PG: Bulls Clipped

[Butler4thewin]

Why are you guys even making him matter. Let him starve and die.

are you suggesting we steal his phone and cut off power to his house and board it up and wait for him to starve ? lol

Stop reading his nonsense. He depends on your outrage. Stop being predictable. He never says anything worthwhile.

im just messing around lol....i dont read anybodys crap i dont have social media whatsoever

[sco]

There are no good losses (which could change if we tank), but what I've been watching for is improvement, and I see some. Unfortunately, we don't learn much about how good or bad we are with so many guys out tonight. Still some carelessness and missed rotations, but fewer. 20 TO's killed us, now many of those were due to the fact the LA has some elite defenders, but more than a few were a lack of focus on the Bulls' part. And give Leonard his due, dude was hitting 3 after 3 tonight...that's what studs do.

Zach impressed me with decent all-around play. He may not be an elite #1 option, but he's playing like he wants to be. Kudos to him on sinking 10 of 16 3's, with 7 boards and 7asts.

PWill had another decent outing. Stayed tough on Leonard all game, but Leonard's offense was just better than PWill's good defense. Only 1 foul with that tough defense in 36 min. Love that he's showing more confidence in his 3 ball. That said, I feel a little like I'm pressing to find good stuff to say.

Thad had a really nice game. Did some nice stuff on both ends.

Coby was good and bad. His shot was off tonight, but to be fair, he had Pat Bev draped all over him and he looked to have tweaked his ankle that I think negatively impacted him. That said, a 9/8/13 stat line was nice.

[ZOMG]

The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed).

Thad's leg murdered the team? How?

He wasn't missed in any way. He's playing NOW because people are out and with Gafford coming back to earth, but he was gonna be a 10 min guy max even healthy to start the season. Whose minutes was he going to take?

For an old journeyman, Temple has been fantastic lately. He's more than covered for Sato and Arci. Hutch wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

So it comes down to Lauri, and there we agree... his absence was a huge problem on this road trip.

Contract Year Otto was trending down even before he hurt his back. When he's healthy, he's an important piece. When he's injured, he's worthless.

[weneeda2guard]

If lavine is going to become that kind of star then he needs to learn how to close games as a 1st option and the only way he will learn is to go through these growing pains of close losses. This is the 1st time lavine has been in a situation where winning is expected and not just tanking and expecting to lose. He is young and will learn.

But I think at this point we can conclude that lavine is a all star.

[Chi town]

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2005/seasontype/2
Bulls started 0-9 finish 47-35

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2007/seasontype/2
Bulls started 3-9 finish 49-33

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2011/seasontype/2
Bulls start 2-3 finish 62-20

I can point to some other examples. The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed). They also have been the victim of just luck shooting. Similar things happened in the above seasons. You could just tell early on that the losses were flukey or bad circumstances.

There is an old adage that good teams win close games. It really isn't true. Close games are luck.

IMO, if the Bulls can get their roster together and maintain this energy, they are going to go on a big run.

........

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

Yep. If healthy I think they will have a 5 game winning streak before the ASB.

[Devinpo]

Read on Twitter

Cowley’s such a troll. Context matters bruh.

LOL! He can't be serious.

I’m glad I see this because I know Zach will see and will motivate him even more. The pain of losing will help him learn. He is only 25 people!

[WindyCityBorn]

The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed).

Thad's leg murdered the team? How?

He wasn't missed in any way. He's playing NOW because people are out and Gafford coming back to earth, but he was gonna be a 10 min guy max even healthy to start the season. Whose minutes was he going to take?

For an old journeyman, Temple has been fantastic lately. He's more than covered for Sato and Arci. Hutch wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

So it comes down to Lauri, and there we agree... his absence was a huge problem on this road trip. [/quote]

Thad is 20 minute guy. I love what he has brought so far. He cannot play center though.

[tedwilliams1999]

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I definitely agree with this - I was always a fan of Lauri's game, especially after his rookie season. I was hopeful that Lauri / WCJ could have formed a strong, super modern 4/5 combination. Unfortunately since then, the league has gotten even smaller and more mobile, and Lauri's defensive deficiencies remain pretty apparent.

