Love #5: P. 88, Bulls 'moving on' from Love

[Jcool0]

Saunders

Question

Why the hell does this guy have so much power all of a sudden what did he ever do as a coach to get this type of power...honestly lol

I believe he's the GM as well as the head coach. Just checked: He's the President of Basketball Operations.

Why tho what has he done lol

Coached 1147 regular season games & 98 playoff games. Won 50+ games 7 times. Was the last coach to win over 40 games in Minnesota.

[PrimzyBulls81]

If the Bulls trade Gibson for Waiters, GarPax should be immediately fired for not only making the team worse but also significantly strengthening the team's biggest foe in the East.

Thankfully GarPax are not that stupid.

For Taj we should receive Waiters and pick..thats it.. Taj is great PF and Waiters is great SG or combo guard.

If Taj would play 36MPG,I think that his average would be around 16 + 9 at least..

[kurtatx]

I believe he's the GM as well as the head coach. Just checked: He's the President of Basketball Operations.

Why tho what has he done lol

Coached 1147 regular season games & 98 playoff games. Won 50+ games 7 times. Was the last coach to win over 40 games in Minnesota.

This and it also doesn't matter "what he has done". He's an intelligent basketball mind.

[BeatDaCavs420]

I believe he's the GM as well as the head coach. Just checked: He's the President of Basketball Operations.

Why tho what has he done lol

Coached 1147 regular season games & 98 playoff games. Won 50+ games 7 times. Was the last coach to win over 40 games in Minnesota.

Ehhh alright lol

[AkronsFinest91]

Saw a report that said Love has no desire to opt-in to his extra year, even in Cleveland. Wants to become a free agent and listen to pitches. I hope to **** he leaves Cleveland, after a year of getting his ass beat by us in the 2nd round, and winds up in LA, where he's always wanted to be. Then Cleveland loses Wiggins for nothing!

He's been talking to LeBron and has been telling teams he wants to come here. That's about as much assurance as you can possibly get without breaking tampering rules. I have zero concern with him leaving for another team.

[DRoseCantStop]

Saw a report that said Love has no desire to opt-in to his extra year, even in Cleveland. Wants to become a free agent and listen to pitches. I hope to **** he leaves Cleveland, after a year of getting his ass beat by us in the 2nd round, and winds up in LA, where he's always wanted to be. Then Cleveland loses Wiggins for nothing!

He's been talking to LeBron and has been telling teams he wants to come here. That's about as much assurance as you can possibly get without breaking tampering rules. I have zero concern with him leaving for another team.

Lol, still doesn't change the fact that there are conflicting reports.

[NecessaryEvil]

Considered the biggest reach in the draft by most... BY CLEVELAND. Who the F cares where he was drafted? We've seem him play for two years now and in that time he has been lazy, fat, has weak efficiency numbers acroos the board, and to boot he is a known head case and malcontent.

yeah, more insults..Nate was a head case and malcontent also...

Hell, I WISH we had a fat *** SG that could dunk, run the floor, shoot and handle like this dude. Fortunately, he isn't fat at all. You're just reaching.

Jimmy's as good or better at all those things. Except shooting, but Jimmy also was a better shooter his 2nd year. If Jimmy's gets back just between two seasons ago and last season from 3, it'll be good enough paired with MDJ or McD. Rose and Jimmy have to be threats from three, but not elite. And even in a bad season, Jimmy still a higher TS% and he's 10x the defender. He's just a better basketball player , by a lot.

LMAO! No he's not. I get your sticky man love but no way bro.

Jimmy Butler is a great defender and GREAT team player. He's not a better finisher nor scorer. Hell, he's AFRAID to shoot. Ball-handler? Dunker? nope... watch a Cavs game from time to time or just go watch some highlights cause I can clearly tell you haven't. He doesn't have higher upside etc. He's just a SAFE basketball player, which you seem to strongly admire. Not mad at that.

You guys rather go for safer, lesser players than actual talents. That's cool but it's only going to take you so far. Taj isn't a starter and won't be on this team going forward. Pau Gasol cemented that. Mirotic locked it up.

I like Jimmy though so arguing over him vs. Waiters isn't really the point at all.

[Payt10]

Saw a report that said Love has no desire to opt-in to his extra year, even in Cleveland. Wants to become a free agent and listen to pitches. I hope to **** he leaves Cleveland, after a year of getting his ass beat by us in the 2nd round, and winds up in LA, where he's always wanted to be. Then Cleveland loses Wiggins for nothing!

He's been talking to LeBron and has been telling teams he wants to come here. That's about as much assurance as you can possibly get without breaking tampering rules. I have zero concern with him leaving for another team.

