Bulls trade for Noah Vonleh

[transplant]

Vonleh's a nice contract to help get the Bulls up to the salary floor and they get cash to help pay his salary. Nice trade.

there no requirement that teams have contracts that reach the salary floor. if anything, it pisses off the other players on the roster, who would have gotten bonus pay from being below the floor

Y'know what ticks me off, Dice? I knew that the money goes to the players on the team, yet I made that stupid comment. I still think the trade makes sense, but as you pointed out, getting to the salary floor has nothing to do with it. Thanks for setting things straight.

[3noD]

This is from four years ago (one massive grain of salt) on nbadraft.net (another), but I found this blurb interesting:

Outlook: Could turn into a huge threat on both the pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop due to his mobility, strength and touch … His upside is potentially at All-Star or borderline All-Star level … Seen as a likely top 10 pick and a relative lock for the lottery ... A hard working kid with a lot of upside, the only drawback is that he may take time for things to click and could lose confidence if he is not successful in his first 2-3 seasons. A candidate to disappoint initially and break out with his second NBA team ..

The confidence thing echoes what posters on the Portland board have said.

Here's hoping GarPax & Fred have a knack for reclamation projects.

Fred’s style is actually well suited for that. He doesn’t yank players as soon as they make a mistake. This year at least, he’s had a consistent rotation and has kept it even after poor games by players. It was Dunn who said earlier in the year that this more composed style and consistency was good for his consistency. Let’s hope it helps Vonleh as well!


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[AshyLarrysDiaper]

This is from four years ago (one massive grain of salt) on nbadraft.net (another), but I found this blurb interesting:

Outlook: Could turn into a huge threat on both the pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop due to his mobility, strength and touch … His upside is potentially at All-Star or borderline All-Star level … Seen as a likely top 10 pick and a relative lock for the lottery ... A hard working kid with a lot of upside, the only drawback is that he may take time for things to click and could lose confidence if he is not successful in his first 2-3 seasons. A candidate to disappoint initially and break out with his second NBA team ..

The confidence thing echoes what posters on the Portland board have said.

Here's hoping GarPax & Fred have a knack for reclamation projects.

Fred’s style is actually well suited for that. He doesn’t yank players as soon as they make a mistake. This year at least, he’s had a consistent rotation and has kept it even after poor games by players. It was Dunn who said earlier in the year that this more composed style and consistency was good for his consistency. Let’s hope it helps Vonleh as well!


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Yeah. Here's hoping. But then there's the balancing act of not playing him too much if it turns out he's solid and starts swinging the outcome of games. I doubt that happens but you never know.

Fred's really got his work cut out for him.

[3noD]

The question here is does Bulls management see something in Vonleh? With all due respect to posters, that would get my attention more than board scouts who claim to know after perusing a few stats and watching a few clips that he’s irredeemable.


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I just don't understand this thinking. It's a free look at a former high pick in exchange for the rights to a never-will-be-NBA player. This is exactly the sort of thing a tanking team should be doing. If he turns into a piece you can develop, super. If he continues to suck, you're not committed to him long-term, and he helps the tank this year.

It's win-win.

Except Vonleh is not going to get a lot of playing time so its not really a free look. You would have to get rid of some combination of Lopez, Felicio, Portis to allow him play 20 minutes. If I were the GM, I would try to build up Felicio's value by giving him 25 min+ and try to trade him at no cost if he plays well like Niko for a certain stretch whether we resign Vonleh or not for the minimum. I used to be fan of Vonleh but now he looks worse version of Bobby Portis. Not a fan of having 2 similar types of players fighting for playing time.

In short, developing Felicio, Zipser and Portis is as important as Vonleh.

You’re assuming that he’s not getting PT. Rolo’s PT is going down, for sure. Niko is gone. We can assume Lauri will be the same.

Between Vonleh and Felicio, on paper, Vonleh may be the better fit for Bulls. Here, I’m speculating and probably need to see him play more. But he seems to provide rebounding and shot blocking, while being more well-rounded offensively. The Bulls should definitely give him a look.


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[sco]

I'd still like to see him paired with Bobby for stretches instead of Zippy or Cris.

[NDave79]

In case anyone is interested here are his measurements and testing numbers from his NBA combine (plus, I thought some people might just like to know where to go to find this database now that draftexpress no longer has this info).

https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-anthro/?SeasonYear=2017-18#!?sort=HAND_WIDTH&dir=1&SeasonYear=2014-15

https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-strength-agility/?SeasonYear=2017-18#!?SeasonYear=2014-15

One thing I found a little interesting is that his hand width is a ridiculous 11.75 inches. That's the 2nd highest measurement since they started recording it around 2010.

[Waynearchetype]

One thing to think about is the results of the Portland coaching staff. They have developed some great all-star type guards/wings like Lillard, McCollum, Batum. But, have they developed any bigs yet?

Blazer fan here! We fired our big man whisperer because he leaked Aldridge leaving. After that, Meyers Leonard stagnated and no other big has really improved while being on our roster.

Vonleh is interesting and is definitely young enough to turn it around (he is 22 still). He was almost an elite level interior defender last year, but in his extremely limited minutes this year he looks like he has regressed a bit. During summer league he'd show off his 3PT range and looked good doing it.

He has a lot of tools and is still young enough to have an opportunity to put them together.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

I promise I'm not letting thirst get the best of me, but Blazers Reddit is just as complimentary of Vonleh as the Portland RealGM board.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ripcity/comments/7w7d4f/noah_vonleh_appreciation_thread/

[Mech Engineer]

One thing to think about is the results of the Portland coaching staff. They have developed some great all-star type guards/wings like Lillard, McCollum, Batum. But, have they developed any bigs yet?

