2025-26 Off-Season

[toooskies]

Tbc, I don't think the Bulls are going to trade you Jalen Smith for Strus. Smith is valuable on his contract (as is Wade). But more to the point, if cost cutting was that important, we could've just not re-signed Merrill. We could've cut Ball immediately after the trade. Are we trying to win a championship this season or we worried about a one-off tax bill before we're even in the repeater tax?

I don't think we should be trading players who are higher on the depth chart and banking on guys who could get played off the floor in the playoffs. Now, if Tyson or Proctor take the job from Strus, okay. I just don't see CPJ or Nance taking the jobs from Ball or Wade, and if Ball is so bad that happens, I don't see anyone agreeing to absorb his salary.

We re-signed Merrill because a) we didn't want to look like we were cutting salary too much, b) we didn't know if the kids would be ready (and still don't-- it's a question for February), c) he's a more affordable long-term movement shooter than Strus, d) he looked like he could compete both ways against Indiana while Jerome looked like a 0-way player in the playoffs.

Lonzo has never been to the playoffs and Wade has been a massive negative offensively in the playoffs, so offloading them wouldn't be getting rid of battle-tested playoff veterans. Larry Nance's playoff FG% literally doubles Wade's. Expirings are easier to offload than longer deals and they're easiest to offload at the trade deadline when the majority of their salary has been paid already.

The repeater tax is a small factor a giant escalator compared to just how punitive it is to be massively over the tax. Repeater adds some pain but the Cavs are already paying 7 times Ball's salary (or Wade's, or Merrill's, depending on who the last luxury signing is) to have him on the roster. The repeater tax is just an additional 2x on top.

Table of what we (and the rest of the league) are paying per tax bracket: https://www.salaryswish.com/luxury-tax

I watched a Pacers team that faced very little resistance on the perimeter and was able to shoot over too many of our players when it was there. Merrill is fundamentally sound defensively, he anticipates well and positions himself accordingly, but way too many Cavs fans confuse that with *good.* He still has physical limitations that prevent him from frustrating the opponent.

I really don't care about Nance's career FG% if he's a turnstile on defense. That will get him played off the floor in the playoffs which is why Niang isn't on the roster. The Cavs need to be thinking about what happens when their next playoff opponent starts spamming threes because we're starting Garland and Mitchell, and assuming the plan was to keep Merrill for at least one season rather than sign him to dump him later, he'll be in the rotation.

You have Nance on Niang's level defensively? We are not on the same page about that.

[jbk1234]

We re-signed Merrill because a) we didn't want to look like we were cutting salary too much, b) we didn't know if the kids would be ready (and still don't-- it's a question for February), c) he's a more affordable long-term movement shooter than Strus, d) he looked like he could compete both ways against Indiana while Jerome looked like a 0-way player in the playoffs.

Lonzo has never been to the playoffs and Wade has been a massive negative offensively in the playoffs, so offloading them wouldn't be getting rid of battle-tested playoff veterans. Larry Nance's playoff FG% literally doubles Wade's. Expirings are easier to offload than longer deals and they're easiest to offload at the trade deadline when the majority of their salary has been paid already.

The repeater tax is a small factor a giant escalator compared to just how punitive it is to be massively over the tax. Repeater adds some pain but the Cavs are already paying 7 times Ball's salary (or Wade's, or Merrill's, depending on who the last luxury signing is) to have him on the roster. The repeater tax is just an additional 2x on top.

Table of what we (and the rest of the league) are paying per tax bracket: https://www.salaryswish.com/luxury-tax

I watched a Pacers team that faced very little resistance on the perimeter and was able to shoot over too many of our players when it was there. Merrill is fundamentally sound defensively, he anticipates well and positions himself accordingly, but way too many Cavs fans confuse that with *good.* He still has physical limitations that prevent him from frustrating the opponent.

I really don't care about Nance's career FG% if he's a turnstile on defense. That will get him played off the floor in the playoffs which is why Niang isn't on the roster. The Cavs need to be thinking about what happens when their next playoff opponent starts spamming threes because we're starting Garland and Mitchell, and assuming the plan was to keep Merrill for at least one season rather than sign him to dump him later, he'll be in the rotation.

