Bulls @ Sixers 12pm CT Apr. 13 2025

[GoBlue72391]

Is Matas OK? I didn't watch the game, checked boxscore and got scared that he played 14 minutes. Sure, meaningless game, better be safe than sorry. I hope no tweak or bump or sprain. That would be BAD.

They only played the important guys in the first half.

[cocktailswith_2short]

The sour grapes on Lauri is something else. If we drafted a player who became as good as him we'd be thrilled we found a franchise player, but actual Lauri just gets shat on.

He's never really elevated a team . Flaggs about to make him a robin we'll see if he can hang and start winning games .

[gf2020hotmail]

Is Matas OK? I didn't watch the game, checked boxscore and got scared that he played 14 minutes. Sure, meaningless game, better be safe than sorry. I hope no tweak or bump or sprain. That would be BAD.

The starters outside of Phillips didn't play the second half.

[Dan Z]

The sour grapes on Lauri is something else. If we drafted a player who became as good as him we'd be thrilled we found a franchise player, but actual Lauri just gets shat on.

I think he'd fit well on this team offensively (and don't think he'd be bad on defense...but that's not his strength). The concerns would be: How much would it cost to get him? And how much will his contract limit moves going forward?

If the Bulls gave up Vucevic/PW/Carter plus assets for him then his salary in 25-26 is basically the same as those three. It's the years after that which I question because it's a lot of money.

I doubt AK will seriously go after him and I"m not sure if he should give up future assets (for anyone...not just Lauri). However, who else might be available that would fit well on this roster?

[Dan Z]

The sour grapes on Lauri is something else. If we drafted a player who became as good as him we'd be thrilled we found a franchise player, but actual Lauri just gets shat on.

He's never really elevated a team . Flaggs about to make him a robin we'll see if he can hang and start winning games .

What team did you expect him to elevate? The Boylen Bulls teams? The tanking Jazz teams?

Cleveland went from a 22 win to a 44 win team with him, but that's also because young players improved (Garland/Allen) and they drafted Mobley. Markkanen was played out of position (Sf).

[WesPeace]

PWill is one reason I want us to pursue Lauri
PWill/Vuc/Ayo/#13 pick/Port pick/2027 1st for Lauri/#21 pick

This assumes Utah doesn't get Flagg

PWill is SOOOO frustrating to watch-I don't know if I've ever seen a player regress like he has. But adding Lauri, we dump PWill's terrible deal. Lauri might be overpaid, but he's a stud

White/Jones/Carter
Giddey/Ball/Terry
Matas/Phillips/Terry
Lauri/#21 pick/JSmith
Collins/JSmith/Lauri

That's a fun team-even better if we can send Carter over Ayo

3x 1st rounders with PWill, Ayo and Vooch for Lauri, houly overypayment lol.. he is solid player, but not that good. I dont like his fit with Matas to be honest. This means Matas would have to move to SF, which isnt ideal, as he should stay PF.

[2weekswithpay]

The sour grapes on Lauri is something else. If we drafted a player who became as good as him we'd be thrilled we found a franchise player, but actual Lauri just gets shat on.

He's never really elevated a team . Flaggs about to make him a robin we'll see if he can hang and start winning games .

Ainge had to blow the team up at the deadline in two consecutive seasons because they were winning too many games.

[GoBlue72391]

The sour grapes on Lauri is something else. If we drafted a player who became as good as him we'd be thrilled we found a franchise player, but actual Lauri just gets shat on.

He's never really elevated a team . Flaggs about to make him a robin we'll see if he can hang and start winning games .

Ainge had to blow the team up at the deadline in two consecutive seasons because they were winning too many games.

And then had to strategically sit Lauri when healthy multiple seasons in a row.

