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The knock on the Bulls is that they lack superstar talent. With that in mind I have heard people suggest that they should tank for a couple years and try to win big in the lottery. But, the East is top heavy only to about spots 4-5 and the Bulls do have enough interesting players to contend for the 6 spot and maybe do something in the playoffs. I am curious both from the perspective of Bulls fans and general NBA fans, assuming Lavine for MPJ is going to happen, what’s next for the Bulls?

I think if they can get value for Vuc they should. If not, just keep him and shoot for the play-in.

They really should be sellers; they aren't really close to anything interesting and probably top out as a play-in loser. The problem is there are so many non-competitive teams in the EC it will be hard to get into the bottom 5.

Sellers. Ideally Vuc Zach and Coby go.

giberish wrote:They really should be sellers; they aren't really close to anything interesting and probably top out as a play-in loser. The problem is there are so many non-competitive teams in the EC it will be hard to get into the bottom 5.

IKR. Not only that, but it might be hard to get into the lottery. The Bulls might win just enough games to be the 8 seed in a weak conference without much effort. I see them as kinda right on the board of tank and try.

giberish wrote:They really should be sellers; they aren't really close to anything interesting and probably top out as a play-in loser. The problem is there are so many non-competitive teams in the EC it will be hard to get into the bottom 5.

They just need to finish bottom 10 to keep their pick, but if they get MPJ back, I'm not convinced they'll be worse than they currently are.

I think teams should either try to contend for a title or rebuild for a title-run later and i dont see a path to contention for this current Bulls-team, so i would tear it down completely.

Not sure Bulls feel the same way and they seem perfectly happy just to make the playoffs. With White, Lonzo, MPJ and Vuc they'll be competent enough to maybe make the play-in.

Chi town wrote:Sellers. Ideally Vuc Zach and Coby go.

Why Coby? What’s your take on him personally and the situation generally?

Bulls should be sellers if they move LaVine. They should be sellers even if they're stuck with LaVine.


CHI gets Tobias Harris and Zeke Nnaji
DEN gets LaVine
DET gets Michael Porter Jr.

I feel like all the contracts are similarly bad for different reasons so no picks are owed.

The Bulls are essentially in NBA purgatory. They have too much talent to properly tank, but not enough to be anything more than a play-in team. Worse, they don't have any young guys who reasonably project to be a #1 (or even a good #2) on a serious team.

They should sell off whatever pieces have value and properly tank/rebuild, but it seems like ownership would rather shoot for the 10th seed

jbk1234 wrote:

giberish wrote:They really should be sellers; they aren't really close to anything interesting and probably top out as a play-in loser. The problem is there are so many non-competitive teams in the EC it will be hard to get into the bottom 5.

They just need to finish bottom 10 to keep their pick, but if they get MPJ back, I'm not convinced they'll be worse than they currently are.

I was referring to bottom-5 in the EC. Though it's possible that they could lose in the play-in as the 6th or 7th worst team in the EC and still be bottom-10 league-wide. Though going into the lottery in 10th leaves them vulnerable to dropping to 11th.

Maybe something like Lonzo + Jevon Carter + Duarte + 2nd rounder for McCollum, 2 minimum guys and a lotto protected first from the Pelicans? Pels save 25M for moving down like 20 spots, Bulls can swing it financially, "compete" and add a pick:

Vucevic-Smith
Williams-Buzelis
MPJ-Phillips
Giddey-McCollum
White-Dosunmu

and you're still under the luxury tax assuming Giddey gets like 24M a year or something. Hope to strike gold in the 2nd half of the lotto at some later date I guess.

DanishLakerFan wrote:I think teams should either try to contend for a title or rebuild for a title-run later and i dont see a path to contention for this current Bulls-team, so i would tear it down completely.

Not sure Bulls feel the same way and they seem perfectly happy just to make the playoffs. With White, Lonzo, MPJ and Vuc they'll be competent enough to maybe make the play-in.

The Bulls don’t even have a path to bring a secure playoff team let alone a contender. A tear-down is the obvious path they should take.

Magic_Johnny12 wrote:

Chi town wrote:Sellers. Ideally Vuc Zach and Coby go.

Why Coby? What’s your take on him personally and the situation generally?

Bulls need to lose and they already have 5 teams out tanking them easily.

Bulls need to lose Lavine Vuc and Coby to accomplish this. When rumors were there were no suitors for Zach word was that AK would listen on Coby and Ayo as well.

You move Coby while his value is the highest among them.

It’s fine being mediocre and hoping you can develop a later pick into a #1 option, but you need to be good at drafting and development. Jokic, Giannis, Shai, Steph, Brunson, Mitchell, Booker, etc…

They really should be trading anything of value either way.

And if there’s no value out there, I’d at least make sure I keep my pick this year. Maybe you get lucky in the lottery, maybe Orlando/SAS offers big value for Coby, there’s always hope in the offseason.

I would be looking for a third team that values (at some level) a young enough expensive shooting/rebuilding forward though and never end up with MPJ.

Depending on what they get back for Lavine. Young rotation players and they aim to look like they're trying to reach the play in even if they don't. They still need to be trading Vucevic because hanging onto him all season just forces their hand to trade him in the off season and even as an expiring contract who wants him more then than now? They need to move him sooner for a little less than they hope than wait until it's too late and end up getting nothing but cap space.

Few Bulls' fans see them tanking to #10 to keep their pick, the thing is moving Lavine and Vucevic (so long as they get some center in return) doesn't really change who they have. They have Giddey, White Dosunmu and Ball to take the back court, all have contracts coming up. Duarte, THT and even Carter available. They want to get minutes for Williams, Buzelis and Phillips at the 3/4 with Craig and Terry still around. They could use a pick more than more unproven young guys that need minutes