Wendell Carter Jr - The Block Panther Edition

[TheSuzerain]

There are 2 teams in the league that are great at playing small and switching everything: Golden State and Boston. We are not building a team to beat teams that are great right now.

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Versatile switching teams aren't some fad. This is teams figuring out through analytics that it's simply better basketball.

You might as well say that some day all this wacky three point shooting is going to go away.

Great, so why are the other 28 teams lacking? You're acting like the majority of the NBA is switching and centers are defending guards on every play effectively, while our team is stuck in 1991 with two plodding bigs.

Carter and Markkanen both fit the profile of what teams want from a big now. Markkanen had respectable perimeter defense last season and Carter is way above the defensive curve of what most bigs have when they enter the league. Offensively, they're both capable of playing inside out and putting the ball on the floor.

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The Rockets don't play small and switch everything?

They were playing PJ Tucker at center.

[Red Larrivee]

Yeah that makes sense. It only takes DAL one future protected pick to move from 5 to 3 to take Doncic, but it would have cost the Bulls a future pick plus $49 M in cap space to move from 7 to 4 to take JJJ. The lengths some people will go to defend this FO never cease to amaze me.

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I'm merely going off what KC and Goodwill have both said.

KC:

The Bulls held trade talks with the Hawks, who owned the third pick, and the Grizzlies, who owned the fourth. In both cases, they didn’t want to sacrifice the future first-round picks it would’ve cost to move up a few spots for Jackson or Trae Young.

Vincent:

Trade offers were around, and the Bulls were enamored with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marvin Bagley III in addition to their interest in Mohamed Bamba. But the price of swapping picks, along with giving up the 22nd spot and a future first-rounder was too rich for the Bulls, according to sources.

But sure continue to pretend Chicago didn't make a deal because they were too cheap or inept.

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So you have quotes that say the Bulls balked at the pick, and I have an article that does not mention the pick but rather focuses on Parsons’ contract. Do you detect some dissembling?

And I am not talking about the Bulls being cheap. We are talking about cap space below the salary cap floor, not money out of Reinsdorf’s pocket. Dont try to label me as a Rein$dorfer.

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The Parsons contract is merely the icing on the cake here. Chicago was not going to trade their draft pick next year to move up. If that would've happened, this whole thing would be ****.

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[Axolotl]

I'm already eager to see Carter and Hutchinson play.

First it was waiting for the season to end. Then waiting for the lottery. Then waiting for the draft. Now waiting to see the shiny new things in action.

[TheSuzerain]

Lauri absolutely has the chance to be a superstar. Not predicting it but it is far from an impossibility.

It would be very difficult.

He's unlikely to become a high-impact playmaker or a high-impact defender. You can't become a superstar through scoring alone.

[The Force.]

All things considered I'd say the Bulls did okay. This draft was top heavy with big men and WCJ was the most skilled of the bunch. Luka, Young, and Ayton have HOF potential but I don't think the Bulls were going in that direction anyway. Plus, I'm not entirely sold on any of those guys defensively. Did the Bulls **** up by not tanking properly? Absolutely. But I feel like if they got the #2 pick they would've likely gone Bagley or JJJ, two guys who are more or less in the same tier as WCJ give or take a few attributes. Plus, the Bulls have been one of the better drafting teams so I trust their judgement when it comes to talent evaluation.

Just trying to look at the glass half full.

[Axolotl]

If what KC and Goodwill are saying is accurate, I wouldn't have done that trade either.

[TheSuzerain]

The missed trade opportunity was more likely trading down.

[weneeda2guard]

thing is, i understand the thinking with the parsons deal. and personally im not so sure JJJ would be that much better than carter. if bagley or doncic dropped down, then yeah, but im not adding 50 mill, moving up a few spots and taking myself out of free agency for next year for JJJ.

if wendall carter becomes the surprise of this draft and hutchinson becomes MPJ light without the health risk, then we have a ton of cap space next off season with a young core of dunn, lavine, hutchinson, lauri, valentine and wendall carter on board. if that young core makes even the 7th seed this coming season we are prime position to have 2 max cap spaces and a solid young core to lure 2 free agents to the team. or we get 1 max guy and a few cheaper guys. that is a great position to be in , and JJJ is not worth sacrificing that for.

[Jcool0]

Lauri absolutely has the chance to be a superstar. Not predicting it but it is far from an impossibility.

It would be very difficult.

He's unlikely to become a high-impact playmaker or a high-impact defender. You can't become a superstar through scoring alone.

Wait its difficult to become a superstar wow way to go out on a limb on that one.

[Benedict Miller]

I'm a Duke fan, so I've watched nearly every game that wcj played there. He's solid. He was better protecting the rim after Duke went zone, never thought he was a good defender though, especially in space. Hopefully he improves on that aspect.

[Proven_Winner]

I’m excited to see Wendell play just looking at his measurements menus and old tapes he really held back much like Lauri at Arizona. Also the kid is 19!! Hell everyone loves bamba so much yet everyone agrees Wendell is the better defender and offensive player while being younger and also being “accustomed to playing his role”.

I got a good feeling he’s going to come in Day 1 and show promise.