There are going to be teams who shoot lights out against us, our answer all season long was to bury them with our offense. I know you don't like conceding anything, but the fact our offense was crippled by injuries robbed us of that response.

And even though the Pacers shot their highest 3pt% in the Cavs series, their actual offensive rating was their lowest against the 3 teams they faced in the East.

So, yes, I'm all for disrupting the other team and throwing them off their game through things like physical play and aggressive contesting (not juse a hand in their face); but it's not like the Knick's length availed them any better. If our offense was running at anywhere close to the 121.7 ortg of the regular season ... the Cavs beat the Pacers.

For reference, the Heat (who we crushed in the first round before the injuries) was better defensively in the regular season than the Pacers, and while they did lose Butler during the season, their defense started playing better without him.

Maybe we can reinvent the team or simply improve it through physical maturation, weight training and attitude; but the league's desire to allow more physical play to occur in the playoffs to appease the media and whiny former players has done us no favors.

Reasonable people can conclude that the NBA made a marketing decision to allow more physical play in the playoffs than they should have, but if that's going be reality going forward, that's going to be reality going forward. You adapt or lose. We have an issue with our guard/wing rotation when it comes to height/defense. No amount of weight training or conditioning is going to change that. That issue will get worse, not better, if we dump Strus and Wade for tax savings.

I suspect that if you look at the second half of last season, when the Pacers finally got healthy and the Heat no longer had Butler, it was the Pacers who were the better defensive team. In truth, regular season numbers are poor predictors of postseason performance as so many players have another gear defensively. Conversely, players like Jerome clearly need those touch fouls .

But yes, I believe allowing an entire team to shoot in rhythm for an entire series, and trying to outscore them, is a bad plan. It may be that we end up having to trade one of Mitchell or Garland anyway, but I'd like to at least see whether rotating in bigger defenders off the bench can ameliorate enough of the downside to keep both. I certainly don't want to give up the option of trying it for cap savings.

[JonFromVA]

I watched a Pacers team that faced very little resistance on the perimeter and was able to shoot over too many of our players when it was there. Merrill is fundamentally sound defensively, he anticipates well and positions himself accordingly, but way too many Cavs fans confuse that with *good.* He still has physical limitations that prevent him from frustrating the opponent.

I really don't care about Nance's career FG% if he's a turnstile on defense. That will get him played off the floor in the playoffs which is why Niang isn't on the roster. The Cavs need to be thinking about what happens when their next playoff opponent starts spamming threes because we're starting Garland and Mitchell, and assuming the plan was to keep Merrill for at least one season rather than sign him to dump him later, he'll be in the rotation.

There are going to be teams who shoot lights out against us, our answer all season long was to bury them with our offense. I know you don't like conceding anything, but the fact our offense was crippled by injuries robbed us of that response.

And even though the Pacers shot their highest 3pt% in the Cavs series, their actual offensive rating was their lowest against the 3 teams they faced in the East.

So, yes, I'm all for disrupting the other team and throwing them off their game through things like physical play and aggressive contesting (not juse a hand in their face); but it's not like the Knick's length availed them any better. If our offense was running at anywhere close to the 121.7 ortg of the regular season ... the Cavs beat the Pacers.

For reference, the Heat (who we crushed in the first round before the injuries) was better defensively in the regular season than the Pacers, and while they did lose Butler during the season, their defense started playing better without him.

Maybe we can reinvent the team or simply improve it through physical maturation, weight training and attitude; but the league's desire to allow more physical play to occur in the playoffs to appease the media and whiny former players has done us no favors.

Reasonable people can conclude that the NBA made a marketing decision to allow more physical play in the playoffs than they should have, but if that's going be reality going forward, that's going to be reality going forward. You adapt or lose. We have an issue with our guard/wing rotation when it comes to height/defense. No amount of weight training or conditioning is going to change that. That issue will get worse, not better, if we dump Strus and Wade for tax savings.

I suspect that if you look at the second half of last season, when the Pacers finally got healthy and the Heat no longer had Butler, it was the Pacers who were the better defensive team. In truth, regular season numbers are poor predictors of postseason performance as so many players have another gear defensively. Conversely, players like Jerome clearly need those touch fouls .

