Woj: Thunder Trade Josh Giddey to Bulls for Alex Caruso

[picc]

This is Gasol to the Lakers esque. Not that Caruso is near Pau as a player, but the upgrade puts them in the clear drivers seat of the conference. Like i’m legit depressed.

And people are talking about Giddey being underrated? Get the **** out of here. He’s a regular season player who is unplayable in later playoff rounds. He got benched in the damn second round. They traded NOTHING for Alex Caruso. Everyone should be sick, and if they arent, they will be.

If you mentioned Caruso’s age or Giddeys on ball creation, you should be banned from posting because the last 30 years of NBA basketball clearly havent been enough for you to form a rational opinion. Respectfully, and before I calm down.

And they are getting another big from somewhere. That is happening. And Shai and JDub and Chet are all going to be better. And now Caruso is manning the wings with Shai and Dort and can guard 4 positions. **** this. Pau to the Lakers.

People like you and I post on this site all season (not just for the playoffs). The Bulls without Caruso are probably in the Atlanta, Washington, Indiana (regular season) tier defensively, absolutely bottom of the league stuff. OKC is already a top-5 defense and they just got rid of their worst defender for an all-league defender. People citing age just for Giddey is just cope. The book is out on him now.

If OKC nabs a big body backup big, and they will, and if they stay healthy, they are 65+ wins next season.

I just feel depressed. One of those trades that puts a pit in your stomach because you know what it means.

[whitehops]

People always leaves Jalen Williams out of this discussion. The only guys who defended Kyrie better than him in these playoffs were Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. J-Dub is on his way to becoming an elite defender as well.

you're right i forgot him. he's smart, has elite tools (length) and it only helps to play defense when you're next to good defenders.

[azcatz11]

No way. The Thunder received an all-league defender for a guy who is unplayable when it really matters. This is a franchise altering move to show that Presti isn't messing around and OKC can be in the Finals.

But there is always an opportunity costs. They could have replaced Giddey's minutes with a player who is less overlapping with the rest of their roster and actually addressing more glaring weaknesses. Current starting 5 of SGA - Caruso - Dort - JDub - Chet lacks playmaking, shot creating beyond SGA, and rebounding. Not a contender IMHO. Of course they can make other trades and I have a gut feeling that they will replace Dort in that lineup.

The beauty of Caruso is you don't have to start him for him to still be effective. Hell, he might even be better if he only has to play 25 minutes a night and be a menace defensively. You're also playing him with better defenders and not slouches like Vucevic and Derozan. If I'm bringing him off the bench with Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe, I like my 8-man rotation a lot better than other teams. Only Boston is better.

SGA/J-Dub/Chet/Dort/FA big or trade partner

Bench: Cason/Caruso/Joe/Wiggins/Kenrich/J-Will

Honestly I didn’t realize that Caruso shot 40% on 4 attempts from 3 last season. That’s all they will ask him to do offensively. I thought he was a worse shooter than that but I didn’t watch many bull games.

I still maintain giddey has upside and needs to grow into his body. He reminds me of a baby deer

[Kobe187]

Caruso 30, Giddy 21. Caruso the better player now, but let’s see how this trade looks 4 years from now. Good deal for both teams.

[socal74]

Lol at people calling Caruso a journeyman vet. I don't think people realize how good of a defender he is. Not only does the advance stats show but also the eye test that he is an elite defensive player. He will only improve the Thunders defense even more.

[ThunderBolt]

I think this trade is too late. Either you give up before he got exposed in a playoff series, or you believe he will grow out of being the guy people sag off in playoff games.

Everyone knew his weakness and strengths before the playoffs.

Fortunately time doesn’t stand still.

[Chuck Everett]

Honestly I didn’t realize that Caruso shot 40% on 4 attempts from 3 last season. That’s all they will ask him to do offensively. I thought he was a worse shooter than that but I didn’t watch many bull games.

I still maintain giddey has upside and needs to grow into his body. He reminds me of a baby deer

Caruso has absolutely improved his jumper (like Herb Jones), but it's not just corner 3's either. He can splash them from anywhere. To the Bulls credit, whoever they hired as a shooting coach had Coby White/Caruso and Dosunmu making a lot of jumpers. Even Derozan was better.

