Bulls @ Pacers 6:30pm CT

[kulaz3000]

Man, I wish DeMar was about 5 years younger.

[vxmike]

That's good news I think

I was worried it was his knee

It looked like the hip at the time, I thought, but I'm worried it was dislocated.

I certainly don't think it was dislocated. No chance he would've been able to get up and walk off. The best case scenario will be some of sort of contact injury leading to bruising. There might be a hip flexor injury or something similar which would keep him off the court for a few weeks.

Or could he torn labrum or quad. The way he grabbed his upper leg instantly then walked off with a substantial limp wasn’t good. I think that might have been a season ending injury, unfortunately.

[WindyCityBorn]

Man, I wish DeMar was about 5 years younger.

We have a guy with similar talent(but nowhere near as smart) that is 5 years younger. We are trying to salary dump him though.

[jnrjr79]

That's good news I think

I was worried it was his knee

It looked like the hip at the time, I thought, but I'm worried it was dislocated.

I certainly don't think it was dislocated. No chance he would've been able to get up and walk off. The best case scenario will be some of sort of contact injury leading to bruising. There might be a hip flexor injury or something similar which would keep him off the court for a few weeks.

Just speculating, but it seemed like something more than just a contact injury causing bruising. The way he got folded up to me suggests some further injury than that. He didn't seem to get hurt just from hitting the ground. But in any event, we'll know soon enough. Fingers crossed.

[Red8911]

Demar did it again in Indiana ! 46 pts, game tying shot to send it to OT. Guy has been incredible lately. What a game.

AC with 5 triples and 23 pts,Ayo also huge with 20, then Coby might have struggled again with his shot but he still made some big plays. Really hope his injury isn’t serious, doubt he plays tomorrow though either way.

[Red8911]

That drive by Ayo at the end there was impressive. The guy is fast

He’s super fast and in great shape. I think he has the teams best endurance by far. For example Coby uses up a lot of energy on both ends but he dies out many times at the end of games. Ayo though doesn’t get tired no matter how long he’s been playing.

[Red8911]

Man, I wish DeMar was about 5 years younger.

We have a guy with similar talent(but nowhere near as smart) that is 5 years younger. We are trying to salary dump him though.

Unfortunately he will never reach Demars level. We hoped he’d pass him but that’s not happening. The only thing Zach passed Demar at is currently making more money than him.

[Red8911]

It looked like the hip at the time, I thought, but I'm worried it was dislocated.

I certainly don't think it was dislocated. No chance he would've been able to get up and walk off. The best case scenario will be some of sort of contact injury leading to bruising. There might be a hip flexor injury or something similar which would keep him off the court for a few weeks.

Or could he torn labrum or quad. The way he grabbed his upper leg instantly then walked off with a substantial limp wasn’t good. I think that might have been a season ending injury, unfortunately.

KC said that Coby was laughing and in good spirits after the game. Maybe it’s not that serious but we’ll see tomorrow for sure.

[waffle]

add me to the population that is in awe of demar. He is so much better at EVERYTHING than Zach it's kind of astonishing. Just emphasizes how much of basketball depends on skills between the ears.....

[WindyCityBorn]

Man, I wish DeMar was about 5 years younger.

We have a guy with similar talent(but nowhere near as smart) that is 5 years younger. We are trying to salary dump him though.

Unfortunately he will never reach Demars level. We hoped he’d pass him but that’s not happening. The only thing Zach passed Demar at is currently making more money than him.

Yeah he will never be #1. He made the all-star team twice as the #2 though. We are about to make same mistake trying to make a #1 out of Coby White unless we get extremely lucky in some way I don’t see right now.

And if you want to get even more doom even Demar isn’t a good enough #1 to take a team anywhere. He is #2 or #3 on a serious contender.

[WindyCityBorn]

add me to the population that is in awe of demar. He is so much better at EVERYTHING than Zach it's kind of astonishing. Just emphasizes how much of basketball depends on skills between the ears.....

Everything but 3 point shooting.