But yes, I believe allowing an entire team to shoot in rhythm for an entire series, and trying to outscore them, is a bad plan. It may be that we end up having to trade one of Mitchell or Garland anyway, but I'd like to at least see whether rotating in bigger defenders off the bench can ameliorate enough of the downside to keep both. I certainly don't want to give up the option of trying it for cap savings.

Are you ignoring the point that inspite of the Pacers red hot 3pt shooting, we held them to a lower off rtg than any other team in the playoffs not named the Thunder? You'd think we would have been much worse, but we weren't even letting them shoot 42.1% on their 3pters.

So my point wasn't just resting on our performance .vs. the Heat, but still nobody expected us to light the Heat up on offense like we did - not with Sploestra running that show, not with a healthy Bam, Wiggins, Mitchell, Highsmith, etc. Yeah, Herro was a weak link, and yes, his offense didn't make up for his defense. It's not uncommon for teams to have a weak link, we certainly tried to exploit Haliburton. Teams pick on Brunson, etc.

We were a team that wrecked opponents with our Cavalanches. It's not surprising they became harder to pull off with injuries to Galand, Hunter, Mobley, Mitchell, and I forget ...

[toooskies]

I watched a Pacers team that faced very little resistance on the perimeter and was able to shoot over too many of our players when it was there. Merrill is fundamentally sound defensively, he anticipates well and positions himself accordingly, but way too many Cavs fans confuse that with *good.* He still has physical limitations that prevent him from frustrating the opponent.

I really don't care about Nance's career FG% if he's a turnstile on defense. That will get him played off the floor in the playoffs which is why Niang isn't on the roster. The Cavs need to be thinking about what happens when their next playoff opponent starts spamming threes because we're starting Garland and Mitchell, and assuming the plan was to keep Merrill for at least one season rather than sign him to dump him later, he'll be in the rotation.

There are going to be teams who shoot lights out against us, our answer all season long was to bury them with our offense. I know you don't like conceding anything, but the fact our offense was crippled by injuries robbed us of that response.

And even though the Pacers shot their highest 3pt% in the Cavs series, their actual offensive rating was their lowest against the 3 teams they faced in the East.

So, yes, I'm all for disrupting the other team and throwing them off their game through things like physical play and aggressive contesting (not juse a hand in their face); but it's not like the Knick's length availed them any better. If our offense was running at anywhere close to the 121.7 ortg of the regular season ... the Cavs beat the Pacers.

For reference, the Heat (who we crushed in the first round before the injuries) was better defensively in the regular season than the Pacers, and while they did lose Butler during the season, their defense started playing better without him.

Maybe we can reinvent the team or simply improve it through physical maturation, weight training and attitude; but the league's desire to allow more physical play to occur in the playoffs to appease the media and whiny former players has done us no favors.

Reasonable people can conclude that the NBA made a marketing decision to allow more physical play in the playoffs than they should have, but if that's going be reality going forward, that's going to be reality going forward. You adapt or lose. We have an issue with our guard/wing rotation when it comes to height/defense. No amount of weight training or conditioning is going to change that. That issue will get worse, not better, if we dump Strus and Wade for tax savings.

I suspect that if you look at the second half of last season, when the Pacers finally got healthy and the Heat no longer had Butler, it was the Pacers who were the better defensive team. In truth, regular season numbers are poor predictors of postseason performance as so many players have another gear defensively. Conversely, players like Jerome clearly need those touch fouls .

But yes, I believe allowing an entire team to shoot in rhythm for an entire series, and trying to outscore them, is a bad plan. It may be that we end up having to trade one of Mitchell or Garland anyway, but I'd like to at least see whether rotating in bigger defenders off the bench can ameliorate enough of the downside to keep both. I certainly don't want to give up the option of trying it for cap savings.

The biggest downside should be in the starting lineup. But starting Hunter addresses that about as much as we can without acquiring Franz Wagner or Markkanen. I've always maintained that Mitchell doesn't play small since his wingspan/girth make up for where his head stops.

