Potential Zach Trade Partners? 24/25 Edition

[Stratmaster]

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.

I think you will see some number of minutes with Giddey, Coby and Zach on the floor together. Giddey is 6'8" and a strong rebounder. The only question is defense, and frankly, I'll worry about defense once the Bulls show they have an offense. Besides, Billy loves his small ball.

[burlydee]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

[coldfish]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

[Stratmaster]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

Giddey isn't a typical guard though. With his size and rebounding I see him as a point forward. I'm not comparing talent or level of play, so nobody freak out...but kind of a Pippen role... without the scoring ability or defense lol.

EDIT: from a shooting standpoint, his 3 point shooting has consistently improved each season, starting at 28% his rookie season, up to 34% last season. If he can get that up to 36% and is playing alongside Lavine and White, that might be passable. In that time his TS% has gone from .478 to .547. Was a solid 53% from 2 point range last season. Hopefully he will continue to improve and will be more of a shooting/scoring threat than we expect.

[sco]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

Giddey isn't a typical guard though. With his size and rebounding I see him as a point forward. I'm not comparing talent or level of play, so nobody freak out...but kind of a Pippen role... without the scoring ability or defense lol.

Offensively, who cares, he's our PG, but of potentially bigger concern than his positional label, he needs to become a 3pt threat to keep defenses honest. Defensively, if he's playing with Zach and Coby, does it really matter? They're all barely average, at best.

[Stratmaster]

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

Giddey isn't a typical guard though. With his size and rebounding I see him as a point forward. I'm not comparing talent or level of play, so nobody freak out...but kind of a Pippen role... without the scoring ability or defense lol.

Offensively, who cares, he's our PG, but of potentially bigger concern than his positional label, he needs to become a 3pt threat to keep defenses honest. Defensively, if he's playing with Zach and Coby, does it really matter? They're all barely average, at best.

If the lineup that was being discussed is the one that is used, he will have Zach and PWill (2 high quality 3 point shooters) as well as Coby, who when he is hot is also high volume and quality.

[madvillian]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

IMO it doesn't really matter if White starts or not because he's going to be needed to play 30-35 minutes a night anyways. I don't know how politics would play into a team in a rebuild as well. Maybe he'd be pissed, but it's not like he's playing for a new contract next year so meh.

[sco]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

IMO it doesn't really matter if White starts or not because he's going to be needed to play 30-35 minutes a night anyways. I don't know how politics would play into a team in a rebuild as well. Maybe he'd be pissed, but it's not like he's playing for a new contract next year so meh.

If our goal is to put the five guys most likely to win games on the floor together, I'd probably go with Ayo over Coby because we'd probably need Ayo's defense over Coby's offense with Zach and Giddey.

[madvillian]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

IMO it doesn't really matter if White starts or not because he's going to be needed to play 30-35 minutes a night anyways. I don't know how politics would play into a team in a rebuild as well. Maybe he'd be pissed, but it's not like he's playing for a new contract next year so meh.

If our goal is to put the five guys most likely to win games on the floor together, I'd probably go with Ayo over Coby because we'd probably need Ayo's defense over Coby's offense with Zach and Giddey.

Yea, I like White he had a nice season and he's on a nice deal, but he's undersized relatively and Ayo is more capable of guarding a variety of players. I also think White is capable of generating his own and others' offense better than Ayo so he'd work better as a scoring guard against the other team's bench.

Now the closing lineup should have White, I'd imagine most times we're going to need his scoring.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Read on Twitter

AK’s blown this in every conceivable way:

- Sign Zach to max
- Mismanage relationship
- Miss window where he actually has trade value by setting a wildly unreasonable price
- Try to move off Zach and DeMar (and Vuc AND Lonzo) during a historically constrained transaction period
- Plant rumors that Zach got a bogus surgery - or at the very least allow those rumors to go uncontested.

I’m not a big Zach fan and he deserves his share of blame, but AK has been a complete joke.

[TheJordanRule]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

Giddey isn't a typical guard though. With his size and rebounding I see him as a point forward. I'm not comparing talent or level of play, so nobody freak out...but kind of a Pippen role... without the scoring ability or defense lol.

EDIT: from a shooting standpoint, his 3 point shooting has consistently improved each season, starting at 28% his rookie season, up to 34% last season. If he can get that up to 36% and is playing alongside Lavine and White, that might be passable. In that time his TS% has gone from .478 to .547. Was a solid 53% from 2 point range last season. Hopefully he will continue to improve and will be more of a shooting/scoring threat than we expect.

The climbing FG percentage is exciting. It indicates break out potential. If he can shoot 36 % and boost the TS from 547 % to 584 %, he won't have any weaknesses on offense, which will increase the effectiveness of his passing. I'm fairly certain that Giddey will be better than anyone we coulda drafted this year outside of maybe one or two players. Not many genuine playmaking PGs around anymore. Certainly not anyone younger than 22 years old.

[madvillian]

Read on Twitter

AK’s blown this in every conceivable way:

- Sign Zach to max
- Mismanage relationship
- Miss window where he actually has trade value by setting a wildly unreasonable price
- Try to move off Zach and DeMar (and Vuc AND Lonzo) during a historically constrained transaction period
- Plant rumors that Zach got a bogus surgery - or at the very least allow those rumors to go uncontested.

