Infinity2152 wrote:jnrjr79 wrote:coldfish wrote:I was a huge Zion fan coming into the league and think that if he could stay healthy and had a moderately good team around him, he would be a top 10 player. I agree with those saying that the odds of him staying healthy for more than half the year are likely really close to zero.
I would take him on a flyer. I do think that his trade value is being badly overstated. Everyone else sees what we do.
I would do Coby, Patrick, Jevon (filler) and this year's first. You get out of Patrick's deal. You don't have to worry about extending Coby. You just give up #12. Would NOP do that? Would they get better offers? I don't know but I think Zion's trade market would be limited.
I would do this as well. I think the key in any Zion deal would be avoiding giving away future firsts over the life of his deal. Part of the upside of trading for him would be that if he gets hurt, you can treat it as a tank year and get a high pick (and potentially cut hm lose and go into a longer tank if so desired, depending on whether and how quickly Giddey and Matas develop). Trading future firsts (without significant protection) for Zion makes the deal really dicey. Of course, NOP knows this and would probably prefer a trading partner willing to gamble with future firsts for this reason.
Like you, I really have no sense of what his market will be, compensation-wise. I see the argument for doing it, but only at a relatively inexpensive price.
What's crazy is most of the people hating on the deal don't care about win/losses next year, or actively want us to be bad anyway to get a high pick. We make the trade for Zion, he doesn't play, as long as we didn't give up the 2026 pick or it's protected enough, we get the high pick. He plays, he ups his value more and we can decide to keep or trade him (doubtful, we just got a steal). I would want it be as cheap as possible, wouldn't overpay. I do probably value Bulls future firsts a little less than most, most end up pretty worthless. And I expect the Bulls to be good starting in 2026, with or without Zion because of Matas, Giddey and a ton of cap space if we don't' make a big trade. I'd expect us to be great if Zion is her and has a healthy 2025 season.
Yeah, I am encouraged by Giddey and Matas, but if the Bulls trade Coby and stuff for Zion, and Zion misses most of the year, the Bulls are going to be bad, and it would be critical to keep the pick.
As to the longer term, whether people want it or not (and I am among those who did), there is no indication that AK wants to engage in a longer, draft-based rebuild. Not to mention at some point he’ll be on the hot seat if he doesn’t put together an actual playoff team, so like you, I’d expect that he’ll push things out no further than the 2026 offseason before trying to acquire bigger names.
Some questions I have:
Would the Pellies and Zion be cool with releasing medicals to the Bulls for evaluation pre-trade, or is it just going to be a trade for him and see what turns up during the physical scenario?
Given there some concerns at character/maturity issues, it’s a lot more likely the Bulls FO could know a nugget or two that hasn’t been reported that would raise bigger red flags. Does anything like that exist? For all I know, we’re discussing this for pages on end and it turns out there’s some character reason the Bulls would never do it in the first place.
Last, what kind of rebuild are the Pellies intending to embark on? If they want to do a long draft-based rebuild, presumably Coby is going to a third team. In that event, would they have some patience for taking on the Williams contract and trying to develop him? Obviously, most around here would be thrilled. If they’re keeping Coby, you’d figure they’d prefer expiring salary to facilitate a quicker timeline.
