weneeda2guard wrote:Dan Z wrote:weneeda2guard wrote:Just like we based our team around our 2 best young players lavine and coby
Point is, their future is nothing but what we did and what all the young teams will do. So praising their position as if they are so far ahead of us makes no sense considering we were just them. Sometimes adding the players work i.e the t wolves , the kings. Sometimes it doesn't i.e Atlanta, Toronto, Charlotte and Houston. I find we get googly eyed over other situations when they really are not that much better than us. Orlando started hot but been falling apart lately. Just like Utah. We get tagged with the worst ran franchise because we don't want to give the Lakers our assets for their trash. Meanwhile if we could pay attention to the full picture, these other franchises are not doing too much better than us.
The Bulls were not built around LaVine and Coby. That's ridiculous. Coming into this season nobody knew that Coby would take the leap forward that he did.
If you mean before the Vucevic trade that's a different story, but it wasn't Coby and LaVine. That was a team trying to figure itself out after the Butler trade. Young players such as LaVine, Coby, WCJ, Markkanen and Chandler Hutchison.
The Magic have two young players to build with and they have a few more with potential. They also own all their own picks plus a 2025 first from Denver and 2nd rounders from other teams.
I agree that they have struggled since the start of the season and they're not amazing, but they have potential going forward. The Bulls ceiling right now is limited.
We flipped everyone else and moved forward with coby and lavine. That is building around 2 young players. Panchero and wagner ceiling is 1st rd exit, just like ours with lavine and coby. They will eventually lose their assets once they begin to make deals, just like we did. BTW we also own all of our picks going forward still except this protected 1 to San Antonio. If you think the magic are somehow going to be more than a 1st rd exit then I again say it's just the results of having Googly eyes for a situation that's not ours. Their ceiling is basically our ceiling. They will eventually consolidate and bring in a Bradley Beal or Zach lavine etc in hopes to climb up because as of right now with all the draft talent they not close to competing for a title and now they too good to get a high draft pick. Their only course is going to be to consolidate. I'm not just saying that cause it's a belief it's what's been proven in the league.
So again sometimes consolidating works in the example of the t wolves, sometimes it doesn't in the example of Atlanta. For us it was working then lonzo went down and it didn't anymore. My main point is trying to insinuate that we need to take the path of the magic is wrong because we already took that path. It landed us here. They will land where we are soon. Its just the cycle of the nba until you luck up and nab a franchise superstar that can raise your ceiling. Orlando doesn't have that. We don't have that either. Giannis comes and joins us then all of a sudden this team will make sense. Giannis joins the magic all of a sudden they contend. That's my point.
Coby was never a player that the team was building around.
When AK got the job he drafted Patrick Williams and then during his first season he traded for Vucevic. In the off season he made the moves for DDR and Lonzo.
The team was built around the "Big Three" (DDR, Vucevic, LaVine). That's two aging vets and one player in his prime.
The Magic traded their best player in Vucevic for two lottery picks. They also got the number 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft. What they're doing is building around Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Both players are young (22 and 21) with upside and are learning how to win in the NBA. Banchero is an all-star this year. They have other young players with potential.
The Bulls never built around a good young player or two and opted to jump right into a "win now" strategy by trading away future assets to do it.