focused on bumping up his stats to increase his trade value.

Do you think he'll have moments when he's focused on his stats in a way that doesn't consider the overall play of the team?

If that happens that could be a problem.

Perhaps but we have no idea how this team is going to play. Zach should be the clear #1 option again with DeMar gone. I think the team is going to be a bottom feeder either way, so it doesn’t really matter a whole lot.

I'd rather not have him eat up 20 shots a game when they are trying to develop others.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[CROBulls]

Do you think he'll have moments when he's focused on his stats in a way that doesn't consider the overall play of the team?

If that happens that could be a problem.

Perhaps but we have no idea how this team is going to play. Zach should be the clear #1 option again with DeMar gone. I think the team is going to be a bottom feeder either way, so it doesn’t really matter a whole lot.

I'd rather not have him eat up 20 shots a game when they are trying to develop others.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

I think one who shouldnt get too much shots and we should move away from him is Vucevic. I dont want to hear Stacy calling "we need get Vuc to get going" and "start feeding him in post". This guy was shooting like 2 shots less per game than DeRozan did.

I think most of DeRozan's volume is gonna needed to be picked up by Pat. But I still cant see Pat shooting like 15+ FGA per game. He is now at 8 FGA. Around 12-13 is gonna be his game. Most balanced would be that Vuc and Pat just switch their FGA numbers.

And let's not forget that Giddey is likely gonna pick some of that volume. Guy was shooting almost 15 FGA in 2nd year. This went to 10 FGA last year and now he is in contract year. I am sure there will be some increase for hunting shots. Giddey is gonna for sure replace Caruso (7 FGA), but his volume will be need to increased on someones account. And where are Buzelis, Phillips, Terry and their minutes and volume.

[Indomitable]

This a conundrum. Coby believes he is a starter after last years performance.

He'd still get close to 30MPG and he understands the team is featuring Zach to trade him.

Why would he not start?
Giddy will play where DeMar played on offense and defense.