Lauri appreciation thread - Bye GarPax era

[chitowndish]

I’m glad the outcome seems pretty good for everyone and I do appreciate that through the whole thing I thought Lauri was a good pro and never became a malcontent or hurt the locker room. Overall for me they decided to go with Vuc and at that point Lauri didn’t really fit on the team and I think my main problem with Lauri is the same one I’d gripe about, all he needed was to get a decent turnaround jumper in the post and his whole game would open up. Without it teams just put a smaller defender on Lauri and he has no answer and never really punishes the mismatch but a quicker guy can stay in front of Lauri to make driving the basket difficult for him and get in close to make jump shots uncomfortable. With a good turnaround jumper he could reliably get that shot off on anyone and if he could back smaller players into the post and shoot easy shots over them he may start to get those bigger defenders he can blow by.

Overall though there just hasn’t been very much progression in his game he’s seemed content, maybe that changes with a new team but it didn’t seem to be happening here and it seems like he still wants a featured role which wasn’t happening with his current skill set and Vuc so I’m just glad everyone made out well.

[sco]

Lauri was once again the brain child of a front office that had no vision no innovation, all they did was copy off other teams who were doing well and trying to find players in the mold of other stars already discovered by other teams. We only select lauri because new York found Porzingis. We grab snell hoping he would be another kawhi, and so on.

Guy looked the part but a waste of 7ft. Good bye good riddance

Lauri didn’t look like a terrible pick, he just never got better at this level. I mean still a better pick than Frankie Smokes. Obviously Mitchell, Bam,OG and Collins were all better choices but they all dropped further too. More of this is on Lauri not developing.

IMO, Lauri wasn't a bad pick. He came in an athletic 7 footer who could shoot the 3. There was really nothing I can see in retrospect that looked like a red flag. He had the sort of rookie year that a potential star could have had. From there, it's hard to pin down his lowered improvement trajectory to a single thing. His injuries clearly had an impact. The coaching changes could also have played a role. Bad training advice seemed to also play a part. Also, he didn't show the type of work ethic that elite guys show. Probably a combo of all the above. He has shown some improvement in his game, and I expect he will become a more efficient player and a better defender with just time and experience.

My biggest objection to wanting to signing him for the amount that he got was that I don't think he's durable, and I didn't think he'd play enough to warrant that $.

[DuckIII]

I thought Lauri was going to be a multiple time Allstar core player for the Bulls.

Then I couldn’t wait to get rid of him. While I understand he faced some unusual circumstances in his third year that were beyond his control, I still blame 90% of Lauri’s disappointing Bulls career on him.

Regardless, I like the guy and hope he bounces back and has a nice career. And unlike a lot of people on this board evidently, I think the Cavs have a really nice thing going. It’s an odd landing spot positionally with Allan and Mobley (who is going to be a superstar), but the Cavs obviously plan on playing him a lot or they would not have payed him that much.

Lauri fans, it’s been real. Adios.

[E-DC]

Lauri was once again the brain child of a front office that had no vision no innovation, all they did was copy off other teams who were doing well and trying to find players in the mold of other stars already discovered by other teams. We only select lauri because new York found Porzingis. We grab snell hoping he would be another kawhi, and so on.

This actually sounds a lot like this new front office. Are you trying to be ironic?

[coldfish]

Lauri was once again the brain child of a front office that had no vision no innovation, all they did was copy off other teams who were doing well and trying to find players in the mold of other stars already discovered by other teams. We only select lauri because new York found Porzingis. We grab snell hoping he would be another kawhi, and so on.

This actually sounds a lot like this new front office. Are you trying to be ironic?

This front office is clearly trying to set up the team to copy what everyone else is doing. We are supposed to be a more athletic version of Denver.

That said, the previous FO was chasing what other teams WERE doing. They were basically 8 years behind the curve bringing in shooting specialists like its 2008 in 2017.

Comparable, but not the same.

