To those who grill meats, snack on assorted nuts, sneeze loud enough to activate the Richter Scale, buy clothes from Costco, and love their children more than anything … happy Father’s Day!
- The once blazing Zach LaVine rumor mill was hit with a fire extinguisher this week. Long-time NBA reporter Marc Stein became the latest to report the two-time All-Star is in line to return to the Chicago Bulls at the start of free agency. We talked more about his exact words below:
- The timing of these recent LaVine reports come as no surprise. As I mention in the post above, we’re less than five days away from the 2022 NBA Draft, and we’re 11 days away from the start of free agency. Now is the time for front offices to move past hypotheticals and toward a legitimate game plan. In other words, they need to have at least some sort of course set for free agency so they know how to properly handle draft night, which means they need to know whether or not they should gear up for an expensive run at a top free agent like Zach LaVine. Clearly, teams are starting to hear that they shouldn’t waste their time.
- Now, does that mean it’s a lock that LaVine is back in a Bulls uniform next season? No. While it has almost always felt like things have headed in that direction, we can’t be sure of anything until the pen is put to paper in July. With that said, I think this situation presents a broader point that is good to keep in mind as we head into the next couple of weeks: Rumors will become that much more believable due to the fact that teams are becoming that much more serious about building for next season.
- I’m not saying we should believe everything we hear (there will undoubtedly be savvy smoke screens), but this is crunch time. The next two weeks will be the most important of the summer, so many major offseason storylines are about to reach their climax.
- HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan went through every team and player option that is out there this offseason, and the Bulls have just one to worry about. Big man Tony Bradley has a player option for roughly $2 million next season, which Gozlan believes he’ll turn down in pursuit of more playing time elsewhere.
- I mean no disrespect to Bradley, but I hope he walks. Considering the amount of money this team is about to have tied up in its “Big 3,” they need every ounce of flexibility they can get. Bradley’s departure would open up an extra roster spot for Karnisovas to seek more veteran help, and while I still think there could be a future for Bradley somewhere in this league, last year showed it’s not in Chicago.
- Welcome to the best city in the world, rookies!
- I feel like this kind of describes the 2022 Chicago Cubs.