New front office skill acquired: Turn everything into an asset

[TyrusRose2425]

Made a comment about it but thought it deserved a post. Over the years we've always seen teams pull rabbits out of their hat and make moves happen we didn't think was possible. GarPax never showed that ability. Right now, it appears very much that AKME have a good handle on how to create something out of nothing.

Garrett Temple:

- Turned a guy who normally you let walk for nothing into a sign and trade asset to get Lonzo with Satoransky who you would maybe get a 2nd round pick for at best

Daniel Theis:

- Turned a guy ready to walk into a trade exception. Now we have either gained a TPE or put Caruso into it and gained Caruso while holding onto full MLE

Other assets we could potentially use for something:

- Lauri Markannen: Pelicans just gave up a lotto protected first for Graham. No reason we cannot do the same while acquiring another decently sized TPE.

- Denzel Valentine: Not sure who wants him but perhaps we can get a 2nd rounder and small TPE

- Cristiano Felicio: This one seems super unlikely but if we need to facilitate a bigger move, we could re-sign him to a big number like Temple to make salaries work in a trade

Not to forget, he flipped Gafford, Kornet, and Hutchinson into Brown Jr, Green, and a TPE (Caruso?) by taking advantage of a team up against the luxury tax.

[coldfish]

Good thread.

As I wrote earlier, a lot of the problems with the Vuc trade were based around the idea that teams were incapable of making trades and that the Bulls just shot their wad on a second tier center.

Now that people realize that flexibility exists without capspace, minds may turn.

Another note: People underestimate the value of Vucevic's contract. Dude is being paid a little more per year than Duncan Robinson now.

Going forward, the Bulls still have the ability to do a lot of things.

[Evil_Headband]

Managing this over the cap instead of cutting and stretching players to get under was masterful.

[TyrusRose2425]

Good thread.

As I wrote earlier, a lot of the problems with the Vuc trade were based around the idea that teams were incapable of making trades and that the Bulls just shot their wad on a second tier center.

Now that people realize that flexibility exists without capspace, minds may turn.

Another note: People underestimate the value of Vucevic's contract. Dude is being paid a little more per year than Duncan Robinson now.

Going forward, the Bulls still have the ability to do a lot of things.

Forgot to add this to my original post:

By using Temple as an asset to acquire Ball, AKME has:

- allowed us to keep Thad Young
- allowed us to keep Lauri as either a player or tradable asset
- allowed us to acquire Caruso
- allowed us to acquire either a TPE or the MLE by being able to trade Theis

Four assets from one move involving Garrett Temple.

So yeah, we're not stuck by any means. We now have a front office that knows how to maneuver the cap and get creative. It's not easy or straightforward, but if it was impossible, we would never see much player movement across all teams.

[Friend_Of_Haley]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

[WindyCityBorn]

Anyone that doubted AK should be converted now. We definitely not in treadmill Hell.

[sco]

If there is a TPE or MLE spot coming back - find a way to couple that with Lauri to nab a higher tier guy.

[TyrusRose2425]

If there is a TPE or MLE spot coming back - find a way to couple that with Lauri to nab a higher tier guy.

Pretty sure you can't combine a TPE with a player

[coldfish]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

The Bulls have had one edict: Avoid luxury tax.

They will not be paying it this year. The old regime kept falling into the same trap regarding this: They would go for capspace, keep all their young guys, throw a massive amount of money at mediocre players and then spend a buttload more to retain their young guys. This put them at the tax line and frequently tied their hands.

AKME has avoided this trap by dumping young guys and/or not giving into their huge demands

Even going forward, I doubt they give big money to Coby and Thad/Aminu's expiring deals will prevent them from exploding salary wise. This team will not see any type of monetary handcuffs on it for a few years.

[sco]

If there is a TPE or MLE spot coming back - find a way to couple that with Lauri to nab a higher tier guy.

Pretty sure you can't combine a TPE with a player

I think you can do 2 "separate" deals with a team though IIRC.

[Chi town]

Good thread.

As I wrote earlier, a lot of the problems with the Vuc trade were based around the idea that teams were incapable of making trades and that the Bulls just shot their wad on a second tier center.

Now that people realize that flexibility exists without capspace, minds may turn.

Another note: People underestimate the value of Vucevic's contract. Dude is being paid a little more per year than Duncan Robinson now.

Going forward, the Bulls still have the ability to do a lot of things.

