Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread
I tend to agree with the sentiments of this piece. Guys tend to forget that LaVine IS part of the rebuild. 23 years old, still loads of upside. Nobody is signing here so may as well continue the rebuild with him, Lauri and Dunn and hope for the best.
I tend to agree with the sentiments of this piece. Guys tend to forget that LaVine IS part of the rebuild. 23 years old, still loads of upside. Nobody is signing here so may as well continue the rebuild with him, Lauri and Dunn and hope for the best.
Spoiler
It’s more likely than not that one day this offseason the Bulls and Zach LaVine will be smiling for the cameras, happy to have found common ground on his contract extension.
Contract negotiations often feature bumps in the road and frustrations that are quickly forgotten when the ink dries on a signed deal. But LaVine’s case offered the Bulls a chance to avoid all of that.
This has as much to do with the price of a rebuild as what LaVine may be worth. Unless they have wink-wink indications that, say, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are signing with them in 2019 free agency — they’re not — the Bulls aren’t at the stage of their rebuild to let young assets walk or play a season on a qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent.
They know this, which is why they’ve proactively negotiated with LaVine in good faith with a strong, multiyear offer that could be in the $18 million range annually.
LaVine is an athletic 23-year-old who willingly embraced being the face of the rebuild in the initial aftermath of Jimmy Butler’s trade to the Timberwolves. He’s enthusiastic about getting better, receptive to coaching and a team-first player who wants to address weaknesses in his game in order to win.
Why slow the positive momentum of the rebuild that has featured the emergence of Lauri Markkanen as a potential franchise cornerstone and the addition of two potentially solid first-round draft picks by letting talks drag?
It’s a cool market this summer, particularly for restricted free agents. Aaron Gordon’s four-year, $84 million deal with the Magic is a solid one. The Bulls want to keep their books in line for future moves, including the addition of another impact player and the eventual need to extend Markkanen.
But if their inclination is to match if LaVine signs a more lucrative offer sheet from the Kings — still a possibility — why not extend that offer now? Maybe the Bulls have. But in the past they’ve presented take-it-or-leave-it offers in restricted free agency, as they did when Butler rejected a four-year, $44 million extension, won the Most Improved Player award and eventually signed a deal for $50 million more.
Today’s NBA is different. Players have more power and have flexed it to form superteams. Good vibes are needed to recruit other players in free agency. LaVine, the third option behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota, has been all-in for the Bulls since they acquired him.
Granted, it takes two sides to finish a deal. And this isn’t to suggest the Bulls should be lavishing a five-year, $146 million max deal on LaVine. If he isn’t open to the $18 million to $20 million annually that seems as if it could get this deal done, that’s a problem.
But the revisionist history on LaVine’s value from some circles — not necessarily from the Bulls — is getting a bit much.
Regardless of Markkanen’s stature now, LaVine clearly represented the biggest piece in the return for Butler, which is why some in the Timberwolves organization favored including Wiggins in the deal instead. LaVine had the same left ACL tear in his rearview mirror that he had when the Bulls traded for him and wouldn’t have been cleared to play last season if team doctors considered it an issue.
And about those 24 games LaVine played — yes, they exhibited defensive issues and some concerns over his fit with Markkanen, but they also featured 11 games of 20-plus points despite LaVine often playing on a minutes limit for a team that prioritized draft-lottery position over winning.
Paying for potential, not just production, is the cost of doing business in a rebuild.
LaVine is a worker. He recently called around to sneak in a workout in Florida when a flight for an endorsement commitment got canceled.
Privately and publicly, the Bulls still value LaVine. And good for them for at least having communication with LaVine and his representatives, unlike the Celtics’ reported standoff with restricted free agent Marcus Smart. Good for them for assuring LaVine that one speculated annual figure of $14 million for his deal wasn’t accurate.
Still, it behooves the Bulls to finalize negotiations sooner than later to keep the rebuild moving in the right direction.
The Bulls have been transparent from the moment they dealt Butler, clearly stating the plan at every public opportunity. Losing LaVine was never part of the plan and would be a tough one to explain.
Contract negotiations often feature bumps in the road and frustrations that are quickly forgotten when the ink dries on a signed deal. But LaVine’s case offered the Bulls a chance to avoid all of that.
This has as much to do with the price of a rebuild as what LaVine may be worth. Unless they have wink-wink indications that, say, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are signing with them in 2019 free agency — they’re not — the Bulls aren’t at the stage of their rebuild to let young assets walk or play a season on a qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent.
They know this, which is why they’ve proactively negotiated with LaVine in good faith with a strong, multiyear offer that could be in the $18 million range annually.
LaVine is an athletic 23-year-old who willingly embraced being the face of the rebuild in the initial aftermath of Jimmy Butler’s trade to the Timberwolves. He’s enthusiastic about getting better, receptive to coaching and a team-first player who wants to address weaknesses in his game in order to win.
Why slow the positive momentum of the rebuild that has featured the emergence of Lauri Markkanen as a potential franchise cornerstone and the addition of two potentially solid first-round draft picks by letting talks drag?
It’s a cool market this summer, particularly for restricted free agents. Aaron Gordon’s four-year, $84 million deal with the Magic is a solid one. The Bulls want to keep their books in line for future moves, including the addition of another impact player and the eventual need to extend Markkanen.
But if their inclination is to match if LaVine signs a more lucrative offer sheet from the Kings — still a possibility — why not extend that offer now? Maybe the Bulls have. But in the past they’ve presented take-it-or-leave-it offers in restricted free agency, as they did when Butler rejected a four-year, $44 million extension, won the Most Improved Player award and eventually signed a deal for $50 million more.
Today’s NBA is different. Players have more power and have flexed it to form superteams. Good vibes are needed to recruit other players in free agency. LaVine, the third option behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota, has been all-in for the Bulls since they acquired him.
Granted, it takes two sides to finish a deal. And this isn’t to suggest the Bulls should be lavishing a five-year, $146 million max deal on LaVine. If he isn’t open to the $18 million to $20 million annually that seems as if it could get this deal done, that’s a problem.
But the revisionist history on LaVine’s value from some circles — not necessarily from the Bulls — is getting a bit much.
Regardless of Markkanen’s stature now, LaVine clearly represented the biggest piece in the return for Butler, which is why some in the Timberwolves organization favored including Wiggins in the deal instead. LaVine had the same left ACL tear in his rearview mirror that he had when the Bulls traded for him and wouldn’t have been cleared to play last season if team doctors considered it an issue.
And about those 24 games LaVine played — yes, they exhibited defensive issues and some concerns over his fit with Markkanen, but they also featured 11 games of 20-plus points despite LaVine often playing on a minutes limit for a team that prioritized draft-lottery position over winning.
Paying for potential, not just production, is the cost of doing business in a rebuild.
LaVine is a worker. He recently called around to sneak in a workout in Florida when a flight for an endorsement commitment got canceled.
Privately and publicly, the Bulls still value LaVine. And good for them for at least having communication with LaVine and his representatives, unlike the Celtics’ reported standoff with restricted free agent Marcus Smart. Good for them for assuring LaVine that one speculated annual figure of $14 million for his deal wasn’t accurate.
Still, it behooves the Bulls to finalize negotiations sooner than later to keep the rebuild moving in the right direction.
The Bulls have been transparent from the moment they dealt Butler, clearly stating the plan at every public opportunity. Losing LaVine was never part of the plan and would be a tough one to explain.
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