GoBlue72391 wrote:Infinity2152 wrote:To be fair, the year Lauri left he was averaging 13.6 pts, 5 rebounds, .9 assists, 40% from three and needed a new contract. Not much more than Pat Will, with worse defense. Lavine averaged 27 pts, 5 rebounds 5 assists that season, 42% from 3 at 25 yrs old. Vucevic averaged 25 pts, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 40% from 3. They were both rated CONSIDERABLY higher than Markannen at the time. Lauri averaged 15 and 6 the next year. They also added Derrick Jones Jr, a first and a second in the Lauri trade. Plus we added Lonzo that summer with Lauri's money, avg 14 pts, 5 rebounds 6 assists and shot from 11th to first in the East before he got hurt.
So it's more like Lauri at the time, 4 yrs $67 mill, vs Ball 4 yrs/80 mill, plus DJJ, a first and a second. Lonzo doesn't get injured and we get good players with those picks, deal looks far different. It looks clear cut now, not nearly so much back then, especially for a team that was trying to win now.
Such revisionist history here. "Not much more than Pat Will"
Even Lauri's worst year as a Bull was better than Pat's best year so far. Lauri was 1st team all-rookie in a strong rookie class and averaged 21 and 10 per 36 his second year and his downfall was largely due to how the organization handled him. He flashed actual star potential for long stretches of time, not just 2 games at the end of the season where both teams were sitting all their main guys. These are not comparable situations.
We should have kept him. I was saying it then and I'm saying it now. It was clear to me, and it should have been clear to everyone, that we were simply misusing him and hindering his development. He was finally put in a position to succeed and hey, he succeeded.
You want to talk about revisionist history, then use per 36 from his second year as an example? Here's real history. He only played 52 games his second year. Then 50 games his third year. 51 his last year, and he came off the bench for almost half. He missed about 90 games in three years, and was benched his contract year. Patrick Williams defense has ALWAYS been better than Lauri's and he's pretty much always started. I put his actual stats, as in what he contributed to the Bulls, and you use an imaginary stat. Using per 36 for a guy who can't play more than 52 games at around 30 mins is a huge push. Andre Drummond's one of the most dominant centers in history per 36, he averaged 18 and 16 year four per 36. Lauri was NOT the guaranteed All Star people are acting like he was. The contract he got was also larger than the contract Pat Will got, relative to the cap at the time. He was viewed (and paid) like a good, not great player with potential to get better.
I think we should have kept him too. I think overall he was better than P Will at the same point. I believe P Will will look like a very good/great player (if you count defense too, lol) by year 6, too, which is when Lauri started looking like a great player. I think Lauri was also a year older, or further in his development, at the time. It's more fair to compare Pat's year 5 stats to Lauri's year 4 stats, age at time of stats. Markannen missed another 22 games his first season in Cleveland, and averaged under 15 and 6 playing starter minutes. He broke out at SF, what most of us have been saying P Will should have be playing.
You're saying two fourth year power forwards, both high draft picks, on the same team, both missed a ton of games, putting up nearly the same ACTUAL stats, shooting splits very similar, one better at offense, one better at defense, going into free agency aren't comparable? Yes, he scored a few more points, he also had a lot more opportunities to score. He wasn't playing with two 25+ scorers and a 18+ scorer. Maybe judge P Will's scoring after the Derozan 20+ shots and Lavine 20+ shots are gone. They were both looking at relatively similar contracts in free agency.
Funny thing is, the original comparison was talking about him vs Lavine or Vucevic AT THE TIME, both All Stars. You don't think Pat Will is a MUCH closer comparison, if not exact?
