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Glad Lonzo's rehab continues to go in a positive direction.

What is lost in a lot of the milestones like "sprinting" or "playing 5 on 5" is the quality of those activities relative to his past. There is a big gap in being able to sprint again, and being able to sprint / cut / jump for 30 minutes a night in quick bursts for probably 200 days a year (if you count practice) and do so at a level that is at NBA athleticism caliber.

I hope it all works out for him, and the continued progress is nice to see, but even if he's able to suit up again, that's still a long, long way away from suiting up at previous levels of ability. Derrick Rose cleared every metric available but was never a meaningful impact player again, because he just lost a little bit. The athleticism line in the NBA is very small.

There are different layers of recovery here:
1: Lonzo making a great personal recovery where he can live a normal healthy life (looks like this will happen)
2: Lonzo making a recovery good enough to play NBA basketball (probably still very much up in the air)
3: Lonzo making a recovery good enough to play NBA basketball at or near his previous level of ability starting this season where it meaningfully helps the Bulls (this seems very far away and unlikely to me still)

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/275072/Growing-Buzz-That-Lonzo-Ball-Will-Play-Next-Season

NOT directed at anyone in particular, got it?

There's the Joe Cowley camp that thinks any deal the Bulls make is a bad one, am player, coach or ball boy they bring in was third on the list and the cheapest they could get, any injury to a Bulls player is a death sentence. That's the territory Joe has staked out as a reporter for the Sun-Times which takes the negative slant in general

But to see KC Johnson to even go so far as to say that there is 'growing buzz' is akin to him getting it from inside the building. KC doesn't climb a tree much less ever go out on a limb, he's a legit reporter, sharing what he find out, not hyping his reputation up putting out fiction and never worrying about confirmation. I doubt this is born of Team Lonzo or even his father trying to keep his kid's name in the news. My take is this comes from talking to the Bulls training staff that KC knows isn't looking for a feature article for themselves, but sharing off the record that Lonzo looks and feels good, with no pain, and training camp is 6 months away so he might make enough progress by them.

To me I don't start the clock for him returning from when he last played or from the date of any of the previous surgeries. My clock starts from the last procedure which wasn't just a redo of what he had done before. Now he appears to have no pain, and he has the confidence to try the running, jumping, sprinting cutting. He didn't want to even get to those steps at any point before but now he feels ready to try.

That's OUR STARTING 2024/2025 POWER FORWARD!
Or is it Ayo?
Or is it Demar?

Sheesh.

I am very happy that Lonzo seems to be on a positive track. I echo everything dougthonus said though. Hard to see him reaching his previous level, but what a story it would be if he does.

With Coby Ayo and Caruso… we aren’t dependent on Lonzo anymore. He’d still be a great piece because he raises everyone else’s game. He def makes Zach better too.

Still a long shot he comes back and even plays 80% of what he was.

Regarding Derrick Rose, after his rehab I thought he was a plus player in spurts for a while, but he had to keep his minutes low? I even thought he was above average athletically for a while, while not his former superman self. That's just the eye test from several years ago, haven't looked at his stats in a long time. Different situation, of course, anyway.

If we could somehow get a decent sixth man season out of Lonzo next year, I guess I would be pretty happy. The unfortunate thing is, the Bulls enabled his generational wealth (which he deserved and earned at the time), they helped him rehab several surgeries and paid him to do it, they (and we) supported him every step of the way for years with no return, and yet it's unlikely the Bulls get anything out of it after whatever recovery year next year becomes - if he shows any promise he will leave and go to a team that has done nothing for him, almost certainly. Just the way the ball bounces. It still would do my heart good to see him have some good moments in a Bulls uni next year.

Years from now will this be known as the Lonzo Ball surgery similar to UCL surgery being more commonly known as Tommy John surgery?

Chi town wrote:With Coby Ayo and Caruso… we aren’t dependent on Lonzo anymore. He’d still be a great piece because he raises everyone else’s game. He def makes Zach better too.

Still a long shot he comes back and even plays 80% of what he was.

The beauty is that with a healthy Lonzo, it doesn’t really matter who else is on the roster because he fits in anywhere. He compliments Coby, Ayo & Caruso and can play with any combination of them.

If the signs look positive, then I’m happy to roll with Lonzo next season. Resign DDR & Pat to team friendly contracts, trade Zach & Vuc and look to acquire some size in the front court. Hopefully Drummond opts in to give us some security at the C.

jordanwilliams6 wrote:

Chi town wrote:With Coby Ayo and Caruso… we aren’t dependent on Lonzo anymore. He’d still be a great piece because he raises everyone else’s game. He def makes Zach better too.

Still a long shot he comes back and even plays 80% of what he was.

The beauty is that with a healthy Lonzo, it doesn’t really matter who else is on the roster because he fits in anywhere. He compliments Coby, Ayo & Caruso and can play with any combination of them.

If the signs look positive, then I’m happy to roll with Lonzo next season. Resign DDR & Pat to team friendly contracts, trade Zach & Vuc and look to acquire some size in the front court. Hopefully Drummond opts in to give us some security at the C.

Drummond is a FA, he doesn't have an option, that was this past season.

Agreed that Lonzo compliments any of the Bulls players, he's not a guy that needs to handle the ball much to be effective and he's big enough to play at SF if need be for stints (please don't put him at PF Billy!).

The Bulls need to retool with some better complimentary pieces to fit with Ayo and Coby, invest in some youthful front court pieces, if they going to just continue running on the treadmill atleast give themselves an opportunity to increase the chances of internal growth so there's a future.

