End of Season Presser - Update AK wants to keep the core together with only minor changes

[ghostinthepost1]

The Bulls still have some decent avenues to improve next season...

1. Just overall being healthier will help, losing Lonzo was a huge blow to defense, passing, pace, floor spacing, and just generally not playing DDR Iso ball all the time.
2. Growth from Pat and Ayo, even Lonzo or Coby could still make jumps.
3. MLE, last year it got us AC and hopefully brings another impact player this year.
4. #18th pick, guys like Herb Jones, Sengun, and Ayo all contributed this year as rookies.
5. Trade Coby, even if they get nothing for him might be addition by subtraction.

[chitownsports4ever]

That healthy unit's score against playoff teams should tell something about it.They lost most games by a reason ,it can't be possible to keep using injury excuses for explaining all that.That was the way AK chose for improving the Bulls but it seems it won't turn us on contenders.Progress was made but going ahead will be
very hard without trading at least one of our core guys.

That unit played 5 games together what are you talking about ?

Only 5 games?Are you sure?

Oh Im quite sure that the lineup of

Vuc
Pat
Demar
Lavine
Zo

played exactly 5 games together

[Ugly Duckling]

the way the bucks spanked boston game 1 without middleton goes to show that were pretty good. not quite as good as boston, but right up there imo. we def need pieces, but hey

[MikeDC]

Without major changes, to have a realistic chance of getting out of the first round, they need:

1. Something out of their control: Ball and Lavine healthy. With Ball, I would even go so far as to call this "unlikely". The best kind of move they could make is if they could somehow keep Zach and DDR and add Jalen Brunson or another accomplished PG who can orchestrate an offense.
2. The second biggest need would be a 4 who can shoot and defend. On the high end, a guy like Siakam. On the mid-range, Robert Covington. On the cheap a Georges Niang type.

[ghostinthepost1]

That unit played 5 games together what are you talking about ?

Only 5 games?Are you sure?

Oh Im quite sure that the lineup of

Vuc
Pat
Demar
Lavine
Zo

played exactly 5 games together

Going even further the Zo/AC/Zach/DDR/Vuc line up played on 67 minutes together all season but was +33.

[jordanwilliams6]

Only 5 games?Are you sure?

Oh Im quite sure that the lineup of

Vuc
Pat
Demar
Lavine
Zo

played exactly 5 games together

Going even further the Zo/AC/Zach/DDR/Vuc line up played on 67 minutes together all season but was +33.

That lineup also looked like it was going to be our closing lineup. It's a shame we never saw a large sample size.

[MrFortune3]

I get the frustration but realistically, there is only so much you can do in one off-season.
We improved from 31-41 to 46-36. We struggled mightily against the Bucks, but we came a long way to get to this point.

We need to shore up the margins of the roster as AK has said. The only piece of the core you may move on from is Vuc and you would not likely get the value back that you gave up for him.

This team has to get healthy and see improvement from Williams more than anything else.

[dice]

the way the bucks spanked boston game 1 without middleton goes to show that were pretty good. not quite as good as boston, but right up there imo. we def need pieces, but hey

the bulls got 3 bigger spanks from the bucks. let's see how the series plays out before we compare the bulls to the celtics

[Ctownbulls]

What is he supposed to say? Also, the core should stay it is a matter of who is the core. They just brought in Demar, Caruso and Lonzo. They should keep Zach. I think that is the core right now depending on what they do with Vuc.

Core is Zach, DeMar, Zo, Caruso, Pat and Vuc. Vuc is really the only I could see being gone, but even that possibility is less than 50/50.

You´re forgetting about Coby ,let´s give him more playoff experience.

I hope this is sarcastic. I love Coby but he is very expendable.

[satriales]

The Bulls still have some decent avenues to improve next season...

1. Just overall being healthier will help, losing Lonzo was a huge blow to defense, passing, pace, floor spacing, and just generally not playing DDR Iso ball all the time.
2. Growth from Pat and Ayo, even Lonzo or Coby could still make jumps.
3. MLE, last year it got us AC and hopefully brings another impact player this year.
4. #18th pick, guys like Herb Jones, Sengun, and Ayo all contributed this year as rookies.
5. Trade Coby, even if they get nothing for him might be addition by subtraction.