[GoBlue72391]

PWill is one reason I want us to pursue Lauri
PWill/Vuc/Ayo/#13 pick/Port pick/2027 1st for Lauri/#21 pick

This assumes Utah doesn't get Flagg

PWill is SOOOO frustrating to watch-I don't know if I've ever seen a player regress like he has. But adding Lauri, we dump PWill's terrible deal. Lauri might be overpaid, but he's a stud

White/Jones/Carter
Giddey/Ball/Terry
Matas/Phillips/Terry
Lauri/#21 pick/JSmith
Collins/JSmith/Lauri

That's a fun team-even better if we can send Carter over Ayo

3x 1st rounders with PWill, Ayo and Vooch for Lauri, houly overypayment lol.. he is solid player, but not that good. I dont like his fit with Matas to be honest. This means Matas would have to move to SF, which isnt ideal, as he should stay PF.

From the Jazz perspective, Pat and Vuc are simply salary matchers and have no future or value to the team. Ayo is a solid role player but not a needle mover.

So you're saying Lauri's value is basically Ayo + 1 pick? Why would the Jazz do that?

Lauri made the ASG playing most of his minutes at SF that season. In the off chance Lauri reunites with the Bulls, he can be the SF and Matas the PF.

I mean, it literally doesn't matter outside of semantics, but whatever.

[Dan Z]

PWill is one reason I want us to pursue Lauri
PWill/Vuc/Ayo/#13 pick/Port pick/2027 1st for Lauri/#21 pick

This assumes Utah doesn't get Flagg

PWill is SOOOO frustrating to watch-I don't know if I've ever seen a player regress like he has. But adding Lauri, we dump PWill's terrible deal. Lauri might be overpaid, but he's a stud

White/Jones/Carter
Giddey/Ball/Terry
Matas/Phillips/Terry
Lauri/#21 pick/JSmith
Collins/JSmith/Lauri

That's a fun team-even better if we can send Carter over Ayo

3x 1st rounders with PWill, Ayo and Vooch for Lauri, houly overypayment lol.. he is solid player, but not that good. I dont like his fit with Matas to be honest. This means Matas would have to move to SF, which isnt ideal, as he should stay PF.

What's wrong with Matas playing SF?

[WesPeace]

Wrong nothing, but not ideal.. with his size, rim protection I see him more as PF

[Dan Z]

Wrong nothing, but not ideal.. with his size, rim protection I see him more as PF

As GoBlue points out Lauri and Matas can switch positions when necessary.

[sco]

This team's recent good performance has been overrated since we've really only beat .500 and below teams, but still the games may have rounded guys like Phillips, Terry, THT and PWill into being marginal situational contributors for the play-in games.

THT is who he is, but when you need a guy who can get his own shot off the bench who gives effort on the defensive end, he's gradually gotten more consistent.

Coby, unfortunately, has trended back to "regular" Coby of late. It's a shame because you need "hot" Coby to win a play-in game.

Huerter has been trending-up and could be an x-factor.

Vuc has continued to be hot, and we'll need him against the heat.

[MrSparkle]

I'm fundamentally opposed to trading for a guy who has declined pretty hard for 2 seasons straight since his contract year and big pay day. Granted his GM sabotaged the team, but that still doesn't explain why his advanced stats nose-dived. Lauri's final PER for this season is the exact same number as his rookie year (15.6), which is average. $54M (guaranteed to 2029) is risky.

Looking like his first Utah season was an outlier, with a similar but slower follow-up season. Sounds awfully similar to 2x All-Star Zach LaVine. The biggest difference I'd guess is he had an excellent PG in Conley for half that season. Then Dunn stepped in the following season. Since then, they've been completely rudderless (intentionally).

[Dan Z]

I'm fundamentally opposed to trading for a guy who has declined pretty hard for 2 seasons straight since his contract year and big pay day. Granted his GM sabotaged the team, but that still doesn't explain why his advanced stats nose-dived. Lauri's final PER for this season is the exact same number as his rookie year (15.6), which is average. $54M (guaranteed to 2029) is risky.

Looking like his first Utah season was an outlier, with a similar but slower follow-up season. Sounds awfully similar to 2x All-Star Zach LaVine. The biggest difference I'd guess is he had an excellent PG in Conley for half that season. Then Dunn stepped in the following season. Since then, they've been completely rudderless (intentionally).

He signed a contract extension last off season which included a re-negotiation of his 2024-25 salary. That means his contract year was this year.

If you were in his situation (on the Jazz) how motivated would you be to give your all? Yes, he's being paid a ton of money, but he also knows that the Jazz are tanking (which I bet Ainge told him they'd do).