I hope does well for the remainder of the season; it'd be great to have an embarrassment of young riches. But if we're projecting our team going forward, it doesn't seem like Lauri fits in with AKME's vision for a future playoff team.

In my opinion, it's not a decision that comes down to Lauri vs Wendell at all, even though that's the easy comparison. It comes down to the front office evaluations of each player individually. If we do trade Lauri at this current trade deadline, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and trade WCJ at the next trade deadline if he fails to develop as projected.

[Chi town]

Kawhi wont' have another 3pt shooting performance like today's this season.

[kulaz3000]

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2005/seasontype/2
Bulls started 0-9 finish 47-35

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2007/seasontype/2
Bulls started 3-9 finish 49-33

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2011/seasontype/2
Bulls start 2-3 finish 62-20

I can point to some other examples. The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed). They also have been the victim of just luck shooting. Similar things happened in the above seasons. You could just tell early on that the losses were flukey or bad circumstances.

There is an old adage that good teams win close games. It really isn't true. Close games are luck.

IMO, if the Bulls can get their roster together and maintain this energy, they are going to go on a big run.

........

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

It could go that way, and all signs points to the Bulls gathering some steam and winning games a consistent basis.

I see it another way though, from more of a front office perspective. This team is clearly making progress under Billy, they are playing better, players are making improvements, and they are clearly mapping out a indentity where by they simply don't give up and teams need to play hard to beat us now. However, we have too much role-player players on our roster, and the current draft class has some franchise changing players.

I could see AK making a consolidation trade either for another prominent player to put alongside Zach, but stripping away depth on the roster, resulting in losses. Or consolidating players in favor of future flexibliity and draft picks, and again, stripping away some depth on the roster resulting in losses. I don't know when he would likely make such a move, but I could see a big move in Feburary.

I say this, because it's too much of a Paxson move to keep the roster as is, and go for a playoff run, with still so much uneven talent on the roster. And then when a player or two moves on because we don't want to overpay, the team is immediately back as a lottery team. We need to build slowly for sustained success, and not immediate ones, and that can only happen if we continue to obtain real star quality or star potential players on the roster.

I absolutely love this rendition of the Bulls, and these two losses have been a joy because we are finally playing a competitive, but also a very appealing brand of basketball, and this is the type of style of basketball star players are going to look at with appeal. We aren't only playing free-flowing offense, where everyone on the floor gets up shots, but we play hard and together. It wouldn't shock me if we hear rumors of said player adding Chicago to their list of teams that teams wouldn't mind being traded to in the near future.

[DASMACKDOWN]

At least we arent being homers with this. The opposing teams announcers were HIGHLY impressed with our team under Bill Donovan.

They have been singing high praises for Zach, Coby and Pat.

[chicagoballer]

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2005/seasontype/2
Bulls started 0-9 finish 47-35

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2007/seasontype/2
Bulls started 3-9 finish 49-33

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2011/seasontype/2
Bulls start 2-3 finish 62-20

I can point to some other examples. The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed). They also have been the victim of just luck shooting. Similar things happened in the above seasons. You could just tell early on that the losses were flukey or bad circumstances.

There is an old adage that good teams win close games. It really isn't true. Close games are luck.

IMO, if the Bulls can get their roster together and maintain this energy, they are going to go on a big run.

........

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I would bet you any amount of money something similar will not happen this year.

defensive ratings

2005 - 6th

2007 - 1st

2011 - 1st

2020 - 28th

The same will not happen as we are not good defensively. It is way more likely that we are a .300 team.we would be lucky if we finish .400-.500

[WindyCityBorn]

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I definitely agree with this - I was always a fan of Lauri's game, especially after his rookie season. I was hopeful that Lauri / WCJ could have formed a strong, super modern 4/5 combination. Unfortunately since then, the league has gotten even smaller and more mobile, and Lauri's defensive deficiencies remain pretty apparent.

I hope does well for the remainder of the season; it'd be great to have an embarrassment of young riches. But if we're projecting our team going forward, it doesn't seem like Lauri fits in with AKME's vision for a future playoff team.