[Dan Z]

Also, man does this team have heart. I wish it had the talent to match. These guys have a better record than the Pacers over the past 25 games, even though the Pacers have Haliburton, Siakam, and Turner. There's no way that should happen.

Yep, if you ignore the issues with the team construction, and all the front offices flaws, the players and the coaches haven't given up when they easily could have, and they've just gutted out difficult wins after difficult wins all throughout the season.

We are depleted as hell, questionable depth, key players logging massive minutes, but through it all they've shown so much heart and like you say, it's a damn shame that the front office hasn't done their part and built a better roster, because with a more balanced and deeper team, we could have made some teams nervous with the right match up in the play-in and possibly playoffs. But alas, I think they are eventually going to lose steam.

Still, I love how they aren't letting up. It's not wonder the front office has kept this group together, they clearly love playing together and for each other, and it shows out on the floor. Got to give Billy credit in that regard, he has kept the players focused on what they have control over.

I can't help but wonder what no Vucevic and a Utah level Markkanen would look like on this team. Instead of Vucevic shooting .285 from three the Bulls would have a big (Lauri) who shoots it at .401.

I know...hindsight is 20/20, but I say this because I agree with your point above about roster construction (which I've bolded).

[Dan Z]

We have a guy with similar talent(but nowhere near as smart) that is 5 years younger. We are trying to salary dump him though.

Unfortunately he will never reach Demars level. We hoped he’d pass him but that’s not happening. The only thing Zach passed Demar at is currently making more money than him.

Yeah he will never be #1. He made the all-star team twice as the #2 though. We are about to make same mistake trying to make a #1 out of Coby White unless we get extremely lucky in some way I don’t see right now.

And if you want to get even more doom even Demar isn’t a good enough #1 to take a team anywhere. He is #2 or #3 on a serious contender.

It's a shame that the front office didn't realize that about Zach a few years ago and move on from him when his value was higher.

[PaKii94]

Also, man does this team have heart. I wish it had the talent to match. These guys have a better record than the Pacers over the past 25 games, even though the Pacers have Haliburton, Siakam, and Turner. There's no way that should happen.

Yep, if you ignore the issues with the team construction, and all the front offices flaws, the players and the coaches haven't given up when they easily could have, and they've just gutted out difficult wins after difficult wins all throughout the season.

We are depleted as hell, questionable depth, key players logging massive minutes, but through it all they've shown so much heart and like you say, it's a damn shame that the front office hasn't done their part and built a better roster, because with a more balanced and deeper team, we could have made some teams nervous with the right match up in the play-in and possibly playoffs. But alas, I think they are eventually going to lose steam.

Still, I love how they aren't letting up. It's not wonder the front office has kept this group together, they clearly love playing together and for each other, and it shows out on the floor. Got to give Billy credit in that regard, he has kept the players focused on what they have control over.

I can't help but wonder what no Vucevic and a Utah level Markkanen would look like on this team. Instead of Vucevic shooting .285 from three the Bulls would have a big (Lauri) who shoots it at .401.

I know...hindsight is 20/20, but I say this because I agree with your point above about roster construction (which I've bolded).

Should've kept gafford too
Coby/Lavine/demar/Lauri/gafford.


I actually think bulls should have gone hard after Mike Conley those years. He was available then and he's still playing excellent ball with the twolves rn. He would have been the perfect floor general to get Lavine and Lauri shots in their zones and Coby could have played next to him as the off guard

[Dan Z]

Yep, if you ignore the issues with the team construction, and all the front offices flaws, the players and the coaches haven't given up when they easily could have, and they've just gutted out difficult wins after difficult wins all throughout the season.

We are depleted as hell, questionable depth, key players logging massive minutes, but through it all they've shown so much heart and like you say, it's a damn shame that the front office hasn't done their part and built a better roster, because with a more balanced and deeper team, we could have made some teams nervous with the right match up in the play-in and possibly playoffs. But alas, I think they are eventually going to lose steam.

Still, I love how they aren't letting up. It's not wonder the front office has kept this group together, they clearly love playing together and for each other, and it shows out on the floor. Got to give Billy credit in that regard, he has kept the players focused on what they have control over.

