Keepers?

[pipfan]

I'm far enough into the season now that here is how I would like to see it go. Two premises to me:

1. No one is untouchable.

2. But as a practical matter Matas kinda is because its hard to imagine anyone offering anything we would consider reasonable value.

Understanding I'd trade them all, I'd prioritize keeping:

Ayo
Matas
Pat
Smith

All two way players who are and will be very reasonably paid for years, none have reached their ceilings to varying degrees, which is a good core to lose more with for a bit while adding a couple of more young picks. Flexible.

I'd also consider keeping Giddey to be paid like a 6-7th man and Ball on a team friendly deal with team options. But I don't prioritize either, as I want to rebuild the team.

Exactly my feelings. Funny thing is-Lavine is a good fit with Ayo/Matas/PWill (Smith might be a very good 3rd big, not sure why Billy doesn't play him with Vuc 10 min/night?)
I like Giddy (and Coby, in theory) as top bench pieces. This lineup, with an All Star center, could be a very good team
Ayo/White/Ball
Lavine/White/Ball
Matas/Giddy
PWill/Giddy
??/Smith
With a little time-I see potential there

[DuckIII]

nah

always easy to tear down the talent and get rid of everything for "tanking". Much harder to get back to be a mediocre or even better team.
Getting 1st overall is not a guarantee of success in the future.

I'd like to keep the players that can help us to get better.

Matas, Ayo, Lavine, Smith. They look like the best pieces to keep around and add to them. Williams can be a good piece, but not sure about his health going forward and being able to play on a winning team as starter.

It’s not at all hard to “get back to” being a sub .500 irrelevant borderline playoff team in a league in which 20 of 30 teams play postseason games. It’s about as hard as falling off a log.

And what assets are we to use to build a legitimate contender around a core whose best player is Zach Lavine surrounded by three role players? To me this is the “if Matas can become a superstar quickly while Lavine is still really good we should be fine” plan.

Sorry man, but hard pass on that strategy. I love Matas but he won’t be that kind of guy - assuming he ever becomes that kind of guy - for at least 4 years. I’d be with you if we had the prime assets to build that way but AK squandered them all.

Detroit is on it's 6th year where they'll likely be under .500 and not even making the play-in so maybe it is a little hard.

That’s because they kept tanking and made no effort to get better. Just now they finally decided to start adding vets and went from 14 wins to now being tied with us the very next year. Nothing easier than building a mediocre NBA team.

Is there a seed we could earn that would make you feel the season was worth it?

No. Seeding means nothing, especially in this year’s abysmal East. Contention, not seeding, matters. Even if we shocked the world and get the 5th seed - we won’t - we’d just be fodder for one of the 4 actual conference contenders to obliterate us. The gap is massive in the East between the 4-5 genuinely good teams and log jam of trash behind them.

Of course, seeding would matter more to me even in a weak conference if the team was an up and comer with a young core, but one you are excited about as having the contending pieces in place. And it would matter more if the conference were stacked with contenders and you were one of them. Point being there are scenarios in which my team could be the 8th seed and I wouldn't want to change a thing, just as it could be the 4th seed and I'd want to blow it to hell.

[NZB2323]

Where is the poll option for our draft pick?

[DuckIII]

Where is the poll option for our draft pick?

Great question.

[vxmike]

None of our players are potential building blocks with the exception of Matas, so he's my only pick to keep. Everyone else either doesn't fit the timeline or is easily replaceable.

- Giddey is still very much a question mark for me. I'll wait until after the season to decide on him.

- I like Ayo a lot, but he's probably reached his ceiling and his archetype isn't too hard to replace. He would be my second choice to keep if I had to pick another.

- Lonzo would be great to retain if he can be had for cheap, but he's missed too much time to ever be relied upon heavily again.

- Coby is a 6th man and we should look to sell high on him.

- Zach and Vuc are good but overpaid and clearly do not fit our timeline.

