Lonzo Ball expected to see first action Wednesday

[dougthonus]

We're hitting 100 pages on the last Lonzo thread.

No need to contain all news topics to this thread, but it serves as a good start to discuss his return and first game back. Feel free to start new Lonzo topics later when additional news breaks.

[ImSlower]

Here's hoping that he returns so successfully that it creates a serious logjam in our backcourt. This organization (and Lonzo himself) are long overdue for some unexpected legitimate good news. I'm sticking to public optimism and forcing the bitter cynic in me over to the Thanksgiving kids' table.

[GoBlue72391]

The good thing about Lonzo is, if he does return healthy and shows he's worthy of regular minutes, there won't necessarily be a logjam at guard because he can play and defend 1-4. I think if anything he'll (along with Matas, Phillips, and to a lesser extent Terry) push Pat for minutes at the 3/4. Whether Pat is actually at risk of losing his role/minutes after just signing a big extension remains to be seen.

Lonzo was never really a halfcourt PG anyway and he would still be able to make plays in transition regardless of what position he plays, which is what he thrives at along with 3&D.

I think we could see some fun interesting positionless run-and-gun situational lineups like Giddey, Ayo, Zach, Lonzo, Matas. Throw Phillips, Coby, and Pat in there too. That's a lot of young athletic guys who can play multiple positions and run the floor.

Of course, this is assuming Lonzo gets back to the level he was at pre-injury, which is a huge if.

[sco]

The good thing about Lonzo is, if he does return healthy and shows he's worthy of regular minutes, there won't necessarily be a logjam at guard because he can play and defend 1-4. I think if anything he'll (along with Matas, Phillips, and to a lesser extent Terry) push Pat for minutes at the 3/4. Whether Pat is actually at risk of losing his role/minutes after just signing a big extension remains to be seen.

Lonzo was never really a halfcourt PG anyway and he would still be able to make plays in transition regardless of what position he plays, which is what he thrives at along with 3&D.

I think we could see some fun interesting positionless run-and-gun situational lineups like Giddey, Ayo, Zach, Lonzo, Matas. Throw Phillips, Coby, and Pat in there too. That's a lot of young athletic guys who can play multiple positions and run the floor.

Of course, this is assuming Lonzo gets back to the level he was at pre-injury, which is a huge if.

You nailed it (but what else could one expect from a Michigan fan!).

Ball was really only elite at advancing the ball in the backcourt, he really lacked the ability to penetrate, and even moreso score inside the arc. I see him being able to easily coexist with any two of our guards.

[HomoSapien]

I'm actually really excited about his return and way more optimistic about it than I should be. It's hard to know how a true return impacts this rebuild. On one hand, he's unreliable but on the other he's still young and perhaps the best prospect on the team if healthy.

[fleet]

Unless you’re Michael Jordan at full physical health, professional athletes away from the game this length of time don’t have much to offer upon returning. Zero expectations. I guess youth gives him an outside chance. But I don’t think his knee is very young.

[dougthonus]

The good thing about Lonzo is, if he does return healthy and shows he's worthy of regular minutes, there won't necessarily be a logjam at guard because he can play and defend 1-4. I think if anything he'll (along with Matas, Phillips, and to a lesser extent Terry) push Pat for minutes at the 3/4. Whether Pat is actually at risk of losing his role/minutes after just signing a big extension remains to be seen.

I think it will be interesting to see how they treat him. In theory he can just be a 3&D + Connective passer, but they may want to limit the time he spends defending bigger players over health concerns.

Also, given how lateral quickness is so important to defense. He may now just be a good shooter and connective passer and only be a system defender.

[dougthonus]

Unless you’re Michael Jordan at full physical health, professional athletes away from the game this length of time don’t have much to offer upon returning. Zero expectations. I guess youth gives him an outside chance. But I don’t think his knee is very young.

Yeah, some chance he can get back eventually, but I also give him pretty low odds of making a meaningful impact this season.

[DuckIII]

He might be my favorite player on the team but all I see are likely downsides here. I don’t want him back.

We are not resigning him and no one is going to trade for him. Him playing well, if he can play well, does nothing to benefit our team in the only ways that matter now.

I won’t root for another injury because I’m a fan and I hope he salvages his career. But we all know there is virtually no chance anymore that happens here.

So to me he simply risks the Spurs pick. And to me retaining the Spurs pick is a holy grail of this season.

[Chi town]

Unless you’re Michael Jordan at full physical health, professional athletes away from the game this length of time don’t have much to offer upon returning. Zero expectations. I guess youth gives him an outside chance. But I don’t think his knee is very young.

This.

I expect him to play 3pt line to 3pt line and stay far away from the paint.

[dougthonus]

We are not resigning him and no one is going to trade for him. Him playing well, if he can play well, does nothing to benefit our team in the only ways that matter now.

I think if he plays well that you'd be able to trade him easily. He's a fixed cost for a single season, if he's going good into the all-star break, a team that is trying to win could easily take a chance on him for a playoff run. A lot will be known about how his body is reacting and his capabilities by then.