[LateNight]

Lauri far surpassed my initial expectations when we drafted him. He was more athletic and more physical than I expected, and his shot was better than I would have guessed. The Porzingis game was great

The frustrating thing with Lauri (other than the ever present defensive issues), was that one night he would look like a $25m player, and the next he would look like a $5m player.

If he becomes more consistent, his current contract will be a steal. Wish him luck!

[coldfish]

As far as Lauri, seems like a legit good guy on a personal level and I wish him the best. Same with his fans who took a lot of heat here and outside of 1 or 2 guys, took it in stride admirably.

Lauri the basketball player? Wasn't a fan on day 1. IMO, he has gotten a ton of bad advice from people. Some from the Bulls but mostly from people around him. Like in my post above, his camp seems to think its 2008 where a one dimensional stretch 4 is a valuable commodity. He is a bad tweener where he doesn't have the defensive instincts or rebounding to be a 5 but he doesn't have the ball skills or foot speed to be a 4.

I'm sure he will do fine on Cleveland, frequently lighting up the scoreboard . . . as his team is down 20. If he ever gets to the playoffs, I suspect he is going to have a Mirotic experience where teams game plan for him and turn him into a real liability.

[sami71]

I am a Finn so Lauri was a point of interest already before being drafted - not as a basketball thing but a national thing to me. I was excited when Lauri was drafted by the Bulls, and I translated stuff about him into the draft threads etc. As time went on I grew more and more interested in the Bulls and the NBA and in time I turned more into a Bulls fan and started following NBA in general. By the end of first year I was more of a Rolo fan than a Lauri fan. NBA has pretty much replaced my interest in the NHL by now.

So while I have not really cared for Lauri as a player for a couple years, I will always appreciate that without him I would not have found all of the other things in the NBA. I wish he had been a bit more focused on the sport but that's all water under the bridge now. I wish him all the best and trust me - I won't hesitate to jump on the Finn bandwagon if he has a good career - but I am more interested in how the new and vastly improved and what looks to be super entertaining Bulls can do next season. Farewell Lauri.

[MrSparkle]

Lauri was once again the brain child of a front office that had no vision no innovation, all they did was copy off other teams who were doing well and trying to find players in the mold of other stars already discovered by other teams. We only select lauri because new York found Porzingis. We grab snell hoping he would be another kawhi, and so on.

This actually sounds a lot like this new front office. Are you trying to be ironic?

This front office is clearly trying to set up the team to copy what everyone else is doing. We are supposed to be a more athletic version of Denver.

That said, the previous FO was chasing what other teams WERE doing. They were basically 8 years behind the curve bringing in shooting specialists like its 2008 in 2017.

Comparable, but not the same.

2008 might be generous. Almost felt like a pre-Bird/Magic era build. Besides Lauri, who seems like a 2000-2004 guy (Tim Thomas, Radmanovic). At no point did I get what the 14-20 team was supposed to be. They hired opposite coaching staffs for their roster personnel, and hoped all deficiencies would be magically resolved with strategy.

Gave Thibs a bunch of one way shooters with poor D ceiling (Niko, Doug, MDJ, Brooks). Got an up-tempo 3P rookie coach for a heavy aging vet 14-15 team. Then they flipped the roster and gave him 3 high-usage ballhandlers, a plodding center and very unathletic wings who couldn’t shoot 3Ps. Then they got him a young PG who couldn’t shoot, and a big PF who could shoot but also couldn’t run like the types of athletes Fred was running at PF.

Then by the time they had all 1-way offensive players (besides Dunn and WCJ), they promoted Boylen.

Seemed more like a self-sabotaging strategy. Littered in their were highly flawed prospects with low-to-mid ceilings. I can safely say that by 2017, GarPax didn’t even have a “type” of player. Throwing darts at 1-position guys, who had next to no compatibility with each other.

[coldfish]

This actually sounds a lot like this new front office. Are you trying to be ironic?

This front office is clearly trying to set up the team to copy what everyone else is doing. We are supposed to be a more athletic version of Denver.