That ability combined with AK’s skill is what’s key.

[TyrusRose2425]

If there is a TPE or MLE spot coming back - find a way to couple that with Lauri to nab a higher tier guy.

Pretty sure you can't combine a TPE with a player

I think you can do 2 "separate" deals with a team though IIRC.

But can't combine TPE's. What we could do is S&T Lauri and say he signs at $15m per year, get a TPE around that number. Can't turn that into $23m with the Theis TPE though

[WindyCityBorn]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

The Bulls have had one edict: Avoid luxury tax.

They will not be paying it this year. The old regime kept falling into the same trap regarding this: They would go for capspace, keep all their young guys, throw a massive amount of money at mediocre players and then spend a buttload more to retain their young guys. This put them at the tax line and frequently tied their hands.

AKME has avoided this trap by dumping young guys and/or not giving into their huge demands

Even going forward, I doubt they give big money to Coby and Thad/Aminu's expiring deals will prevent them from exploding salary wise. This team will not see any type of monetary handcuffs on it for a few years.

Avoid luxury tax unless you are a legit championship contender.

[Michael Jackson]

Anyone that doubted AK should be converted now. We definitely not in treadmill Hell.

Well we are improved for sure, but still a treadmill team IMHO. We are far from a contender. Definitely moving in the right direction but they haven't shed that it will work or that we aren't a low seeded playoff team. AK is an out of the box thinker though for sure.

[sco]

Pretty sure you can't combine a TPE with a player

I think you can do 2 "separate" deals with a team though IIRC.

But can't combine TPE's. What we could do is S&T Lauri and say he signs at $15m per year, get a TPE around that number. Can't turn that into $23m with the Theis TPE though

No, you're right, but maybe that means we trade for a higher-quality lower cost guy and a lower-quality middle cost guy.

[ghostinthepost1]

I have to admit after watching AKME essentially do nothing to the team during their first off season I was worried but the trade deadline and this off season so far have been an absolute masterclass.

[TyrusRose2425]

Anyone that doubted AK should be converted now. We definitely not in treadmill Hell.

Well we are improved for sure, but still a treadmill team IMHO. We are far from a contender. Definitely moving in the right direction but they haven't shed that it will work or that we aren't a low seeded playoff team. AK is an out of the box thinker though for sure.

This is a necessary step though. If you sign guy to fair deals, you can always trade them for cap space. This means come 2022 as long as no one becomes an albatross contract, you can talk to Beal, Durant, etc.. If one of them wants to join, you just trade the necessary guys to make it happen. First step is being a playoff team and having that star or two already (Lavine + Vucevic?).

[AKfanatic]

Good thread TyrusRose.

I’ll say the same thing i said in response to your post that lead to this.



real “flexibility” is the flexibility to find and create moves.


AK and the FO team are showing its not about roster flexibility as much as it’s about a flexible front office.

[WindyCityBorn]

Anyone that doubted AK should be converted now. We definitely not in treadmill Hell.

Well we are improved for sure, but still a treadmill team IMHO. We are far from a contender. Definitely moving in the right direction but they haven't shed that it will work or that we aren't a low seeded playoff team. AK is an out of the box thinker though for sure.

We have ton of flexibility. We are not locked into any long term bad contracts, have an all-star C on value contract, one of the best scorers in the league that is only 26 in Zach and two young very high upside players in Ball and PWill. We are not contenders, but we are far from locked into mediocrity.

[Friend_Of_Haley]

I think one outstanding question is if there was ownership outlook change at all. The old regime wasn't necessarily not unresourceful, but quite often their resources seemed pointed towards ownership goals re: profit maximization. Is that a longstanding change? Or early goodwill? Or a change from ownership whose primary goal is reaching the playoffs again?

The Bulls have had one edict: Avoid luxury tax.

They will not be paying it this year. The old regime kept falling into the same trap regarding this: They would go for capspace, keep all their young guys, throw a massive amount of money at mediocre players and then spend a buttload more to retain their young guys. This put them at the tax line and frequently tied their hands.

AKME has avoided this trap by dumping young guys and/or not giving into their huge demands

Even going forward, I doubt they give big money to Coby and Thad/Aminu's expiring deals will prevent them from exploding salary wise. This team will not see any type of monetary handcuffs on it for a few years.

And maybe that is the only edict, but it's hard to see AK not running into limitations if the plan ends up being a LaVine new deal after 2021.