Blazer fan here! We fired our big man whisperer because he leaked Aldridge leaving. After that, Meyers Leonard stagnated and no other big has really improved while being on our roster.

Vonleh is interesting and is definitely young enough to turn it around (he is 22 still). He was almost an elite level interior defender last year, but in his extremely limited minutes this year he looks like he has regressed a bit. During summer league he'd show off his 3PT range and looked good doing it.

He has a lot of tools and is still young enough to have an opportunity to put them together.

Yeah, Aldridge developed from an old coaching staff. I know your current coach is an offensive minded coach and he is pretty good at it. It is also tough to design offense around big men who are not good near the basket when you have such good guards you can rely on.

I guess(I don't know) Meyers is the same way on offense. He can shoot from distance but is he good near the basket on offense? Look at a real talented big like KAT. He can score inside so easily that you can run plays for him inside regardless of your perimeter talent.

Maybe Hoiberg will let him shoot 3s ....after all this is a tanking year. But, it might even destroy his confidence. The first task for Hoiberg is to see what are 2/3 things Vonleh does well and give him opportunities to use that to develop his confidence. Give him a limited role for now.

[sco]

I promise I'm not letting thirst get the best of me, but Blazers Reddit is just as complimentary of Vonleh as the Portland RealGM board.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ripcity/comments/7w7d4f/noah_vonleh_appreciation_thread/

Went there - saw this...sums up my read:

I'm not saying he's better than a scrub free agent. I'm saying he is built like a **** tank and is athletic as hell, so he has the physical tools to be a dominant defensive player. His stroke also isn't broken, which means he has the potential to be a good shooter. Sadly, so far, the potential hasn't panned out and he is just an end of the bench guy. Many guys come into the league with rotation potential and for one reason or another flame out and aren't in the league after 5 years. Just because the potential is never realized doesn't mean it wasn't there. Unfortunately it's starting to seem like Vonleh is just one of those guys who never figures out how to use his gifts at an NBA level.

I think some guys come into the league and lack the drive/maturity to appreciate the opportunity and work as hard as is required on their game. He's still young, but would need an Aha moment under Fred to turn it around.

[DASMACKDOWN]

Im not too hopeful for him. Its not like Charlotte has had a great track record for drafting players. And he is one of them.

They suckered Portland into moving him for Batum after his rookie year.
And basically he has been a scrub for Portland since.

[Waynearchetype]

Im not too hopeful for him. Its not like Charlotte has had a great track record for drafting players. And he is one of them.

They suckered Portland into moving him for Batum after his rookie year.
And basically he has been a scrub for Portland since.

Batums agent was publicly upset when the Blazers matched his RFA deal with Minnesota. He was an expiring that they didn't think would stick around during UFA and now is looking like one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Not sure I'd call that suckering, even if Vonleh didn't work out.

[transplant]

Im not too hopeful for him. Its not like Charlotte has had a great track record for drafting players. And he is one of them.

They suckered Portland into moving him for Batum after his rookie year.
And basically he has been a scrub for Portland since.

Can't disagree, but this is one of the advantages of being bad and having cap space out the ying yang...you can give extended tryouts to players who may only have a 10% chance at succeeding, but were once considered prized prospects.

[terry]

Jermaine Oneal 2.0!!

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

I'd still like to see him paired with Bobby for stretches instead of Zippy or Cris.

Same. Well, maybe Cris but not Zip so much.

[erlim]

In case anyone is interested here are his measurements and testing numbers from his NBA combine (plus, I thought some people might just like to know where to go to find this database now that draftexpress no longer has this info).

https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-anthro/?SeasonYear=2017-18#!?sort=HAND_WIDTH&dir=1&SeasonYear=2014-15

https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-strength-agility/?SeasonYear=2017-18#!?SeasonYear=2014-15

One thing I found a little interesting is that his hand width is a ridiculous 11.75 inches. That's the 2nd highest measurement since they started recording it around 2010.

Thank you, you are a godsend---dunno why draft express jettisoned this stuff off their site.

[GDRO10]

Why play Cris ahead of him while he has 3 more years left on his contract? Let's give this guy a chance, after all he has a lot more upside than Felicio. Maybe he's not a keeper but to me he's a talent we should give a shot.

[Mech Engineer]

One thing I found a little interesting is that his hand width is a ridiculous 11.75 inches. That's the 2nd highest measurement since they started recording it around 2010.

If Krause was the GM...he would have somehow drafted him or acquired him.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

I know this is going to be controversial, but I’ll ask this question anyway.

Isn’t (wasn’t) Vonleh the same type of prospect Ayton or JJJ is now? Amazing physical attributes, but less developed skill-wise and in terms of feel for the game. Interested in hearing what others have to say.

And if this is the case, does this acquisition not make it more likely that we’d be going the MPJ, Doncic route if we have the choice with our pick?


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Idk about what kind of prospect Vonleh was but the Bulls would be nuts not to draft a wing. The eternal argument of need vs BPA doesn't even matter because the Bulls need a wing BPA is almost definitely going to be one. MPJ or Luka would be great. Where I think the Bulls will be drafting the guy I like is Kevin Knox.

[R3AL1TY]

Might as well give Vonleh some burn to see if a new environment with more playing time will help him produce more. I remember when he was a favorite on here by some before he got drafted. Goes to show athleticism and physical attributes a player may possess prior to the NBA may not pan out when they enter the league.