Bulls trade Alex Caruso to OKC for Josh Giddey

[CobysHairpick]

If the Bulls traded Caruso for a draft pick in this year’s draft and used it to draft Nikola Topic, would those upset feel any better? Because replacing Lonzo is clearly a priority and a fairly significant investment was going to be made regardless.

Giddey’s ceiling is arguably as high as any prospect in this draft if not the highest. He is exactly the type of high ceiling player AK should be acquiring. His size allows him to play next to Coby, Ayo, Pat, and Center while still being a primary playmaker. AK can add another high ceiling player like Holland maybe Salaun at 11 and fully embrace the youth movement for next year’s loaded draft.

[CROBulls]

I think AKME just lost his trade privileges. Please just make resignation tommorow, please. This is absurd and embarassing.

[dumbell78]

This smells like a deal that was offered at the deadline and AK just circled back and took as desperation. I find it shocking that you couldn't get draft compensation on top. Hell, you could have circled the wagons around the top 6 teams left in the playoffs and had some sort of bidding war for AC. This deal was always there in my view.

Maybe Giddey pans out, but you will need to tank moving forward and have about 2 years to figure out if he is a keeper. This FO has shown they dont have the ability to do anything right let alone evaluate a young team looking to be developed. This has nothing to do with Giddey in a vacuum. We have bigger issues.

[coldfish]

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Not sure if posted

[LateNight]

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[Bulldog23]

The defense took a hit. Lavine, Demar, and Vuc..dont defend. Unless you get rid of two of these guys nothing has changed.

[Dan Z]

giddey only having one year on his rookie deal is an incentive to legitimately turn this roster over and acquire players who are complementary to his game

ideally, we should be trying to find out as soon as possible if it's realistic to expect him to function as the primary ballhandler on a team that's good. we probably can't build a team that's good next season, but we can at least try to get a glimpse at what he looks like under optimal conditions for him — that means surrounding him with shooters, lob threats, and guys who can run in transition.

right now, the only guys we have under contract who took more than 4 3pa per game last season are coby, zach and vuc. there's a good chance zach is gone by the time the season starts, and vuc stunk at shooting last year.

They have limited assets. What do you think they'll do?

I bet they'll re-sign DDR and if they do DDR, Giddey and Vucevic won't work well together (at least not IMO). Maybe they draft a shooter? Knecht (if he's there)? I think it's more likely that Holland or Williams are available at 11. I don't think they'll select a guard, but maybe they still try to trade up for Cligan?

I guess Zach could go in a trade for someone who shoots well, but is a forward...?

[chicago paxsons]

Lonzo Ball 0.5

Lonzo at his best is better than giddey currently, but if we resign giddey and he stays healthy, then he would have been more impactful than lonzo who played 3/4 of a season on a 4 year contract.

[Dan Z]

The defense took a hit. Lavine, Demar, and Vuc..dont defend. Unless you get rid of two of these guys nothing has changed.

The defense got worse. How much better did the teams passing improve?

[Repeat 3-peat]

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[KissedByaRose1]

AC had more value than this, but when you have a bad EVP dealing with a great EVP, obviously the bad EVP gets swindled.

Giddey got benched because he can't defend or shoot in,
the playoffs, and the Bulls decide to trade their best asset for him? On top of him being a terrible fit with DeMar and Vuc.

I don't care at all who fits with either of those guys. Demar especially who we should let walk and isn't part of our future at all. I'm not so sure he's a bad fit with Vooch. We've had nothing at all even close to a Point Guard/real playmaker on the team since MLK day 2022 when Lonzo went down. Vooch might get a few freebies/better looks than he's used to with Giddeys passing/pushing the pace. This guy also has 2 playoff rounds under his belt and if we're smart we'll have him bring the ball up/hand him the keys from day 1 so it should energize him. Went 16 and 6 with SGA in 2022 on a 10 seed in the west. Of course i woulda loved draft picks but that doesn't ruin this for me at all. Just because OKC has them doesn't mean they have to give the to us and i'm sure there are lots of teams who would like Giddey.

[ChettheJet]

Some of you need to go find a 'perfect' team to follow. I didn't think they could get a plug right in talent for AC, if they get any kind of pick it's a huge steal

I sure hope this is the first of several dominoes to fall.

one year removed from 16.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 6.2 asg, missed 5 games the past 2 seasons. I don't think that he lost any talent since he was a #5 pick. I think the Thunder kept bringing in young talent around him via the draft and trades and they were looking for the combination around SGA that got them farther than the year before.

As for OKC it would seem AC comes in behind SG and Dort leaving Wallace and Joe next, they could easily add shooters

I put him with Coby, Ayo and Javonte at the first 4 guard spots as a guy who moves the ball in the offense. I would say the Bulls still don;t have a true PG but have 3 ball handlers to move the ball. And now Carter can go.

