Bulls outlook:
1. Sign Pat to pennies on the dollar ($36M Coby deal, and hope he actually improves like Coby did)
2. Resign Demar short term (2y) and/or under $30m (or S&T for a respectable return)
3. Dump Zach without taking back horrible salaries (expirings, maybe 2nd rd chips)
4. Luck out with a stud with the 10-15 pick, or trade it. IMHO the draft boards have been funky- the interesting prospects like Salaun, Dillingham, Sheppard, Dalton will likely be gone by the time Bulls pick. I think Filipowski, Clingan are not lotto worthy. Lot of guys in this range also can't shoot for **** (Collier, Dunn, Castle). Would be nonsensical adding another 3-5 year shooting project to a team that already has numerous major shooting projects (Terry, Phillips, ongoing Ayo/Vuc).
The only optimistic/bright side to this, is that things flip in the NBA in a blink of an eye. I thought the Nets were perma-doomed in 2016, and they put together a fun scrappy team... recruited Durant, Kyrie... acquired Harden... and before we knew it, were back to being a perma-doomed team.
Absurdly, the Clippers follows a parallel trajectory.
If they can resign Pat and Demar cheap, the team is still stuck in fringe 500 stasis, but atleast the cap is flexible, the vibes are fun, and there's a logical hierarchy. 2Y max for Demar would sync with Vuc's expiration.
Beyond this, despite Coby's jump, the farm is not good enough, unless everybody takes another big jump. If Demar goes, the team can tank in what seems to be a stronger 2025 draft, and keep that protected Spurs pick... while Coby/Ayo/Pat/Bitim/Phillips get a full look. Without Demar, that is certainly a bottom-5 team (feat. Vuc the tank lord).