That said, the previous FO was chasing what other teams WERE doing. They were basically 8 years behind the curve bringing in shooting specialists like its 2008 in 2017.

Comparable, but not the same.

I don’t even know if GarPax were going 2008. At no point did I get what the 14-20 team was supposed to be. They hired opposite coaching staffs for their roster personnel, and hoped all deficiencies would be magically resolved with strategy.

Gave Thibs a bunch of one way shooters with poor D ceiling (Niko, Doug, MDJ, Brooks). Got an up-tempo 3P rookie coach for a heavy aging vet 14-15 team. Then they flipped the roster and gave him 3 high-usage ballhandlers, a plodding center and very unathletic wings who couldn’t shoot 3Ps. Then they got him a young PG who couldn’t shoot, and a big PF who could shoot but also couldn’t run like the types of athletes Fred was running at PF.

Then by the time they had all 1-way offensive players (besides Dunn and WCJ), they promoted Boylen.

Seemed more like a self-sabotaging strategy. Littered in their were highly flawed prospects with low-to-mid ceilings. I can safely say that by 2017, GarPax didn’t even have a “type” of player. Throwing darts at 1-position guys, who had next to no compatibility with each other. Almost felt like a pre-Bird/Magic era build, if you ask me.

I think now that we have seen AKME operate, its even more obvious just how bad GarPax was for the last 8-10 years. No vision whatsoever. Just trying to fill skill holes with specialists . . . which created other holes. It was an eternal game of whack a mole.

Going back further, I think Paxson at first did have a vision. Draft hard workers and winners and win with defense while trying to land a superstar. He never got that star. Got close with Kobe though. Right around when Gar took over, it seemed to all fall apart.

[Taikuri]

Too bad we have to wait for a while until those games. Would be fun to see some of those right away after the season starts.

Bulls @Cleveland - December 8th
Cleveland @Bulls - January 19th
Cleveland @Bulls - March 12th
Bulls @Cleveland - March 26th

Cavs preseason 2/5 games are against Bulls tho

Oct. 5 at Chicago, 8:00PM ET
Oct. 10 vs Chicago, 7PM ET

Well that's nice. Hopefully all of the best players play for both teams. I'm questioning is it as competitive, thus as fun to watch.

[Taikuri]

From Lauri's perspective it might even be positive for him to join a team that most likely won't be a playoff team in a while, because Lauri gets those injuries every season so it is easier for his body when Cleveland has less games per season.

[MrSparkle]

This front office is clearly trying to set up the team to copy what everyone else is doing. We are supposed to be a more athletic version of Denver.

That said, the previous FO was chasing what other teams WERE doing. They were basically 8 years behind the curve bringing in shooting specialists like its 2008 in 2017.

Comparable, but not the same.

I don’t even know if GarPax were going 2008. At no point did I get what the 14-20 team was supposed to be. They hired opposite coaching staffs for their roster personnel, and hoped all deficiencies would be magically resolved with strategy.

Gave Thibs a bunch of one way shooters with poor D ceiling (Niko, Doug, MDJ, Brooks). Got an up-tempo 3P rookie coach for a heavy aging vet 14-15 team. Then they flipped the roster and gave him 3 high-usage ballhandlers, a plodding center and very unathletic wings who couldn’t shoot 3Ps. Then they got him a young PG who couldn’t shoot, and a big PF who could shoot but also couldn’t run like the types of athletes Fred was running at PF.

Then by the time they had all 1-way offensive players (besides Dunn and WCJ), they promoted Boylen.

Seemed more like a self-sabotaging strategy. Littered in their were highly flawed prospects with low-to-mid ceilings. I can safely say that by 2017, GarPax didn’t even have a “type” of player. Throwing darts at 1-position guys, who had next to no compatibility with each other. Almost felt like a pre-Bird/Magic era build, if you ask me.

