The Zach Lavine Problem

TheSuzerain · Post #1 » by **TheSuzerain** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:42 am

Lavine is the most bona fide talent we got in return for Jimmy (health willing), however I would argue that he is not the type of guy you want to jump start a multi-year rebuild.

This is because he only has 1 year left on his contract. If he's going to be a part of this rebuild, we are going to have to pay him A LOT of money which greatly diminishes his value. When building a new core, the last thing you want to be doing is handing out expensive deals to non-max players. Those are almost always the worst value contracts in the NBA. Very rarely do the contributions of such players exceed their cost.

Will Lavine blossom into a max player?

Even if not, will he receive a max contract anyway a la Harrison Barnes?

Would we have been better off getting future draft picks that would line up better with our lotto picks to come?

TheStig · Post #2 » by **TheStig** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:46 am

Lavine will pad his stats on the back of a crap team and a contract year. Someone will make him a very nice offer and then dumb and dumber will trot out and give us a line about flexibility. Wouldn't be surprised if he got flipped for a pick at some point either.

Haven't you seen this before?

jumpmanjay · Post #3 » by **jumpmanjay** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:47 am

We probably signed him BECAUSE he's coming off the books. This is the Bulls, remember. FLEXIBILITY is KING.

TheSuzerain · Post #4 » by **TheSuzerain** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:47 am

I'd argue the best route would be to juice up his value and trade him at the deadline.

But based on the press conference, there is NO WAY that's what they'll do.

DanTown8587 · Post #5 » by **DanTown8587** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:47 am

The Bulls traded up in Lavines draft, passed on him, and then talked up trading for him after he's torn his ACL and he's a year away from FA even though they gave up an All-NBA talent and a mid first to do it. All of us hope we could be this bad at a job that has this much pay and status.

sh0ck · Post #6 » by **sh0ck** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:48 am

Maybe you can use LaVine's injury as an excuse to sit him for a good portion of the year and slowly bring him along.

Then you can extend him for something less than the max because it would be a risk for teams to bid up his RFA status. Kind of how Milwaukee is probably going to extend Jabari Parker for much less than the Max.

MrSparkle · Post #7 » by **MrSparkle** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:49 am

I'm just baffled by this. To the max.

I mean, we've seen countless examples of ACL-injured players becoming shadows of themselves (or just never reaching their potential):

Rose
Rondo
Nate Robinson
Rubio
J. Parker
Gallinari
Shaun Livingston

The list goes on.

Hilarious that Pax said we got a "fantastic young lotto player." Give me a break. It's basically gonna be a countdown to the next time, unless he seriously adjusts and reduces his athletic game, and hopefully it's not after the contract extension.

nomorezorro · Post #8 » by **nomorezorro** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:50 am

he should be our only big contract for the next few years, right? there's no reason not to extend him. if he somehow turns into an albatross, we're not going to be ready to contend before he's an expiring deal anyway

Am2626 · Post #9 » by **Am2626** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:52 am

jumpmanjay wrote:We probably signed him BECAUSE he's coming off the books. This is the Bulls, remember. FLEXIBILITY is KING.

Flexibility to do nothing.

TheSuzerain · Post #10 » by **TheSuzerain** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:52 am

DanTown8587 wrote:The Bulls traded up in Lavines draft, passed on him, and then talked up trading for him after he's torn his ACL and he's a year away from FA even though they gave up an All-NBA talent and a mid first to do it. All of us hope we could be this bad at a job that has this much pay and status.

Was hilarious when Paxson said the package wasn't good enough when talking to the TWolves last year about Jimmy.

Since then, Lavine tore his ACL and Dunn had a horrible rookie season. And Jimmy blossomed into a fringe Superstar. TIME TO STRIKE!

RSP83 · Post #11 » by **RSP83** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:53 am

Before even going that far... how's his knee?

I like Lavine, he was among the top of my 2014 Draft board. Don't mind having him on my team. I don't know what to expect from him though. If his knee is fine, at worst he's our new Ron Mercer.

We really don't have much to look forward to the next couple of season, so might as well just enjoy Lavine's growth. Hopefully he turns into something more than Ron Mercer.

jumpmanjay · Post #12 » by **jumpmanjay** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:53 am

Am2626 wrote:
jumpmanjay wrote:We probably signed him BECAUSE he's coming off the books. This is the Bulls, remember. FLEXIBILITY is KING.

Flexibility to do nothing.

Flexibility to talk about more flexibility.

Sent from my Pixel XL using RealGM mobile app

TheSuzerain · Post #13 » by **TheSuzerain** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:54 am

nomorezorro wrote:he should be our only big contract for the next few years, right? there's no reason not to extend him. if he somehow turns into an albatross, we're not going to be ready to contend before he's an expiring deal anyway

To what end? We are paying him big money to make our draft picks worse?

fudgie · Post #14 » by **fudgie** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:55 am

nomorezorro wrote:he should be our only big contract for the next few years, right? there's no reason not to extend him. if he somehow turns into an albatross, we're not going to be ready to contend before he's an expiring deal anyway

I think this is correct. Try to negotiate him down but if he get's a max offer from another team I'd probably match it.

The Box Office · Post #15 » by **The Box Office** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:56 am

MrSparkle wrote:I'm just baffled by this. To the max.

I mean, we've seen countless examples of ACL-injured players becoming shadows of themselves (or just never reaching their potential):

Rose
Rondo
Nate Robinson
Rubio
J. Parker
Gallinari
Shaun Livingston

The list goes on.

Hilarious that Pax said we got a "fantastic young lotto player." Give me a break. It's basically gonna be a countdown to the next time, unless he seriously adjusts and reduces his athletic game, and hopefully it's not after the contract extension.

Yep. We're not making the playoffs, which sucks, but I prepped myself for this. It is possible that we suck bad to get Michael Porter next year and Zion in 2 years.

nomorezorro · Post #16 » by **nomorezorro** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:56 am

this is a hastily researched take, but i also think a 21 year old tearing his acl has better odds of recovery than most players

it's concerning that a good portion of his game relies on athleticism, but when you see college guys or rookies go down to acl injuries they're usually not zapped, yeah? barring a recurring injury at least

HoopsterJones · Post #17 » by **HoopsterJones** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:57 am

The problem is that he tore his ACL in February. Which means best case scenario, he plays his first game for the Bulls after the all star break. But he won't be 100%. Still takes another full year till he's back to about normal. His rookie contract ends after this season and becomes a RFA. So either have to offer him a contract he's willing to sign, match an offer sheet he signs, or extend the one year QO. All of this without seeing how he fully recovers post reconstructive knee surgery.

It's risky.

nomorezorro · Post #18 » by **nomorezorro** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:57 am

TheSuzerain wrote:To what end? We are paying him big money to make our draft picks worse?

in case he turns out to be good?

if the only price is money, we should be willing to spend on young players who have a realistic shot of turning into good nba players! we can afford to swing and miss right now if it turns out he doesn't return to form

Jcool0 · Post #19 » by **Jcool0** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:58 am

He has been a Bull for 2 hours and he already has a "problem"????????

DanTown8587 · Post #20 » by **DanTown8587** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:00 am

Lavine is a guy who scores with the ball in his hands a lot but doesn't create a ton for others, rebound, get steals/blocks, or do much outside score. Best role is a sixth or seventh man but obviously won't get that role here nor get that role contract wise.