Is Sacramento this season’s Chicago Bulls?

[hugepatsfan]

Bulls blew their load on old and injury prone players. SAC is young and their all in move was to trade for an in his prime all star.

I don’t think SAC has a very high ceiling. Even if they can keep this core (re-signing Sabonis) I see a bunch of 1st/2nd round exits in their future unless a star is open to going there later for a pick trade package. But that’s different than CHI.

[Scalabrine]

I think a key difference is Sacramento can improve because the Sabonis/Fox combo is 25/26 years old. Financially, they only have 1 player making more than $20M and can add talent, while Chicago is capped out financially an can only add vet min talent at this point.

And of course the entire downfall of Chicago was Lonzo Ball's injury and Ball was the highest impact player, not Derozan/Lavine/Vucevic.

The other issue dragging Chicago down is a terrible coach who just got extended when he should have been fired, and Sacramento hasn't taken a stance of keeping the coach no matter how badly he performs. All the indicators of good coaching/preparation such as consistent performance and late game execution Chicago is near the bottom of the league. They have a better record against winning teams than the Memphis Grizzlies, and yet are almost out of the play-in because of how wildly inconsistent the team executes.

Sacramento is in a significantly better position than Chicago. If Chicago had not given away 2 of their next 3 picks, they should be tanking.

Is there a place you go to to find coaching stats like late game execution, success out of timeouts and that type of stuff? Genuinely curious.

[PaulKellerman]

Right now, we'd definitely be happy enough to make the playoffs. The path towards contention is a pick package for the perfect fitting frontcourt player next to Sabonis. If we can manage that and maintain or make some right FA signings to improve our depth, I think that's the path.

But who would said player be? Myles Tuner comes to mind off the top of my head, maybe Jonathan Isaac if Orlando ever deals him or Bam but he would be virtually impossible to acquire. Brook Lopez is too old and Claxton far too valuable now. Mobley is probably untouchable and Allen would command a hefty price.

[pillwenney]

Right now, we'd definitely be happy enough to make the playoffs. The path towards contention is a pick package for the perfect fitting frontcourt player next to Sabonis. If we can manage that and maintain or make some right FA signings to improve our depth, I think that's the path.

But who would said player be? Myles Tuner comes to mind off the top of my head, maybe Jonathan Isaac if Orlando ever deals him or Bam but he would be virtually impossible to acquire. Brook Lopez is too old and Claxton far too valuable now. Mobley is probably untouchable and Allen would command a hefty price.

It doesn't have to be a conventional shotblocker--if Murray can develop defensively and they can both play alongside a big defensive wing like an Anunoby, I think that's worth pursuing. Isaac is someone I definitely have my eye on.