AKME stands pat

[Chi town]

AK is malpractice.

[greenwing]

I’m not holding my breath for a lottery pick here. I have been advocating for a tank for awhile now but if we are looking at this situation objectively, the roster has more depth now. This current roster was already capable of scoring even without Zach who was easily our best scoring option. But the pieces we got in return actually fit the roster we have now.

Collins adds a much needed 4/5. Heurter should be able to rebound from his time playing with DeRozan and could be a very solid backup 2-guard. And Tre Jones would be great as a backup point guard.

On paper, this roster is just mediocre enough that they may make a run at the play-in tourney. That would be great for developing our young guys. But we really need to rebuild instead of retooling if we have any chance of getting back to relevance.

[Dan Z]

I’m not holding my breath for a lottery pick here. I have been advocating for a tank for awhile now but if we are looking at this situation objectively, the roster has more depth now. This current roster was already capable of scoring even without Zach who was easily our best scoring option. But the pieces we got in return actually fit the roster we have now.

Collins adds a much needed 4/5. Heurter should be able to rebound from his time playing with DeRozan and could be a very solid backup 2-guard. And Tre Jones would be great as a backup point guard.

On paper, this roster is just mediocre enough that they may make a run at the play-in tourney. That would be great for developing our young guys. But we really need to rebuild instead of retooling if we have any chance of getting back to relevance.

If they don't want to tank then why not try to get win-now players? Bid for Butler, make an offer for Hunter, etc.

Staying in the middle leads to nowhere.

[The Explorer]

Really hate it when idiots like Green comment about the Bulls junk. But this is what players and GMs around the league are thinking about AKMEDorf.

"This is the same franchise that let Michael Jordan just walk to retirement," Green said on his podcast. "The Black Cat. The Michael Jordan. Your Airness. Like, this is him. Like, it's really him. It's not the ghost of Michael Jordan they let walk. They let Michael Jordan himself walk in his prime."

"That's also a franchise where their head coach told them to draft Draymond Green—and they didn't. They just don't do smart things—and that's been proven time and time again," Green stated.

"So you let Zach pretty much get out of town for a bag of donuts. And I just think you could have done way better than that. But also, like, what did they get in the sign-and-trade for DeMar this summer? You essentially let him walk for nothing, right?" Dray quipped.

"When you look at this team, it'll be interesting to see if they trade Vooch—what they get for him. Probably nothing. Because they're just not good. And you're letting these guys walk, essentially for nothing," he continued.

[Onibuh]

I can get behind the idea of running a young roster of players like Giddey. At least you know to not get a bust. I can really understand that you get a bit more creative instead of full on tanking and just hope you luck out with your #10/11/12 Pick.

I can understand why you want to move the Zach contract.

now... the 2 problems.
1. They wanted to get that contract away and watch them not doing anything of value with it. Giddey and Coby get new contracts in the 4/5 years for 20/25 million range.
2. Not getting anything of value for it. They just gave him away for free. Taking on the guys they did should be worth getting the pick back that may not have gone to SA anyways.
They gave their best player on good average numbers away for free without throwing away Vuc too and take the best offer for Coby.

If they win with Matas, Ayo, Smith, Williams and Giddey that's okay. If you do it on the back of young guys that can be part of your future.
If they do it because Vuc has his 2 good weeks it's stupid.

[WestsideResider]

It’s wild seeing a big market GM not even trying to sell anything to the fanbase to get excited about. It’s almost like he’s actively trying to make people even more apathetic toward this team. Truly an interesting way to run a business

[HomoSapien]

Read on Twitter

I guess mediocrity it is

I suppose he's talking about the 04 Detroit Pistons model. The only issue is, how many very good players do we currently have?

[Andi Obst]

The "9-10 very good players" quote is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard from an NBA executive. It only shows that AK has zero idea how you win in this league. The quote alone should be reason enough to fire him immediately.

[HearshotKDS]

Havent read the whole thread yet, but Bulls moved Lavine so cant call this standing pat. What they did do imo was fence sit/not commit to a lane which I view as being the story of AKME management since building the Lavine/Vuc/Derozan team. Moving Lavine was important step to starting over but really wish they had followed it up with more moves in that direction instead of "well just keep competing for a play-in spot despite being another day later and another dollar shorter" which is how I perceive the current post-Lavine team.

[Repeat 3-peat]

AK has always been a very poor/vague communicator, and that likely shows up in trade negotiations.

The "8-9 very good player" isn't wrong. I'm sure he means having a star player included with good depth. That route is indeed easier than finding 2-3 stars on the same roster. The thing is, they can't seem to do that.


They should be fired.

[step]

They gotta trade him for something eventually, right?

Precisely.. which is why it made sense to do it now. Firstly, Vuc's value actually decreases come the off season.. regardless what side of the camp you on if he's paid fairly or not, come then, it's one less potential playoff run a team would have with him. He's 35 years old!

And with how many teams that are making financial moves... opening up more space would allow us to be bigger buyers and take on draft capital. It is easier for teams to trade with a team under the cap who can absorb more rather than trying to piece the puzzle together to match Vuc's contract.

And before anyone else comments that we could easily buy more draft capital the hard way (with cash)... it's been eons since we've done so. Ownership is to cheap to pony up extra money... so we ought to maximise our ability to earn it the hard way (eating bad contracts).

