nomorezorro wrote:i'm also ambivalent about the on-court value of most of the non-zach "core," but i feel even more strongly today than i did in 2017 that you can build a good team around an elite talent without a hard reset
other than zach, our most important players are arguably thad young (signed for $14.5 million / year with a trash team) and tomas satoransky (signed for $10 million / year with a trash team), with garret temple ($5m, trash team) also in the mix. i don't think this is damning of the quality of our roster — i think it's a sign that you can add positive players without making a "big splash" in free agency. the heat built a finals team around jimmy butler with a bunch of easily acquirable vets and guys they got with the 13th/14th picks in the draft. you've had guys like christian wood, jerami grant and malcolm brogdon establish themselves as key pieces after switching teams in free agency.
not being tied to lauri/wendell/coby — who have all shown enough to make the case that they're not duds, so they have some value — means we can move them for other pieces without regret if an opportunity presents itself. there's also a chance that one or two of em find a role here long-term and turn into positive contributors.
it would be nice to have gotten sure-fire studs out of our recent lotto picks, but we're super flexible, and hopefully we've got a creative front office who will go to work to maximize the potential of this team with all the options available to them
NO ONE KNOWS THE FUTURE
People like to talk like they do but it just guessing. The most important part of a great player is his desire to succeed. The willness to grow and become better. I believe Zach has the will. Now the Bulls need to surround him with better players.
Throughout the history in the NBA. People have been mistaking.
Back in Jordans early year (85-87)people wanted trade him because it was believed impossible to build around him. A great scorer was seen as player who could not be the cog of a championship team.
I listen to these things from the Journalists
Jordan was not a winner.
Jordan was not a capable leader
We needed a pg and center.
Trade pippen because he was loser. Pippen was a choker. Pippen was soft.
Now everyone loves them all.
Zach drive, growth, and desire to succeed has erased most of my doubts. Most people are not claiming he is Jordan reborn but we recognize he keeps grinding to get better.
Every year people keep saying this is who he is. Then he gets a little better. I desire to keep him to see how it ends.
I have high respect for Beals,and Lillard because of this. I respect Curry because of this too.
Beals was a guy who they said could not create his own shot efficiently. He was seen as purely a shooter.
Lillard was a guy maxed out and would not be better then his rookie year because he went school 4 years. He had no upside.
Curry was guy whom people said could not dribble and was not a traditional pg. People questioned his handle.
2 of this guys are seen as superstars and Beals keeps growing.
These are examples of people pushing past their limits and I respect it. Of course there a question if Zach will achieve his desired role of being a franchise player.
Zach has grinded it out and become a far better player. His ACL in year 3 set him back. His first 2 years were bad and he looked like he did not deserve to be in NBA. Especially that first year. It was was a dumpster fire.
In my opinion Zach had some bad coaches. He made his greatest gains under Thibs and Billy. He was also pegged as the 3rd man on that Minnesota team.
Look at Jimmy and Khawi. Both of these guys were not pegged as top 15 players. They worked for it and were properly coach. They grew into starsl
Zach has manage to keep growing in this organization. I believe Billy is great at working with players and bringing out the best in them.
Who knows if you guys are right and we should trade. Still, Zach is making things more interesting. There are no guarantees in life but Zach does seem to have a the desire to be great. He has made more progress then I believed he was capable. Zach deserves a chance in my book. I really wish him well. He deserves an opportunity by the effort he has put forth.