Pickled Prunes wrote:Signing DeMar for two years doesn't hinder that plan. It gives them veteran leadership which is the missing link in so many failed rebuilds... and it also sells tickets. DeMar will be retired before any of the picks in question are extension eligible. Most importantly, DeMar is a FA. CHI should obviously be open to a S&T but their return in a S&T would be minimal. In other words, he isn't currently an asset. He becomes an asset if the S&T him, but I believe he is an asset if they resign him as well, even if they overpay him.
I sort of agree.
Most of the things I would have done required them to not be morons 2 years ago when Zach, Caruso, and DeMar and even to a lesser extent Vuc were assets (or much bigger assets).
I also think that using 40M of room on DeMar still clogs up your ability to do other future based things, and DeMar's brand of offense doesn't really teach your young guys better habits or allow them to play a modern style of game or get them as many reps as they would otherwise. He also probably makes your pick 3-4 spots worse and in the case of this next year, in a really good 2025 draft, he maybe makes the team good enough that you don't keep your pick in a year you probably want to.
I do think he's an amazing locker room guy, but there's nearly a 1:1 ratio of players to coaches/trainers on the team. I think the value of that mentoring is much lower than people think.
Keeping DeMar is absolutely not going to help you be better in 3 years, you could debate how much it hinders you, but the answer is probably at least some.
I also don't think it helps you sell any seats. For one, the Bulls rarely struggle much with attendance anyway, but most fans you talk to are pretty disgusted with the continuity of the team and aren't going to be riveted to see them run it back again.