Bulls Committing to Matas over PWill?

[boozapalooza]

The recent PWill trade rumors make no sense on the surface…who is looking to trade a guy just 4 months after giving him 5/90…but maybe the reasoning is starting to become clear.

I wonder if these rumors are due to Buzelis really impressing the Bulls and the FO realizing they might have something special. Over the next 5 years, who should get minutes as our PF of the future….the consistently average PWill or this relatively unknown quantity with star potential? Based off what we are seeing from Buzelis, with more minutes and seasoning under his belt, he has the tools to explode. PWill’s career numbers feel like the floor for Matas 2-3 years down the road with 30+ minutes a night.

When PWill got his 5/90 contract, we had just drafted Buzelis and it wasnt as clear to see what we have in him.

The idea of Matas and PWill on the wings isnt a bad idea and I still like PWill’s defense and shot, so he doesnt necessarily need to be moved, but the Bulls would be wise to let Matas get as many minutes as possible in the next couple years.

You can see Matas’ talent and confidence growing especially over the last 3 games, he is turning a corner, and unlike PWill he actually produces when he is out there. Hes a high motor guy who is confident enough to play his game and shoot his shot. Crazy athletic. 28 shot attempts in his last 67 minutes (3 games). The choice for the Bulls is becoming more and more clear.

[Michael Jackson]

You sign him because he has potential but trading him was always on the table. You have no cap space to replace him if you don't resign and you are just down an asset (even if only salary filler which is huge under the CBA). The intention could always have been open to trading him Matas aside. Long term the bet was on Matas it would appear from an outside view, but Pat was likely always attainable in a trade. He walks as said you still just lost an asset for a trade and have nothing to show for it.

[dougthonus]

No reason Pat and Matas can't play together. Contractually, Pat was given 4th/5th man money.

Matas is also no where near ready to have a consistent positive impact on the team. He's a guy who has a lot of really exciting moments, but his overall impact is still pretty profoundly negative. There are lots of reasons to be thrilled about what he might become, but people would have said the same of PWill 1 month into his first year.

[boozapalooza]

You sign him because he has potential but trading him was always on the table. You have no cap space to replace him if you don't resign and you are just down an asset (even if only salary filler which is huge under the CBA). The intention could always have been open to trading him Matas aside. Long term the bet was on Matas it would appear from an outside view, but Pat was likely always attainable in a trade. He walks as said you still just lost an asset for a trade and have nothing to show for it.

I agree with the thought that signing him for 5/90 is better than losing a talented 23 year old for nothing. Since he was a RFA, they probably should have just let a team offer a contract and match it. But the point is Matas is forcing the issue and speeding up the timeline of a potential PWill trade.

[dougthonus]

You sign him because he has potential but trading him was always on the table. You have no cap space to replace him if you don't resign and you are just down an asset (even if only salary filler which is huge under the CBA). The intention could always have been open to trading him Matas aside. Long term the bet was on Matas it would appear from an outside view, but Pat was likely always attainable in a trade. He walks as said you still just lost an asset for a trade and have nothing to show for it.

I agree with the thought that signing him for 5/90 is better than losing a talented 23 year old for nothing. Since he was a RFA, they probably should have just let a team offer a contract and match it. But the point is Matas is forcing the issue and speeding up the timeline of a potential PWill trade.

Matas has a negative win score, a PER of 8.8, a TS add % of -12%, is shooting 37% from the field and 33% from 3, and is regularly destroyed on defense. He's got a lot of highlight real plays on both ends that are extremely tantalizing, but he's not yet an effective player. I don't think he's pushing anyone anywhere if you are trying to win basketball games, and there's also no reason you can't have him and PWill on the floor together or in the long term vision together.

[cocktailswith_2short]

Matas is the future . Writing is on the wall for pat .

[Jcool0]

No reason Pat and Matas can't play together. Contractually, Pat was given 4th/5th man money.

Matas is also no where near ready to have a consistent positive impact on the team. He's a guy who has a lot of really exciting moments, but his overall impact is still pretty profoundly negative. There are lots of reasons to be thrilled about what he might become, but people would have said the same of PWill 1 month into his first year.

Matas has shown plenty to be getting 20+ MPG on this team. Its hard for anyone to look great playing 2 minutes at a time and when he does get real minutes he shows why he needs to get more. Williams was not much of anything in college and got overrated because it was a weird covid draft... Or AKE are just idiots. Could go either way. Only hope is the Bulls keep the pick and Williams finally moves to the bench. Where he will finally be in his proper role as an 7th man.

[dougthonus]

Matas has shown plenty to be getting 20+ MPG on this team. Its hard for anyone to look great playing 2 minutes at a time and when he does get real minutes he shows why he needs to get more. Williams was not much of anything in college and got overrated because it was a weird covid draft... Or AKE are just idiots. Could go either way. Only hope is the Bulls keep the pick and Williams finally moves to the bench. Where he will finally be in his proper role as an 7th man.

Matas was not anything in the G-League and was also in a terrible draft, so the comparisons are pretty similar.

I don't mind playing Matas 20 minutes+ a night. We should be aiming at the draft not at a play-in birth. Just that if your stance is he is playing very good basketball consistently that I'd disagree with it. He shows a ton of flashes, excited to see what may come over time, but the end outcome of that still has a really wide range with "not that good a player" being a possibility. Star player is also a possibility.

