Bulls vs Hawks 7pm CT

[CobysHairpick]

If somebody thinks that Terry, Matas is projected win core group you are more delusional than rest of 90% of NBA. Now somebody will mention me Coby, Giddey and Ayo as young group of players, but they are not rookies, and they all gonna be all 25-35M players very soon. That's not team way or salary cap way to build anything better than play in team. You will have no money soon as entering 2026 season to again build or sign players in FA. Any when they sign what I think are terrible deals like Patrick Williams contract is, you gonna ask why Bulls are still same team 4 years from now. And yes nobody from them are accepting any deal worse than what Patrick got paid. And all of them are objectively alot better players.

So yes, look at long term picture. If you dont want watch 0.500 basketball for another half a decade. At some point you need to cut this line of feeding into 0.500 basketball if you want make real changes and improve. Go get your core player, one way or another if you wanna build a team. And figure rest later.

I can hope Matas is that guy, because he plays with chip on his shoulder, but more of those lottery tickets the better. Specially when you will not own your lottery pick if you continue playing 0.500 and you will not only make Bulls long term worse, but give Spurs another lottery ticket, your own to continue improving their roster.

And I dont want Spurs building their team on Bulls franchise back.

Now back on topic and I will say this was certainly one of wins of this season. Matas should play more. And Hawks are bad team, sucks for them to get #1 pick in whats worst draft in history of NBA. The end.

Brother no one thinks Dalen will be a core member of a championship team if that's what you're insinuating. It's just a great sign that he's made significant improvements in his game so far this season. If he develops into a De'Anthony Melton type player, that would be a massive win considering his level of play the past few seasons.

I'm 100% behind keeping the draft pick. Unfortunately, a majority of the East may be as bad as AK in terms of running a team if not worse. In the nightmare scenario that the picks conveys to the Spurs, it's still not impossible to add a good player in what's supposed to be a deep and loaded draft. The two best rookies right now weren't even lotto picks and are well within the range that the Bulls will most likely be in should they make the playoffs. Jared McCain and Dalton Knecht would be considered high ceiling foundational pieces for the Bulls if they were drafted by them. Flagg isn't even the best fit for the Bulls right now considering Pat plays the same position, although I'm sure Pat would be a prime trade candidate if Flagg somehow ends up a Bull.

Edit: Apologies as I got mixed up over the draft pick conditions, but my point remains. Even if the Bulls lose out on the 2025 pick, it's still possible to add good players outside the lottery should the Bulls be there in 2026. McCain is one of the most impressive rookies in recent memory and Knecht is a bona fide scorer that literally every team could use.

[Chi town]

So yes, look at long term picture. If you dont want watch 0.500 basketball for another half a decade. At some point you need to cut this line of feeding into 0.500 basketball if you want make real changes and improve. Go get your core player, one way or another if you wanna build a team. And figure rest later.

One of tricky things about being a low level playoff team (.500) or play in team, is that your win count doesn't really tell you how close you are to the contending teams. It might look like it in the win column, but for midlevel teams a good number of their wins come against teams who, unlike them, have chosen to be worse on purpose.

I would never evaluate how close my team is to contending based on wins. Too many variables. Look at the personnel.

Fully agree.

We have looked good against the Cavs.

We move Vuc or Zach and we become a bottom team rather quickly. We will struggle to get buckets.

[Indomitable]

Now somebody will mention me Coby, Giddey and Ayo as young group of players, but they are not rookies, and they all gonna be all 25-35M players very soon.

There is no way Coby or Ayo breaks 30 million.

Ayo will be 15 to 20
Coby 20 plus

Giddey you use the cba against and do not over bid on him.

[Muzbar]

Huh? He was very efficient at shooting 3s last season.

He was called a fake 40% 3 point shooter during the preseason.

Because he is.

He's a career .343 3-point shooter on 5.3 attempts per 36. He's a career .739 FT shooter. None of that suggests a legitimate 40%+ 3-point shooter.

We're less than 20 games into the season and he's shooting .412 on 8.6 3PA per 36. That volume is 3.2 more than he's ever attempted and his percentage is nearly 7 points higher than his career average. That's very likely not sustainable.

There's 60-some games left. I think it's a safe bet that when it's all said and done he'll settle in around 37% or so on medium volume. That's still pretty good. I'd love to be wrong.

Vuc is also not going to keep shooting .461 and Ayo is not going to keep shooting .269 from three all season either.

Smith shot 42% from 3 last season and when he shot poorly in preseason someone piped up calling him a fake 40% 3 point shooter and lots were getting up in arms because "he forgot to shoot" after he signed with the Bulls.

No one was ever claiming he was an actual 40% 3 point shooter, 1 season doesn't make a career, to make that claim at all was ridiculous.

I agree he'll likely tapper down to the 37% range and there's nothing wrong with that, he's been a great backup C for the Bulls.

[waffle]

fun team to watch
not currently configured to get better soon
Making the playoffs, whilst fun? Prob not a great move...need that pick
Trading vets for picks and/or youth good idea
Matas (Maybe Phillips? Ayo?) might be the only guy on this team who will be here when we could POTENTIALLY be good again, 2-3 years.
None of our best CURRENT players will be (vuc, ball, Lavine, Coby).

So if your goal is to be good, properly good, you need to set things up to align at some point in the future and work towards that

[waffle]

Can AK do that? NOT CLEAR AT ALL

[Mk0]

Smith's mirage 3-pointer keeps looking legit.

Huh? He was very efficient at shooting 3s last season.

Quite a few of us, me included, recommended caution in thinking Smith’s vastly improved 3 ball from last year would arrive with him and without Hali. Several Pacers saw huge spikes playing with Hali in that style.

But it has. And we are playing a similar style. I’m frankly more excited we finally have at least one guy who makes the O think when they get near the rim.

Funny enough Haliburton has looked like sh#% most of this year because he doesn't have the shooters to get spacing on drives and catch and shoot assists.

Losing Buddy Hield and Jalen Smith may have meant more than Indy thought it would.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

it's the consensus of me on this board that this team is garbage and not worth watching and they somehow turned basketball into a boring sport.
imagine watching this **** 82 times a year. save yourself some trouble and watch the bears, it's a much shorter season if you hate yourself and enjoy being bored.

i watched a few minutes of this game. that's the game thread.

The game last night was extremely entertaining. Too bad.

Some maligned players - Terry and Giddey - had great games. For Terry his best game ever by a mile. Ayo continues to look, to me, like the first guy to keep from our guard glut. Zach played well. Smith had a ridiculously effective 15 minutes. Etc., etc.

I've decided I'm just bored of the NBA and AK's bizarre teambuilding strategy only compounds my boredom/frustration. Basketball at other levels is still fun to watch. I don't think it'll be the case any time soon, likely not this board's (aged) lifetime, but I bet eventually basketball is going to be '100% figured out' and face a reckoning where actual rules need to be changed. 3 point shooting and manipulating the human referees into thinking a foul was drawn is boring and 90% of the way there to breaking basketball. The point totals need to be re-imagined to make the 2 point shot's expected value more in line with the 3 point shot and the free throw. NBA players are too talented now from top of the roster to the Gatorade league. Football has goofy scoring, so could basketball.