2018-19 Roster. - Roster threads merged

[League Circles]

These guys are all guaranteed and will be here barring trade:

5: Lopez, Carter, Felicio, Asik
4: Lauri, Portis
3: Valentine, Hutchison
2: Holiday, Grant
1: Dunn, Payne

12 spots guaranteed, 3 spots available

RFAs:
Lavine
Nwaba
Vonleh

Non guaranteed:
Kilpatrick
Zipser

2 way contracts not counting towards the 15 man roster:
Accordian
Blake Knee

Needs: a real SF, a good SG, a better backup PG

Cap space: I'm eating a snickers bar(s) and will require some help or at least some delay in exact computations

What do you guys want to do for the final three roster spots?

I would like to try to sign the best player possible before signing Lavine ideally a small forward and if he's not that good then only give him one year or one plus one year contract with Team option for year two.

If we're able to do that then I would offer LaVine himself a OnePlus One contract with Team option for year 2.

Then for the 15th player I would use the room mle exception to sign an upgraded backup point guard to compete with Payne.

I would also of course try to get involved in trades where I can absorb some salary but only if it's a really good draft pick and or the salaries only for one year. I don't want to do it just for the sake of it and tie up valuable cap space. I also don't happen to think it's that realistic.

So for sake of discussion let's not assume trades because they are out of our control. What do you want to do in terms of free agency for these three roster spots?

[Repeat 3-peat]

Had this posted in the draft thread


Dunn, Payne, Grant
LaVine, Valentine
Holiday, Hutchison
Lauri, Portis
Lopez, Carter, Felicio( ), Asik

Expect this to be the team starting opening night. Would love to see them add a veteran Point Guard(Rondo) to back up Dunn. Would like more veterans on a young team

*I don't expect Nwaba to be back.

[Chitownbulls]

Sign Billy Preston

Bulls have a ton of cap space, who will we spend it on?

[BullsInBuffalo]

This is how I see it unfolding...
1 - Dunn / Payne / Grant
2 - Lavine (3 year 56 mill) / Nwaba ( 2 year 7.5 mill) / Kilapatrick ( 1 year 3 mill)
3 - Holiday / Hutchinson / Valentine
4 - Lauri / Portis / Felacio
5 - Lopez / Carter / Asik

I would NOT be surprised if they moved Holiday after initial FA period and gave a guy like blakney a real shot

I really hope they don't sign anything significant in FA, we will only have 49 million or so in contracts going into next year (Lauri, Dunn, Felacio, Carter, Lavine (if we sign him), Nwaba (if we sign him), Hutchinson). Then, you look at the Nwaba deal and maybe even the Felacio deal that you could shed if you added sweeteners. We are going to have a TON of money to play with next off-season.

I think Lopez and Bobby are guys you could move mid year at the deadline. They will have to decide if Bobby is worth a lot of guaranteed money going forward or if we are better off moving him for a mid to late first and saving money. Valentine could be in that same group. Best thing that could happen for the Bulls is if those 2 balled out.

All in all, this thing is going in the right direction, but they are going to have to either tank again or hit big in the 19' Free Agency if they want to be true contenders come 2020 and beyond.

[nomorezorro]

i'm going to ignore the part about not assuming trades, because we should aggressively be pursuing trades. wendell carter should be a reminder of all the ways we failed to tank hard enough last year, and we should do our best to shed productive players that don't have a long-term future here

i'd probably be even more aggressive than this, but at minimum, the roster should look something like:

dunn/payne/????
lavine/????/????
hutchison/valentine/????
markkanen/portis
carter/felicio/asik

i think all of the third string guys should be random flier types, undrafted free agents or dudes we take on in trades to move veterans/accrue assets.

maybe you resign nwaba as backup sg if you can get him to sign a cheap deal. otherwise, hunt for a younger guy you like that you can sign to a favorable longer deal. maaaaybe sign a vet PG if you're worried about other players suffering with only dunn and payne to run the show, but i wouldn't be too stressed about it, honestly.

if you want to keep open a 2019 free agency plan, then just be unrepentant about it and sign replacement level dudes to fill your holes for one year.