[Dez]

People really confuse open to trading with trying to trade.

[drosestruts]

Can we please stop giving life to this rumor. This is the quote people are basing this rumor off of:

“I’m just throwing the Patrick Williams one out there,” Jake Fischer said this weekend on a Bleacher Report livestream. “I have not heard that yet, but I’ve absolutely heard that Chicago is going to be open-minded to moving a player such as Patrick Williams.”

There is no rumor about the Bulls being open to trading Patrick Williams. Just some dude saying stuff while admitting it's not anything he's heard.

[Jcool0]

Matas has shown plenty to be getting 20+ MPG on this team. Its hard for anyone to look great playing 2 minutes at a time and when he does get real minutes he shows why he needs to get more. Williams was not much of anything in college and got overrated because it was a weird covid draft... Or AKE are just idiots. Could go either way. Only hope is the Bulls keep the pick and Williams finally moves to the bench. Where he will finally be in his proper role as an 7th man.

Matas was not anything in the G-League and was also in a terrible draft, so the comparisons are pretty similar.

I don't mind playing Matas 20 minutes+ a night. We should be aiming at the draft not at a play-in birth. Just that if your stance is he is playing very good basketball consistently that I'd disagree with it. He shows a ton of flashes, excited to see what may come over time, but the end outcome of that still has a really wide range with "not that good a player" being a possibility. Star player is also a possibility.

Almost 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in the G League on a horribly constructed team is not nothing.

[sco]

This team needs to do whatever it takes to get a legit #1 option. Despite the all of the potential folks are ascribing to Matas, he doesn't look like he has #1 option potential, and Pat is Pat. Bottom line, if the Bulls team was a car, we talking about the tires, not the engine.

[_txchilibowl_]

Both.

[Jcool0]

This team needs to do whatever it takes to get a legit #1 option. Despite the all of the potential folks are ascribing to Matas, he doesn't look like he has #1 option potential, and Pat is Pat. Bottom line, if the Bulls team was a car, we talking about the tires, not the engine.

Unless something 1 in million happened and so far it hasn't. He never had #1 option upside. Was always a 2/3 level guy.

[sco]

This team needs to do whatever it takes to get a legit #1 option. Despite the all of the potential folks are ascribing to Matas, he doesn't look like he has #1 option potential, and Pat is Pat. Bottom line, if the Bulls team was a car, we talking about the tires, not the engine.

Unless something 1 in million happened and so far it hasn't. He never had #1 option upside. Was always a 2/3 level guy.

Don't get wrong, it's not a knock, it's just that what we do with either/both guys shouldn't be the team's focus.

[Jcool0]

This team needs to do whatever it takes to get a legit #1 option. Despite the all of the potential folks are ascribing to Matas, he doesn't look like he has #1 option potential, and Pat is Pat. Bottom line, if the Bulls team was a car, we talking about the tires, not the engine.

Unless something 1 in million happened and so far it hasn't. He never had #1 option upside. Was always a 2/3 level guy.

Don't get wrong, it's not a knock, it's just that what we do with either/both guys shouldn't be the team's focus.

You wan to get Matas to max out his abilities to reach that 2/3 level. To get that #1 guy they need to draft well and that is not the main focus this early.

[dougthonus]

Almost 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in the G League on a horribly constructed team is not nothing.

His percentages were terrible, and they let him just chuck away. The team was awful, it was a terrible situation all around. I don't think that was any better than what Pat showed in college (which was also nothing special).

He fell to 11 in a weak draft with few young / high upside pieces in it because people weren't excited about his resume, not because it was awesome.

That's all irrelevant now. I don't care what his g-league resume was. It just depends what he can become in the future, but it wasn't a notable resume that was a big strength. If he had a great 1 year resume, he'd have been #1 overall given how crap the competition was in this draft.

[Muzbar]

The only thing the Bulls have committed to is mediocrity.

[Indomitable]

The recent PWill trade rumors make no sense on the surface…who is looking to trade a guy just 4 months after giving him 5/90…but maybe the reasoning is starting to become clear.

I wonder if these rumors are due to Buzelis really impressing the Bulls and the FO realizing they might have something special. Over the next 5 years, who should get minutes as our PF of the future….the consistently average PWill or this relatively unknown quantity with star potential? Based off what we are seeing from Buzelis, with more minutes and seasoning under his belt, he has the tools to explode. PWill’s career numbers feel like the floor for Matas 2-3 years down the road with 30+ minutes a night.

When PWill got his 5/90 contract, we had just drafted Buzelis and it wasnt as clear to see what we have in him.

The idea of Matas and PWill on the wings isnt a bad idea and I still like PWill’s defense and shot, so he doesnt necessarily need to be moved, but the Bulls would be wise to let Matas get as many minutes as possible in the next couple years.

You can see Matas’ talent and confidence growing especially over the last 3 games, he is turning a corner, and unlike PWill he actually produces when he is out there. Hes a high motor guy who is confident enough to play his game and shoot his shot. Crazy athletic. 28 shot attempts in his last 67 minutes (3 games). The choice for the Bulls is becoming more and more clear.

It is a regurgitation of an old rumor.

[DuckIII]

In my mind they compliment each other nearly perfectly. If they both work out the way I think they can, anyway.