re: The Truth of the Lonzo Trade

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Graham is on the very opposite end of the spectrum with our offense who has no creators and no one with any real gravity.

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and he had that last year in CHA and did play a bit better, what I’m not really getting is why we should just assume Graham will play well beyond that with Zion?

He’s gonna remain a middling defender, maybe slightly above average, but can’t really switch multiple positions, bad shooting off the dribble and attacking the rim, not really a pick and roll guard, should be better off the catch and shoot if point Zion can take a more center stage role. But that sort of seems the extent of it.

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what I’m not really getting is why we should just assume Graham will play well beyond that with Zion?

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Why should we not assume that?

Graham will get more open looks, more catch and shoot 3s, which is where he's better at, as opposed to creating. His shot profile should change pretty drastically.

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Short answer, wishful thinking is not a defensible argument.

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Good talks, have a great day buddy!

For a guy who's rocking his worst PER since the Laker days, there is an awful lot of unfounded hype going on. He's also shooting a career worst .37 on his 2's.

Lonzo is a fine 4th or 5th scoring option, but if you're relying on him to be the number 2 or 3 guy, you aren't going to win many games. If we had paid him all that money, we'd be in a worse situation than we are now with very slim prospects of it getting any better. We are going to have to max out Zion in the future

I realize right now fricking sucks, but at least we don't have all $20M/year tied up for the next 4 years. We are where we are at this point, we have to max out Zion despite the injury concerns. We also have to make moves during this season/next offseason to fill out the roster with capable players.

As of right now, we are $4M over the cap, $22M under the luxury tax. Sato's $10M deal ends after this year which would give us $6M in cap room. Josh Hart seems like he'll be a valuable trade asset come the deadline, he's getting paid $12M. I think Hayes and NAW are also expendable, and they account for another $8.5M. It would depend on how much salary we take back on, but there are ways to improve this team.

All that being said, Griff has given zero indication that he has a good eye for talent and his deals have been atrocious since the AD trade, which was essentially already worked out by the Dell Demps regime. We just have to hope and pray that a perfect situation falls into our lap ala the Boogie Cousins trade. However that team ended up, the Boogie deal was an incredible trade for New Orleans at the time. Injuries again, the bane of the Pelican's existence.

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He's also, game in and game out, their best perimeter defender, a major contributing factor to the top 10 defensive rating.

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He isn't.
I've always said he's a good defender, just not anything better than average.

The Bulls aren't where they are defensively b/c of just Lonzo. They are better b/c they have no weak spots defensively on their team like we have had the last 2 years, where we always have at least 2 putrid defenders on the court, and i'm sure they are coached better than we were.

You can say all you want about Lavine and DeRozan, but both of them are more than capable of being average at worst defenders. and if you've seen DeRozan in the playoffs, then you know he's a good defender. You comprise a team full of good defenders, none great, but they play together and have a good scheme and they can be a great defensive team, and that's what Chicago is, and kudos for them for going out and getting the guys they wanted to make it work.
I still say Lonzo fits well there with the addition of DeRozan and Caruso, and the emergence of Williams, and i wish him the best of luck b/c i do believe he's a hard worker and a good guy.

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And I have to question you the moment you start talking about Derozan and good defense. It has been the consistent knock on him for years. Across teams. And that holds true in Chicago, where he is dead last in BBall Index's Defensive matchup difficulty for the team. His numbers are up, but he takes easier assignments than Ingram and Zion for Chicago. They basically hide him. Derozan, by the numbers, is doing the least of any of front court players in terms of defense.

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I didn't say he was some juggernaut defensive player, or that he guards the best players. He uses his energy on offense, and slacks off on defense for the most part. That doesnt' mean he isn't a good defender when he wants to be.

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He led the team in DWS even when Jrue was here, which has carried over to Chicago as well. Where he leads all players in DWS for the Bulls.

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all this does when you say this in invalidate your data a bit, b/c no one that watches basketball would ever say that Lonzo is a better or more important defender to a team than Jrue.