[DuckIII]

Sign Billy Preston

Bulls have a ton of cap space, who will we spend it on?

Don’t spend a penny except on a reasonable contract for Lavine.

[logical_art]

Montrezl Harrell. The Bulls lack athleticism and shot blocking in the front court.

Trade Portis rather than ending up having to overpay him to be stay as a no defense playing 3rd big,

[Chitownbulls]

Sign Billy Preston

Bulls have a ton of cap space, who will we spend it on?

Don’t spend a penny except on a reasonable contract for Lavine.

Wait to spend next year?

[League Circles]

i'm going to ignore the part about not assuming trades, because we should aggressively be pursuing trades. wendell carter should be a reminder of all the ways we failed to tank hard enough last year, and we should do our best to shed productive players that don't have a long-term future here

i'd probably be even more aggressive than this, but at minimum, the roster should look something like:

dunn/payne/????
lavine/????/????
hutchison/valentine/????
markkanen/portis
carter/felicio/asik

i think all of the third string guys should be random flier types, undrafted free agents or dudes we take on in trades to move veterans/accrue assets.

maybe you resign nwaba as backup sg if you can get him to sign a cheap deal. otherwise, hunt for a younger guy you like that you can sign to a favorable longer deal. maaaaybe sign a vet PG if you're worried about other players suffering with only dunn and payne to run the show, but i wouldn't be too stressed about it, honestly.

if you want to keep open a 2019 free agency plan, then just be unrepentant about it and sign replacement level dudes to fill your holes for one year.

I didn't mean to ignore trades because I think the team should ignore trades. I suggested that as a way to focus the discussion. After all it's very possible that no desirable trades end up being on the table. We can't control that. I don't know how frequent trades are in the NBA but I would guess that perhaps half or maybe 2/3 of teams do not average making a trade in an offseason and that is because good trades are not often on the table. The discussion is way too fragmented if you assume trades because everybody has a different perception on the likelihood that a trade can happen.

[johnnyvann840]

Best thing that could happen to that roster is if somebody makes Lavine an offer that the Bulls refuse to match

[johnnyvann840]

Lavine could easily continue to hold back Dunn and Lauri and really put a damper on our two draft picks progress as well. Last year when he came back both Kris Dunn and Lauri fell apart as did the whole team.

[DuckIII]

Sign Billy Preston

Bulls have a ton of cap space, who will we spend it on?

Don’t spend a penny except on a reasonable contract for Lavine.

Wait to spend next year?

Or longer.

[League Circles]

Lavine could easily continue to hold back Dunn and Lauri and really put a damper on our two draft picks progress as well. Last year when he came back both Kris Dunn and Lauri fell apart as did the whole team.

This is definitely a legitimate concern but I'm not sure I can write him off entirely yet. I believe his cap hold is around nine million dollars. If we happen to have an opportunity to sign a real impact player and can only do so by renouncing Lavine I would do that in 2 seconds. But otherwise I would really try to get him to agree to a OnePlus One deal and give him another chance. He does have talent and it worked with Mirotic. We just screwed up Niko's blossoming.

[nomorezorro]

Lavine could easily continue to hold back Dunn and Lauri and really put a damper on our two draft picks progress as well. Last year when he came back both Kris Dunn and Lauri fell apart as did the whole team.

i don't love lavine, but we've got to give minutes and money to someone next year, and it's hard to think of a better investment in terms of age/upside

unless he commands an outrageous contract, you gotta do more due diligence about how dunn/lavine/markkanen all fit together. if lavine doesn't work as a primary offensive option, you might as well try to groom him for a more ancillary off-ball role, too. we've got time and money to roll the dice!

[musiqsoulchild]

3 Slots / 3 Problems:

Problem 1 ( SF): Lopez + Asik for Nic Batum
Problem 2 ( Backup PG): Trade Shaun Livingston into Omer Asik trade created TPE.
Problem 3 ( Good SG): JJ Reddick with pure cap space on a 1 year deal.

Dunn / Livingston / Payne
Reddick / Holiday /Grant
Nic Batum / Valentine / Hutchison
Lauri / Portis
Carter / Felicio

Add a rotation from the scrap heap. That's 15. And , a decent team that has a lot of cap space next season and some in the season after that.

