Thoughts on Lauri Markannen

[leo921]

Hello, Bulls fan here, not looking to cause trouble. Just wanted to see and hear your thoughts on Lauri now that you have had him for a full year. I really liked your games with Garland and the big lineup of Lauri/Mobley/Allen. Everyone talks about small ball but there is no beating talented skilled size and you def have that. Good luck and looking forward to hearing your thoughts

[JonFromVA]

Hello, Bulls fan here, not looking to cause trouble. Just wanted to see and hear your thoughts on Lauri now that you have had him for a full year. I really liked your games with Garland and the big lineup of Lauri/Mobley/Allen. Everyone talks about small ball but there is no beating talented skilled size and you def have that. Good luck and looking forward to hearing your thoughts

I'm happy with him, albeit a lot of fans still see him as a placeholder at SF who will eventually take Love's role as stretch-4 off the bench.

Seems like expectations got out of whack for Lauri in Chicago given he was just the 7th pick in the draft, and it's not like any of us can do anything to help him avoid injuries.

[JujitsuFlip]

All things considered, I like him. I wish he could shoot the deep ball a little more consistently. But for the way Bickerstaff is using him, it is probably foreign to him and he's making the best of it.

[KuruptedCav]

Laurie has been more than I expected. At the time of the deal, I thought it was more asset management (Nance Jr. wanting to play elsewhere and wanting something of value back) than talent acquisition.

I’m one of those who think he slots into Love’s spot in two years. That isn’t a knock. I value the role Love occupies and see it as a necessity with Allen and Mobley at 5/4.

The thing that has impressed me is his willingness to play defense. He’s not good by any means, but he puts in the effort, and that helps with man, and with Allen/Mobley, getting taken off the dribble isn’t the worst outcome.

Last season was inconsistent from deep. He seems as good as the PGs are… so when Rubio and then Garland were out, it was a problem.


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[mcfly1204]

Agreed on Lauri's defensive effort, pleasantly surprised watching him play this past season.

[toooskies]

He showed a lot of good instincts as a perimeter defender but doesn't have the footspeed to hang with quicker guys-- but usually has the length to bother a shot even if the offensive player gets by him.

The shot will get dialed in as time goes on-- he kept getting sick/hurt just as he was heating up. He actually shot better on long 3s than closer-in 3s. Knowing how he's going to be used on offense at the 3 should get him settled in faster.

[JonFromVA]

The play-in games encapsulate pretty well the roller coaster ride which is Lauri .. 13 & 4 on 14 shots and -10 .vs. the Nets, and then followed that up (after a couple days off) with 26 & 8 on 17 shots and +8 .vs. the Hawks.

You can't count on a player to be hot from 3pt every game, but Lauri can take a big step forward by finding other ways to consistently contribute. Alas I call this group "Team Klunky" because of how they demand opponents to pack the paint - which makes Lauri even more important as a spacer; but makes it harder to do cuts and get to the basket for more consistent scoring.

He started slimming down last Summer to try to get back some of the mobility he'd lost when he'd bulked up for the Bulls and reportedly is continuing to focus on agility as he's still expected to start at SF.

I suppose it doesn't matter all that much the Bulls traded Lauri to a division rival, we play just 4 games against each other and the Bulls saved that money and were able to use it to re-sign LaVine. Whether he's worth all that money is the big question, but hey ... mission accomplished. You get to find out.

[RCM88x]

I like him a lot, seems he started to find his shot more as the season went along which possibly is a good sign for this upcoming year. Obviously not gonna be a top guy on a great team but he's certainly good enough to be well above your average rotation player.

Not sure how long term he can play decent SF but his release is quick enough to provide great spacing even if his % aren't elite. Hopefully he can stay healthy for a full season which he's obviously struggled with a good bit in his short career, concerning long term but for now hope for improvement.

[jeeph]

People on the outside looking in will think his size at SF is a problem for the Cavs. And it was a problem, it showed to be a problem more for other teams than the Cavs.

