chefo wrote:Lauri's PGs and main ball handlers during his Bulls career:
* Kris Dunn
* Cam Payne
* Jerian Grant
* Zach Lavine
* Thomas Satoransky
* Denzel Valentine
* Coby White
To add to that, since Boylen's time, there's pretty much almost no cutting off baselines, no cutting from the wings, no back screens, no elevators, no post play, no high-lows, no mid post ISOs (before DD)... you get the idea. You either handled the ball as the lead G (Zach, Coby White, the others above), set a screen (WCJ, Gafford, Thad, Vuc) or spaced out (everybody else). Modern-day NBA offense, you see, otherwise known as European high-school ball from the 1990s.
The Bulls had relegated him to a stretch 4 after his soph year and had him bulk up by 20+ pounds... because, well, Embiid manhandled WCJ a bunch of times so they asked their bigs to come in jacked the next year. The fact that they both lost a lot of quickness (WCJ was reportedly at near 270) in an era where quickness is much more important to be able to hang on the outside--well, that's the Bulls FO for you; about 10 years late to present.
As for athleticism, skinny Lauri is an effin' unicorn for a legit 7 footer, if you watched him his first couple of years. Dude can do 360, between the legs and FT dunks with ease. He's got really quick feet for a guy this tall. His main problems have been injuries / COVID, being a headless chicken on D for the first 3 years with the Bulls and been coached / developed by dudes who still lived in the 90s and refused to get a single competent passer on the team for half a decade. The best passing teammate Lauri ever played with on the Bulls is... Thad Young, and that's about as sad as it comes for a Bulls fan.
He just played with Rubio for a bit, and Darius freakin Garland. Guess what? He had a worse individual season than his last season on the Bulls.
It's time to be objective about this guy.
Everyone knew Lauri was a bad contract the second he signed it. He's been relegated to NBA purgatory for the foreseeable future for a reason.