And I want Leroy to be the first to respond to this.

You vehemently stated that Lavine should get the super max. Well, he got it,
and look at the Bulls now, and he can’t play back to back games

Look at the Vuch situation, which again, you were gung ho about, but
the bulls are about to take a major L on that.

I’m not calling you out anything like that.

I just want know your perception at the this point and if you are
willing to admit that this management is trash and just as bad as the
previous one.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Lavine has been in the clutch, which he has always been.

https://www.blogabull.com/platform/amp/2022/12/13/23507509/the-bulls-have-been-bad-in-the-clutch-and-zach-lavine-is-leading-that-problem.

No way in he hell should he have ever been given the max.

And now we are stuck with him , bad knee and all….

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
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1. Went to the game Wednesday night against the Knicks.
I'm not sure if it was because I was seeing the game live,
but it was then that I realized that this core of
LaVine, Vucevic and DeRozan just isn't working.

I mean, I knew two weeks ago, but it's really showing itself now.
And if they lose to the Knicks twice...AT HOME?

Better shooting around those 3 guys would help.
And the Bulls as a whole still haven't found a way to
deal with teams doubling/trapping DDR.

Most of November, the bench was playing with more urgency than the starters.
THAT was the first time I'm like...this gotta get fixed soon.
Like, I'm a Javonte Green fan, but he was always out playing Williams who was starting.

2. I won't hide from this. I was definitely pushing for the Bulls
to pay LaVine the max, and now that contract is looking like a mistake.

I was willing to give LaVine the benefit of the doubt early in
the season because he was still coming back from the knee injury.
That didn't excuse the horrible communication about him not playing
the first two games of the season, but I don't have time to talk about that.

Yes, LaVine has been bad. His basketball IQ is poor.
One thing I appreciate about DDR, is that he KNOWS his spots,
and works to get the shot he knows is in his arsenal.
LaVine sometimes works and works to take a DIFFICULT shot.
Those step back 3s sometimes drive me insane!
His game opens up SO MUCH MORE when he drives.

3. Team preached 'continuity' over the off-season,
and even though it reeks of Reinsdorf manipulation so they
didn't have to spend anything, I actually believed management.
The full vision of this team only played together 3 months last season
before being riddled with injuries.

I've read opinions and reports about the Lonzo Ball signing,
and how his play was really what was supposed to stir the entire drink of the Bulls.
And look, we saw enough of it last season that made us believers.

4. With Donovan getting that extension, I don't expect there to
be any drastic changes. Not sure how they can do a soft rebuild here.
Vucevic is up this summer (not sure his value is all that high). Got another year of DDR.
Those are the two pieces I see actually getting moved.

5. This stretch of games they're currently in was supposed to right the ship.
If they can't at least come out .500, it's a wrap for this season.
The real question is...how soon will management realize this?

6. A lot of Bulls fans are starting to scream tank, that's not me.
That's an incredibly risky move. Orlando owns our pick and it's
only top 4 protected. If you miss out on that, we have very few options
to make our team better.
I say run with these guys and hope they turn it around.

https://digife.com

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

then draining a three and getting another standing ovation… as an opponent.

this team is weak as fuck. both mentally and physically. bunch of guys that want to iso and not play defense. fuck this shit. i don’t care anymore.

Hopefully a contender picks up d dose and he gets a chip. That’s all I care about moving forward.

with no KAT.

Some of this is on Billy, too. He is known for player development, and Lavine
and Derozan still suck defensively! They have not improved and Williams seems
to be moving backwards

We got to blow this shit up. No other choice

Move Derozan now. He will be on an expiring contract next season, so he will
definitely attract some teams who are going for it now, and are willing to
take a chance on him for one season.

Same thing with Vuch.


AD wants to play in Chicago some day. Lavine wants to play in LA.


Bulls get: AD

Lakers get: Lavine, Patrick Williams, Dragic and a first round pick ( via Portland)

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

>AD wants to play in Chicago some day. Lavine wants to play in
>LA.
>
>
>Bulls get: AD
>
>Lakers get: Lavine, Patrick Williams, Dragic and a first round
>pick ( via Portland)

Naw, I'm good on that.

You've been talking all this Patrick Williams stuff,
move LaVine, Vucevic and DeRozan, and allow Williams to go off.
Let's see what he really has.

https://digife.com

rest of the team. Several players vented their frustration with Lavine’s lack
of defensive effort, and this isn’t the first fiery encounter between Lavine and
the rest of the team. This has been a growing issue for sometime now, and
it became really explosive at halftime against the Timberwolves.

Leroy, your mans got to go.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

iso ball is not a recipe for sustained success in 2022. gonna guess that the team isn't happy with demar either.

but yeah, this ain't all on zach. a respected and talented point guard would probably help all parties involved.

*while being an average at best defender himself

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

for his lack of defense on the court….had shit to do with offense.


PLAYERS stepped to that dude….and this isn’t the first time.


https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/269744/Zach-LaVines-Defense-Was-Source-Of-Bulls-Half-Time-Dispute-Against-Timberwolves

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Whole focking squad!