Tyson and Proctor are roughly the same dimensions as Ball/Strus-- Proctor is skinny and Ball has a slight wingspan advantage, but trading either of them in for his rotation spot is roughly neutral in terms of height/length.

[jbk1234]

There are going to be teams who shoot lights out against us, our answer all season long was to bury them with our offense. I know you don't like conceding anything, but the fact our offense was crippled by injuries robbed us of that response.

And even though the Pacers shot their highest 3pt% in the Cavs series, their actual offensive rating was their lowest against the 3 teams they faced in the East.

So, yes, I'm all for disrupting the other team and throwing them off their game through things like physical play and aggressive contesting (not juse a hand in their face); but it's not like the Knick's length availed them any better. If our offense was running at anywhere close to the 121.7 ortg of the regular season ... the Cavs beat the Pacers.

For reference, the Heat (who we crushed in the first round before the injuries) was better defensively in the regular season than the Pacers, and while they did lose Butler during the season, their defense started playing better without him.

Maybe we can reinvent the team or simply improve it through physical maturation, weight training and attitude; but the league's desire to allow more physical play to occur in the playoffs to appease the media and whiny former players has done us no favors.

Reasonable people can conclude that the NBA made a marketing decision to allow more physical play in the playoffs than they should have, but if that's going be reality going forward, that's going to be reality going forward. You adapt or lose. We have an issue with our guard/wing rotation when it comes to height/defense. No amount of weight training or conditioning is going to change that. That issue will get worse, not better, if we dump Strus and Wade for tax savings.

I suspect that if you look at the second half of last season, when the Pacers finally got healthy and the Heat no longer had Butler, it was the Pacers who were the better defensive team. In truth, regular season numbers are poor predictors of postseason performance as so many players have another gear defensively. Conversely, players like Jerome clearly need those touch fouls .

But yes, I believe allowing an entire team to shoot in rhythm for an entire series, and trying to outscore them, is a bad plan. It may be that we end up having to trade one of Mitchell or Garland anyway, but I'd like to at least see whether rotating in bigger defenders off the bench can ameliorate enough of the downside to keep both. I certainly don't want to give up the option of trying it for cap savings.

The biggest downside should be in the starting lineup. But starting Hunter addresses that about as much as we can without acquiring Franz Wagner or Markkanen. I've always maintained that Mitchell doesn't play small since his wingspan/girth make up for where his head stops.

Tyson and Proctor are roughly the same dimensions as Ball/Strus-- Proctor is skinny and Ball has a slight wingspan advantage, but trading either of them in for his rotation spot is roughly neutral in terms of height/length.

I believe Cavs fans take for granted the ability of Strus and Wade to defend and rebound in the playoffs. For all the love Okoro got on this forum, it was Strus who was the primary defender on Franz when he went 1-17 in Game 7 against the Magic. Having traded Okoro, Strus may be the only wing/guard on the roster capable of frustrating a guard/wing. Wade is the only bench big who is a positive on the defensive side of the ball. Simply put, I don't believe the Cavs are presently in a position to lose these players and credibly compete for a championship. If that changes over the course of season, great, but it's not where the team is at now.

[JonFromVA]

Reasonable people can conclude that the NBA made a marketing decision to allow more physical play in the playoffs than they should have, but if that's going be reality going forward, that's going to be reality going forward. You adapt or lose. We have an issue with our guard/wing rotation when it comes to height/defense. No amount of weight training or conditioning is going to change that. That issue will get worse, not better, if we dump Strus and Wade for tax savings.

I suspect that if you look at the second half of last season, when the Pacers finally got healthy and the Heat no longer had Butler, it was the Pacers who were the better defensive team. In truth, regular season numbers are poor predictors of postseason performance as so many players have another gear defensively. Conversely, players like Jerome clearly need those touch fouls .

But yes, I believe allowing an entire team to shoot in rhythm for an entire series, and trying to outscore them, is a bad plan. It may be that we end up having to trade one of Mitchell or Garland anyway, but I'd like to at least see whether rotating in bigger defenders off the bench can ameliorate enough of the downside to keep both. I certainly don't want to give up the option of trying it for cap savings.

