Official: DeRozan! Player of the Week p69

[JimmyJammer]

KD coming to Chicago

I've been teasing posting this again for a while... Alright fine I'll do it...

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If the Bulls play their game right, I can see this becoming a reality. Durant has a fondness for Zach Lavine and he kept on emphasizing on how the Bulls were on the right path every chance he got last season.

[ATRAIN53]

I can def see KD being a Rent-A-Player over the last chunk of his career.

He's got no home base and probably nowhere where his jersey will hang and folks worship him.
Golden State will hang it but more people will be wearing Curry Jerseys in the crowd during that ceremony.

So if the Nets thing implodes he could end up here.

I'd also not rule out him trying to end it in DC, bring a title to his hometown Bullets and then ride off into the sunset.

[kulaz3000]

I hate this move, but not sure what alternatives there are/were. Would much rather have a 3 and D guy, as DDR does neither. Throw in 3/$85mil and this stinks like ****. Our gap isnt a ball handling scorer. Its someone who can space the floor, not need the ball in their hands, shoot 3s when needed and play shutdown D. There's plenty of guys in the league who fit this profile and dont need $28mil/yr @ 31+yrs old.

I do want to say, as someone who has been a die hard since the middle/late 80s, this is the first time I have been excited to watch a Bulls team in some time. And I was a guy who watched every 'baby bull' game in the late 90s/early 2000s waiting for that **** to pop off! So as much as I hate this move, I'm equally as pumped about them doing SOMETHING for once.

How many floor spacers do you need? In the starting lineup, we are projected to have Lonzo, Pat, Zach and Vuc who all shoot close to .400 from 3. Then having DeRozan who is one of, if not the most efficient isolation players in the mid-post, that to me seems like a perfectly balanced offensive team right there, with ample spacing.

At the end of the day, you can relying on 3 point shooting all throughout the game, you need to be able to score from all over the floor.

[FriedRise]

Read on Twitter

[MissileMike]

I don't love the signing but.....
Compare DeRozan to Lowry:
Lowry:
35 years old: 17/5/7 on 43% shooting 16 PER, +1.2 BPM
30 mil/year

Derozan:
32 years old: 21/4/7 on 50% shooting 22 PER, +3.2 BPM
28 mil/year

Yet someone everyone seems to think the Lowry signing was good and DeRozan bad?

[MrSparkle]

Read on Twitter

ESPN just has a really hard time parsing roster upgrades from prior season results. Case in point: https://www.espn.com/basketball/story/_/id/30427736/2020-21-nba-preview-wins-standings-projected-all-30-nba-teams (Anybody could've told you that the Raptors and Celtics were gonna be far less potent, while the Hawks and Nets were gonna jump. Same with the West.)

I was extremely high on ATL. When you add that much talent, you just have more room for surviving all the usual challenges (injuries, chemistry, rookie development, etc.). When your 9th man is Arci or Kornet, it is very easy for things to crumble when the usual things happen (injuries).

Just common sense here. We went from having 1 healthy wing (Pat) to giving him a full rotation (DeRozan, Troy, Javonte, Caruso/Lonzo can switch on SFs). Went from #7 busts starting and getting featured (WCJ post-offense anybody?) to a 2x all-star C. Went from Coby starting at PG to likely being our 9th man, with major defense and passing upgrades at PG.

I'm all about seeing the worst-case scenario; things could combust at any point on any team. The post-deadline team was a brutal ride. In many ways, I'm glad it happened (as opposed to a frothy honeymoon win-streak with a hard crash the following season, which usually happened for the Bulls after trades). We were still in play for Cade, got rid of an unspectacular pick we owed, and it lit AKME to not hesitate flipping the roster upside down.

But I agree - this starting 5 should have a chip on its shoulder, and more than anything, I think our VP and coach are also very hungry to win "the right way" (not going to compromise team basketball development for letting guys pump stats). Might be a bumpy take-off. In fact, it WILL be a bumpy take-off. But I hope they stay focused and confident, cause if the chemistry looks good, I see no reason why we can't have a Hawks-esque jump in standings and post-season results. And if we're rolling into the playoffs, this group's gonna be very hungry to prove a lot of people wrong.

[FriedRise]

Read on Twitter

ESPN just has a really hard time parsing roster upgrades from prior season results. Case in point: https://www.espn.com/basketball/story/_/id/30427736/2020-21-nba-preview-wins-standings-projected-all-30-nba-teams (Anybody could've told you that the Raptors and Celtics were gonna be far less potent, while the Hawks and Nets were gonna jump. Same with the West.)

I was extremely high on ATL. When you add that much talent, you just have more room for surviving all the usual challenges (injuries, chemistry, rookie development, etc.). When your 9th man is Arci or Kornet, it is very easy for things to crumble when the usual things happen (injuries).