They let a 6’4 dude drop 71 points all by himself!

Lavine is trashhhhh

They blew a 21 point lead!


Cavs had no no Mobley or Garland.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Lavine was useless on defense, and you would think that the Bulls would prevent Mitchell
getting the Ball, and force someone else to shoot. ..nope

So many times, Mitchell dribbled up the court for a pull up three, and don’t even
get me started on the missed free throw play.

He out-hustled every last bull player to get the rebound off
his missed free throw!

This game took the cake for me.

Bulls so focused on offense only…they have no idea what defense is!

Whole squad is spineless

You blow a 21 point lead against a depleted team that should have
been a cakewalk.

I don’t want here shit about being screwed by the Refs….

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

>Lavine was useless on defense, and you would think that the
>Bulls would prevent Mitchell
>getting the Ball, and force someone else to shoot. ..nope

THE COMPARISON IS UNCANNY!!!


Also, Mitchell is actually 6-1, not 6-4... even worst!

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

on by the whole squad (lol).

He is somewhat putting more effort on the defensive end, still
bad, but not as bad.

They should at least make the play-in tourney. I’m cool with that,
and then in the off season TRADE ZACH…do whatever it takes.

And dump Lonzo Ball. It appears he will not return to his previous
form. His knee is fucked up and he is injury prone. ..gotta dump him
and move on. He is still experiencing discomfort in his knee, and it’s been
1 year since he last played.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

The 2023 pick is protected 1-4, iirc. They currently have the ninth worst record in the NBA-- only four games ahead of having the fifth worst record in the NBA. And picks 1-4 would yield *tremendous* value in this draft.

So I think the answer is obvious.

You obviously trade Vucevic's expiring-- maybe you can get a late first or two second rounders for him.

You trade DeRozan, because you almost certainly won't want to resign him after his contract expires in 2024, and his trade value will be higher this year than next because a contender could get him for two playoff runs instead of one.

I don't think you can trade Lonzo for anything at all with his injury status so up in the air.

And if you think a complete reboot is necessary, you can obviously kick the tires on a LaVine trade, but it's going to be hard to find the right match for salary and roster timeline with him right now imo. I think you wouldn't get equitable value in a LaVine trade right now.

I'm not convinced a whole reboot is necessary-- they won 46 games last season-- but if you think Lonzo is fried and the team just doesn't operate the same without Lonzo, then dumping short term assets for long term assets like picks and developmental players seems obvious, and at least *testing* the market for LaVine seems reasonable.

And at bare minimum, you can tell LaVine to say "ow, my leg!" and sit him, because if LaVine, Vic, and DeRozan are all gone, chances of keeping that pick skyrocket.

The best case scenario for the Bulls, imo, involves keeping their top 4 pick this year and entering next season with that pick, a healthy Lonzo (especially if you don't believe in his long term health and want to trade him), LaVine (or whatever major asset you think you can get for LaVine), whatever assets you land for Vic and DeRozan, and a shitload of cap space to play with in free agency. If you luck out and land Vic or Scoot, you're right back in the mix for relevance in the East in a very short time frame.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
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would get to pick 1-4. They could land outside of that, considering the team
with the worst record will receive no worse than the 5th pick.

So, I don’t think an aggressive tank effort is the strategy to implement. We can simply
trade players before the deadline or off-season to acquire draft capital
for the upcoming draft.

We have quality assets that can be moved.

White
Williams
Ayo
Caruso
Lavine
Vuch
Derozan

Derozan will be on an expiring contract next season.

The focus should be to continue to play hard, make a playoff run,
and move assets in the off-season to get better assets. The only person
the bulls should be focused on moving now is Vuch, because he will
be a UFA at the end of the season….unless they want that salary completely off the
books to have more cap space, which would work, too.
White and Ayo , also, will be FAs at the end of the year.

I would go in this direction:

- continue to compete this season
- trade players to get draft picks
- improve cap space
- go after top young FAs in the off-season.

2023 Top FAs

Clarkson
FVV
Kuzma
Irving
Turner
Grant (Jerami)

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

https://twitter.com/NBCSBulls/status/1614051777669742595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1614051777669742595%7Ctwgr%5E3289f52e8da1a0ef1d0f18d529efd8cd113083e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-991897239784414971.ampproject.net%2F2301031703000%2Fframe.htmlWhat

This is not positive in my opinion. He is clearly running with a hitch in
his stride, and he looks like he is struggling.

This fucks up his value even more!!

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

According to
@thekapman
on
@ESPN1000
, Zach LaVine's relationship with head coach Billy Donovan "has sailed" and everyone else in the Chicago Bulls locker room is on Donovan's side.

They tried to move him to the Knicks, but the Knicks didn’t bite.

Strange thing, the bulls are actually playing better even though they lost the
other night, but the team was frustrated with Lavine’s play again.

He is as good as gone this summer

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Last I checked, they were 8-4 since the trade. Possibly the best move made by Mgt, which was a saving face move.

Defense has improved tremendously and Lavine is playing a lot better since he
doesn’t have to focus on defense.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid