Your offseason plans for the Bulls

[patryk7754]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

I like it and I think the Warriors would love it but I don't think the FO wants to get rid of Vuc, unfortunately.

[League Circles]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

I like it and I think the Warriors would love it but I don't think the FO wants to get rid of Vuc, unfortunately.

Yeah it appeals to me cause it gets rid of two bad contracts as Paul only has next year left. Plus he's probably still the best player.

[patryk7754]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

I like it and I think the Warriors would love it but I don't think the FO wants to get rid of Vuc, unfortunately.

Yeah it appeals to me cause it gets rid of two bad contracts as Paul only has next year left. Plus he's probably still the best player.

Didn’t he mentor white as well? He could also play a roll in white elevating once more. He’d also be a great asset to lavine is he’s still around

[dougthonus]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

Can't imagine the Warriors would want to pay 130M dollars or so for the combination of Vuc and Carter. Would guess they just waive Paul and save the money.

That said, hard to guess what the Warriors will do and if they want to try to reload at insane prices again this year. If they do, my guess is they look to trade Paul for someone more impactful.

[sco]

I'll start by saying the ideal strategy for our offseason should be converting LAvine into a rebuilt front court and using Vuc to add cheap depth and using both trades to add cap flexibility. Below of "best case scenario" trades that are a bit unrealistic but might work.

Seems like the FO is completely against tanking but still want to get rid of Lavine, I think our best strategy may be rebuilding the front court and then keeping the rest of the team intact. This three team is probably a bit of a reach but it's the ideal return in this type of Lavine based trade. (also idk if these trades would work money wise since trade machine hasn't updated for the offseason yet)

Lavine to the Cavs
Jarret Allen to the Timberwolves (maybe a pick to the wolves as well)
Evan Mobley and Naz Reid to the Bulls

I think the least likely team to accept this trade is the Wolves. They'd increase the cap hit for their backup center while loosing Reid's three point shooting. They could be convinced that Allen's interior defense is a big enough upgrade to let Reid go via trade. They could also see it as an opportunity to flip Rudy (who has sky high value now as a 4 time DPOY) for a star PG since Connley is soon to retire.

I think it's definitely possible for the Cavs to agree to this trade. They'd have to make the decision to sacrifice defense for offense but after these playoffs I think it would be an easier decision for them. They can significantly upgrade their offense and get good enough replacements in via FA (Drumond, Love, Batum, Wagner, Valancunis, Harenstien) to fill out the front court.

Kinda of a no brainer for the Bulls you get off Lavines contract add elite defense. With Reid's 3pt shooting, he can stretch the floor and he's a great compliment to Mobley. We go from having a terrible front court on defense to maybe the best.



After the Lavine trade, Vuevic would be up next. I think the most likely trade partner would be the Mavs. They have a lot of redundancy with their big men. All but Washington are defensive guys with little to contribute on defense. Something like Gafford and Josh Green would be great additions, but I think it would be best for us to move them to a third team to gain more cap flexibility and maybe a pick.

I would also see if we could package White and Vuc and see if we could upgrade PG. It seems like there might be some decent ones available this offseason, with the most notable being Young. There's a near zero chance of upgrading PG using White and Vuc as the main trade piece of working but worth exploring. An ideal but realistic return for Vuc could look something like this

Vuc to the Mavs
Dwight Powell to the Heat
Josh Green and 2nd round picks from Heat and Mavs to bulls

If we resign Damar at 30m (because 40m is insane) we'd have roughly 25m in cap after the Lavine and Vuc trades. We could use that money on some scoring off the bench (Malik Monk/Tobis Harris). We could also opt to not resign Damar and break the bank for Siakam. So our team could look like one of two ways....

White/Carter
Damar/Ayo
Caruso/Green
Mobley/Harris
Reid/FA or Draft

---or--

White/Carter
Caruso/Ayo
Siakam/Green
Mobely/FA or Draft
Reid/FA or Draft

Ever thought about writing fiction? I love your optimism, but I think you are slightly overestimating the trade value of our guys.

[drosestruts]

The "big 3" (LaVine/DeRozan/Vuc) with different starting point guards over the last 3 years:

2021-22
w/ Lonzo Ball: +3.4
w/ Ayo: -8.7

2022-23
w/ Ayo: -1.6
w/ Beverley: -4.0

2023-24
w/ White: -12.5


This obviously contains some up-and-down play from the players comprising the "big 3", but man, Lonzo's impact was kind of unreal.