The biggest downside should be in the starting lineup. But starting Hunter addresses that about as much as we can without acquiring Franz Wagner or Markkanen. I've always maintained that Mitchell doesn't play small since his wingspan/girth make up for where his head stops.

Tyson and Proctor are roughly the same dimensions as Ball/Strus-- Proctor is skinny and Ball has a slight wingspan advantage, but trading either of them in for his rotation spot is roughly neutral in terms of height/length.

I believe Cavs fans take for granted the ability of Strus and Wade to defend and rebound in the playoffs. For all the love Okoro got on this forum, it was Strus who was the primary defender on Franz when he went 1-17 in Game 7 against the Magic. Having traded Okoro, Strus may be the only wing/guard on the roster capable of frustrating a guard/wing. Wade is the only bench big who is a positive on the defensive side of the ball. Simply put, I don't believe the Cavs are presently in a position to lose these players and credibly compete for a championship. If that changes over the course of season, great, but it's not where the team is at now.

According to defensive EPM we have 7 positive defensive players: Ball, Allen, Mobley, Wade, Merrill, Mitchell and Nance.

Strus is dead neutral at 0.0.

https://dunksandthrees.com/teams/1610612739

If we buy that, our priorities should be figuring out why Hunter hasn't been a positive defender given his length and tools, and then trying to get any improvement whatsoever from Garland. If Ball and Nance can stay on the floor, the potential is there for them to make a difference.

You can also see last season's numbers here:

https://dunksandthrees.com/teams/1610612739?season=2025

Okoro and Jerome were positive defensive players that we lost, but the addition of Ball and the upgrade of Nance from TT and guys like Hunter and Strus playing out of position at PF should be significant. Tbd, though, Isaac did a lot of heavy lifting for us on defense that Ball won't even be allowed to replicate ... so we do need to hope some other players on the roster step up.

[JonFromVA]

fwiw, I think Cavs fans put way too much weight on height and wingspan. It's a great attribute, but for example having superior length to Lu Dort does not make a player a better defender than Lu Dort.

[jbk1234]

fwiw, I think Cavs fans put way too much weight on height and wingspan. It's a great attribute, but for example having superior length to Lu Dort does not make a player a better defender than Lu Dort.

If your as good a defender as Dort, and the officials let you defend the way Dort does, you can meet the offensive player well before they get comfortable at the three point line. The problem we have is that few of our guards/wings are good enough to meet the offensive player that far out. So they sag off, are undersized, and by the time the contest arrives it's simply ineffective.

[jbk1234]

The biggest downside should be in the starting lineup. But starting Hunter addresses that about as much as we can without acquiring Franz Wagner or Markkanen. I've always maintained that Mitchell doesn't play small since his wingspan/girth make up for where his head stops.

Tyson and Proctor are roughly the same dimensions as Ball/Strus-- Proctor is skinny and Ball has a slight wingspan advantage, but trading either of them in for his rotation spot is roughly neutral in terms of height/length.

I believe Cavs fans take for granted the ability of Strus and Wade to defend and rebound in the playoffs. For all the love Okoro got on this forum, it was Strus who was the primary defender on Franz when he went 1-17 in Game 7 against the Magic. Having traded Okoro, Strus may be the only wing/guard on the roster capable of frustrating a guard/wing. Wade is the only bench big who is a positive on the defensive side of the ball. Simply put, I don't believe the Cavs are presently in a position to lose these players and credibly compete for a championship. If that changes over the course of season, great, but it's not where the team is at now.

According to defensive EPM we have 7 positive defensive players: Ball, Allen, Mobley, Wade, Merrill, Mitchell and Nance.

Strus is dead neutral at 0.0.

https://dunksandthrees.com/teams/1610612739

If we buy that, our priorities should be figuring out why Hunter hasn't been a positive defender given his length and tools, and then trying to get any improvement whatsoever from Garland. If Ball and Nance can stay on the floor, the potential is there for them to make a difference.

You can also see last season's numbers here:

https://dunksandthrees.com/teams/1610612739?season=2025

Okoro and Jerome were positive defensive players that we lost, but the addition of Ball and the upgrade of Nance from TT and guys like Hunter and Strus playing out of position at PF should be significant. Tbd, though, Isaac did a lot of heavy lifting for us on defense that Ball won't even be allowed to replicate ... so we do need to hope some other players on the roster step up.