He probably doesn't, but things can change in a hurry. All it takes is one bad playoff run to change his mind, like Dwight Howard. As long as he doesn't immediately sign the extension right after the trade, everything is up in the air.

[ryan44]

Why tho what has he done lol

Coached 1147 regular season games & 98 playoff games. Won 50+ games 7 times. Was the last coach to win over 40 games in Minnesota.

Ehhh alright lol

Yep. Saunders isn't necessarily a bad coach or GM, but I'm still not seeing why he's being given all this power. So he made the playoffs a bunch of times (and basically lost in the 1st round all but once) with a prime KG. Congrats. Mr. Potato head made the conference finals and NBA finals with LeBron. I don't see very many people clamoring to give him a GM position, let alone head coach and GM. Again, Saunders isn't a moron/inept coach or GM, but if you're trying to sell me his track record as reason that he should have both, I'm not buying at all.

[johnnyvann840]

My point is this. Jimmy is perfect to start next to McDirty, Waiters isn't. I believe in Doug McDermott and Jimmy Butler more than i believe in Dion Waiters, so I see no reason to bring him here. I want Jimmy and Doug ant the 2/3 and I'm willing to live with the growing pains.. they'll take place while Rose is trying get it back, so everyone can get in sync together. Taj or Pau starting at the 4, either way.. I just want a lot of the energetic suffocating Rose, Butler, McD, Taj, Jo on the floor in every game.

[kingkirk]

My point is this. Jimmy is perfect to start next to McDirty, Waiters isn't. I believe in Doug McDermott and Jimmy Butler more than i believe in Dion Waiters, so I see no reason to bring him here. I want Jimmy and Doug ant the 2/3 and I'm willing to live with the growing pains.. they'll take place while Rose is trying get it back, so everyone can get in sync together. Taj or Pau starting at the 4, either way.. I just want a lot of the energetic suffocating Rose, Butler, McD, Taj, Jo on the floor in every game.

I feel like I am in the minority, but Jimmy Butler is stil my man at the 2 guard spot until I see more evidence that suggests he is nothing more than a Thabo Sefolosha type, who he himself was still a starter for many seasons in OKC.

I really do believe that at this point, Jimmy Butler will be in for a big season. Just to reiterate what we were asking him to last season:

- Be our best wing scorer
- Be our premier wing defender
- Have no credible back up, lead the league in minutes with 40 mins a game for the last 3 months of the season
- Do all that whilst carrying injuries

We asked a lot of Jimmy last season. Too much for him to do all of that, and do it all effectively.

The board has this thirst for this ever elusive SG, but the fact remains that the league just doesn't have many quality guys there at the moment.

I posted this the other day, but Martin was 4th overall in PPG amongst SGs. Waiters and his 15.9 a game was good for 12th in league at that position.

Only 8 SGs in the entire league last season scored more than 18 a game.

We may have scoring issues on our wings, but looking at the league as a whole, there isn't many teams right now who are fielding a 2 guard that can routinely drop you 18-20 a game, and even some that are, have their own flaws and less impact than Taj Gibson on a game of basketball.

[Rerisen]

We may have scoring issues on our wings, but looking at the league as a whole, there isn't many teams right now who are fielding a 2 guard that can routinely drop you 18-20 a game, and even some that are, have their own flaws and less impact than Taj Gibson on a game of basketball.

Most of the league as a whole - at least the top contenders - realize or understand that SG is a position of weakness, and therefore haven't built a team around needing offense primarily from that position. Smart.

They are either getting superstar offense in combination down low (Blake, Dwight, Marc/Zbo,) or at the SF(Durant, Paul George, LeBron), together with their PG (Parker, Paul, Irving, Westbrook).

Or they are blessed to have one of the few top SG that do exist (Harden, Manu)

Unfortunately, the Bulls do still have a team that needs high quality offense there, but don't have one of the few really good ones. Don't even really have a SG offensively at all you could argue.

Offensively Butler is far more of a 3, with few traditional SG skills. Snell is an unproven 3rd string player. And McDermott is a 3, if he can stay on the floor defensively even there.

[Polynice4Pippen]

My point is this. Jimmy is perfect to start next to McDirty, Waiters isn't. I believe in Doug McDermott and Jimmy Butler more than i believe in Dion Waiters, so I see no reason to bring him here. I want Jimmy and Doug ant the 2/3 and I'm willing to live with the growing pains.. they'll take place while Rose is trying get it back, so everyone can get in sync together. Taj or Pau starting at the 4, either way.. I just want a lot of the energetic suffocating Rose, Butler, McD, Taj, Jo on the floor in every game.

