Post deadline: What’s the rotation now?

[meekrab]

People forgetting Aminu. He's an underrated get here.

Unless moving to Chicago completely changes his life, Aminu is dead cap space, not an NBA player.

[MGB8]

Btw, I think AK moving two firsts means that despite some promising thoughts ahead of this season, people (at least folks on the Bulls) aren't evaluating this draft to be all that deep in terms of higher end talent.

[TyrusRose2425]

IMO, people are really overestimating both Coby and Chicago's patience to give him entitlement minutes. We shall see though.

I think you're forgetting how young he is. The Bulls experimented with Coby as a PG. Everyone knew is was destined to fail, yet he still did what he was told. Even as it affected his game.

Coby White is a scorer. That's what he does. Take the ball out of his hands as a distributor. Let him move off the ball and tell him to go out there and score. I think you'll see quite a different player. He's a bench scorer and there's nothing wrong with that. Once he gets to play his suited role, I think you'll see him (not quite) shine. He'll do well in that role.

I don't think you give up on a guy who has clearly demonstrated an ability to score. You need to mitigate his weaknesses and taking the ball out of his hands as a facilitator does that.

The Bulls have completely pulled him out of the PG position for a while. At first, Lavine took over as PG and then when he was demoted, Coby has played SG next to Arci. Coby has not played well in that off ball role. His defense continues to be abysmal, his shooting is rather mediocre and he makes bad decisions.

I doubt the Bulls cut him or something but they aren't going to give him minutes just for the sake of giving him minutes. (IMO of course)

They probably should though. Not playing him will only sink whatever trade value is left in him. See if Vuc can pump that back up so you can sell high in the summer. I mean Ball basically got hot for 5-6 games and his trade value shifted completely solely off of that.

[drosestruts]

I'm always unsure of what to make of these pure fantasy speculations. They have never played together! I mean, your words could use a little backing up. Say, they play 5 games together and then work out what kind of vibes you're getting?

My concern is defense. In particular, rim protection.

Fair enough. My thinking: unless you try it, you don't know what you have other than a constructed thought.

I mean, I wouldn't be running hockey line substitutions so if we're bringing Lauri off the bench I think he'd be able to see some spot minutes playing alongside Vuc. If those small sample sizes work, build their time together, if it continues to work, look into moving Markkanen back into the starting lineup.

[PaKii94]

Ha @ anyone thinking lauri is coming off the bench. He's about to blow up as a 3rd option in his natural PF role.

And Ha @ everyone thinking Coby is going to be playing any more entitlement minutes this year. He'll still have minutes off the bench but it's definitely going to be a push for the playoffs. No more f**k ups allowed

[MGB8]

People forgetting Aminu. He's an underrated get here.

Unless moving to Chicago completely changes his life, Aminu is dead cap space, not an NBA player.

That's a fine opinion for a casual - but it's wrong.

Aminu got hurt last season and stayed injured into most of this year. Since coming back, though, he came off the bench the first 3 games and then started the last 14 games or so for Orlando. And he's been getting better as he's gotten more time back to get used to the game, shake the rust off, etc. He used to be one of the premier wing defenders in the league - but his move to Orlando has been wrecked by injury --- for a guy who wasn't injured a whole lot before then.

He's on the books for next year, too.

His overall starts are still pretty pathetic for the season - but it was a serious injury and he's trending the right direction. He's not some sort of star, but Aminu (if healthy) is a legit rotation defensive combo wing, even at 30 years old.

[Hugi Mancura]

Bulls defense is still bad. Theis does help, but he is one man. So I still don't think Bulls will win games because of their defense. So Bulls still needs to outshoot their opponents.

Big man rotation needs testing. Lauri + Vucevic paring sounds like bad defense, but they can probably outshoot every front court in NBA. Theis + Thad doesn't necessary has enough shooting and Thad is probably best used as a center of offense. All except Thad can shoot from far on a good day, so probably we will see lot of different kind of pairings. Could we even see 3 of them on the court same time to help weaker SF rotation?

Also I would try to get some veteran guard from buyout, waivers or some other way.

Sato / Arci
Lavine / Coby
PWill / Temple
Lauri / Thad
Vuc / Theis

As I said above I wouldn't be surprised if Theis would start couple games instead of Lauri, just to bring the defensive impact at the beginning. He is not as dangerous from far, but if left wide open he can make his shots. I don't think Thad will start games.

SF position rotation might become strange. Aminu has been SF when he was younger (pretty much PF nowadays), Brown can probably play few minutes and Sato / Temple can also play in that position and maybe somedays one of the PF's move to that position.

[jStuNNa]

It will be interesting, I would really like to just give up on the White at PG experiment.

Sato, Arci
Zach, White, Valentine
PWill, Temple, Brown
Thad, Lauri, Aminu
Vuc, Theis, Lauri

Never to be seen again - Kornet/Felicio

Brown is actually a pretty good ball handler and initiator. You can play Coby off the ball with Brown on the court.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

If the Bulls don’t intend on resigning Lauri, I don’t see why you continue to start him beyond the first couple games. See if it works, and when it doesn’t, Thad and Vuc upfront.

[ZOMG]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

[Jimako10]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

I think he's still going to be that interior hub, except it's going to be for only 15 minutes with the new bench. Theis will probably be at the 3 point line to spread the floor and then you have Coby/Temple/Brown playing off that action. Thad will probably close a lot of games as well instead of Lauri, depending on matchups, but all together, that should be around 20 mpg for Thad.

