Lauri HIghlights - Offense and Defense

[TeamMan]

I watched almost all of the Bulls games last year, but when I watched these highlights, it made me realize that I've reached the point where I take what he does for granted.

IMHO he is the best 7 footer that I've ever seen in the a Bulls uniform, and arguably (for a 2nd year player) the best that I've ever seen in the NBA.

Now, there is no question in my mind that, one day, he's going to be a NBA champion.

I just hope that it's with the Bulls.

Watch on YouTube

[Michael Jackson]

Nice highlight reel. I am not sure about the best 7ft player in the league even as a second year player... NBA champ Tim Duncan comes to mind without thinking hard about, not sure how KG’s second year was but I recall it being good etc.... on the Bulks though I can accept that argument. I guess the parameters need to be set a bit because I won’t call him better than Pau as of yet but I get your meaning. I hope his health holds up and we can see him explode this season. Last year was a freak injury, not worried about it other than developmental time being lost.

[PaKii94]

I'm ready to see year 3 Lauri. I have high expectations for him but I get the sneaky feeling he's going to pleasantly exceed them

[bearadonisdna]

Somehow Lauri overexerted himself after a stretch were he seemed like he was dogging it.
Imo that is part of the reason there's been a slight turn in morale.
Ppl seem excited about Zach. The projection for him is near all-star player.
Lauri seems like a wildcard, it feels like no one knows what to expect.

[TeamMan]

Nice highlight reel. I am not sure about the best 7ft player in the league even as a second year player... NBA champ Tim Duncan comes to mind without thinking hard about, not sure how KG’s second year was but I recall it being good etc.... on the Bulks though I can accept that argument. I guess the parameters need to be set a bit because I won’t call him better than Pau as of yet but I get your meaning. I hope his health holds up and we can see him explode this season. Last year was a freak injury, not worried about it other than developmental time being lost.

The great 7-footers from the past were one-dimensional and OP with a limited skill set.

Lauri has a wide, wide skill set, but until the coming season has not had the team that could take advantage of all of the things that he can do.

It was clear to me at the end of last season that Gar/Pax want to build the team around him, but they can't announce that to the public because it would cause problems in the locker room.

Now that they have revamped the roster we should see Lauri have a breakout season.

[sco]

I watched almost all of the Bulls games last year, but when I watched these highlights, it made me realize that I've reached the point where I take what he does for granted.

IMHO he is the best 7 footer that I've ever seen in the a Bulls uniform, and arguably (for a 2nd year player) the best that I've ever seen in the NBA.

Now, there is no question in my mind that, one day, he's going to be a NBA champion.

I just hope that it's with the Bulls.

Watch on YouTube

To be fair, what I saw a lot of was Lauri scoring on bad players on bad teams in this. That said, his ball handling is under appreciated...especially leading a break. What I also note is that Lauri has a nice lay-up touch after contact as opposed to always looking to dunk.

What excites me most, and we saw a little in this clip, is the impact of Lauri and Otto (and now Sato). Those guys are going to be huge for us.

[drosereturn]

I watched almost all of the Bulls games last year, but when I watched these highlights, it made me realize that I've reached the point where I take what he does for granted.

IMHO he is the best 7 footer that I've ever seen in the a Bulls uniform, and arguably (for a 2nd year player) the best that I've ever seen in the NBA.

Now, there is no question in my mind that, one day, he's going to be a NBA champion.

I just hope that it's with the Bulls.

Watch on YouTube

To be fair, what I saw a lot of was Lauri scoring on bad players on bad teams in this. That said, his ball handling is under appreciated...especially leading a break. What I also note is that Lauri has a nice lay-up touch after contact as opposed to always looking to dunk.

What excites me most, and we saw a little in this clip, is the impact of Lauri and Otto (and now Sato). Those guys are going to be huge for us.

He played point in earlier yrs so not that surprising. Want to actually let him develop into point forward but thats the most ideal situation which probably wont happen.

[ZOMG]

Watching that highlight reel, you'd think Lauri had a great season. He really didn't. Overall, he had a pretty good year but it also felt like he was treading water a lot. We all know the circumstances weren't ideal for him for several reasons, but then again... they seldom are in the NBA.

Still... with young players, you shouldn't get too high with the highlights or too low with the lowlights. The average performance is what really matters. The sign of a true professional is stable production.

[TeamMan]

Watching that highlight reel, you'd think Lauri had a great season. He really didn't. Overall, he had a pretty good year but it also felt like he was treading water a lot. We all know the circumstances weren't ideal for him for several reasons, but then again... they seldom are in the NBA.

Still... with young players, you shouldn't get too high with the highlights or too low with the lowlights. The average performance is what really matters. The sign of a true professional is stable production.

He started out the season injured.

It was some kind of freak thing that I don't expect to happen again.

And, of course, the Bulls were tanking.

What I saw is that including other things, Lauri can play defense.

Plus he has an under appreciated vertical. He can trow down some hammer dunks.

[IamSam]

Watching that highlight reel, you'd think Lauri had a great season. He really didn't. Overall, he had a pretty good year but it also felt like he was treading water a lot. We all know the circumstances weren't ideal for him for several reasons, but then again... they seldom are in the NBA.