I feel like I am in the minority, but Jimmy Butler is stil my man at the 2 guard spot until I see more evidence that suggests he is nothing more than a Thabo Sefolosha type, who he himself was still a starter for many seasons in OKC.

I really do believe that at this point, Jimmy Butler will be in for a big season. Just to reiterate what we were asking him to last season:

- Be our best wing scorer
- Be our premier wing defender
- Have no credible back up, lead the league in minutes with 40 mins a game for the last 3 months of the season
- Do all that whilst carrying injuries

We asked a lot of Jimmy last season. Too much for him to do all of that, and do it all effectively.

The board has this thirst for this ever elusive SG, but the fact remains that the league just doesn't have many quality guys there at the moment.

I posted this the other day, but Martin was 4th overall in PPG amongst SGs. Waiters and his 15.9 a game was good for 12th in league at that position.

Only 8 SGs in the entire league last season scored more than 18 a game.

We may have scoring issues on our wings, but looking at the league as a whole, there isn't many teams right now who are fielding a 2 guard that can routinely drop you 18-20 a game, and even some that are, have their own flaws and less impact than Taj Gibson on a game of basketball.

Taj Gibson has flaws as well, let's not forget. And regardless of his impact, a starting SG playing 35 minutes a night at a position of need should be more of a priority than a back up PF playing 30 minutes a night behind two all-stars and in front of a top prospect.

Also, there's not a contending team with a less threatening starting offensive wing tandem than the Bulls. And it's not even close. Red flag, can't be glossed over.

[kingkirk]

Most of the league as a whole - at least the top contenders - realize or understand that SG is a position of weakness, and therefore haven't built a team around needing offense primarily from that position. Smart.

They are either getting superstar offense in combination down low (Blake, Dwight, Marc/Zbo,) or at the SF(Durant, Paul George, LeBron), together with their PG (Parker, Paul, Irving, Westbrook).

Or they are blessed to have one of the few top SG that do exist (Harden, Manu)

All these names you mention, hardly any of them play together and i question whether guys like Irving, ZBo, Gasol, George & Manu are giving you 'superstar offense'. That's a little inflated for my liking.

The Bulls had their elite scoring guy, who would be top 5-7 in the league in this area, but his knees got blown out. We haven't been running with Nate Robinson or DJ Augustin with no 1st option by choice.

Just like those teams you listed, who haven't build their entire offense around the SG position, neither have we.

We have it coming from the PG spot, which we should get 35 PPG a night from, as well as down on the block where another 35-40 a game will come from.

I am confident that our wings can at least routinely provide us with 20-25 a night to fill that gap.

[Axl Rose]

we're still arguing about that mythical Taj trade Ralph made up?

[kingkirk]

Taj Gibson has flaws as well, let's not forget. And regardless of his impact, a starting SG playing 35 minutes a night at a position of need should be more of a priority than a back up PF playing 30 minutes a night behind two all-stars and in front of a top prospect.

Also, there's not a contending team with a less threatening starting offensive wing tandem than the Bulls. And it's not even close. Red flag, can't be glossed over.

Shoe on the other foot, there isn't many teams out there with a better front line on both sides of the ball or ones that have a better PG than what we do.

Everyone has their strength and weaknesses.

Cleveland may end up with Love, Irving and James, but their defense is still a red flag. You can't have it all, not over one off season.

The Cavs may end the off season period with 2 top 10 players. Even then, they're still no where near complete or without serious questions.

[Polynice4Pippen]

Taj Gibson has flaws as well, let's not forget. And regardless of his impact, a starting SG playing 35 minutes a night at a position of need should be more of a priority than a back up PF playing 30 minutes a night behind two all-stars and in front of a top prospect.

Also, there's not a contending team with a less threatening starting offensive wing tandem than the Bulls. And it's not even close. Red flag, can't be glossed over.

Shoe on the other foot, there isn't many teams out there with a better front line on both sides of the ball or ones that have a better PG than what we do.

Everyone has their strength and weaknesses.

Cleveland may end up with Love, Irving and James, but their defense is still a red flag. You can't have it all, not over one off season.

The Cavs may end the off season period with 2 top 10 players. Even then, they're still no where near complete or without serious questions.

We understand this. Does this mean we continue to ignore an obvious weakness? Especially when we finally had the opportunity to fix it this summer via free agency and cap space or with available trades due to depth in the front court.

[RedBulls23]

we're still arguing about that mythical Taj trade Ralph made up?

He didn't make it up so...

[Polynice4Pippen]

we're still arguing about that mythical Taj trade Ralph made up?

More like we're still arguing over finally replacing your boy BG.

[Proven_Winner]

we're still arguing about that mythical Taj trade Ralph made up?

He didn't make it up so...

I thought Ralph said that's just speculation on his part.