The Derrick Jones Jr. situation for next season

[sco]

Jones Jr isn't a "core" core guy, but I found myself rooting for him to win that starting PF slot (which never happened because Billy fell in love with Green in the preseason and seemed to feel like Jones was a viable alternative to Bradley at C).

IMO, Jones is a great energy guy, a switchable defender, our best lob catcher, a good rebounder, and, IMO, our best backup PF behind Williams, and able to give you minutes at the 3 and 5.

His per 36 were 11.5/6.8/1.2/1.0/1.3 shooting 54%/33%.

He was on a 2/$19M deal, and we have early bird rights. He's only 24.

IMO, we should definitely try to keep him...hopefully on a cheaper deal - something like 3/$18M.

The key decision for the Bulls on this, IMO, is whether they are willing to go into the tax next season...if they are, then there isn't much risk in keeping him. They'll still have the tax payer MLE to get another rotation player. From a roster perspective, they are only losing a vet min player slot. And if they want to get out of the tax the following season, they should be able to trade that contract for a 2nd rounder.

Do I have this wrong?

[Michael Jackson]

Not wrong. Dude is an NBA player. Depends on what he wants contract wise, but I would absolutely bring him back. I don’t think the tax is a big issue anymore (the repeater tax is without a doubt) and with Vuc coming off the books and trading some contracts you can get out of it if need be next year. He is great for our spastic break team too, him, Lonzo, Pat, Zach

[Red8911]

I doubt they bring him back. The bench needs change and he’s probably going to get replaced. He isn’t a bad player but the Bulls need better shooters. Also him being injury prone doesn’t help his case either.

[Mr. Tibbs]

I was definitely a fan as well. Such an elite athlete, and he was playing through his own injury as well that doesn't get mentioned as much as others.

I think his value is considerably higher when the offense is free flowing, fast break heavy and he can attack the basket off cuts rather than be relegated to the occasional corner three. Aka the Chi Slamma Jamma early stretch of the season. I hope we can manage to keep him

[Ctownbulls]

I like him too but the Bulls need more athletes who are well rounded (like the Raptors have). The league is moving away from specialists. You need athletic wings who are strong, can defend multiple positions, can handle, can shoot, and who can make the right decisions. That is why someone like Pat Williams vaulted up the draft board.

[MikeDC]

To what end?
I think one should start with the assumption that if you sign a guy like this, he's going to be a "bad" contract. Like, there's no path to him being a starter, and a non-starting guy on a 3 year deal is at best cap filler, but most likely a mild negative. From that perspective, I think the deal to offer is a 1+1 with the second year non-guaranteed. That makes him useful as trade-filler, but not a potential financial problem you have to deal with down the road.

You can say a deal wouldn't be "that bad", but so what. We need to move the goalposts to expecting "good".

[kodo]

I like him and he provides the Bulls with what they lack: athleticism, rim protection, lob finishing, a threat rolling to the rim.

But he's been buried deep on the bench along with bad players like Troy Brown, so I can only assume we don't want he brings to the table. So I don't think we'll deepen our tax issue by resigning him. I honestly don't really understand the vision for team construction, we seem to prefer playing guys like Troy Brown and Caruso at PF instead of Jones.

[meekrab]

He's welcome to stay for the vet minimum.

[ChettheJet]

DJJ is the kind of guy you'd like to have on your roster. Where he fits at his size and shooting, light weight, is the small ball 4 and good defender, rebounder backup 3. The problem for the Bulls is they need a genuine 4-5 backup and a legit strong backup 4. And if they have both of them Patrick Williams provides them with a PF and backup SF and they can bring in a younger,better 3pt shooter, cheaper backup 3. So if they bring in the size that they lack Jones ends up being redundant.

[greenwing]

To what end?
I think one should start with the assumption that if you sign a guy like this, he's going to be a "bad" contract. Like, there's no path to him being a starter, and a non-starting guy on a 3 year deal is at best cap filler, but most likely a mild negative. From that perspective, I think the deal to offer is a 1+1 with the second year non-guaranteed. That makes him useful as trade-filler, but not a potential financial problem you have to deal with down the road.

You can say a deal wouldn't be "that bad", but so what. We need to move the goalposts to expecting "good".

He doesn’t need to be the starter. Guy has first big off the bench and backup starter if needed written all over him. If he’s willing to accept a multi year deal that is cap friendly you do it. If he wants a bigger role and/or too much money you let him walk.

[MAQ]

I didnt hate him but I didnt like him. If he'd return, I'd hope itd be in a 10th or 11th man role.

Plus, seemed like he suffered some form of groin injury every game. Got tired of seeing him hold his nuts all game every game.

Not bad, not great, part of the reason why the bench needs serious improvement.

[dougthonus]

If he comes back at 5m or less per year and no more than 2 years guaranteed, I'd be good bringing him back, but that doesn't seem likely.

[jordanwilliams6]

He’s a solid player but I don’t expect he will be back. We need to fill the bench with shooters and he isn’t good enough in that regard. The fact that we have Green locked up on a cheap deal for next season means we will keep him instead. We can’t give significant rotation time to bench players who can’t shoot and DJJ will command a solid deal somewhere.

[WindyCityBorn]

He is mediocre shooter at best so I would not make a huge investment in him.

[HomoSapien]

I liked what he brought prior to the injury, but we just need to get bigger and we need more shooting. He keeps us small and is a limited shooter. I don't think he'll have a lot of suitors though, so maybe he can be retained on a small team-friendly contract.

[PlayerUp]

Bulls can basically offer him the minimum so I expect he signs elsewhere. The other funds / exceptions they have need to be used to buff our frontcourt and add 3&D players.

[Wingy]

Like a number have said already...I’ll just be a little more emphatic.

ENOUGH!!!!!!!

No more non-shooters!!!

[HomoSapien]

Bulls can basically offer him the minimum so I expect he signs elsewhere. The other funds / exceptions they have need to be used to buff our frontcourt and add 3&D players.

We do have his bird rights, so we can resign him for more than the minimum and without exceptions if we really wanted to.

[WindyCityBorn]

Bulls can basically offer him the minimum so I expect he signs elsewhere. The other funds / exceptions they have need to be used to buff our frontcourt and add 3&D players.

We do have his bird rights, so we can resign him for more than the minimum and without exceptions if we really wanted to.

I’d rather sign and trade him.

[MrSparkle]

Does someone pay him the MLE ? Doubt it.

I could see SAS throwing some short-term contracts around, but I'm not sure he has a huge draw this summer. Basically proved to be an excellent 16 MPG guy. Any more and his short-comings would come out.

If we can retain at #3-5m I'd go for it. Good to have trade-able salaries.