Lonzo Ball Thread (UPDATE: Bulls Offer Sato + 2nd Round picks)

[Red8911]

Adams is the center that would be perfect for the bulls and would be a nice fit next to Lauri, so if Ball were to come with Adams then that would be great.

I never liked Ball and don’t think he will ever become anything special but I guess he can help with his pass first playing style. Guys like Lavine and Lauri would benefit. Balls inability to shoot though is a huge problem.

I wonder what New Orleans would want for those two ? Would Carter, Otto, and Sato be enough or would Coby need to be included as well?

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Everyone instantly becomes better with Ball. He can run an offense and is an above average passer. He has the potential to avg 8+ assists per game, if not more with this group tbh.

Would love to keep Coby to have as the spark plug off the bench. Lonzo just fits better. Sato and a lottery protected first?

[CobyWhite0]

This is just some dude's idea - Lauri for Lonzo, the Lakers' FRP this summer, and a 2nd round pick in 2022.

New Orleans Pelicans: Pels should trade Lonzo Ball for Lauri Markkanen

Why the Bulls would do it

The Chicago Bulls are a team without a real point guard.

They have Zach LaVine, who has been amazing this season but he is a scorer first and could use a guy who can get him the ball in his spots.

Coby White is better as a scoring guard off the bench, a role in which he has thrived in his young career.

Lonzo Ball makes a lot of sense on this team, especially when you consider that Lauri Markkanen may not be part of the long-term plans.

Markkanen is in the final year of his deal and playing the best basketball of his career, so now is the time for the Bulls to get max value in a trade.

Markkanen is averaging 19.4 points, and 6.5 rebounds, while shooting a career-best 39.7 percent from 3-point range on 7.3 attempts per game.

The Bulls would only make this deal if they think Markkanen is going to leave in free agency or don’t want to pony up the money to re-sign him.

A core of Lonzo Ball, LaVine, Patrick Williams, White and Wendall Carter Jr. is not bad, and the Bulls would also have an additional first-round pick in 2021 to work with.

They would at least listen to this offer.

https://pelicandebrief.com/2021/01/24/new-orleans-pelicans-lonzo-ball-mark/

First of all, the genius who wrote this is apparently completely unaware that the 2021 FRP the Pels are getting from the Lakers is protected 8-30... which means there is absolutely no way in hell the Bulls would get that pick this summer.

That pick will turn into the Lakers' 2022 FRP - unprotected, but it's not like the Lakers are going to be in the lottery in the 2022 draft. BUT, the Pels own the Cavs' and the Wizards' 2nd round pick this summer. If they want to throw those in, I could do

Lauri

for

Lonzo
2021 CLE 2nd rounder
2021 WAS 2nd rounder
2022 LAL 1st rounder unprotected
2022 NO 2nd rounder

[DroseReturnChi]

Everyone instantly becomes better with Ball. He can run an offense and is an above average passer. He has the potential to avg 8+ assists per game, if not more with this group tbh.

Would love to keep Coby to have as the spark plug off the bench. Lonzo just fits better. Sato and a lottery protected first?

its better to deal coby whose a sunk cost like Carter at this point. You dont keep lottery prospects to become bench players and give development time. Sato is a veteran you need to keep to win and Ball would replace coby.
Its time to clear empty calories and get impact players back. And yeah with cap going up im not dealing sato anything less than mid round. If you want to make a deep playoff run, you cannot focus on keeping rookie contracts just because they are cheaper.

Resign Lavine, Lauri so you can trade for a star later and in the meantime surround them with veterans that can cover weakness.
Carter, coby, arci, felicio, hutch, kornet etc. these guys dont belong on a playoff team thats half of the roster useless.

[Kukoc-Lauri]

Ball have major flaws. That being said he is massive upgrade on point guard position with Bulls. In order to get payed his best fit for him personally are Bulls. Like of all 30 teams his natural fit is Bulls. As long as price is couple of seconds and/or Valentine,Hutchinson,Kornet i would do it. Carter,Sato also could be in table.If we are sending Lauri,Otto we should get compensated with draft picks from Pels. If you dont like Ball expirement just dont match or offer contract in fa and move on.

[AKfanatic]

Ball would be a solid PG for the Bulls. He’s a very good passer with nice instincts defensively and rebounding. Plugging him in next to Lauri, Lavine, and Williams would do wonders for the Bulls. He’d help Markkanen and PWill tremendously offensively and is the type of PG that a guy like Wendell really needs to bring out his offensive game.

If the Bulls could get him for bench pieces and 2nd rounders, they need to snatch him up quick. If they could add him while keeping Coby and moving him to a sixth man microwave type told, awesome... but I’d trade Coby for him in a nanosecond.

I imagine it’d take time for the Bulls to really get used to Ball running the offense, particularly Zach, but his addition would really help guys find their roles offensively and he’d be an enormous improvement defensively.

[rtblues]

HARD pass!!!