I don't think AK will inquire about him, so this idea is moot. However, I do think he'd fit well on this team.

[MrSparkle]

I'm fundamentally opposed to trading for a guy who has declined pretty hard for 2 seasons straight since his contract year and big pay day. Granted his GM sabotaged the team, but that still doesn't explain why his advanced stats nose-dived. Lauri's final PER for this season is the exact same number as his rookie year (15.6), which is average. $54M (guaranteed to 2029) is risky.

Looking like his first Utah season was an outlier, with a similar but slower follow-up season. Sounds awfully similar to 2x All-Star Zach LaVine. The biggest difference I'd guess is he had an excellent PG in Conley for half that season. Then Dunn stepped in the following season. Since then, they've been completely rudderless (intentionally).

He signed a contract extension last off season which included a re-negotiation of his 2024-25 salary. That means his contract year was this year.

If you were in his situation (on the Jazz) how motivated would you be to give your all? Yes, he's being paid a ton of money, but he also knows that the Jazz are tanking (which I bet Ainge told him they'd do).

I don't think AK will inquire about him, so this idea is moot. However, I do think he'd fit well on this team.

In general, dealing with Ainge is a bad idea unless it's an under-the-radar player.

[Dan Z]

I'm fundamentally opposed to trading for a guy who has declined pretty hard for 2 seasons straight since his contract year and big pay day. Granted his GM sabotaged the team, but that still doesn't explain why his advanced stats nose-dived. Lauri's final PER for this season is the exact same number as his rookie year (15.6), which is average. $54M (guaranteed to 2029) is risky.

Looking like his first Utah season was an outlier, with a similar but slower follow-up season. Sounds awfully similar to 2x All-Star Zach LaVine. The biggest difference I'd guess is he had an excellent PG in Conley for half that season. Then Dunn stepped in the following season. Since then, they've been completely rudderless (intentionally).

He signed a contract extension last off season which included a re-negotiation of his 2024-25 salary. That means his contract year was this year.

If you were in his situation (on the Jazz) how motivated would you be to give your all? Yes, he's being paid a ton of money, but he also knows that the Jazz are tanking (which I bet Ainge told him they'd do).

I don't think AK will inquire about him, so this idea is moot. However, I do think he'd fit well on this team.

In general, dealing with Ainge is a bad idea unless it's an under-the-radar player.

Ainge has a good track record, but that doesn't make him special. If there's a good deal to be made, that makes your team better, then you do it. Otherwise no.

I'm curious to see if he does trade Markkanen (not necessarily to Chicago). If they don't get the #1 pick, and end up with someone like Bailey or VJ ,then it might be time to move on.

[SimonFish]

Those moves were all done by a different GM (except for moving on from Lauri...which was a mistake in hindsight).

Off topic but hardly a mistake. GoBlue listed out 5 players and a case can be made that Lauri is the 4th best out of them.

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Hardly a mistake to give up on a 23 and 8 guy with a 62 TS% who is worse than *checks notes* Eddy Curry...

stats inflation and ppl spamming 3. 23 pts = 16 pts in this era.

Curry's best stats season was 19ppg 7rpg. He didnt make all star becoz C was considered a separate position vs 3 frontcourts now. And both Lauri and Eddy stat padded on losing teams, except that, fun fact, Curry was the leading ppg scorer on the 4th seed Bulls in 04-05.

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[Donkedave]

No Giddey for the final game.

Sit Coby too I reckon.

2:30am for me so is that 2am for you? Think Coby needs some game time. Seems always worse when he has full rest games. Like he loses his shot when he watches a game!

3am. I'll be well asleep. I'll just check out the boxscore when I wake up.

Clearly id had a few beers by then! couldn't even work out time zone difference.

[coldfish]

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/markkla01.html

Lauri PER by year:
15.6
17.1
14.3
15.2
14.7
22.1
21.7
Got paid
15.6

Dude basically Februlauried for two straight years. Well, more specifically, started aggressively attacking the basket and then stopped again.

I mean, don't get me wrong, he is certainly no Patrick Williams level bust or something.