I'm not the biggest fan of EPM in general (the idea that Jerome is a plus defender after watching the Pacers series is laughable), but that aside, I'd argue that relying on regular season numbers with players who were on different teams is really dubious. Ball only played in 35 games last year with the Bulls. Nance played all of 24 games with the Hawks. Strus either defended the other team's SF, or when playing against a SF you could hide against, the tougher backcourt assignment. A nuetral score under EPM is actually good.

[toooskies]

fwiw, I think Cavs fans put way too much weight on height and wingspan. It's a great attribute, but for example having superior length to Lu Dort does not make a player a better defender than Lu Dort.

Height and wingspan are things you cannot change and usually a prerequisite to defensive performance. Dort is an exception, but he also has a unique build that you cannot just train yourself into.

[jbk1234]

We re-signed Merrill because a) we didn't want to look like we were cutting salary too much, b) we didn't know if the kids would be ready (and still don't-- it's a question for February), c) he's a more affordable long-term movement shooter than Strus, d) he looked like he could compete both ways against Indiana while Jerome looked like a 0-way player in the playoffs.

Lonzo has never been to the playoffs and Wade has been a massive negative offensively in the playoffs, so offloading them wouldn't be getting rid of battle-tested playoff veterans. Larry Nance's playoff FG% literally doubles Wade's. Expirings are easier to offload than longer deals and they're easiest to offload at the trade deadline when the majority of their salary has been paid already.

The repeater tax is a small factor a giant escalator compared to just how punitive it is to be massively over the tax. Repeater adds some pain but the Cavs are already paying 7 times Ball's salary (or Wade's, or Merrill's, depending on who the last luxury signing is) to have him on the roster. The repeater tax is just an additional 2x on top.

Table of what we (and the rest of the league) are paying per tax bracket: https://www.salaryswish.com/luxury-tax

I watched a Pacers team that faced very little resistance on the perimeter and was able to shoot over too many of our players when it was there. Merrill is fundamentally sound defensively, he anticipates well and positions himself accordingly, but way too many Cavs fans confuse that with *good.* He still has physical limitations that prevent him from frustrating the opponent.

I really don't care about Nance's career FG% if he's a turnstile on defense. That will get him played off the floor in the playoffs which is why Niang isn't on the roster. The Cavs need to be thinking about what happens when their next playoff opponent starts spamming threes because we're starting Garland and Mitchell, and assuming the plan was to keep Merrill for at least one season rather than sign him to dump him later, he'll be in the rotation.

You have Nance on Niang's level defensively? We are not on the same page about that.

There's a pretty wide delta between Niang's level and good, or even okay.

[JujitsuFlip]

Looks like probably no Merrill again tonight.

[JujitsuFlip]

It is still baffling to me that Tomlin on a two-way is higher on the depth chart than Bryant.

[jbk1234]

Cavs are overdribbling in a crowded paint with predictable results. Vuc hasn't played at all tonight. We're really struggling to grab a defensive rebound.

[JonFromVA]

fwiw, I think Cavs fans put way too much weight on height and wingspan. It's a great attribute, but for example having superior length to Lu Dort does not make a player a better defender than Lu Dort.

Height and wingspan are things you cannot change and usually a prerequisite to defensive performance. Dort is an exception, but he also has a unique build that you cannot just train yourself into.

Yet, so many players with great wingspan and length are awful defenders. It's just an attribute like many other attributes that contribute to defense, but it's meaningless without skill, knowledge, preparation, anticipation, reflexes, etc, etc.

Really what I'm getting at here is a grass is greener attitude. Take Lonzo Ball for instance who a few years ago along with Caruso was considered the backbone of the Bulls nascent defense before they got slammed by injuries. What's his wingspan? It's just 6'9" or actually a little wider than Okoro and a little narrower than Mitchell. Caruso apparently has just a 6'6" wingspan - which is just an inch wider than Garland's.