That's not how the MLE works

[FriedRise]

Just don't become the '21-22 Knicks. Strong year, same w/l record as Chicago, playoff appearance, followed by a complete dud after keeping the core and making a couple acquisitions. And don't start next year the same way you end this season - by playing no defense and running mediocre offense.

That would be depressing.

One thing we really need to focus on is to develop the bench over the course of the season. When the second unit comes in, I'd like it to NOT be a DeMar show with him the only one scoring and others just standing around. Our 4-9 players were just not used to being asked to shoot/score, so understandably they shat the bed in the playoffs when that's the only option the other team gave. I do think we have actual NBA players coming off the bench, and that they can perform as well as the second unit of some of these other teams; they just need more repetition actually running plays and getting used to being involved in them.

Maybe don't even have DeMar in there and swap Zach with him to completely eliminate that temptation. DeMar is so good when he gets to his spots that everyone knows he's gonna shoot it, and his iso tends to be our best option of getting a bucket as long as there's no double team. And teams don't really do that in the course of the regular season.

Know the plays, run them, make your mistakes, and get some production off your bench. Then maybe your stars won't get beat up so much and run out of gas.

[Jcool0]

The Bulls still have some decent avenues to improve next season...

1. Just overall being healthier will help, losing Lonzo was a huge blow to defense, passing, pace, floor spacing, and just generally not playing DDR Iso ball all the time.
2. Growth from Pat and Ayo, even Lonzo or Coby could still make jumps.
3. MLE, last year it got us AC and hopefully brings another impact player this year.
4. #18th pick, guys like Herb Jones, Sengun, and Ayo all contributed this year as rookies.
5. Trade Coby, even if they get nothing for him might be addition by subtraction.

That's not how the MLE works

MLE cant get us a good player????

[sco]

Just don't become the '21-22 Knicks. Strong year, same w/l record as Chicago, playoff appearance, followed by a complete dud after keeping the core and making a couple acquisitions. And don't start next year the same way you end this season - by playing no defense and running mediocre offense.

That would be depressing.

One thing we really need to focus on is to develop the bench over the course of the season. When the second unit comes in, I'd like it to NOT be a DeMar show with him the only one scoring and others just standing around. Our 4-9 players were just not used to being asked to shoot/score, so understandably they shat the bed in the playoffs when that's the only option the other team gave. I do think we have actual NBA players coming off the bench, and that they can perform as well as the second unit of some of these other teams; they just need more repetition actually running plays and getting used to being involved in them.

Maybe don't even have DeMar in there and swap Zach with him to completely eliminate that temptation. DeMar is so good when he gets to his spots that everyone knows he's gonna shoot it, and his iso tends to be our best option of getting a bucket as long as there's no double team. And teams don't really do that in the course of the regular season.

Know the plays, run them, make your mistakes, and get some production off your bench. Then maybe your stars won't get beat up so much and run out of gas.

The Knicks had a couple of major YoY changes. Robinson, who was injured most of the prior season came back and replaced a mostly injured Noel (who was better on defense than Robinson was, IMO), Rose went down and replacing Bullock with Fournier killed them defensively without much of an offensive lift.

[MrSparkle]

I think the more appropriate comparison for the Bulls has and will continue to be the 2013 Nets. I doubt AK will do anything nearly as destructive as the Celtics KG/PP trade, but as it stands, we did trade future capital for a meek 3 that got whooped in the 1st round, which reminds me of Deron/Brook/Joe. Pretty similar player-to-player comparisons as well.

It’s wise not to go “all in” … but we need to somehow generate more young talent than Pat, Ayo and Coby. IMO this still largely falls on Lonzo and Patrick becoming better than anyone expected. As it stands, all had a disappointing and/or injured season.

[Vince Strong]

Seems like everyone in this thread is assuming LaVine is back. Personally, I think there's a better than 50% chance he is gone. What am i missing (besides the obvious increase in $ he gets from the Bulls)? Dude was here for 5yrs on a terrible team most of the time, hes burned over that. I want him back and cringe at having to give him the hometown max, but what options do we have. If I had to bet, he's gone.

