Dan Z wrote:cgf wrote:Dan Z wrote:
I agree. It's a big no from the Bulls.
White, Ayo and probably Caruso are the back court for next year. They'll showcase Zach and then try to trade him (if they can't trade him this off season).
It would be a bad move to commit to DM, ZL, Kuzma, Vucevic and DDR long term.
I don't love it for you...though I like Deuce more than Ayo & think Kuzma's under-rated, I like Coby more than Murray and would rather overpay Caruso to stay...but I tried to think of your FO's priorities; avoiding the tax + at least getting to the play-in + convincing DeMar to re-sign, and this seemed like a way to upgrade the team with those goals in mind.
Would I rather have Dejounte than Coby? No, but do I think there's a good chance he's a more productive PG for however much longer DDR is still a stud for you? Yeah, probably.
Similarly would I rather add Caruso or Kuzma to my Knicks? Obviously AC, but with how long you've lacked a real PF, Kuzma's team-friendly contract, and under-rated game, I think there's an argument he'd help you win more in that short term that your FO seems to be focused on.
Granted I also don't see who's going to be throwing huge contracts & starting spots at Pat & Drummond. So I don't think you'd have too much trouble bringing them back to fill the bench out around McBride, Terry, & your FRP this year.
And even though I don't like the direction...especially having seen how successful a Rebuild 2.0 can be for my Avs in the NHL world...I do think that roster in the OP would be more fun to watch when I go to the UC than if you just ran it back until you found someone to make a face-saving offer for Lavine.
Who is Deuce? Do you mean McBride?
McBride seems like a decent player, but Ayo has been improving all year and is on a good contract.
The Bulls won't have a problem convincing DDR to stay, the issue is how many years and how much money (especially at his age). If the two sides are far apart on that, and he walks, then so be it (I'm also in favor of a rebuild).
Kuzma puts up decent numbers, but I'm not sure if he's a winning player. Yes, he won a championship with the Lakers, but he played poorly in the playoffs and has typically been on losing teams. I'd rather look elsewhere for a PF.
I agree that Dejounte is a good player and has better point guard skills than Coby White right now. However, Coby is four years younger and is paid 12 and 14 million less than DJ, which is important for a team that doesn't pay the luxury tax and has to figure out what to do with 40+ million per year Zach LaVine.
As for Zach LaVine who knows. My guess is they talk to teams this off season, but nothing happens and then he showcases what he can do in the early part of the season. If he's good maybe a team convinces themselves that he's someone they could use. He's not a terrible player, but I know he has his flaws and his contract is big.
I don't like what AK has done overall since he came to Chicago, but if he locked into that roster (the one in your original post) then that would be terrible. They''re already a play-in/low playoff seed team and would be so for even longer.
My gut says that DDR stays too, but I can't say that I'm not a little scared about what your FO would do if a team like the 6ers convinced him to come play with Embiid & Maxey. I'm one of the few people in Chicago who thinks that your FO actually has a very good eye for talent, even if they haven't had many chances to acquire talent since their big moves, and their initial plan wasn't terrible...until Lonzo broke & ownership didn't give them permission to tear it down again.
I may be wrong to assume it's ownership forcing them to continue gunning for the play-in without paying the tax, and it's actually AK's refusal to accept that he needs to pivot from his initial plan. But watching what your FO has been able to do with its limited resources and knowing ownership, I don't think it's a stretch to assume ownership is the real villain of this story.
Yeah McBride. I know Ayo's been on a heater, but I'm not as excited by it as I was by the improvement Coby showed last season. I don't think Dosunmu has the skillset yet to sustainably be productive the way I thought Coby did when watching him a year ago. Whereas for McBride, now that his shooting has translated from the GL, he's already a very nifty backup PG with what a bulldog he is defensively.
With Dejounte coming in to take over as the lead guard...and I think if you went after Murray it would be imperative that you made him your lead guard instead of repeating the mistake that Atlanta made...there would be a clearer role for McBride with his shooting + defensive advantage as a bench guard who can play with either Murray or Lavine; than there would be for Ayo & his slashing advantage / better ability to get to the rim.
As someone who has watched at least half of your games and a good 90%+ of ours, if the Coby-Murray part of this got dropped and we were just adding Caruso...I would hate to give up McBride for Ayo...if that helps clarify where I'm coming from.
I get the questions about Kuzma, but I think he's become quite under-rated. He's shown before that he can defend, he can pull his guy out to the perimeter, and this season he's been showing that he can create for his team-mates as well. With a very reasonable contract that goes down each season, I think he'd be a very good pickup assuming ownership doesn't let you rebuild again.
Again I don't like the direction either, but I haven't liked the direction you've been going in since Lonzo broke and your FO didn't respond by trying to sell high on all of the vets.
So given the seeming goal of trying to build a tax-free playoff team, I think this would help...as you should still be able to dodge the tax perfectly fine given that you wouldn't be adding any money to your cap-sheet and could still dump Carter + Craig if you needed more space to re-sign Pat & Dre after giving DeMar his bag.
So it feels like something your FO might go for to bolster your playoff push next season...DeJounte & Kuzma just feel guys they'd target to try and squeeze a few more wins out of this squad.