Just common sense here. We went from having 1 healthy wing (Pat) to giving him a full rotation (DeRozan, Troy, Javonte, Caruso/Lonzo can switch on SFs). Went from #7 busts starting and getting featured (WCJ post-offense anybody?) to a 2x all-star C. Went from Coby starting at PG to likely being our 9th man, with major defense and passing upgrades at PG.

I'm all about seeing the worst-case scenario; things could combust at any point on any team. The post-deadline team was a brutal ride. In many ways, I'm glad it happened (as opposed to a frothy honeymoon win-streak with a hard crash the following season, which usually happened for the Bulls after trades). We were still in play for Cade, got rid of an unspectacular pick we owed, and it lit AKME to not hesitate flipping the roster upside down.

But I agree - this starting 5 should have a chip on its shoulder, and more than anything, I think our VP and coach are also very hungry to win "the right way" (not going to compromise team basketball development for letting guys pump stats). Might be a bumpy take-off. In fact, it WILL be a bumpy take-off. But I hope they stay focused and confident, cause if the chemistry looks good, I see no reason why we can't have a Hawks-esque jump in standings and post-season results. And if we're rolling into the playoffs, this group's gonna be very hungry to prove a lot of people wrong.

For once, I'm happy that the media is criticizing the moves the Bulls made and writing us off, because usually the opposite happens.

[jc23]

I don't love the signing but.....
Compare DeRozan to Lowry:
Lowry:
35 years old: 17/5/7 on 43% shooting 16 PER, +1.2 BPM
30 mil/year

Derozan:
32 years old: 21/4/7 on 50% shooting 22 PER, +3.2 BPM
21 mil/year

Yet someone everyone seems to think the Lowry signing was good and DeRozan bad?

And the Bulls are taking a much bigger leap in terms of upgrading at the position. Lowry is better than Dragic but Dragic was no chump, he made an all star team a few years back.

[othawhitemeat]

I don't love the signing but.....
Compare DeRozan to Lowry:
Lowry:
35 years old: 17/5/7 on 43% shooting 16 PER, +1.2 BPM
30 mil/year

Derozan:
32 years old: 21/4/7 on 50% shooting 22 PER, +3.2 BPM
28 mil/year

Yet someone everyone seems to think the Lowry signing was good and DeRozan bad?

Definitely rather have DeRozan based on age, but in general, both are good signings for team. Lowry is tough, makes winning plays that don't show in PER, and is an excellent fit with the Heat and the toughness on that team. Goodness with Butler, Lowry, BAM, Tucker, Kieff, etc... they are going to keep go at you and wear teams that are even more talented down.

However, DeRozan is an excellent fit here in terms of secondary creator to Zach, leader, etc... My only concern is besides Ball/Williams, our d on starting team. However, we will put pressure on teams offensively.

[bad knees]

They keep discussing the fact that Derozan is a mid range shooter only, and this means that he does not fit into any team. I disagree with this adamantly - we've surrounding Derozan by the exact team that he should thrive in. He's gotten so much better as a half court playmaker, as evidenced by his assist numbers and his pick and roll numbers from last year. He'll be surrounding by shooters in Chicago, and I'm excited to see the outcome.

Furthermore, we've simultaneously placed Lonzo in the best possible situation - he essentially is the 4th option when it comes to half court offense, and he doesn't need to create anything for us other than off secondary options.

This is what I was going to post.

Lonzo won't be the primary playmaker, but DeRozan. Lonzo will lead transition offence, but as soon as it turns to half court, it'll be more of a shared playmaking, with DeRozan as (pseudo) point.

DeRozan is a constant midrange/iso threat, and will create gravity on the inside, and all the others are ready and willing to drop the three.

Lonzo, while not a really a playmaker, excels at spotting and exploiting already created weaknesses, which this combo should create in abundance.

The one thing to watch out for when we have early growing pains is that Derozan and Vooch do like to operate in similar areas of the court. I don't necessarily want to delegate Vooch to simply a spot up three point shooter, but hopefully he'll be comfortable with fewer touches than he's used to at the elbows.

I'm also super excited to see how all of this looks now that we can finally delegate Coby to a role that he can truly excel in. His potential as a starting point guard was always limited, but as a 6th man scorer off the bench? He's can get as hot as anyone in the league. Hopefully we can start to see some consistency from him with a clearly defined role for these next couple of years.

I do get why a lot of mainstream media and more general NBA fans aren't as high on the Derozan signing. Defense will be a problem. Some times the offense might get a little clunky. We might have given up more draft capital than we maybe should've - we'll see how this pans out in a few years. Nonetheless, it's easy to see the vision AKME had when putting this band of misfits together.

Yes, it’s Vuc whose wings are going to have be clipped a bit for the good of the team. Based solely on efficiency, we are going to have cut back substantially (but not completely) on his post ISO’s. And he is going to have to spend more time than he likes standing at the 3 pt line, to provide the spacing that is needed to maximize the offense. BD is going to have to be masterful at getting everyone to sacrifice and commit to defense and team first basketball. But the hardest will be Vuc.