This is not a call for us to attempt to run this team back with a different starting guard (mainly because I can't stomach Vuc), whatever lightening in a bottle we found with Ball has not been refound with any other guard we've tried.

[League Circles]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

Can't imagine the Warriors would want to pay 130M dollars or so for the combination of Vuc and Carter. Would guess they just waive Paul and save the money.

That said, hard to guess what the Warriors will do and if they want to try to reload at insane prices again this year. If they do, my guess is they look to trade Paul for someone more impactful.

Vuc would provide them with the floor spacing they need though, as he's always done including this year. Why wouldn't they want that? All they have to do is give up an expiring contract for a HOF player and take on two younger players on very reasonable deals.

[MrSparkle]

The "big 3" (LaVine/DeRozan/Vuc) with different starting point guards over the last 3 years:

2021-22
w/ Lonzo Ball: +3.4
w/ Ayo: -8.7

2022-23
w/ Ayo: -1.6
w/ Beverley: -4.0

2023-24
w/ White: -12.5


This obviously contains some up-and-down play from the players comprising the "big 3", but man, Lonzo's impact was kind of unreal.

This is not a call for us to attempt to run this team back with a different starting guard (mainly because I can't stomach Vuc), whatever lightening in a bottle we found with Ball has not been refound with any other guard we've tried.

Very high 3P% and volume, smart passing, DPOY caliber defense- I still felt like we needed a better primary ball-handler (maybe 2nd rd ceiling), but he/Zach/Demar were a plus-trio for sure.

I’m a big fan of playing bigger than your opponents, and having a 6’6 PG was a refreshing luxury… for 2 months.

[HomoSapien]

I wonder if a trade could be made that is Vuc and Carter for Chris Paul. Who says no?

Can't imagine the Warriors would want to pay 130M dollars or so for the combination of Vuc and Carter. Would guess they just waive Paul and save the money.

That said, hard to guess what the Warriors will do and if they want to try to reload at insane prices again this year. If they do, my guess is they look to trade Paul for someone more impactful.

Vuc would provide them with the floor spacing they need though, as he's always done including this year. Why wouldn't they want that? All they have to do is give up an expiring contract for a HOF player and take on two younger players on very reasonable deals.

If he could provide that, we'd want him too.

[Rose2Boozer]

This off season seems to be all about big saving on Lavine's contract next season, the DDR extension question, and will AK cash in on Caruso's trade value. If AK can't hit on at least two out of three this off season will more than likely be a failure.

[kodo]

This off season seems to be all about big saving on Lavine's contract next season, the DDR extension question, and will AK cash in on Caruso's trade value. If AK can't hit on at least two out of three this off season will more than likely be a failure.

I think we'll trade Zach partially into cap space, sign DDR, and keep Caruso. And sign Patrick.

I suspect trading Lavine into cap space won't be hard because the FA is turrible. Most of the best FA's are highly expected to resign with current teams. The best guard FA that is actually expected to be let go by his current team is D'Angelo Russell. I would rather have Lavine over Russell for the same cap hit.

TBH I'm most worried about losing Drummond. At the deadline teams were offering 3 2nd round picks for him, someone will surely offer a dollar more than the vet min we pay him. Offensive rebounding as has been huge in these playoffs, and he's the best in the league. Our defensive rating is also the best with him on the floor (although most centers replacing Vuc will have a great DRating).

[MalagaBulls]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

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[jnrjr79]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

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I'd do it. Ingram is no great shakes, but he's got fewer years on his contract and is cheaper.

If the Bulls do that, they still probably have to let one of DeMar or Pat go unextended to stay under the tax.

I would prefer to trade LaVine into someone's cap space for draft capital, but if this were all that were available, I'd be fine with it.

[eierluke]

my offseason plan:
1) sell the franchise to someone interested in basketball success
2) replace AKME
3) replace Donovan
4) create cap space in 2026 (we are hand cuffed salary wise until 2026 anyway)
5) resign our free agents on reasonable short term contracts with team options for 26/7, which could be usefull in trades
5a) DerMar 2 years at what it costs (but don't increase his actual salary of 28.6 mio/year) with a 3rd year team option
5b)A Drummond 7 mio /year with 3rd year as a team option
5c) resign 2 PF:
- TCraig appears slightly underpaid, but at age 34 might opt in at 2.8 mio
- PWillims at qualifying offer 13 mio (if some crazy franchise offers more let him go)
- if PWilliams leaves sign Javonte Green to what it takes
6) new coach should play Zach as a 6th man without defense responsibilities. If Zach responses well he could shine in that role and that could be a chance to trade him
7) draft pest player available, best case a PF/C with size
8) FA: as a minor goal Scottie Pippen Jr. would be my FA target (though we then would have to create a roster spot)

