dougthonus wrote:Dan Z wrote:I bet both Portland and Chicago thought that Portland would make the playoffs the next year (and beyond) so maybe better negotiation would mean a better deal on those protections for the Bulls? Even if that wasn't possible it's still an odd set of protections....it was 7 years out!
I remember I said when we made the trade that I thought it was 50/50 we would get the pick, and I was mostly laughed off the forum because everyone had said Portland had made the playoffs 7 straight years (or whatever it was) and Dame alone would get them in, and I had noted they barely sneaked in the previous year, Dame might demand out or get hurt, and if they missed for any reason they'd enter a full rebuild that could easily take many years in the West.
Generally speaking, I agree the vast majority people expected the pick to convey immediately, but for Portland, they looked at it (I'm sure), like if it doesn't convey, then this deal was a huge bust for us, and we're not giving you a lottery pick some time in the future over it. Again, just not enough value for them.If they can't get a better deal from Portland then just re-sign Lauri and keep him. They shouldn't have been in a rush to dump him for basically nothing. I know the Bulls version of Markkanen isn't what he is today, but he was still a #7 pick who they had been developing for years and had moments that showed some potential.
That certainly would have been a better move in reality, but Lauri didn't want to be here, and we didn't want him here. We wanted to develop Pat and didn't think Lauri could play next to Vuc. Another underrated reason why the Vuc trade was a disaster is that it also made us highly motivated to move on from Lauri which ended up being a mistake at that price.
I agree. It's also one reason why I don't trust AK's ability to evaluate talent.