I think now that we have seen AKME operate, its even more obvious just how bad GarPax was for the last 8-10 years. No vision whatsoever. Just trying to fill skill holes with specialists . . . which created other holes. It was an eternal game of whack a mole.

Going back further, I think Paxson at first did have a vision. Draft hard workers and winners and win with defense while trying to land a superstar. He never got that star. Got close with Kobe though. Right around when Gar took over, it seemed to all fall apart.

Funnily Skiles and Pax were at the fore-front of super small-ball, with the Deng/Noc front court, and Kirk/Ben/Duhon combos. I think he had a great 04 off-season that set the tone. After that, pressure went on and I liked some moves at the time but they all back-fired. He bought into the need for a low-post scorer after getting stung by the Tyrus/LMA draft and signing Wallace - looking back, the tweener PFs (JJ, Noc, move Deng up) and defenders (Taj) were totally the way forward. That VDN hiring was the dark end to whatever I liked about Pax. I honestly think Thibs/Adams solely fixed the Bulls' course for those 3-4 years or so (entirely excluding Rose's rise and fall). I'm curious who really scouted/pushed Jimmy (Thibs, Adams, Lloyd.. or Gar?).

[Pentele]

From Lauri's perspective it might even be positive for him to join a team that most likely won't be a playoff team in a while, because Lauri gets those injuries every season so it is easier for his body when Cleveland has less games per season.

That is some silver lining!

[Michael Jackson]

This front office is clearly trying to set up the team to copy what everyone else is doing. We are supposed to be a more athletic version of Denver.

That said, the previous FO was chasing what other teams WERE doing. They were basically 8 years behind the curve bringing in shooting specialists like its 2008 in 2017.

Comparable, but not the same.

I don’t even know if GarPax were going 2008. At no point did I get what the 14-20 team was supposed to be. They hired opposite coaching staffs for their roster personnel, and hoped all deficiencies would be magically resolved with strategy.

Gave Thibs a bunch of one way shooters with poor D ceiling (Niko, Doug, MDJ, Brooks). Got an up-tempo 3P rookie coach for a heavy aging vet 14-15 team. Then they flipped the roster and gave him 3 high-usage ballhandlers, a plodding center and very unathletic wings who couldn’t shoot 3Ps. Then they got him a young PG who couldn’t shoot, and a big PF who could shoot but also couldn’t run like the types of athletes Fred was running at PF.

Then by the time they had all 1-way offensive players (besides Dunn and WCJ), they promoted Boylen.

Seemed more like a self-sabotaging strategy. Littered in their were highly flawed prospects with low-to-mid ceilings. I can safely say that by 2017, GarPax didn’t even have a “type” of player. Throwing darts at 1-position guys, who had next to no compatibility with each other. Almost felt like a pre-Bird/Magic era build, if you ask me.

I think now that we have seen AKME operate, its even more obvious just how bad GarPax was for the last 8-10 years. No vision whatsoever. Just trying to fill skill holes with specialists . . . which created other holes. It was an eternal game of whack a mole.

Going back further, I think Paxson at first did have a vision. Draft hard workers and winners and win with defense while trying to land a superstar. He never got that star. Got close with Kobe though. Right around when Gar took over, it seemed to all fall apart.

The lack of vision is 100% what has been exposed. I think Pax really did give up after the first time he wanted to quit and putting Gar in place is truly when the wheels fell off. John stick around even though you don’t want the the job and this guy will carry the load. Gar had no vision whatsoever and pax was checked out. AK’s vision may not result in anything great but it is clear he has a path with is a refreshing drink of cold water on a hot summer day. I’ve said it a bunch on here I will take a guy who swings for the fences and misses over someone who sits on his hands.

To be honest Paxson didn’t do a terrible job building around Rose. He also was legitimately in the running for the superfriends and Melo. Post Rose though it was just awful. One lesson you have learned being in Chicago, if you want to turn your success into an awful failure, all you have to do is hire a coach from Iowa State.

