Last night, I didn’t fall asleep until 2 a.m.
I could either blame insomnia or the late-night Woj bomb that had quite a few aftershocks. Either way, I got my coffee, and I’m ready for more NBA madness.
LET’S DO THIS!
On Monday, ESPN’s Zach Lowe broke the news that teams around the NBA were calling the Chicago Bulls to check on the availability of Zach LaVine. According to Lowe, the Bulls weren’t entertaining any offers, and the New York Times’ Marc Stein confirmed that report yesterday.
Talk about frustrating. The Bulls not wanting to trade LaVine is completely understandable, but not even listening to offers is foolish. We all know Chicago’s organization to be stubborn when it comes to admitting their faults, and they’re at it again. Even discussing a LaVine trade probably feels like an admission of guilt to this front office. LaVine was the cornerstone of their new rebuild, and they’re holding out false hope that he can be the No. 1 option this team needs. Nevertheless, the Bulls need to wrap their head around the fact that LaVine isn’t going to lift this team back to relevance *on his own.* Chicago still needs its next superstar.
In other trade news, Denzel Valentine has reported interest from the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies. If you’re betting money on which Bull is moved for sure by this deadline, I’d put the house on Valentine (okay, maybe not the house … but half the house?).
The verdict is still out on any Thaddeus Young movement. However, The Athletic’s Stephen Noh wrote a solid piece about why the Bulls must deal the veteran forward this deadline, so check it out. While I think Young could still be a valuable veteran asset if this team figures things out next year, I think we’ve learned his fit with this team doesn’t make much sense. The Bulls can become much more flexible this offseason if they unload his contract. Not to mention, sending him elsewhere should officially put this pipe-dream “playoff push” to an end.
Meanwhile, the NBA got drunk last night and a four-team trade sent 12 players to new teams. Bro, what happened last night?
NEW YEAR, NEW RULES. The NBA announced the 3-point shootout will have two new locations on the court where players can hit a deep 3-pointer for a total of three points added to their score
https://twitter.com/NBAAllStar/status/1224845375334338562?s=20
Zach LaVine has officially committed to this year’s contest, and he’s joined alongside an elite list of shooters. Damian Lillard, Trae Young, Joe Harris, Buddy Hield, and many others will be taking the court in Chicago next weekend, so how does LaVine stack up against them?
With this many awesome shooters, this could end up being one of the most exciting 3-point contests in quite some time. All we need to do is make sure Jim Boylen stays out of it!
LaVine got votes for player of the month.
NBC Sports Chicago’s Mark Schanowski is asking an important question: Can Chandler Hutchison be a long-term answer at small forward? My short answer is no, but I certainly think if he can stay healthy and focus on improving his jumper, he can still carve himself out a great rotational role in the NBA. Over the past several games we’ve seen him resort back to the college game that earned him so much praise. He is finding his way into the paint and using his great positional size/length to help on the defensive end. I don’t think the Bulls should have ever promised him a selection, but I sure do think he has the right make-up to be a valuable role player in this league. Oh, and maybe if the Bulls could fix their player development, that’d help too!
I don’t know why, but this is exactly how I imagined Hannibal Buress would shoot.
https://twitter.com/shaepeppler/status/1224792701155102721?s=20
NEWSLETTER