As for Caruso, the guy does put his body on the line, but as we see with Boston and Derrick White, you're taking a guy who starts on a crap team, but does things at an elite level and just asking him to play his role. Take charges, gets steals, make the extra pass, play that suffocating man-to-man defense and make the open 3 when it comes to you. And Caruso is an underrated athlete even at 30. He'll dunk on a big like DiVincenzo or Gary Payton II. He also is 6'6 with length. Giddey is 6'8 with negative wingspan. I legit feel for Bulls fans. This was mindblowingly dumb.

[kenwood3333]

Seems to be a good trade on both sides.

[LAvision]

Smh, bulls have no idea what they are doing. What an awful trade.

[srhcan]

Read on Twitter

Chicago does not trust Coby White as PG?

[PushDaRock]

Lol at people calling Caruso a journeyman vet. I don't think people realize how good of a defender he is. Not only does the advance stats show but also the eye test that he is an elite defensive player. He will only improve the Thunders defense even more.

They're even more impressive when you consider the defenders he was playing with in Chicago.

Also wouldn't shock me to see his offensive numbers go up a bit as well because the opportunities for open 3's will be there in that offense and he can knock them down at a high percentage.

[PushDaRock]

Honestly I didn’t realize that Caruso shot 40% on 4 attempts from 3 last season. That’s all they will ask him to do offensively. I thought he was a worse shooter than that but I didn’t watch many bull games.

I still maintain giddey has upside and needs to grow into his body. He reminds me of a baby deer

Caruso has absolutely improved his jumper (like Herb Jones), but it's not just corner 3's either. He can splash them from anywhere. To the Bulls credit, whoever they hired as a shooting coach had Coby White/Caruso and Dosunmu making a lot of jumpers. Even Derozan was better.

As for Caruso, the guy does put his body on the line, but as we see with Boston and Derrick White, you're taking a guy who starts on a crap team, but does things at an elite level and just asking him to play his role. Take charges, gets steals, make the extra pass, play that suffocating man-to-man defense and make the open 3 when it comes to you. And Caruso is an underrated athlete even at 30. He'll dunk on a big like DiVincenzo or Gary Payton II. He also is 6'6 with length. Giddey is 6'8 with negative wingspan. I legit feel for Bulls fans. This was mindblowingly dumb.

Yeah he's a legit 6"6 which is why he can even guard 4's like Siakam as well, he's deceptively strong. Most people probably think he's closer to 6"3 or 6"4.

[Michael Jackson]

I can't believe after all this time of refusing to trade Caruso, the guy they finally move him for is Josh Giddey?

Waited too long... His value is low because he only has one year left so he could walk at the end of the season. Last trade deadline was when they should have traded him or last summer.

[Kobe187]

Bulls get younger bigger and way more future potential, OKC gets another guard not sure how this helps them much, in the minority here but like this trade for the Bulls.

[Chuck Everett]

I can't believe after all this time of refusing to trade Caruso, the guy they finally move him for is Josh Giddey?

Waited too long... His value is low because he only has one year left so he could walk at the end of the season. Last trade deadline was when they should have traded him or last summer.

Bulls gonna have to give Giddey 100+ million dollar extension too? I sure hope not.

[Michael Jackson]

I can't believe after all this time of refusing to trade Caruso, the guy they finally move him for is Josh Giddey?

Waited too long... His value is low because he only has one year left so he could walk at the end of the season. Last trade deadline was when they should have traded him or last summer.

Bulls gonna have to give Giddey 100+ million dollar extension too? I sure hope not.

Likely. AK is not the brightest with this stuff

[F N 11]

OKC is done kidding around.

Yeah this is a serious move and very early.

[___Rand___]

Thunder still needs a center.

[holdenwait]

Wtf Bulls... Wtfffff

[SlimShady83]

Picking Giddey and Caruso for my fantasy league teams In fact almost anyone who gets traded haha