[WindyCityBorn]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

Thad should not play play more than 15 to 20 minutes a game anyway. I think he will still get that. He and Vuc can play well together so I would not be shocked if they close games.

[GoBlue72391]

Does anyone even know who is on the team?

Random guess: Coby is out of the rotation or has his minutes cut back a good bit.

The frontcourt went from awful to a real strength.

Sato / Temple
Zach
PaW / Brown
Theis / Lauri
Vuc / Thad

There is your 9 man rotation, IMO. Coby is going to be fighting with Arci for minutes.

There's no way Theis is starting over Lauri and/or Thad. I would be shocked.

[ZOMG]

Does anyone even know who is on the team?

Random guess: Coby is out of the rotation or has his minutes cut back a good bit.

The frontcourt went from awful to a real strength.

Sato / Temple
Zach
PaW / Brown
Theis / Lauri
Vuc / Thad

There is your 9 man rotation, IMO. Coby is going to be fighting with Arci for minutes.

There's no way Theis is starting over Lauri and/or Thad. I would be shocked.

Theis won't start but he'll get all of the backup C minutes IMO. Lauri will start at 4. Thad is not really a PF in the 2021 NBA but since we now have shooting all over the front court, I guess he's less of a liablity there playing with the bench unit.

[GoBlue72391]

People forgetting Aminu. He's an underrated get here.

Unless moving to Chicago completely changes his life, Aminu is dead cap space, not an NBA player.

We don't need him to do anything other than play defense, which he's capable of. He probably won't be a full time rotational player, but he should be a nice situational piece to throw out there defensively.

[drosestruts]

It will be interesting, I would really like to just give up on the White at PG experiment.

Sato, Arci
Zach, White, Valentine
PWill, Temple, Brown
Thad, Lauri, Aminu
Vuc, Theis, Lauri

Never to be seen again - Kornet/Felicio

Brown is actually a pretty good ball handler and initiator. You can play Coby off the ball with Brown on the court.

Agreed. If you have Temple and Brown out there you have enough perimeter ball-handling and passing.

[TeamMan]

First of all I have to say I am absolutely stunned by the fact AK was able to pull this stuff off. Shipping out practically nothing of any sort of value and landing all star C having a declining deal, a very serviceable back up C, apparently some potential in Brown and Javonte Green whom I know nothing about. Obviously he shipped out picks but even those had decent protection. Front court went from a major liability to extremely strong.

Rotation remains to be seen but thinking how BD's offense works I would start Vuc at C playing Thadgic role, Lauri at PF, PWill at SF, Zach at SG and Sato at PG. On that lineup you cannot leave anyone open, should be runways to the rim all along.

From bench Theis at C, Thad at PF, Temple, Coby and Brown on the perimeter. Arci and Val might have spot up minutes. Arci mainly for perimeter defense and Val for shooting if second unit struggles scoring or Coby has off night.

My thinking is this team is a lot better now. Starters will score a ton due to spacing and shooting from all five positions and Zach now has a reliable second option on offense. Thad does not need to play extended minutes and we are actually deep enough on front court to sustain some injuries.

The only thing I was left still hoping for was the perimeter stopper alá Thybulle or Ntilikina to help us when folks like Lillard goes crazy.

This post is cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

The evaluation period for BD's system has ended and AK has shown his hand.

He just simply shipped out the players that did not fit, and brought in players that will fit.

In the process, it appears that he's also delivering on a promise to ownership to repair the fall out from Gar/Pax, return the team to being a playoff contender, and to do it this season.

That meant that he never planned to build through the draft and doesn't need 1st round picks.

======================
IMO the rotation will be:

Sato
LaVine
Williams
Markkanen
Vucevic

...as the starters, and BD will have the luxury of bringing in players from the bench depending on match ups with other teams.

No one (with the possible exception of Coby) will get entitlement minutes, but because these players fit into BD's system, it's not really an issue.

[The Force.]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

Strongly disagree.

Thad is a far superior defender and overall smarter player than Lauri. If the Bulls continue to start Lauri, the defense will be abysmal. At least with Thad you have three competent defenders surrounding your two all-star scorers.

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[ZOMG]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

Strongly disagree.

Thad is a far superior defender and overall smarter player than Lauri. If the Bulls continue to start Lauri, the defense will be abysmal. At least with Thad you have three competent defenders surrounding your two all-star scorers.

Thad is old and cannot play starter minutes. And as I said, he hasn't been a starting PF in this league anyway for a while now. He can't defend on the perimeter or shoot 3's.

[jmajew]

Thad starting and being an interior hub was always a gimmick (albeit a succesful one - for a while) and now we don't have any more need for gimmicks. He's obviously going back to the bench.

Both Vuc and Theis are effective centers, so... where do we play Thad? He's not really a PF anymore. I see his minutes dropping a LOT.

Strongly disagree.

Thad is a far superior defender and overall smarter player than Lauri. If the Bulls continue to start Lauri, the defense will be abysmal. At least with Thad you have three competent defenders surrounding your two all-star scorers.

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

I'm with you on this. Sato, Lavine, P-Will, Thad, Vucecic. Bench rotation will be Coby, Lauri, Theis, Aminu. We will have a 9 man rotation. They may try Lauri in the starting lineup.