[chicago paxsons]

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You could quite literally make a video like this of most facilitators in the nba.

[Peelboy]

From a buddy of mine:

Giddey has 11 career triple doubles, which is 4th most in NBA history for a player 21 and younger. The top 3 you ask? Luka Doncic, Magic Johnson, and Ben Simmons. From just a talent standpoint, I like this trade. But there is a bit of a leap of faith regarding the outside activities. My leap of faith is trusting that the Bulls did their homework, which I doubt.

Even if true, I think AC had more value and a good GM would get a pick. If the deal was reversed, guarantee AK would have tossed in a couple 2ds or a lottonprotected 1

[umfan83]

This is a bit farther down on the list of observations about this trade but once again the Bulls seem to be turning their backs on the modern NBA as Giddey is a guy who plays in a position you typically want good 3 point shooting from, but he’s only around 32% 3 point shooter and at a very low volume (3 attempts per game).

The complete disregard for 3 point shooting for years is malpractice.

[Clint Eastwood]

I'm sure this trade would be viewed differently if Giddey was never involved with that minor, but it doesn't change the fact that we're trading one of our best assets for a guy at his lowest trade value and aren't getting any sweeteners. For a team that's loaded with picks this is unacceptable.

We just traded away our best asset for a guy that on a good team is a backup guard. What are we doing? We're running in place but everybody else is actually running and we'll struggle to win 40 games again with this crap.

It's just more of the same crap. The same crap we've seen since AKME took over. There's no plan, they just make isolated move after isolated move and hope at the end of the day the **** they threw at the wall turns into a a Picasso.

Well, actually he was a starter on the team with the best record in the western conference, so not sure what you mean.

[SirKaiser]

Great trade for OKC. They got rid one of the most non intense players for one of the best defensive guards.

The bulls continue to stay dumb because now they have to pay a guy who flicks his hair 10 times every defensive possession.

Saw this on the general message board... lol

[LateNight]

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You could quite literally make a video like this of most facilitators in the nba.

True.

[kulaz3000]

Some thoughts on this trade:

- I've been advocating trading Alex for 2 seasons now, mostly because he is wasted here. When we had both he and Lonzo that was different, because they were a two-headed defensive monster that could guard 4 positions, but without him, Alex is just another super role player, on a meddling team. It's a shame we waited this long because we could have gotten a better package

- that said, Josh Giddey is ONLY 21 years old, and has proven playoff experience (albeit shaky performances), and he is already a very strong player. My biggest and most pressing concern is, great, you traded for a young proven player in this league who still has lots of room to grow, but what are you going to extend him for? Do you offer him an extension now after a somewhat down season, or do you get him to prove himself for a season first?

- the strengths for him is that he can play multiple positions, is a very strong passer, adequate defender, but a very inconsistent shooter. Until he gets his shot in a better position, there are going to be match ups with certain teams where he is almost unplayable. However, he is best with the ball in his hands where he can create for others, and with the OKC, he just wasn't going to have the ball in his hands as much as he should

- I don't like the fact that we didn't trade Alex sooner. But I do like Josh Giddey as a prospect and what he could become, though that remains to be seen. Remember, Coby took until his 5th year, to really take a significant leap, though he had some promising seasons prior, and Josh Giddey is several years younger than him

- I also like that we have become younger. Again, we aren't going anytime sooner, so I like the idea of bringing in younger players to to fill out the roster, and to continue to foster the young talent. I'm sure we will continue to bring in veterans to flesh out the roster, to still maintain some focus and professionalism.

- What I won't like is if Josh Giddey in the eyes of the front office ends up being another attempt to replace Lonzo, because they are vastly different players. Though Lonzo's vision is elite, he isn't a player that needs the ball in his hands to be effective with his passing, he is all about quick passes to the right spot and players, whereas Giddey needs the ball in his hands to create. Lonzo was an elite 3 point shooter, whereas Giddey is far from that. Lonzo was also an elite defender, and though Giddey has potential to be a solid defender, he is only adequate for him. What Giddey has is more size, he is a above average rebounder, and he has youth on his side. All he really needs to round out his game is a more consistent shot, and even that took Lonzo several years to achieve

Overall, I'm leaning slightly towards being positive about this trade, however, it's close, because we could have received more for Alex if we traded him last season.

[League Circles]

I definitely don't like this trade yet, but at least one of the Domino's has fallen and we did trade a strength for a weakness and got way younger and more flexible probably so I can't totally hate it yet, but a lot of moves need to still be made.

Ayo amd hopefully Patrick Can replace a lot more of what Caruso provided than anyone can provide what giddy is capable of in terms of skill set.