We ought to really be selling our flexibility to all the teams loaded with picks and go... hey, we can take away your undesirables for that in return. We can make it a 3 way or offer you a lovely TPE.

[step]

And in Dominator's defense... the quote post Zach trade was along the lines of 'we ain't done yet'.

Edit: AK:I know fans want a specific plan, and we're charting that path now. We're not done yet."
Trades done post Zach: 0.
/narrator: They were indeed in fact done.
Perhaps being too literal here... but yeah, logically, we should kept going and done more of the moves that were expected.
Once again, AK has the rest of the league and media wondering what on earth he is thinking and doing.

[Muzbar]

Read on Twitter

I guess mediocrity it is

I suppose he's talking about the 04 Detroit Pistons model. The only issue is, how many very good players do we currently have?

*muttering/counting under breath whilst using my fingers*

Zero.

[Jeffster81]

I honestly cannot believe he said that you can win a title without a star. Does he think he’s in a baseball FO? What an absolute joke.

The last team to win a championship without a bonafide superstar was the Ben Wallace/Rip Hamilton/Chauncey Billup's Detroit Pistons team or am I missing another team?

The Bulls FO one job in life is to continue to stoke the fire of the Bulls fan civil war. Which admittedly is more entertaining than the product on the court.

Do better Bulls FO.

[WesPeace]

Yeah, but those 3 guys were pretty darn good players, prime all star players, Wallace elite defender, same with Billups on top of great PG, Rip was just rip shooter, very good offensive player. No comparison to what we have now..

[step]

Really hate it when idiots like Green comment about the Bulls junk. But this is what players and GMs around the league are thinking about AKMEDorf.
...

"So you let Zach pretty much get out of town for a bag of donuts. And I just think you could have done way better than that. But also, like, what did they get in the sign-and-trade for DeMar this summer? You essentially let him walk for nothing, right?" Dray quipped.

"When you look at this team, it'll be interesting to see if they trade Vooch—what they get for him. Probably nothing. Because they're just not good. And you're letting these guys walk, essentially for nothing," he continued.

He may be an idiot, but he isn't wrong in this instance though... we barely have anything to show for Zach and Demar. And when it makes the most sense to get rid of a 35 year old... even just to set the new direction and give some extra development time, we choose to hold on for no real logical reason.

[coldfish]

I haven't seen this mentioned but IMO, the lack of a market is again an indictment of AKME's ability to negotiate contracts. Many, many people here said that Vuc's $20m per year deal was too much and as frequently happens, realgm.com was smarter than AKME.

Yep. They sign these contracts without letting a market develop first, and repeatedly find that they have overpaid relative to the players worth to the league. It's really damning on multiple levels. They can't properly evaluate player talent or the the market. So we get stuck with guys P Will for 5 years, who turns out to be such a bad value contract that we start talking about trading him in year 1. If he's not working out for us in year 1 of a 5 year deal, who in the hell else is going to take him for $20 million a year? We have some of the worst assets in the league, bar none. How many other teams on the league would continue to employ these clowns? The Bulls are just a disaster from top to bottom right now.

That's my take. Look at Valanciunas. He makes $9.9m this year and $10m next year with a non guaranteed $10m after that. He is roughly in line with Vuc as far as impact and he makes HALF as much. When his team wanted to, they traded him.

Constantly overpaying your mediocre guys (Pat is a perfect example) is just terrible management. Its not going to build that "championship team of 9 good players".

When you look at the Bulls right now, I have to think that the team is in the worst spot in the NBA and AKME put them there. On purpose. I literally have no hope other than lottery balls at this point.

[Rose2Boozer]

The Bulls won't have to give the Spurs a lottery pick. This is my overall judgement of trade deadline 2025. Vucevic can be moved during the summer, but still will not fetch a first round pick. When Giddey's contract situation is resolved, the guard situation can be addressed. White could be a trade candidate, Jones could just expire, and I would hope Huerter would be the new Torrey Craig. It's a mess but it's not dirty.

[SfBull]

9-10 very good players?

How about 1?

OK , I guess Lonzo counts. Except he is on restricted minutes. Honestly, I'd say we have 0.

Matas might become very good. Maybe Giddey becomes very good, although it's hard to be very good when your weak side is very bad.

Ayo and Coby are statistically behind the young versions of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday or even George Hill - other utilitarian guards who had strong careers as 3rd-5th options.

Vuc is so very good that he couldn't net a 30th pick.

This idea would be cool if we had a few prospects over the league-average mark. They're all below average, compared to their peers. Our rookie just missed the Rising Stars game. Like the rookie before him.

AK being delusional about our roster can explain why he supposedly refused reasonable trade proposals involving Vuc and Coby,he likely believes they are very good players.

[Muzbar]

I honestly cannot believe he said that you can win a title without a star. Does he think he’s in a baseball FO? What an absolute joke.

The last team to win a championship without a bonafide superstar was the Ben Wallace/Rip Hamilton/Chauncey Billup's Detroit Pistons team or am I missing another team?

The Bulls FO one job in life is to continue to stoke the fire of the Bulls fan civil war. Which admittedly is more entertaining than the product on the court.

Do better Bulls FO.

The Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince disrespect!