Hubert:
Lavine is not a superstar in the same way Randle isn’t. Having two of them is really good, though. With his elite ballhandling ability and shooting, he would be a 10X version of Alec Burks.

I’m so impressed by the step forward he took this year. He created massive separation between him and Beal.

There’s an added benefit to trading for Lavine this summer, too: he only has a $19.5mm cap hit next year. It would give us extraordinary flexibility for this offseason.

I disagree with the take of Burks vs. Lavine. We have no idea how Lavine would perform on a win-now team. When healthy, Burks is worth triple of what he’s getting paid right now. Do you get any surplus value from Lavine at tha max, especially considering what his 2022-23 and beyond salary will be, plus the opportunity cost of giving up assets? I’d rather keep Burks and see how the draft picks and young players that Lavine will surely cost in a trade pan out. Then if you can get him in 2022 as a FA, sure, take a look at that.

thenoblefacehumper: Re: Payton, Thibs has a bit of a history with the “fake starter.” Keith Bogans started all 82 games for the 2010-2011 Bulls but played less than 18 MPG and IIRC was often removed 5 or so minutes in and never reinserted.

I’m with djphan in thinking he’s still got some valuable skills, but once Thibs (correctly) decided we were going with point-Randle his fit on this team became very weird. Oddly enough, his best fit on the current team might be off the bench during the rare times Randle isn’t playing.

Having said that, I’m still kind of agnostic on him starting. Rose is unambiguously better at just about everything, but if Thibs wants to retain him for some scoring punch for the bench that makes sense to me. It’s not like Rose is playing less than he should as a result of being a reserve.

I don’t love the point-Burks idea either. I think there’s something to be said for starting the game with a true dribble penetrator/distributor type, even with the awkward Randle fit. Quickley shows some potential in that area but still needs to clean up his handle a bit and has been badly targeted on defense a few times.

If it were up to me I’d probably just lean all the way in to the point-Randle idea and start Quickley, but I don’t think it’s so obvious it’s worth all the outrage. Thibs tends to bench Payton quickly when he’s playing badly. I just don’t see his role as having the potential to cost us much of anything.

I agree 100% with this take.

I’m so impressed by the step forward he took this year. He created massive separation between him and Beal as a desired trade target.

There’s an added benefit to trading for Lavine this summer, too: he only has a $19.5mm cap hit next year. It would give us extraordinary flexibility for this offseason.

I’m with djphan in thinking he’s still got some valuable skills, but once Thibs (correctly) decided we were going with point-Randle his fit on this team became very weird. Oddly enough, his best fit on the current team might be off the bench during the rare times Randle isn’t playing.

Having said that, I’m still kind of agnostic on him starting. Rose is unambiguously better at just about everything, but if Thibs wants to retain him for some scoring punch for the bench that makes sense to me. It’s not like Rose is playing less than he should as a result of being a reserve.

I don’t love the point-Burks idea either. I think there’s something to be said for starting the game with a true dribble penetrator/distributor type, even with the awkward Randle fit. Quickley shows some potential in that area but still needs to clean up his handle a bit and has been badly targeted on defense a few times.

If it were up to me I’d probably just lean all the way in to the point-Randle idea and start Quickley, but I don’t think it’s so obvious it’s worth all the outrage. Thibs tends to bench Payton quickly when he’s playing badly. I just don’t see his role as having the potential to cost us much of anything.

Side note: I went to the Liberty game last night and it was a blast. Very fun team. Highly recommend catching some games in person or on TV.

Bruno Almeida:
I think the Bulls were just desperate to bring any talent around LaVine to get him to stay. Markannen can’t stay healthy, Coby White is a pretty meh prospect with a bunch of flaws in his game and they really haven’t got much else, Williams has looked decent but that’s it.

I think LaVine will eventually want out and he’s a guy we should at least monitor, I don’t think he’s a superstar but if his improvement shooting this season is real, he would be a very nice piece to fit around our core.

Since the Bulls have “sort of” a core right now and he’s under contract for next year, I think it will be a “wait and see” situation for both sides. Zach needs more evidence that the Bulls will build around him, and the Bulls need more evidence that Zach is a near-max player. I’m sort of ambivalent on him, all depends on the price and whether he is a good fit with Randle, RJ and Thibs. I just don’t think that he and Randle plus even a somewhat better RJ are enough to ever get out of the East for the next 3-4 years. Even adding Lowry at this stage of his career probably falls short.

Now if you can get Zach AND Lillard, that’s a whole different proposition. A starting 5 of Lillard, RJ, Zach, Randle and (insert name) would be really interesting.

I think LaVine will eventually want out and he’s a guy we should at least monitor, I don’t think he’s a superstar but if his improvement shooting this season is real, he would be a very nice piece to fit around our core.