I’m not a big Zach fan and he deserves his share of blame, but AK has been a complete joke.

We blew it but it still worked out that we can salvage something and Zach should have incentive to prove he's healthy and productive so he can get traded.

I dunno, the situation with Zach is downstream of the continuity bull, and we've all spent a lot of words on how awful of a plan that was.

[Indomitable]

Coby is obviously going to start. I'm confused why people would think differently.

The starting 5 is already clear. Coby-Lavine-Giddy-Pat-Vuc.

Coby was top guard on team last season.
Lavine makes $43 million.
Giddy is prize this summer and requested to be traded when he was benched.
Pat makes $18 million a year.
Vuc is incumbent vet center.

Ayo is 6th man. The team politics, the trajectory of guys careers, egos, and talent all play a role. But unless someone gets traded, I'd be shocked if that isn't the opening starting 5.

The reason why people are squabbling is that Giddey is a poor shooting PG. Your lineup is really Giddey-Coby-Lavine-Pat-Vuc.

I'm fine with that and the Bulls will likely go that way but starting the year off in a 3 guard lineup is going to cause some consternation.

Giddey isn't a typical guard though. With his size and rebounding I see him as a point forward. I'm not comparing talent or level of play, so nobody freak out...but kind of a Pippen role... without the scoring ability or defense lol.

EDIT: from a shooting standpoint, his 3 point shooting has consistently improved each season, starting at 28% his rookie season, up to 34% last season. If he can get that up to 36% and is playing alongside Lavine and White, that might be passable. In that time his TS% has gone from .478 to .547. Was a solid 53% from 2 point range last season. Hopefully he will continue to improve and will be more of a shooting/scoring threat than we expect.

He actually according to OKC really good on the boards.

[ShouldaPaidBG]

You dont want Zach and Coby on the court together unless the 3 other guys are good defenders. They aren't. So it makes more sense to replace one with Ayo in any given (Giddey) lineup.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Read on Twitter

AK’s blown this in every conceivable way:

- Sign Zach to max
- Mismanage relationship
- Miss window where he actually has trade value by setting a wildly unreasonable price
- Try to move off Zach and DeMar (and Vuc AND Lonzo) during a historically constrained transaction period
- Plant rumors that Zach got a bogus surgery - or at the very least allow those rumors to go uncontested.

I’m not a big Zach fan and he deserves his share of blame, but AK has been a complete joke.

We blew it but it still worked out that we can salvage something and Zach should have incentive to prove he's healthy and productive so he can get traded.

I dunno, the situation with Zach is downstream of the continuity bull, and we've all spent a lot of words on how awful of a plan that was.

I’m skeptical that we’ll salvage more than neutral value. Not sure what Zach can show teams that they haven’t seen from him before, and by now they’re trained to expect the other shoe to drop.

[WindyCityBorn]

If we attach an asset we are idiots. I’d rather get neutral value after the season starts than straight lose any trade right now. The front office is still messing up if they do this.

[WindyCityBorn]

Read on Twitter

AK’s blown this in every conceivable way:

- Sign Zach to max
- Mismanage relationship
- Miss window where he actually has trade value by setting a wildly unreasonable price
- Try to move off Zach and DeMar (and Vuc AND Lonzo) during a historically constrained transaction period
- Plant rumors that Zach got a bogus surgery - or at the very least allow those rumors to go uncontested.

I’m not a big Zach fan and he deserves his share of blame, but AK has been a complete joke.

We blew it but it still worked out that we can salvage something and Zach should have incentive to prove he's healthy and productive so he can get traded.

I dunno, the situation with Zach is downstream of the continuity bull, and we've all spent a lot of words on how awful of a plan that was.

I’m skeptical that we’ll salvage more than neutral value. Not sure what Zach can show teams that they haven’t seen from him before, and by now they’re trained to expect the other shoe to drop.

Show that he is still an elite efficient 20+ ppg scorer and he is healthy. If does that some team will bite and pay up. The current options are garbage. Keeping him makes the most sense. All the teams he has been linked to have moved on.

[TheSuzerain]

I'd attach a minor asset to get out of the Lavine deal for sure.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

We blew it but it still worked out that we can salvage something and Zach should have incentive to prove he's healthy and productive so he can get traded.

I dunno, the situation with Zach is downstream of the continuity bull, and we've all spent a lot of words on how awful of a plan that was.

I’m skeptical that we’ll salvage more than neutral value. Not sure what Zach can show teams that they haven’t seen from him before, and by now they’re trained to expect the other shoe to drop.

Show that he is still an elite efficient 20+ ppg scorer and he is healthy. If does that some team will bite and pay up. The current options are garbage. Keeping him makes the most sense. All the teams he has been linked to have moved on.

I doubt we have any choice but to keep him for now. With health and solid play his value could improve. Neutral value is an improvement. But there is the risk that he ends up even more underwater.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

I'd attach a minor asset to get out of the Lavine deal for sure.

I buy the theory that we’ve offered the PDX pick and can’t find a taker. I don’t think I could offer more than that. Unless a team were miraculously interested in Dalen or something.