[AusBull]

Please God no, this will take us backwards

[erlim]

Isn’t Lonzo ranked as a better player than Zach Lavine? We’d probably have to sell the farm to get that fella.

[PrimzyBulls81]

I would love to get S. Adams in package, but he is unavailable thru trade because he signed an extension not long ago.

Anyway, lets get Lonzo, he would be big upgrade over White as PG, much better vision, better passer, better defender..

[BigJimFinn]

I would love to get S. Adams in package, but he is unavailable thru trade because he signed an extension not long ago.

Anyway, lets get Lonzo, he would be big upgrade over White as PG, much better vision, better passer, better defender..

Why would that be the case? He signed a 2-year extension with 5% raise, so it fits within the extend&trade restrictions, and I am not aware of any other rule forbidding a further trade. There is no salary cap problem either, because his extension is $10M lower than his current salary.

[Onibuh]

If there is a combination with Adams, I'd be more interested in Adams.
I'm interested in Sato for Lonzo, in Lauri for Lonzo + FRP (protection or Lakers) or something like Hutchison for Lonzo. Don't think Redick would be needed off the bench with Lonzo/White/Lavine as guards.

I think Lonzo would help this team if Billy D tells him to be the facilitator and floor general - not a scorer.

[troza]

Taking risk with a young guy that is low on value and has shown potential... it might work.

I don't know if it would be the right move to go for Lonzo but, obviously depending on the trade, it is the type of player we can take a chance while we are still on this phase of developing talent.

[Axl Rose]

I'd do something like Sato or Felicio+Protected 2nd or Hutchison. While not great on his own, his perimeter defense and passing could be beneficial to other players. Worst case we're stuck with another crappy PG for the remainder of the season.

[Grodoboldo]

Lonzo doesn't solve any of our PG problems because he can't create **** in the half-court.

[MisterRoy]

With Donovan as coach maybe Lonzo gets better than he has been in NO?


Sent from somewhere you've never been.

[cjbulls]

A Lonzo deal is risky. You’re betting he could get up speed in half a season, liking him and then wanting to pay him big $$$. That’s a hidden risk in itself. What if he sucks until the last month and then plays well, now are you shelling out $18-20M AAV for him? There is a lot of opportunity to get sucked into a bad extension.

Lonzo in current form isn’t a big upgrade. You’d be betting on him turning his career around under BD as a true PG in a new offense, which doesn’t seem that realistic. I think he’s only worth Sato or Hutch/Val. Not worth sending any other assets. Doubt the Pelicans want that deal.

[CaPiTanAK]

A Lonzo deal is risky. You’re betting he could get up speed in half a season, liking him and then wanting to pay him big $$$. That’s a hidden risk in itself. What if he sucks until the last month and then plays well, now are you shelling out $18-20M AAV for him? There is a lot of opportunity to get sucked into a bad extension.

Lonzo in current form isn’t a big upgrade. You’d be betting on him turning his career around under BD as a true PG in a new offense, which doesn’t seem that realistic. I think he’s only worth Sato or Hutch/Val. Not worth sending any other assets. Doubt the Pelicans want that deal.

Honestly, I think Lonzo career is going to turn out to be similar to Marcus Smart, which isn't a bad consolidation prize if he can be had for a second rounder or one of our disposal veterans.

[cjbulls]

A Lonzo deal is risky. You’re betting he could get up speed in half a season, liking him and then wanting to pay him big $$$. That’s a hidden risk in itself. What if he sucks until the last month and then plays well, now are you shelling out $18-20M AAV for him? There is a lot of opportunity to get sucked into a bad extension.

Lonzo in current form isn’t a big upgrade. You’d be betting on him turning his career around under BD as a true PG in a new offense, which doesn’t seem that realistic. I think he’s only worth Sato or Hutch/Val. Not worth sending any other assets. Doubt the Pelicans want that deal.

Honestly, I think Lonzo career is going to turn out to be similar to Marcus Smart, which isn't a bad consolidation prize if he can be had for a second rounder or one of our disposal veterans.

I could see something like that, but Smart makes like 11M a year. Lonzo wants big $$$ and I don’t know if there is enough time to evaluate him.

[chefo]

Lonzo would be lucky to get an MLE deal coming up. Who on Earth wants to deal with a guy that's not a star producer in any aspect on the court, but has all that baggage, courtesy of his pops? Dude has been a monumental bust for a #2 pick in a very loaded draft.

This reeks like the good old days when GarPax was trying to bring over PGs like Grant and Payne whom they really liked while in college, while disregarding their production in the NBA. Lozno hasn't broken 13 PER and 51% TS in 4 years in the NBA. I'm not sure where the 'good defender' tag comes from as well--every time I've seen him play, he's been mediocre at best. He's not some defensive beast like Kahwi or Artest you can build a D around.

If you want to roll the dice and get him for a 9th man + a 2nd, sure. That's what the price for a very low-odds lottery ticket should be. Giving an actual productive NBA player (Otto, Lauri) for Lonzo is a "hell, no", from me.