[jbk1234]

fwiw, I think Cavs fans put way too much weight on height and wingspan. It's a great attribute, but for example having superior length to Lu Dort does not make a player a better defender than Lu Dort.

Height and wingspan are things you cannot change and usually a prerequisite to defensive performance. Dort is an exception, but he also has a unique build that you cannot just train yourself into.

Yet, so many players with great wingspan and length are awful defenders. It's just an attribute like many other attributes that contribute to defense, but it's meaningless without skill, knowledge, preparation, anticipation, reflexes, etc, etc.

Really what I'm getting at here is a grass is greener attitude. Take Lonzo Ball for instance who a few years ago along with Caruso was considered the backbone of the Bulls nascent defense before they got slammed by injuries. What's his wingspan? It's just 6'9" or actually a little wider than Okoro and a little narrower than Mitchell. Caruso apparently has just a 6'6" wingspan - which is just an inch wider than Garland's.

Caruso is the exception that proves the rule. There's only one guy like him in the entire NBA. I don't think telling Garland to go play like Caruso is going to work.

[jbk1234]

After watching two games against the Bulls this preseason, two things jump out at me: 1) The Bulls are going to be better this season; and 2) Atkinson needs to reconsider whether he wants to get into a track meet for 48 minutes with less talented teams who want to play at an insane pace. This is particularly the case when you're undermanned.

[JonFromVA]

Height and wingspan are things you cannot change and usually a prerequisite to defensive performance. Dort is an exception, but he also has a unique build that you cannot just train yourself into.

Yet, so many players with great wingspan and length are awful defenders. It's just an attribute like many other attributes that contribute to defense, but it's meaningless without skill, knowledge, preparation, anticipation, reflexes, etc, etc.

Really what I'm getting at here is a grass is greener attitude. Take Lonzo Ball for instance who a few years ago along with Caruso was considered the backbone of the Bulls nascent defense before they got slammed by injuries. What's his wingspan? It's just 6'9" or actually a little wider than Okoro and a little narrower than Mitchell. Caruso apparently has just a 6'6" wingspan - which is just an inch wider than Garland's.

Caruso is the exception that proves the rule. There's only one guy like him in the entire NBA. I don't think telling Garland to go play like Caruso is going to work.

So you don't like stats and you don't like examples.

Got it.

The formula used to be if you played for Izzo at Michigan State, you probably knew how to play defense.

I don't know what to tell you if you think smaller players who build up their core and learn how to use their lower center of gravity and quicker hands and feet to their advantage are the exception.

[jbk1234]

Yet, so many players with great wingspan and length are awful defenders. It's just an attribute like many other attributes that contribute to defense, but it's meaningless without skill, knowledge, preparation, anticipation, reflexes, etc, etc.

Really what I'm getting at here is a grass is greener attitude. Take Lonzo Ball for instance who a few years ago along with Caruso was considered the backbone of the Bulls nascent defense before they got slammed by injuries. What's his wingspan? It's just 6'9" or actually a little wider than Okoro and a little narrower than Mitchell. Caruso apparently has just a 6'6" wingspan - which is just an inch wider than Garland's.

Caruso is the exception that proves the rule. There's only one guy like him in the entire NBA. I don't think telling Garland to go play like Caruso is going to work.

So you don't like stats and you don't like examples.

Got it.

The formula used to be if you played for Izzo at Michigan State, you probably knew how to play defense.

I don't know what to tell you if you think smaller players who build up their core and learn how to use their lower center of gravity and quicker hands and feet to their advantage are the exception.

Caruso's defense is an example like SGA is an example of efficient midrange shooting. It's theoretically possible, but the fact that's it's (exceedingly) rare suggests it's unlikely to work out. If I suggested to you that Caruso could develop an offensive game as good as Garland's, I suspect that prediction would be meet with some skepticism as there's a degree to which some skills are innate.

[JujitsuFlip]

After watching two games against the Bulls this preseason, two things jump out at me: 1) The Bulls are going to be better this season; and 2) Atkinson needs to reconsider whether he wants to get into a track meet for 48 minutes with less talented teams who want to play at an insane pace. This is particularly the case when you're undermanned.

Sounds like the 2025 semis against the Pacers all over again hahaha