In my opinion, it's not a decision that comes down to Lauri vs Wendell at all, even though that's the easy comparison. It comes down to the front office evaluations of each player individually. If we do trade Lauri at this current trade deadline, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and trade WCJ at the next trade deadline if he fails to develop as projected.

I’m happy Carter’s offense has improved, but his lack of athleticism is very apparent. We don’t have any bugs that play above the rim. Gafford could, but it seems to be mental with him.

[Chi town]

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I definitely agree with this - I was always a fan of Lauri's game, especially after his rookie season. I was hopeful that Lauri / WCJ could have formed a strong, super modern 4/5 combination. Unfortunately since then, the league has gotten even smaller and more mobile, and Lauri's defensive deficiencies remain pretty apparent.

I hope does well for the remainder of the season; it'd be great to have an embarrassment of young riches. But if we're projecting our team going forward, it doesn't seem like Lauri fits in with AKME's vision for a future playoff team.

In my opinion, it's not a decision that comes down to Lauri vs Wendell at all, even though that's the easy comparison. It comes down to the front office evaluations of each player individually. If we do trade Lauri at this current trade deadline, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and trade WCJ at the next trade deadline if he fails to develop as projected.

Our core 5 of Coby, Zach, PW, Lauri, and WCJ is versatile. I like Lauri at backup 5 with PW at the 4 next to him. I like Coby playing as a scorer off ball in spurts. I like Zach running off screens off ball as a shooter too.

There is alot to like about those 5 and cap space.

[coldfish]

The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed).

Thad's leg murdered the team? How?

He wasn't missed in any way. He's playing NOW because people are out and Gafford coming back to earth, but he was gonna be a 10 min guy max even healthy to start the season. Whose minutes was he going to take?

For an old journeyman, Temple has been fantastic lately. He's more than covered for Sato and Arci. Hutch wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

So it comes down to Lauri, and there we agree... his absence was a huge problem on this road trip.

Thad has been huge for the Bulls and BD agrees. That's why he is finishing games. He is opening up a lot of stuff by forcing teams to cover the in between game.

The Bulls functionally don't have a back up PG without Satoransky. IMO, Coby's legs are starting to look tired at points. Temple doesn't replace him.

Otto has played very well. If he plays today, the Bulls win.

But yeah, Lauri played well in 4 games. If he had played like that in the 6 he has missed, the Bulls have a winning record right now.

[WindyCityBorn]

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2005/seasontype/2
Bulls started 0-9 finish 47-35

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2007/seasontype/2
Bulls started 3-9 finish 49-33

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/chi/season/2011/seasontype/2
Bulls start 2-3 finish 62-20

I can point to some other examples. The Bulls are playing well but they have been screwed by personnel being out (Thad getting that leg infection murdered the team, now its just flat short handed). They also have been the victim of just luck shooting. Similar things happened in the above seasons. You could just tell early on that the losses were flukey or bad circumstances.

There is an old adage that good teams win close games. It really isn't true. Close games are luck.

IMO, if the Bulls can get their roster together and maintain this energy, they are going to go on a big run.

........

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

It could go that way, and all signs points to the Bulls gathering some steam and winning games a consistent basis.

I see it another way though, from more of a front office perspective. This team is clearly making progress under Billy, they are playing better, players are making improvements, and they are clearly mapping out a indentity where by they simply don't give up and teams need to play hard to beat us now. However, we have too much role-player players on our roster, and the current draft class has some franchise changing players.

I could see AK making a consolidation trade either for another prominent player to put alongside Zach, but stripping away depth on the roster, resulting in losses. Or consolidating players in favor of future flexibliity and draft picks, and again, stripping away some depth on the roster resulting in losses. I don't know when he would likely make such a move, but I could see a big move in Feburary.

I say this, because it's too much of a Paxson move to keep the roster as is, and go for a playoff run, with still so much uneven talent on the roster. And then when a player or two moves on because we don't want to overpay, the team is immediately back as a lottery team. We need to build slowly for sustained success, and not immediate ones, and that can only happen if we continue to obtain real star quality or star potential players on the roster.