I can't help but wonder what no Vucevic and a Utah level Markkanen would look like on this team. Instead of Vucevic shooting .285 from three the Bulls would have a big (Lauri) who shoots it at .401.

I know...hindsight is 20/20, but I say this because I agree with your point above about roster construction (which I've bolded).

Should've kept gafford too
Coby/Lavine/demar/Lauri/gafford.


I actually think bulls should have gone hard after Mike Conley those years. He was available then and he's still playing excellent ball with the twolves rn. He would have been the perfect floor general to get Lavine and Lauri shots in their zones and Coby could have played next to him as the off guard

The Bulls had a few center options. I know WCJ has been talked about on this board recently and it's debatable if he's better than Vucevic, but he was already on the team and wouldn't cost anything (other than salary/cap space). He's a better three point shooter and better defender, but less durable and slightly worse at rebounding.

They also could've drafted Walker Kessler instead of Terry.

Or figured it out another way (Drummond plus someone else?).

[WindyCityBorn]

Unfortunately he will never reach Demars level. We hoped he’d pass him but that’s not happening. The only thing Zach passed Demar at is currently making more money than him.

Yeah he will never be #1. He made the all-star team twice as the #2 though. We are about to make same mistake trying to make a #1 out of Coby White unless we get extremely lucky in some way I don’t see right now.

And if you want to get even more doom even Demar isn’t a good enough #1 to take a team anywhere. He is #2 or #3 on a serious contender.

It's a shame that the front office didn't realize that about Zach a few years ago and move on from him when his value was higher.

The problem wasn’t not moving on. It was wasting the last 5 years not going trying to acquire a player better than him. We probably could have acquired a a good young all-star like say Haliburton with all the assets we gave up for Vuc and DeRozan. Or we could have just drafte led him.

Point is the likelihood of LaVine ever becoming a franchise player was alway ridiculously slim and they built the team and made moves like it was a likely outcome. It’s management’s fault regardless of how look at though.

The Vuc trade killed us more than anything else though. Easily the worst move in recent memory. Two lottery picks thrown away for ann inefficient scoring center with poor defense!

[ImSlower]

Damn, I agree with all of the anger and pessimism regarding the Vuc trade and keeping the wrong people and all that. We're in a bad place.

But holy cow I loved watching the replays of that wild last bit of regulation and the OT from this win. In only a slightly different Marvel timeline, DeRozan is a multiple Finals winner.

[Dan Z]

Yeah he will never be #1. He made the all-star team twice as the #2 though. We are about to make same mistake trying to make a #1 out of Coby White unless we get extremely lucky in some way I don’t see right now.

And if you want to get even more doom even Demar isn’t a good enough #1 to take a team anywhere. He is #2 or #3 on a serious contender.

It's a shame that the front office didn't realize that about Zach a few years ago and move on from him when his value was higher.

The problem wasn’t not moving on. It was wasting the last 5 years not going trying to acquire a player better than him. We probably could have acquired a a good young all-star like say Haliburton with all the assets we gave up for Vuc and DeRozan. Or we could have just drafte led him.

Point is the likelihood of LaVine ever becoming a franchise player was alway ridiculously slim and they built the team and made moves like it was a likely outcome. It’s management’s fault regardless of how look at though.

The Vuc trade killed us more than anything else though. Easily the worst move in recent memory. Two lottery picks thrown away for ann inefficient scoring center with poor defense!

Good point. You're right...it's not about moving on from Zach as much as it's the front office failing to realize that he's not the guy to build around (which was obvious for years).

I'll add that if he's not the guy to build around then he's not the right player to give such a big contract.

Looking back it's sad. The Bulls didn't think Butler would be worth building around and paying a big contract, but years later thought Zach LaVine was worth it.

[The Box Office]

DeMar DeRozan with a MONSTER game.

Alex Caruso had a nice game.

[League Circles]

Demar does a very passable impression of mid 30s Michael Jordan. Yeah I said it.