[FriedRise]

Seems like everyone in this thread is assuming LaVine is back. Personally, I think there's a better than 50% chance he is gone. What am i missing (besides the obvious increase in $ he gets from the Bulls)? Dude was here for 5yrs on a terrible team most of the time, hes burned over that. I want him back and cringe at having to give him the hometown max, but what options do we have. If I had to bet, he's gone.

If he's getting offered 5/$212M by us, he's resigning. All his comments so far have been to make sure that the Bulls don't screw around like they did last time when they made him get an offer sheet in Sacramento. It's a negotiation tactic, and he's seen first hand that the Bulls can be pretty stubborn when they have a specific number in mind (see: Lauri's contract negotiation).

I also can't see him turn down that extra year that the Bulls can guarantee that no other team can, especially with a knee surgery coming up. Zach will always have his shooting, but he's also the type of player who relies on his athleticism which does go away with age. He doesn't really have the IQ side of the ball, so I don't think he's getting a CP3 type deal up until he's 40.

He'll be on the wrong side of 30 at the end of this next contract. What if he only takes a 4 year contract and his play goes down significantly? He'd be missing out on an extra year of max money, which can be a difference of 35-40M in earnings.

I realize in saying that that the Bulls are assuming a big portion of the risk also, which is why this contract negotiation has been more controversial.

[satriales]

The Bulls still have some decent avenues to improve next season...

1. Just overall being healthier will help, losing Lonzo was a huge blow to defense, passing, pace, floor spacing, and just generally not playing DDR Iso ball all the time.
2. Growth from Pat and Ayo, even Lonzo or Coby could still make jumps.
3. MLE, last year it got us AC and hopefully brings another impact player this year.
4. #18th pick, guys like Herb Jones, Sengun, and Ayo all contributed this year as rookies.
5. Trade Coby, even if they get nothing for him might be addition by subtraction.

That's not how the MLE works

MLE cant get us a good player????

Of course it can net a good player, but our MLE is already being used on Caruso and Simonovic. They don't have an MLE this offseason. The league doesn't just give out a new one to teams every year.

[chitownsports4ever]

That's not how the MLE works

MLE cant get us a good player????

Of course it can net a good player, but our MLE is already being used on Caruso and Simonovic. They don't have an MLE this offseason. The league doesn't just give out a new one to teams every year.

You get the MLE every year either the taxpayer or the non taxpayer

The Bi annual exception is every other year

[bad knees]

I believe that AK was telling the truth and that it's the best path for the Bulls. Keep the core - which in AK-speak means Ball, Lavine, DDR, PWill, Vuc and Caruso. Some of the others will be back; others won't. I imagine they will explore trading Coby. I wish they would explore trading PWill, but it's clear to me they won't. They still love him - I hope that the fact that they drafted him doesn't play into it. Ayo most likely will be staying, even if he is probably not part of the core.

When the Bulls' core was healthy, it was damn good. But it was extremely fragile. We needed everyone to be playing in order for the whole to be more than the sum of the parts. Lonzo is not a traditional PG, but he ballhandled enough to prevent us going into DDR iso-mode. Ball and Caruso provided just enough defense for us to have Lavine, DDR and Vuc on the floor. Zach showed in the Olympics that he could be a strong defender and brought that into the start of the season. But when Ball, Caruso and then Lavine got hurt, the defense disappeared and we shifted into DDR isolation land. And it was pretty ugly.

Beyond getting everyone healthy, I think that the goal of the offseason is to build more resilience into the roster so that when someone goes down with an injury, we are better able to keep moving forward. And we need to add some toughness - we need more guys who will stand up to the intensity of the playoffs. Specifically, we need more 3 and D guys off the bench, and a backup big or two who is tough and can play. After we sign Lavine to his max deal, and draft BPA (hopefully a big) at 18, AKME will turn to the possibility of trading Coby and to finding some backups who we can sign with the money that we will have to spend before we hit the lux tax line.

[Wingy]

MLE cant get us a good player????

Of course it can net a good player, but our MLE is already being used on Caruso and Simonovic. They don't have an MLE this offseason. The league doesn't just give out a new one to teams every year.

You get the MLE every year either the taxpayer or the non taxpayer

The Bi annual exception is every other year

and people way cap smarter than me pointed out the BAE was just wasted on giving Tristan Thompson a greater than min bump for our short term rental.

so we won't be able to use it this offseason as a result.