On the defensive side it has been mentioned above about his height chasing people off of the 3 point line. But him being out that far creates another problem for dribble drive penetration. Players are used to going against say an Allen and Mobley. Get one on the pick and roll and watch the help defender in order to make the proper shoot or kick out decision. But with Lauri out there, that driver now has to worry about behind him because while Lauri is not a shot blocker, he is 7 foot and can take the space away from over the top of shorter players. So a driver has to play it normal plus keep checking behind himself for Lauri. This hindrance allows the Cavs to play the style they do which is the opposite of what most would think. The old thought to tall ball would be to make them shoot over top of you. But the Cavs press the 3 point line to get people to drive into the trees and force a bad shot or error. When healthy, he helped get them to the #2 defense.

On offense, he was the 2nd most efficient player in the NBA last year within 15 feet behind Embiid. And a lot of that is from him playing SF at his height. With most teams going small or wing heavy, that leaves most teams with one true big to handle the Cavs 3 true bigs. Say against your Bulls, that means 6'5" Derozen is going to have to cover one of Allen, Mobley, or Markennen in the post at points in the game. Markennen is the obvious choice there for the defense, leading to his great efficiency. They say the NBA is about finding or creating your mismatches, well the Cavs have one most every time down the floor.

So the Cavs really like him and plan on continuing the tall ball style. With the lack of SF's out there and them being the most desirable, overpriced players, I look at a lot of PF's for the Cavs' SF spot quite often. And it's not so much that he is a better player now, it is how the Cavs are using him is better for him. The Bulls system for bigs asked him to be the man in middle, a dominating style of force. The Cavs are asking him to be a role player and only be a star when he gets the obvious opportunity. The Cavs have Cedi who is like that too, the more you ask them to do, the worse they play. The Cavs also have the Love bench role ready for him too which once again, would be a great fit for him.

So unless some star SF comes out of nowhere and wants to sign with the Cavs next year, I don't see the Cavs moving on from him because it's one of those situations where he has more value to Cavs as a tall-ball SF than most any other team as a stretch PF.

[Jiipee84]

Hard to say for sure how long Lauri is able to play starter SF's role in Cavaliers.
But only time will tell when that comes to end and Lauri takes Love's role in the team or is he getting traded some point.

First and foremost Lauri should start stay healthy before you can truly evaluate that is he useful SF or something else.
I just hope that all these games in Finnish national team gives him good start for the season 2022-2023.
So far Lauri has played well those 3 games ( Sweden, Croatia, Ukraine ) in national team when he's been in the lineup.
But the sample size is small and nobody cannot say nothing sure before the NBA season 2022-2023 starts.

[JonFromVA]

We've got a decent sample size of Lauri at SF last season. Hopefully he can stay healthy, but we should have improved our depth in case he can't.

[KuruptedCav]

We've got a decent sample size of Lauri at SF last season. Hopefully he can stay healthy, but we should have improved our depth in case he can't.

Are you comfortable with Okoro or LeVert playing significant minutes at the 3? I’m of the belief that Okoro can handle the wing defensively.


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[JonFromVA]

We've got a decent sample size of Lauri at SF last season. Hopefully he can stay healthy, but we should have improved our depth in case he can't.

Are you comfortable with Okoro or LeVert playing significant minutes at the 3? I’m of the belief that Okoro can handle the wing defensively.

If Lauri goes down again, I've got to imagine we can scrape something together out of Okoro, LeVert, Agbaji, Wade, Osman, Stevens, and even Windler if he's still around and ever rediscovers his shooting stroke. There would likely be times we could use Evan to defend SF's and use someone else to defend the PF (Love, Wade, Stevens, etc).

IMO, if you're tall enough to get a hand up in shooter's site line - you're tall enough to defend in the NBA.

Ideally, some of those guys step up and it becomes a whole lot clearer what our depth chart should be, but based on last year - I've got to give Dean Wade credit because Garland-Okoro-Wade-Mobley-Allen was one of our best units last season. And for JBB who likes to keep roles consistent, it's a pretty good swap.

[TallDude]

Lauri is closing his prime. He has never been playing like this summer.

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