Dez wrote:Infinity2152 wrote:If the Bulls aren't getting any useful assets for Vucevic, then they should just keep him. He's a $20 mill expiring trade chip until the deadline, and coming off the cap in the summer if he lasts past that. This defeatist attitude, just trade him for scraps, for what?
Reportedly Vucevic did have suitors. Warriors made the Jimmy Butler trade at the last minute, No teams had cap space and it was mid-season, that limits the hell out of the market. he also wasn't expiring yet. They were smart to wait till this summer, it's definitely a more flexible market and a better contract, at the very least.
Hope he ends up with the Warriors and balls out. He's been an ironman, super disrespected, and with Draymond and Jimmy next to him, his offense, rebounding, shooting and passing would fit.
The Bulls should move on and let Collins/Smith take the C minutes, get whatever they can unless it’s long term salary.
Yes had suitors until the asking price was a first hence the Warriors not going for him, this has been stated many times.
He hasn't been disrespected, pointing out that teams don't value him worth a first isn't disrespectful. It's just stating a fact and the fact that he wasn't traded confirms this.
One of Collins or Vucevic needs to go now. Neither is in our long term future. If you can get better trade assets trading Collins than Vucevic, my thought would be trade whoever you can get the most for and keep the other.
The asking price being a first: Couple of points with that. Midseason, there are less teams even capable of making trades. Also, on draft night each team basically gets an extra pick, can trade picks 1 year further out. There are quite a few players who expire this summer, teams have much more flexibility than they did midseason and priorities change. A team like the Celtics is certainly not making the same moves they would have before the Tatum injury, for instance. Knicks fired their coach and may trade KAT. Warriors priorities may have changed now that they have Butler.
To me, the rush should be to move either Vuc, Collins or both but there's really no rush. Not sure it can be even argued this is a much better market and Vuc should be worth more as an expiring than with a year left on his contract, after having a great statistical season. Save his contract for a star trade till the deadline if we can't get anything back.
The fact that he wasn't traded midseason means very little to his trade value this summer, it's a bad justification. We have no way of knowing what offers were even out there in that limited market. If you ever get in an auction, very few bidders with cash means the items usually go for much less or don't get sold if nobody meets the reserve price. Same principle. Run in thru the auction again, with hopefully more and better bidders.
And yes, he's constantly disrespected. You can look at any center ranking over the last few years. Vucevic will consistently be between 8-20.
According to StatMuse, Vucevic had the 12th highest defensive rating among centers last year.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/best-defensive-rating-centers-2024-2025the 9th highest offensive rating:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/best-offensive-rating-centers-2024-2025Fourth in rebounds/game:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/average-center-rebounds-in-2025Sixth in scoring:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-center-points-leaders-2024-2025Using advanced stats: PER 20.3, VORP of 2.7, BPM of 2.6, 7.3 Win Shares, TS 61% is outstanding and defensive impact factors into most of those. He's had 1 negative DBPM once since 2014. The way the Bulls play defense does not keep the center near the paint to play post defense.
Drummond DBPM with the Bulls -.7, .5 the same years Vucevic was -.7, .7. Is Drummond one of the worst defensive centers in the league too? Being on the court with a ton of bad defenders will make most centers look worse.
By any statistical measure he's FAR better than most mid-late first round picks, and many centers currently in the league. And he's making sixth man money, most of the guys ranked higher than him in scoring, rebounds, etc make double at least. He's behind Gobert, Jokic and KAT in rebounds, ,for instance. The three centers who shot 3's better are Kat, Jokic and Porzingas. And KAT and Porzingas are playing PF.