Still... with young players, you shouldn't get too high with the highlights or too low with the lowlights. The average performance is what really matters. The sign of a true professional is stable production.

He started out the season injured.

It was some kind of freak thing that I don't expect to happen again.

And, of course, the Bulls were tanking.

What I saw is that including other things, Lauri can play defense.

Plus he has an under appreciated vertical. He can trow down some hammer dunks.

I have to keep the bolded in mind; I found myself glancing at the score for each of the plays in this highlight video, and let's just say that.... oh yeah, we WERE tanking.

[erlim]

I wish Lauri Markkanen played for the Lakers so he’d have some respect in the league.

[sco]

I forgot that I noticed his headfake at the 3pt line, where Niko would do pump-fakes that I hated.

[DASMACKDOWN]

Just need him to be healthy the whole year. He was on pace for the first 20/10 season since Elton Brand if he didn't get hurt.
I want Lauri to be at least 170 3s made per year. We should be a team that takes and hits a lot of 3s this year. I expect he and Otto to lead the way in that area.

[transplant]

For a 6-9 player, he has excellent hands, feet, agility and shooting touch...except he's a legit 7-footer. I'm a big fan.

[CBS7]

Not seeing any reason why Lauri can't be a 25-27/10-11 type guy. Except his health, maybe.
Weather or not he'll be good enough to be #1 on a championship teams depends on other factors, for example if he could become a better defender, improve his playmaking, etc. But as a scorer I think he could eventually be good enough.

Looking for him to have a 23/10 type season this upcoming year.

[johnnyvann840]

Not seeing any reason why Lauri can't be a 25-27/10-11 type guy. Except his health, maybe.
Weather or not he'll be good enough to be #1 on a championship teams depends on other factors, for example if he could become a better defender, improve his playmaking, etc. But as a scorer I think he could eventually be good enough.

Looking for him to have a 23/10 type season this upcoming year.

Those other factors are mostly the guard play we get. Unfortunately, Lauri is not a primary ball handler and relies on mostly our guards to get him the ball in his spots. One of the disturbing things in that video is that the Bulls highest usage player was hardly involved in an over 10 minute highlight video of him. He is mostly being set up by Arci and even guys like Shaq and Dunn and Selden (who he only played 390 minutes with)... and Otto shows up as much as our SG setting up Lauri despite only playing 380 minutes with him. Whereas Zach played more with Lauri than any other Bull at over 1120 minutes... yet, you don't see him involved in hardly any of Lauri's highlights. Just strange. Now, this post is going to cause a huge backlash at me, but I'm just making a point. Zach and Lauri have not been a good combination for the last two seasons and it's a little bit of a concern of mine.

[transplant]

Shouldn’t be any backlash. You made a valid observation and didn’t assign blame.

In the video, Markkanen was very aggressive working to get himself open. When I get a chance, I’m going to look at a LaVine 2018-19 highlight video and watch what Markkanen is doing.


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[cool007]

Just need him to be healthy the whole year. He was on pace for the first 20/10 season since Elton Brand if he didn't get hurt.
I want Lauri to be at least 170 3s made per year. We should be a team that takes and hits a lot of 3s this year. I expect he and Otto to lead the way in that area.

Great point.

Usually for a big man to blossom in the NBA, they really need a playmaking/unselfish Point Guard who can be a threat from 3pt line to make it easier for the big man. Look at most of the great big man in the NBA, they all have/had a really good PG to play with which made their life easier.

Hopefully Coby white and Sato can help in that department this year.

[IamSam]

Not seeing any reason why Lauri can't be a 25-27/10-11 type guy. Except his health, maybe.
Weather or not he'll be good enough to be #1 on a championship teams depends on other factors, for example if he could become a better defender, improve his playmaking, etc. But as a scorer I think he could eventually be good enough.

Looking for him to have a 23/10 type season this upcoming year.

Those other factors are mostly the guard play we get. Unfortunately, Lauri is not a primary ball handler and relies on mostly our guards to get him the ball in his spots. One of the disturbing things in that video is that the Bulls highest usage player was hardly involved in an over 10 minute highlight video of him. He is mostly being set up by Arci and even guys like Shaq and Dunn and Selden (who he only played 390 minutes with)... and Otto shows up as much as our SG setting up Lauri despite only playing 380 minutes with him. Whereas Zach played more with Lauri than any other Bull at over 1120 minutes... yet, you don't see him involved in hardly any of Lauri's highlights. Just strange. Now, this post is going to cause a huge backlash at me, but I'm just making a point. Zach and Lauri have not been a good combination for the last two seasons and it's a little bit of a concern of mine.

The bolded is one of the things I think about when I begin the see the "Off-season workout" types of threads; I find myself wondering why teammates working out together to develop chemistry seems like such a "way out in left field" kind of idea for some players.

[Jiipee84]

I wish Lauri Markkanen played for the Lakers so he’d have some respect in the league.

It takes some time for Lauri to get that respect what he deserves so he doesn't need to go Lakers.
I'm sure Lauri will get a lot respect when he becomes a star and Bulls start to win.
Sometimes it just happens that the slipping of things takes its time