[nomorezorro]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

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the other day i was thinking about the possibility of something like lavine + caruso for ingram + nance — think we'd definitely need to sweeten it beyond just lavine/ingram to get new orleans's attention. still don't imagine they'd go for it, since they're not exactly hurting for defensive pest types, and we'd probably be better off just spinning caruso off for picks or something, but if the goal is to stay "competitive," that's a way to get there while creating a more balanced roster size-wise.

let ingram spend a year or two learning midrange witchcraft from derozan, see if it unlocks a new element to his game. i dunno

[Chi town]

Ingram is hurt a lot. Zach is too but his injuries are not nagging normally.

[Dan Z]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

Read on Twitter

the other day i was thinking about the possibility of something like lavine + caruso for ingram + nance — think we'd definitely need to sweeten it beyond just lavine/ingram to get new orleans's attention. still don't imagine they'd go for it, since they're not exactly hurting for defensive pest types, and we'd probably be better off just spinning caruso off for picks or something, but if the goal is to stay "competitive," that's a way to get there while creating a more balanced roster size-wise.

let ingram spend a year or two learning midrange witchcraft from derozan, see if it unlocks a new element to his game. i dunno

I agree that New Orleans would want more than a straight up trade of LaVine for Ingram and that Caruso probably isn't enough. That's why I'd pass.

The other thing to keep in mind is...how much is Ingram's next contract going to be? In a year he's a free agent.

Hopefully the Bulls decide that their current direction ("stay competitive") isn't working and it's time to try something else.

[DuckIII]

This off season seems to be all about big saving on Lavine's contract next season, the DDR extension question, and will AK cash in on Caruso's trade value. If AK can't hit on at least two out of three this off season will more than likely be a failure.

Hitting on two of those three would also be a failure. Unless you mean by “hitting on” trading Zach for salary savings and resigning DDR you mean not doing either of those things.

[kodo]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

Not optimal...It's been beaten to death we need to shoot more 3s, Ingram doesn't shoot 3s. He creates no spacing, he's mainly a dribble into pull up mid range jumper. Very poor on defense, OKC targeted him in the series. There was news that Borrego had to abandon his motion offense to accommodate BI's game (just dribble into his own shot). So basically 2 derozans out there.

Wherever anyone is on the spectrum of Derozan, I think most people would agree having two Derozans both at $35M+ isn't good (BI wants a near max).

Why NO might do it...for the exact reason they're getting rid of Ingram, Zion needs spacing & kickout threats. Lavine last 3 years was one of the highest volume 3P shooters in the league and hitting at an average of 39.4%. But they're already paying CJ & Zion $35M. I kinda think Zach is going to get traded to a younger team and have a lot of financial flexibility rather than these PO teams. Like Charlotte had no problem with Hayward's contract even for 14 ppg.

[sco]

Would anyone entertain a 141 swap of Lavine for Ingram? He is apparently on the block due to his poor fit with Zion. It works in the trade machine, but I wonder why NOLA would do that?

Not optimal...It's been beaten to death we need to shoot more 3s, Ingram doesn't shoot 3s. He creates no spacing, he's mainly a dribble into pull up mid range jumper. Very poor on defense, OKC targeted him in the series. There was news that Borrego had to abandon his motion offense to accommodate BI's game (just dribble into his own shot). So basically 2 derozans out there.

Wherever anyone is on the spectrum of Derozan, I think most people would agree having two Derozans both at $35M+ isn't good (BI wants a near max).

Why NO might do it...for the exact reason they're getting rid of Ingram, Zion needs spacing & kickout threats. Lavine last 3 years was one of the highest volume 3P shooters in the league and hitting at an average of 39.4%. But they're already paying CJ & Zion $35M. I kinda think Zach is going to get traded to a younger team and have a lot of financial flexibility rather than these PO teams. Like Charlotte had no problem with Hayward's contract even for 14 ppg.

I agree that an Ingram deal would also mean ridding ourselves or Demar to solve that problem, but I could get excited about Coby, Caruso/Ayo, BI, Pat, New Center.