[dice]

I don’t even know if GarPax were going 2008. At no point did I get what the 14-20 team was supposed to be. They hired opposite coaching staffs for their roster personnel, and hoped all deficiencies would be magically resolved with strategy.

Gave Thibs a bunch of one way shooters with poor D ceiling (Niko, Doug, MDJ, Brooks). Got an up-tempo 3P rookie coach for a heavy aging vet 14-15 team. Then they flipped the roster and gave him 3 high-usage ballhandlers, a plodding center and very unathletic wings who couldn’t shoot 3Ps. Then they got him a young PG who couldn’t shoot, and a big PF who could shoot but also couldn’t run like the types of athletes Fred was running at PF.

Then by the time they had all 1-way offensive players (besides Dunn and WCJ), they promoted Boylen.

Seemed more like a self-sabotaging strategy. Littered in their were highly flawed prospects with low-to-mid ceilings. I can safely say that by 2017, GarPax didn’t even have a “type” of player. Throwing darts at 1-position guys, who had next to no compatibility with each other. Almost felt like a pre-Bird/Magic era build, if you ask me.

I think now that we have seen AKME operate, its even more obvious just how bad GarPax was for the last 8-10 years. No vision whatsoever. Just trying to fill skill holes with specialists . . . which created other holes. It was an eternal game of whack a mole.

Going back further, I think Paxson at first did have a vision. Draft hard workers and winners and win with defense while trying to land a superstar. He never got that star. Got close with Kobe though. Right around when Gar took over, it seemed to all fall apart.

The lack of vision is 100% what has been exposed. I think Pax really did give up after the first time he wanted to quit and putting Gar in place is truly when the wheels fell off. John stick around even though you don’t want the the job and this guy will carry the load. Gar had no vision whatsoever and pax was checked out. AK’s vision may not result in anything great but it is clear he has a path with is a refreshing drink of cold water on a hot summer day. I’ve said it a bunch on here I will take a guy who swings for the fences and misses over someone who sits on his hands.

To be honest Paxson didn’t do a terrible job building around Rose. He also was legitimately in the running for the superfriends and Melo. Post Rose though it was just awful. One lesson you have learned being in Chicago, if you want to turn your success into an awful failure, all you have to do is hire a coach from Iowa State.

artie isn't swinging for the fences. he's swinging to get the ball out of the infield. think ty cobb, wade boggs or tony gwynn as opposed to mcgwire, ted williams or a-rod

agree with your take on the garpax years though

[TSS]

Thanks for this board. There is some seriously knowledgeable folks hanging around here. I'll follow Lauri but I have to say I grew to like the Bulls quite a bit. And that was no easy feat coming in as a Jazz supporter and having watched Jordan & Folks demolish my team time and time again.

I think trade was good for both parties. Only real downside is that I am certain I cannot find a Cavs board as lively as this one has been. I personally do not like where Bulls is heading but this would not be the first time I am proven wrong. I just cannot imagine a team whose three best players are terrible to bad defensively and only effective on ball offensively to work out. All three are good players but I do not believe they work in same team. Also, I have low expectations on PWill and in current scenario him panning out and doing it fast is critical.

Best of luck for the Bulls and the members around here. I enjoyed the ride.

/TSS

[Jimako10]

As far as Lauri, seems like a legit good guy on a personal level and I wish him the best. Same with his fans who took a lot of heat here and outside of 1 or 2 guys, took it in stride admirably.

Lauri the basketball player? Wasn't a fan on day 1. IMO, he has gotten a ton of bad advice from people. Some from the Bulls but mostly from people around him. Like in my post above, his camp seems to think its 2008 where a one dimensional stretch 4 is a valuable commodity. He is a bad tweener where he doesn't have the defensive instincts or rebounding to be a 5 but he doesn't have the ball skills or foot speed to be a 4.

I'm sure he will do fine on Cleveland, frequently lighting up the scoreboard . . . as his team is down 20. If he ever gets to the playoffs, I suspect he is going to have a Mirotic experience where teams game plan for him and turn him into a real liability.