If Ball plays well when/if he gets back, he could be a valuable trade piece with what he provides plus being an expiring contract.

The Bulls played great with Lonzo before he got hurt and I think we could slowly bring him along with the depth we have at the guard position. We actually have pretty good guard play. What hurts us is the Center and PF position.

PG - Coby, SG - Lavine, SF - DDR, PF - P. Williams
PG - Ayo, SG - Caruso, SF - Lonzo

Lonzo can play Point Forward with the second unit while literally taking the easiest of the defensive duties from the 1-3 positions. If Lonzo can play average defense while still being a plus passer and plus catch n shoot 3 point shooter then he'd be a welcome addition to the roster. Even if he takes a step or 2 back he 'could' still be an upgrade over Terry, Phillips, Carter and Bitim.

Not playing basketball for 2 1/2 seasons alone is going to be an uphill battle, never mind coming back from (experimental) knee surgery.

If news keeps coming back saying he's improving then I have no doubts he's coming back. People act like they know everyone's history and can judge there body. I don't agree with negative people. Lonzo isn't all the other players who didn't make it back from this surgery. It's pitiful to hear all these nay sayers talk like God isn't the one in control. Anything is possible. I do think he will have some knee load management games. But I'm with lonzo. He's coming back to play. The doubters will be hushed. Lonzo will be the reason why alot of young athletes will now elect to go through this surgery who's knees are far beyond damaged.

Axl Rose wrote:Not playing basketball for 2 1/2 seasons alone is going to be an uphill battle, never mind coming back from (experimental) knee surgery.

D.rose took 2 years off. He still had seasons avg 18 ppg. Klay took two years off with injury. He's up in age now but he's still serviceable. Lonzo game is shooting 3s. Passing, and defense. Idk how he can't get back to that. He's 6ft6. He can dunk even if he lost a bit of athletism. He's not running off screens, or crossing up players like rose or klay. I see lonzo coming back and performing at a high level. Give him till about January to regain his awareness and trusting his body.

DropStep wrote:Regarding Derrick Rose, after his rehab I thought he was a plus player in spurts for a while, but he had to keep his minutes low? I even thought he was above average athletically for a while, while not his former superman self. That's just the eye test from several years ago, haven't looked at his stats in a long time. Different situation, of course, anyway.

If we could somehow get a decent sixth man season out of Lonzo next year, I guess I would be pretty happy. The unfortunate thing is, the Bulls enabled his generational wealth (which he deserved and earned at the time), they helped him rehab several surgeries and paid him to do it, they (and we) supported him every step of the way for years with no return, and yet it's unlikely the Bulls get anything out of it after whatever recovery year next year becomes - if he shows any promise he will leave and go to a team that has done nothing for him, almost certainly. Just the way the ball bounces. It still would do my heart good to see him have some good moments in a Bulls uni next year.

I agree with the sentiment but I can't envision teams lining up to pay Lonzo after this ordeal, even if he plays well next year and plays close to 82 games. I could see him getting a "big" (15mil) contract for 1 year with a second year partially guaranteed, though if I'm him I'd go to whatever team will let me start. if he can show he's healthy over 2 or 3 seasons, he can still probably get one more big, multi-year contract. I think that's all very optimistic though, I still sort of think Lonzo is done as a professional ball player. I hope he proves me wrong whichever team he plays for.

You start ball at pg and move coby back to the 6th man role in 2025.

Bandit King wrote:You start ball at pg and move coby back to the 6th man role in 2025.

dougthonus wrote:Glad Lonzo's rehab continues to go in a positive direction.

What is lost in a lot of the milestones like "sprinting" or "playing 5 on 5" is the quality of those activities relative to his past. There is a big gap in being able to sprint again, and being able to sprint / cut / jump for 30 minutes a night in quick bursts for probably 200 days a year (if you count practice) and do so at a level that is at NBA athleticism caliber.

I hope it all works out for him, and the continued progress is nice to see, but even if he's able to suit up again, that's still a long, long way away from suiting up at previous levels of ability. Derrick Rose cleared every metric available but was never a meaningful impact player again, because he just lost a little bit. The athleticism line in the NBA is very small.

There are different layers of recovery here:
1: Lonzo making a great personal recovery where he can live a normal healthy life (looks like this will happen)
2: Lonzo making a recovery good enough to play NBA basketball (probably still very much up in the air)
3: Lonzo making a recovery good enough to play NBA basketball at or near his previous level of ability starting this season where it meaningfully helps the Bulls (this seems very far away and unlikely to me still)

I mentioned this before but I am 100% certain he will play again. I know they aren’t pros but stats based off amateur and collegiate athletes who had the surgery show 76% return to their sport. I think the real question, which is your option 3, is will he be as good as he was prior to the surgery.

Even with microfacture surgery, the failed procedure used prior to cartilage implants (Lonzo’s surgery) to correct cartilage damage, the issue for the player was never not coming back. The issue was that the player was never the same once he returned.

drosestruts wrote:Years from now will this be known as the Lonzo Ball surgery similar to UCL surgery being more commonly known as Tommy John surgery?

Hopefully!

Axl Rose wrote:Not playing basketball for 2 1/2 seasons alone is going to be an uphill battle, never mind coming back from (experimental) knee surgery.

The surgery itself is not experimental, it’s been around for years. This is only experimental because he will be the first pro NBA player to have the surgery and attempt a comeback.

Lamelo is also out for season. What is it with this Ball brothers and injury? Lamelo averaged 30 games per season over the last 2 seasons.

I bet AKME comes back with basically the same roster and bank on Lonzo returning and improving the team.