- Smith is a good backup big, but that's not the type of guy you worry about retaining.

- Pat shouldn't even be here now, he should have been gone long ago.

- Phillips progression on his shot seems to have been a mirage and coupled with his inability to do anything off the dribble that severely limits his ceiling.

- Dalen is a great back end of the rotation defensive versatile player like a Shaq Harrison or David Nwaba, but that's another type of guy you're not going to worry about keeping or not as he can be easily replaced.

No one else is worth mentioning.

Agree. This is the kind of roster where you remain open to offers on everyone while actively shopping the guys you want to trade.

[Onibuh]

It’s not at all hard to “get back to” being a sub .500 irrelevant borderline playoff team in a league in which 20 of 30 teams play postseason games. It’s about as hard as falling off a log.

And what assets are we to use to build a legitimate contender around a core whose best player is Zach Lavine surrounded by three role players? To me this is the “if Matas can become a superstar quickly while Lavine is still really good we should be fine” plan.

Sorry man, but hard pass on that strategy. I love Matas but he won’t be that kind of guy - assuming he ever becomes that kind of guy - for at least 4 years. I’d be with you if we had the prime assets to build that way but AK squandered them all.

Detroit is on it's 6th year where they'll likely be under .500 and not even making the play-in so maybe it is a little hard.

That’s because they kept tanking and made no effort to get better. Just now they finally decided to start adding vets and went from 14 wins to now being tied with us the very next year. Nothing easier than building a mediocre NBA team.

With mediocre I meant being there because you have pieces but lack THAT one piece.
If you don't get that, your tank was a waste of time.

Nothing is easier than tanking and getting rid of everything. Just look at the Blackhawks. Getting back to a middle team than a good team is just the hard part. Not even talking about contention.
If you tear down, do what OKC did. You go from contention to good and after that you really tank hard with lots of picks.
We don't have pieces to add lots of picks. We don't have to tank.
I like what AK has done this offseason. I think we won't trade Vuc or Zach unless we like the deal - not just to get them out.

Go after young pieces that can help in the future or get even better given the chance. Just keep Zach around, have maybe one other Vet as leader bench guy and let them develop. If your young Bulls team can make some noise with only Lavine here it will be because of a) young players taking a step forward or b) elite coaching. I don't see b) as real option. This will actually help going forward and get interesting in the Star players.
I'm done with being 3 years away from being 3 years away from being 3 years away.
Time to try something new here and keeping your best player with young players with some kind of talent might finally work out for us.

[Moon]

I figure keepers indicates ongoing value.

Yes Matas is high value, Smith is relatively high value, Giddey is possible high value. Dosunmu and Phillips both have shown upside.
So PG Giddey, SG Dosunmu SF Phillips PF Buzelis C Smith. They all seem to fit a certain timeline.

With any of this it presupposes that other teams will not overpay for someone who they think will absolutely fit their system and be "the missing piece" to help them be a successful team.

No one in the league currently impresses me as untouchable Jordan quality. Time will tell.

[Daxel]

Besides Lavine and Vuc they need to trade Coby White before his value sinks even lower.

I'm fine keeping Matas, Ayo, Giddey, Smith and Williams.

No idea what the future holds for Ball.

[ChiTownHero1992]

Ayo is the only player I really want to keep (besides Matas obviously).

White and Smith are decent but not great so sure i'd like them but if we find a good deal idc

Giddey has been unimpressive so far so i'm not fully sold on him at all

Everyone else, the door is that way please see yourself out!

[MrSparkle]

Logically keep the youngest talent and let them pump numbers, lose games.

Best offensive players: Vuc, Zach, Giddey, Lonzo

You let them go and we become the worst team in the league. Top 3 options: Coby, Ayo, Pat. Ooh wee! Curious to see if they can average 95 ppg.

I’m not excited to have contract negotiations with Giddey (let alone Lonzo).