[logical_art]

I'm a Duke fan, so I've watched nearly every game that wcj played there. He's solid. He was better protecting the rim after Duke went zone, never thought he was a good defender though, especially in space. Hopefully he improves on that aspect.

Every Duke fan I've heard talk about him says the same. Not good in space.

After a season of attempted tanking, the Bulls got a big whose defensive game fits several decades ago but not now. Fantastic.

[TankForAyton]

His lateral quickness and just pure lack of explosion scares the hell out of me.

I honestly don’t know what to think.

[Peelboy]

I just read in KC’s article in the hard copy Chicago Tribune that the Bulls declined to trade up with MEM because “the Bulls weren’t interested in swallowing the two years and $49 million remaining on Chandler Parsons’ contract.”

Make me barf. We’d rather spend that cap space on what - overpaying LaVine and then overpaying Portis?

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Goodwill and KC are both confirming that Memphis wanted us to give up 7, a future first and to take on Parsons contract.

That is not a good trade. We would've been stuck with a rebuilding team this year with no remaining cap to take on contracts and we wouldn't even get our own pick.

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Yeah that makes sense. It only takes DAL one future protected pick to move from 5 to 3 to take Doncic, but it would have cost the Bulls a future pick plus $49 M in cap space to move from 7 to 4 to take JJJ. The lengths some people will go to defend this FO never cease to amaze me.


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I think you have it wrong. Atlanta demanded a lightly protected first to move down and still get their preferred guy. Memphis was moving down to drop from their preferred guy to a less preferred guy. Reports are that teams were demanding future firsts. No one has any report as to whether or not Memphis was willing to swap 4+Parsons for 7 or 7+22 versus 7+future first. The former one can argue is shortsighted (although there was pretty substantial debate here about taking on Parsons to move up 3 slots being a good/bad move), the latter seems smart to pass on.

[sco]

If what KC and Goodwill are saying is accurate, I wouldn't have done that trade either.

Yeah, next year's pick is still likely to be a lotto pick. I was fine with Portis or 22. I might have swallowed both, but not a future 1st on a possibly terrible team.

[23-7]

I just want to remind everyone that JJJ and Wendell Carter Jr have extremely similar measurements and JJJ isn't exactly an elite athlete.

This. Some of the Carter takes in this thread are laughably hyperbolic. Carter isn't nearly as bad an athlete as some here want you to believe. He is in fact a good athlete - he just isn't 'elite'.

I think this was a good pick and Carter is an excellent fit next to Lauri. The idea that this somehow insures the Bulls a decade of mediocrity is ridiculous. The draft is nothing but a crapshoot and Carter has as much a chance to break out as anyone.

https://247sports.com/college/duke/Bolt/Duke-Blue-Devils-Basketball-Wendell-Carter-vertical-leap-70388030/


Hyperbole but ok

[Benedict Miller]

I'm a Duke fan, so I've watched nearly every game that wcj played there. He's solid. He was better protecting the rim after Duke went zone, never thought he was a good defender though, especially in space. Hopefully he improves on that aspect.

Every Duke fan I've heard talk about him says the same. Not good in space.

After a season of attempted tanking, the Bulls got a big whose defensive game fits several decades ago but not now. Fantastic.

WCJ has a nice all around game, pretty decent athlete, but he's nowhere near as quick as Horford on both sides of the ball. Still hopeful he improves, especially defensively.

[musiqsoulchild]

the trick in the NBA is to have a young core, mostly acquired through the draft, peak together as a team, to have a competitive window. This strategy is important for competitive AND FINANCIAL reasons. You only have so much money to play with and good players get PAID.

If you are a good, young team, then you will be able to attract a good FA or 2 who wants to play with that core and possibly win a title or 2. This is only possible with a good cap situation, which, as I stated, is helped by the above. You can't sign a FA you can't afford. Signing a FA too early or too late can really screw things up. It's a timing thing

We are in the process of accomplishing the first task, having a good young core with room to grow together as a team. We also in a very good situation from a money perspective. So we are well positioned to have the chance to be competitive

So now we have a young core to develop. Now we are in a really good cap situation going forward. We still have our picks for the near future. Looking good.

Now comes the player development, the becoming competitive, becoming an attractive destination, and landing a top tier FA over the next 2 or 3 years.

In fact, to me, one of the biggest questions is coaching. I am not convinced that Fred is any good. I am not sure he is bad either. I am just not sure.

Yes! Yes! and No. But 2 out of 3 aint half bad

The more number of core players who "outperform" their contract...the better the quality of the team.

Right now, we have 3 players like that:

Dunn
Lauri
Portis

If Wendell makes the number of over-performing players higher in his first Season, then we are looking set for Free Agency.

The trick is to LIMIT Zach's contract so that it remains at par with his performance. I suspect however, that we will end up giving him a contract that makes him an "under-performer".

[taj2133]

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[WindyCityBorn]

Lauri absolutely has the chance to be a superstar. Not predicting it but it is far from an impossibility.

It would be very difficult.

He's unlikely to become a high-impact playmaker or a high-impact defender. You can't become a superstar through scoring alone.

Dirk did.