Lakers wanted him, but they have absolutely nothing to offer the Pistons that would be of value. I agree that I wanted to trade him and thought his value would be highest now, but if teams weren’t offering anything that could help the pistons in their rebuild then I wouldn’t get rid of him just to get rid of him.
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Well when the Pistons set the price at 2 unprotected firsts, it sort of squashed reasonable discussion. The Bucks offered Portis and an unprotected 2027, which strikes me as potentially pretty good!
Hard to know here? Were they really seeing 2 unprotected firsts? That’s a lot. Firsts are gold right now. If the Bucks offered that, I’m disappointed. I like Portis a lot and in 4 years the Bucks probably won’t be as good as they are now. Giannis is 29.
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Bucks offered 1. Their reported asking price was 2
Well you never know what’s truth and what’s simply information that’s available out there, especically when it comes to trade rumors. I’m still forever curious if Utah was going to trade us Carlos Boozer for Rip and Tay back before the ownership change supposedly put a stop to that. Apparently that deal was on the table, but you never know.
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If that’s true I might be a little disappointed, but I hadn’t heard that was an actual offer. Also the Bucks first round pick is practically a second round pick based on their record. I’m sure they’d hope for at least something that could fall in the 15-22 range ish rather than a pick in the 28-30 range.
Also it’s negotiation. Pistons aren’t going to say hey this guy can be had for a couple second rounders and a bag of balls. You set a high price, see if anyone bites at the high price, and negotiate down from there
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well, 2027 pick could not be reasonably predicted at 28-30. Weaver has shown I think an ill-advised fetish for veterans that makes no sense given the current building state of his team.
I suppose but they’ll probably be good for as long as they have Giannis or until he is no longer athletic (which will likely be after 2027)
If Detroit isn’t close to being at least a play-in contender, Weaver won’t be around to make a 2027 draft pick. He needs pieces to try to compete in the next 2 years to show progress or he’s gone. Trading Bojan and Burks for future assets and leaving yourself even younger next season is setting that team up to be awful again.
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well this sounds like moral hazard! surely such a thing has never hurt the Pistons before (looks at Blake Griffin trade and shrugs)
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Sure, we’ll know in a couple years if it was a major mistake, but keeping two useful vets on team friendly deals is not quite the same situation as mortgaging your entire franchise on an aging vet on a max contract.
I guess my take is that the Pistons don’t even have a surefire all-star? Like, Cade very well good be, but I don’t think it’s a given. I think they need lottery tickets.
Enough about the Pistons. Tell me what your Bulls plan is for the future. They are 26-28 and I think I heard they were one of only 2 NBA teams to not make any deals at the deadline. Obviously their big 3 isn’t good enough to compete for anything. What’s the plan there?
to wither and die, of course
Seriously, neither extending nor trading Vuc makes no sense. DeRozan, like Bojan, is never going to have higher value than now (he’s just way better) and should probably get dealt. Instead we’re gonna pray for a play-in slot.
If Ball was healthy, that would be one thing but I tend to think he won’t play another NBA game.
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wait what. that’s a thing people are saying?
it’s been over a year and he can’t run without pain
seems bad!
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That all sucks so bad. he was really coming into his own as a fun, winning player
Here:
“According to @JCowleyHoops on 670 The Score: 1) The Chicago Bulls don’t know why Lonzo Ball is still feeling pain in his knee. The medical staff doesn’t know why there is still pain. Lonzo and his camp also don’t know why. 2) Lonzo has had at least 6 opinions from doctors.”
Not great!
And yeah, he had become the ultimate glue guy - played good D, knocked down lots of threes at high volume/accuracy, juiced transition, moved the ball. It feels like the Bulls are operating as if he’s going to come back, and if they keep the same team, they can be that team that lead the east when he got hurt…which I’m not sure they were THAT good, and it seems like he may not come back, and the other guys may not maintain their form anyway?
I agree they need lottery tickets. I’m just not convinced Bobby Portis and the 28th pick in the 2027 draft are that.
My hope here is their plan is to somehow use all of these expiring contracts (Burks $10M, Wiseman $12M, Noel $9M) next year, and the guys with only 1 year left after next year (Bojan $20M, Bagley $12M) who have partial guarantees and give those to a team looking to rebuild and get rid of a high salary starter. I know it’s been said Noel would get bought out, but giving up Bey and Knox for Wiseman leaves them with an open roster spot. Buying out Noel to have a 2nd open roster spot isn’t really necessary unless they plan to elevate some G-leaguers.
I wouldn’t have been mad to see Bojan and Burks traded if they got something decent back. Given the cap space Detroit has though and the fact they are useful players, I’m also not annoyed that they didn’t give them up if nobody was offering what they wanted.
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This is a Pistons thread, so this is a Pistons-centric answer to your question:
The Bulls should plan to lose, lose some more and then see about squeezing in a few more losses. An alternative plan would be for The Bulls to go to he11.
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