I absolutely love this rendition of the Bulls, and these two losses have been a joy because we are finally playing a competitive, but also a very appealing brand of basketball, and this is the type of style of basketball star players are going to look at with appeal. We aren't only playing free-flowing offense, where everyone on the floor gets up shots, but we play hard and together. It wouldn't shock me if we hear rumors of said player adding Chicago to their list of teams that teams wouldn't mind being traded to in the near future.

We should definitely trade Porter. I would not be opposed to moving Carter too.

[Shill]

Watch on YouTube

[kulaz3000]

We should definitely trade Porter. I would not be opposed to moving Carter too.

Yep, Otto looks to be a prime player that is likely to be moved this off season. And despite his constant injuries, when he does play he is a big part of this teams success.

I could also see either Carter or Lauri being moved, and this may seem controversial because he is making progress, but it wouldn't shock me if they move Coby as well, while he is playing relatively well. And this isn't because I don't like him, and don't think he can be a really good player, but because he is young, is still on his rookie contract and likely has some strong value around this league currently.

[tedwilliams1999]

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I definitely agree with this - I was always a fan of Lauri's game, especially after his rookie season. I was hopeful that Lauri / WCJ could have formed a strong, super modern 4/5 combination. Unfortunately since then, the league has gotten even smaller and more mobile, and Lauri's defensive deficiencies remain pretty apparent.

I hope does well for the remainder of the season; it'd be great to have an embarrassment of young riches. But if we're projecting our team going forward, it doesn't seem like Lauri fits in with AKME's vision for a future playoff team.

In my opinion, it's not a decision that comes down to Lauri vs Wendell at all, even though that's the easy comparison. It comes down to the front office evaluations of each player individually. If we do trade Lauri at this current trade deadline, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and trade WCJ at the next trade deadline if he fails to develop as projected.

Our core 5 of Coby, Zach, PW, Lauri, and WCJ is versatile. I like Lauri at backup 5 with PW at the 4 next to him. I like Coby playing as a scorer off ball in spurts. I like Zach running off screens off ball as a shooter too.

There is alot to like about those 5 and cap space.

I do like all of these players individually, but in the scenario you described in your last two sentences, we still need to position ourselves to find a playmaking guard or wing who can truly run our offense. I'm not sure what the best way to get that player is going to be, but if trading Lauri helps us find some more assets then obviously I'd be all for it.

As far as versatility goes - offensively, sure, that core should be able to get it done. But with Lauri/WCJ at the 4/5, there isn't much to like about the defensive versatility.

With that said, I'm really enjoying us finally fielding modern day NBA line ups out there. These games are getting more competitive, and we're finally starting to get noticed league wide:

Read on Twitter

[Hugi Mancura]

Man, the Lauri fans can be tough to stomach. IMO, they bring a lot of the Lauri hate on. I guarantee you that there are a legion of posters waiting to run him into the ground after his first bad game.

I definitely agree with this - I was always a fan of Lauri's game, especially after his rookie season. I was hopeful that Lauri / WCJ could have formed a strong, super modern 4/5 combination. Unfortunately since then, the league has gotten even smaller and more mobile, and Lauri's defensive deficiencies remain pretty apparent.

I hope does well for the remainder of the season; it'd be great to have an embarrassment of young riches. But if we're projecting our team going forward, it doesn't seem like Lauri fits in with AKME's vision for a future playoff team.

In my opinion, it's not a decision that comes down to Lauri vs Wendell at all, even though that's the easy comparison. It comes down to the front office evaluations of each player individually. If we do trade Lauri at this current trade deadline, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and trade WCJ at the next trade deadline if he fails to develop as projected.

And are they any different than any other fans? Fans ignore their heroes weaknesses.

If team want's to be good in the future then it needs to remove two of quartet (Lavine, White, WCJ and Lauri) from the starting 5. Game have moved to perimeter and as you said WCJ and Lauri both don't have legs. So removing one and adding an athletic big would really help. But pairing Lavine and White are bad defensively and because perimeter defense is more important than ever Bulls are not going far with those two at starting 5. So removing other and adding a good defender to his place would do wonders on Bulls starting 5.

But Lavine and White fans blame Lauri and WCJ, while Lauri and WCJ fans blame Lavine and White, and they are both right.