[johnnyvann840]

Lavine could easily continue to hold back Dunn and Lauri and really put a damper on our two draft picks progress as well. Last year when he came back both Kris Dunn and Lauri fell apart as did the whole team.

i don't love lavine, but we've got to give minutes and money to someone next year, and it's hard to think of a better investment in terms of age/upside

unless he commands an outrageous contract, you gotta do more due diligence about how dunn/lavine/markkanen all fit together. if lavine doesn't work as a primary offensive option, you might as well try to groom him for a more ancillary off-ball role, too. we've got time and money to roll the dice!

I get it. I just HATE the way he plays. Hate it. He just doesn't make anyone around him better.

When you look at his line up data. Everyone gets worse when they play with him. Lauri especially. The data shows that Lauri's shooting, his 3 pt attempts, his shooting %'s, FTA's... EVERYTHING just got worse. Lauri averaged 5.9 three point attempts per game last season.. When Lavine came back, it dropped to less around 3. There were 6 games where Lauri played over 25 minutes and didn't even attempt a single 3. Not one. Lauri hardly even touched the ball when he played with Zach. Dunn looks like shiiit when Lavine is on the floor. The TEAM gets twice as bad and when you're starting at a -6.8 pt differential and it goes to -13.2. You become a historically bad team. With Lavine on the floor last season, the Bulls were historically awful with a -13.2 per 100 differential. Literally, one of the worst teams in pt differential in NBA history. Not even exaggerating.

[League Circles]

Lavine could easily continue to hold back Dunn and Lauri and really put a damper on our two draft picks progress as well. Last year when he came back both Kris Dunn and Lauri fell apart as did the whole team.

i don't love lavine, but we've got to give minutes and money to someone next year, and it's hard to think of a better investment in terms of age/upside

unless he commands an outrageous contract, you gotta do more due diligence about how dunn/lavine/markkanen all fit together. if lavine doesn't work as a primary offensive option, you might as well try to groom him for a more ancillary off-ball role, too. we've got time and money to roll the dice!

I get it. I just HATE the way he plays. Hate it. He just doesn't make anyone around him better.

When you look at his line up data. Everyone gets worse when they play with him. Lauri especially. The data shows that Lauri's shooting, his 3 pt attempts, his shooting %'s, FTA's... EVERYTHING just got worse. Lauri averaged 5.9 three point attempts per game last season.. When Lavine came back, it dropped to less around 3. There were 6 games where Lauri played over 25 minutes and didn't even attempt a single 3. Not one. Lauri hardly even touched the ball when he played with Zach. Dunn looks like shiiit when Lavine is on the floor. The TEAM gets twice as bad and when you're starting at a -6.8 pt differential and it goes to -13.2. You become a historically bad team. With Lavine on the floor last season, the Bulls were historically awful with a -13.2 per 100 differential. Literally, one of the worst teams in pt differential in NBA history. Not even exaggerating.

There's no doubt about it that LaVine absolutely sucked last year. Like a very very bad player that frankly is lower than replacement-level player. He literally made it almost impossible to win with him on the court. But I would still consider giving him real money for OnePlus One deal. It's unlikely he'll turn it around and grow a brain but it's possible. And he is a proven 3-point shooter and a very good athlete and can handle the ball.

[GimmeDat]

Honestly, I'd be tempted to start Hutchison from day 1. Valentine will probably get that opportunity at the 3, though.

[johnnyvann840]

If we keep Lavine he needs to come off the bench. Let him slay 2nd teams. Off the bench he can be the featured scorer. Just keep him off the floor with Lauri.

[johnnyvann840]

But I would still consider giving him real money for OnePlus One deal. It's unlikely he'll turn it around and grow a brain but it's possible. And he is a proven 3-point shooter and a very good athlete and can handle the ball.

The growing a brain part is what worries me. The kid is not the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with. After 4 seasons coming into his 5th NBA season, it's doubtful his IQ is going to just skyrocket and it would need to skyrocket just to be OK. It just doesn't happen. That is the hardest thing to change in a player and it's Lavine's biggest problem is what's between the ears. He has all the physical tools but is just a dumbass on the court.