[Chi]

I just want to say…

This is the Best team that every player on our team has ever played for…

And that’s got to count for something.

[GoBlue72391]

I can def see KD being a Rent-A-Player over the last chunk of his career.

He's got no home base and probably nowhere where his jersey will hang and folks worship him.
Golden State will hang it but more people will be wearing Curry Jerseys in the crowd during that ceremony.

So if the Nets thing implodes he could end up here.

I'd also not rule out him trying to end it in DC, bring a title to his hometown Bullets and then ride off into the sunset.

Wow, it's crazy to think that a player as legendary as KD could retire without a single team retiring his number due to his mercenary/vagabond nature.

[RoseTheFuture22]

I think we kind of needed to do the DeRozan thing, even as iffy and somewhat risky as the move was. DeRozan is a respected guy by stars and players around the league(much like Vuc). This type of move and going all in with the draft picks and stuff builds a lot of goodwill with players I would think going forward and will help us hopefully get some players on team friendly deals moving forward like what the Nets, sixers, clippers, and lakers have done. In addition to potentially even attracting another star.

There is no guarantee that we get a guy at that level next year in FA just because we are a big market, especially after 4 terrible seasons. We probably could have dealt Thad for a late first but that would have been a very GarPax move because there's a high probability that that asset turns into nothing.

At least with DeRozan we know what we are getting and he gives us great star insurance throughout the season because you know at some point either Zach, Lonzo, Coby, etc. are going to miss like 10 games randomly.

[R3AL1TY]

Looks like the Bulls robbed the Clippers from meeting with DeRozan. A good pickup. I always felt the Bulls needed a strong midrange and interior player to help balance things when the 3 ball isn't falling like what Pau Gasol helped did when he was here.

[gf2020hotmail]

I just want to say…

This is the Best team that every player on our team has ever played for…

And that’s got to count for something.

The 2017-2018 Raptors won 59 games The 2015-2016 Raptors won 56 games and made the Eastern Conference Finals. In no way, will this Bulls team be at that level next season.

[pipfan]

MAYBE DD and CWhite for SImmons in Jan? Philly might be desparate and that is a talent upgrade

[Chi]

I just want to say…

This is the Best team that every player on our team has ever played for…

And that’s got to count for something.

The 2017-2018 Raptors won 59 games The 2015-2016 Raptors won 56 games and made the Eastern Conference Finals. In no way, will this Bulls team be at that level next season.

Yes, but that's for one simple reason. Because the competition level is EXTREMELY higher than it was that season.

I bet this Bulls team would beat that one.


And I bet if we hypothetically put this team back then to replace that team, this team would exceed what they did.

Jmo tho... We'll never know

[TheSuzerain]

I hate this move, but not sure what alternatives there are/were. Would much rather have a 3 and D guy, as DDR does neither. Throw in 3/$85mil and this stinks like ****. Our gap isnt a ball handling scorer. Its someone who can space the floor, not need the ball in their hands, shoot 3s when needed and play shutdown D. There's plenty of guys in the league who fit this profile and dont need $28mil/yr @ 31+yrs old.

I do want to say, as someone who has been a die hard since the middle/late 80s, this is the first time I have been excited to watch a Bulls team in some time. And I was a guy who watched every 'baby bull' game in the late 90s/early 2000s waiting for that **** to pop off! So as much as I hate this move, I'm equally as pumped about them doing SOMETHING for once.

How many floor spacers do you need? In the starting lineup, we are projected to have Lonzo, Pat, Zach and Vuc who all shoot close to .400 from 3. Then having DeRozan who is one of, if not the most efficient isolation players in the mid-post, that to me seems like a perfectly balanced offensive team right there, with ample spacing.

At the end of the day, you can relying on 3 point shooting all throughout the game, you need to be able to score from all over the floor.

The potential problem is that PWill and Lonzo may not be great shooters.

Lonzo has been at 37% which isn't bad but really isn't good anymore (unless you're an on-ball guy like Trae/Doncic/Harden).

PWill was at a pretty nice 39% but the volume was low.

To fully unlock the offense, we'd ideally have a true shooting specialist out there (other than Lavine).

[GoBlue72391]

Long 2 Lu passing the torch to Deep Mid DeMar

[ATRAIN53]

How odd to think of DeRozan signing with the Clippers and picking up the slack while Kawhi is hurt.

These guys developing chemistry and winning, together.
I can't see it. Kawhi stole the guys city and one upped him bad.

I bet this was just a leverage play by agent. I doubt he wanted to be Kawhis teammate.

Have 2 blockbuster guys that were dealt for each other ever ended up as teammates later on?
I feel like it has happened, esp in MLB but I can't think of specific names......