Scoot McGroot wrote:Topofthekey wrote:Scoot McGroot wrote:
What I would do doesn’t matter, and I suspect it’s the opposite of how the front office feels.
At the time, the issue wasn’t just money with Thad. It was a starting position, or the chance to earn it. We told him straight up he was going to come off the bench because of Sabonis earning a promotion, and we told him we were only willing to give him a 2 year deal. He went to Chicago for a chance to start, more money, and a partially guaranteed 3rd year on top of those two things. He was one of the first free agents off the board that offseason.
This is where I am saying, in hindsight, they should have given him the money and the 3rd year
They ended up giving Lamb a 3 year deal anyway, so now we have Lamb instead of Thad
Yes, even if that meant we couldn't have signed TJ, because right now I'd rather have Thad instead of Lamb and TJ
Sure. We lack a backup PF right now, but I'm willing to assume that if we had kept Thad, and everything else stayed the same, we'd equally be looking for a backup PG right now, too.
True. But I'd rather have Thad instead of TJ right now all the same
Caris can play some backup PG when Brogdon sits, especially if the report that Pacers were open to trading Brogdon because they felt Caris can play PG is true
They can also try developing Aaron. He's been asked to play off ball this season, and the results aren't good so far. Feels like his best role is to be the backup ball handler. Compared to TJ he's more of a scoring PG, but there's value in that too
It's not perfect, but it's better than playing Justin or Doug or Lamb at PF
Scoot McGroot wrote:Topofthekey wrote:As for the starting job, I'm not sure that was even a factor
Like you said, he must have known that we wanted to start Sabonis, yet he made it known that he wanted to be back
It was heavily reported to be a major factor. He wanted to return, but he wanted to return as the starter, and he didn't really care if that meant we had to trade Sabonis or not, he just wanted it.He only started 16 out of 64 games he played in his first season with the Bulls anyway, so it's not like they gave him a job as a starter either
Sure, but they gave him the chance to start. We told him that he would not other than injuries.
By sheer cap mechanics, it would definitely have required we didn't acquire Lamb and one of TJ or Justin. That's a fact. The other reality is that for Thad to return, we probably would have had to deal Sabonis before last season during that free agency period.
It's hard to say. I don't remember reading anything about Thad wanting to be a starter even if it meant trading Domas
If that was true, then obviously we 'd rather just let Thad walk than accommodate him
But looking at his tenure with the Bulls so far, he seems to be embracing the bench role, so it feels like he would have embraced the bench role here as well