Not saying it's overly likely to happen, but I don't think the injury risk is that big a flag if he has a healthy first 3 months given he's on the final year of his deal.

[Chi town]

I am terrified… of losing our pick.

Billy says Lonzo looks really good and is full speed. “Will help us win.”

https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/billy-donovan-on-lonzo-balls-progression-theres-no-question-he-can-contribute

[Chi town]

We are not resigning him and no one is going to trade for him. Him playing well, if he can play well, does nothing to benefit our team in the only ways that matter now.

I think if he plays well that you'd be able to trade him easily. He's a fixed cost for a single season, if he's going good into the all-star break, a team that is trying to win could easily take a chance on him for a playoff run. A lot will be known about how his body is reacting and his capabilities by then.

Not saying it's overly likely to happen, but I don't think the injury risk is that big a flag if he has a healthy first 3 months given he's on the final year of his deal.

20M in this NBA for a playoff team is a challenge.

I bet Lavine goes and if Lonzo plays well like old Lonzo they resign him to a team friendly prove it deal.

[dougthonus]

20M in this NBA for a playoff team is a challenge.

I bet Lavine goes and if Lonzo plays well like old Lonzo they resign him to a team friendly prove it deal.

Well you'd need a team that can match 20M in players that aren't major pieces of the team which would definitely create limitations, and if you are the Bulls you might also need those players to be expiring, so maybe "easily" was a bit of an overstatement, but I think you could find things that work. I'm not suggesting you'd get a ton, but it's not hard for me to see a scenario where if a team has 20M in roughly dead players that they move them to us with multiple 2nds or a late 1st for Lonzo.

[kodo]

They asked Zach about Lonzo's return last game and I'm keeping expectations low. Lavine said something to the effect that just being back in the NBA at all is a huge win for Lonzo. If Lonzo looked really good usually our players would be gushing about a fellow teammate.

When he plays he'll probably just be taking minutes Terry would normally play, and I doubt Terry has that much star potential anyway. I'm fine w/ Lonzo playing even if it's very unlikely he's part of our future.

[FriedRise]

I am terrified… of losing our pick.

Billy says Lonzo looks really good and is full speed. “Will help us win.”

https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/billy-donovan-on-lonzo-balls-progression-theres-no-question-he-can-contribute

Yeah, if Zo is for real, the tank is definitely in jeopardy. We already have Giddey supercharging the starting lineup, now we're gonna have Zo doing the same to the second unit? Last year we had to rely on DeMar and Coby for all of the PG duties.

Coby / Zach / Giddey / Pat / Vooch
Ball / Ayo / Buzelis or Terry or Craig / Philips / Smith

MIP Coby, Philips looks improved, Ayo replacing whatever bum guard we had coming off the bench, Buzelis looking promising, Zo back, Zach healthy, increased pace and chucking 3s... you can argue it's a better team than last year lmao (certainly more fun).

Like I've always said man, we have too many productive NBA players on this roster if we're really serious about not giving away our pick to San Antonio. But at the same time, outside of Zach and Vooch, they are already playing a lot of young guys so it's not like they're primed to just have a fire sale, start over, and fill the roster with G-Leaguers like some of these other veteran teams.

[cocktailswith_2short]

He might be my favorite player on the team but all I see are likely downsides here. I don’t want him back.

We are not resigning him and no one is going to trade for him. Him playing well, if he can play well, does nothing to benefit our team in the only ways that matter now.

I won’t root for another injury because I’m a fan and I hope he salvages his career. But we all know there is virtually no chance anymore that happens here.

So to me he simply risks the Spurs pick. And to me retaining the Spurs pick is a holy grail of this season.

we're not getting that pick u should stop now for your own sanity .

[Dez]

He might be my favorite player on the team but all I see are likely downsides here. I don’t want him back.

We are not resigning him and no one is going to trade for him. Him playing well, if he can play well, does nothing to benefit our team in the only ways that matter now.

I won’t root for another injury because I’m a fan and I hope he salvages his career. But we all know there is virtually no chance anymore that happens here.

So to me he simply risks the Spurs pick. And to me retaining the Spurs pick is a holy grail of this season.

we're not getting that pick u should stop now for your own sanity .

We aren’t making the play-in.

[madvillian]

Unless you’re Michael Jordan at full physical health, professional athletes away from the game this length of time don’t have much to offer upon returning. Zero expectations. I guess youth gives him an outside chance. But I don’t think his knee is very young.

This.

I expect him to play 3pt line to 3pt line and stay far away from the paint.

I expect to remember how slow rose looked fighting around screens and how gassed he was even after only a few minutes after his long layoff. I expect him to avoid contact and look barely able to keep up. I hope to be dead wrong as always but even if his knee doesn't flare up he's got so much rust to knock off and there is not much history in any pro sport of a player missing two seasons and coming back even close to before.

[FriedRise]

Read on Twitter