Agreed with everything except the end! I always thought Mirotic was agile enough to guard pick n roll effectively after Thibs showed him the ropes. Could be part of the reason he always had a high +/- wherever he went. I would've went with Boozer there since I specifically remember him being put in a pick n roll situations on nearly every play to the point where you could see Thib's veins nearly explode on the sidelines.

[Michael Jackson]

I think now that we have seen AKME operate, its even more obvious just how bad GarPax was for the last 8-10 years. No vision whatsoever. Just trying to fill skill holes with specialists . . . which created other holes. It was an eternal game of whack a mole.

Going back further, I think Paxson at first did have a vision. Draft hard workers and winners and win with defense while trying to land a superstar. He never got that star. Got close with Kobe though. Right around when Gar took over, it seemed to all fall apart.

The lack of vision is 100% what has been exposed. I think Pax really did give up after the first time he wanted to quit and putting Gar in place is truly when the wheels fell off. John stick around even though you don’t want the the job and this guy will carry the load. Gar had no vision whatsoever and pax was checked out. AK’s vision may not result in anything great but it is clear he has a path with is a refreshing drink of cold water on a hot summer day. I’ve said it a bunch on here I will take a guy who swings for the fences and misses over someone who sits on his hands.

To be honest Paxson didn’t do a terrible job building around Rose. He also was legitimately in the running for the superfriends and Melo. Post Rose though it was just awful. One lesson you have learned being in Chicago, if you want to turn your success into an awful failure, all you have to do is hire a coach from Iowa State.

artie isn't swinging for the fences. he's swinging to get the ball out of the infield. think ty cobb, wade boggs or tony gwynn as opposed to mcgwire, ted williams or a-rod

agree with your take on the garpax years though

Very true... He is moving to mediocre, which post GarPax feels like swinging for the fences. Is not the way I would have gone about it but I am just glad there is a change for better or for worse. Needed a new culture, no guarantee the new culture and the cost to bring it on is worth it but something had to be done. Results may very well end up similar to the VDN Bulls but this franchise needed a new facade if nothing else.

[SaNdMiRkS]

Lauri was once again the brain child of a front office that had no vision no innovation, all they did was copy off other teams who were doing well and trying to find players in the mold of other stars already discovered by other teams. We only select lauri because new York found Porzingis. We grab snell hoping he would be another kawhi, and so on.

Guy looked the part but a waste of 7ft. Good bye good riddance

Lauri didn’t look like a terrible pick, he just never got better at this level. I mean still a better pick than Frankie Smokes. Obviously Mitchell, Bam,OG and Collins were all better choices but they all dropped further too. More of this is on Lauri not developing.

IMO, Lauri wasn't a bad pick. He came in an athletic 7 footer who could shoot the 3. There was really nothing I can see in retrospect that looked like a red flag. He had the sort of rookie year that a potential star could have had. From there, it's hard to pin down his lowered improvement trajectory to a single thing. His injuries clearly had an impact. The coaching changes could also have played a role. Bad training advice seemed to also play a part. Also, he didn't show the type of work ethic that elite guys show. Probably a combo of all the above. He has shown some improvement in his game, and I expect he will become a more efficient player and a better defender with just time and experience.

My biggest objection to wanting to signing him for the amount that he got was that I don't think he's durable, and I didn't think he'd play enough to warrant that $.

Given the circumstances, the red flags were abundant. LauMarkk wasn't expected to be a role player for Chicago; Paxson christened him the saviour of the franchise post-JB, and he was expected to be a franchise cornerstone. Taking all of that into consideration, there were f*ck-ton of red flags

His development was obviously thwarted by the obvious, but even during that rookie season, it was clear that he was merely catching teams off-guard. The second coaching staffs began game-planning properly for him, his offensive creation/ball-handling was rendered useless. He's always been terribly slow-footed & low-motor

If the team who drafted him was expecting a role player, then no, there weren't too many red flags, but that wasn't the case with him/Paxson