ChiCubsFan

Rex Brothers

Of course they win when you finally want them to lose.

Doesn’t being a reliever who typically only throws 20ish pitches per day vs a starter who typically throws 100ish pitches per day matter? Genuinely asking. I’ve never heard complaints of too many pitches thrown by a starter in a particular inning.

It’s virtually impossible for them to get the 5th pick. They would have to lose enough to finish with a worse record than Sacramento (probable), Cleveland (possible), and OKC (very unlikely). And then not have any team below 5 jump into the top 4, which is only a 2.2% chance of happening. Even if they somehow ended up with the 4th worst record, the odds of exactly one team jumping them and ending up with the 5th pick is only 7.2%. This is why I’m good with the trade basically no matter what. Very likely that it’ll be 1-4 (best case scenario) or 6+ in a 5 player draft. Next 2/3 against Cleveland is huge. Gotta drop both. Finishing 6th worst increases the odds of Top 4 to 37.2%, with a 9.0% chance of Cade.

Can’t wait for all the Bulls are better without Lavine hot takes.

Okay, so we generally agree. I definitely thought it was going to be a rough stretch initially with the difficult schedule and minimal practice days, but I can agree this is going worse than anticipated. Biggest problem with me is the rotations. Theis should be starting as Thad is a bit redundant next to Vuc and Theis’s rim protection and athleticism would help on the defensive end. He also can stretch the court a touch better than Thad. And then Thad can go back to being a playmaker when Vuc is resting. You also can’t have PW playing 30+ mpg and giving you literally nothing. Add in when Sato and Lauri contribute nothing and Coby is always a net negative, and there’s just too many bad players for Zach and Vuc to overcome.

I hate the Cubs but the Willy bomb was pretty cool (replay- did not watch live obvi). Kimbrel not sharp but got it done relatively easily. Hope he keeps it up so we can get a nice piece for him in June.

This. The trade for Vuc was NOT for this year. It was for the next 5 years.... and particularly for the next year+ to help keep Zach. And the team is good enough where the pick is going to be a late lottery/non lottery or they are going to get really lucky, but then get to keep their pick. So there’s really no downside, other than trading a 2023 pick in what may be a double draft. But we can worry about that later. the next 5 years? it's asking a lot for a center to be good until he's 36. not to mention it's not even guaranteed he signs here. obviously the trade was made for beyond this year, but they obviously were expecting much different results THIS year, and it's troubling just HOW bad they look. the downside is that the zach/vuc combo could not work at all, and we end up giving away 2 firsts for nothing, while also not getting any top picks. His game should easily translate for the next 5 years, but I was more meaning putting together a competitive team to surround Zach though his prime (hopefully with someone eventually better than Zach). Yes, they will be competitive next year. The downside you speak of can easily be recuperated by trading Zach and/or Vuc if this really isn’t coming together a year from now. We also were very unlikely to get a top pick even before the trade, unless you consider the 10th overall pick a top pick. Just curious, what would you have done instead?

They’re unlikely to get an all-star player with pick 7 or whatever those two picks would be if they didn’t make the trade, the picks are still top-4 protected and they needed to do something to help ensure Lavine re-signs. I’m sure they tried to get a PG (that’s where all the rumors were) but it takes two to tango. Hopefully they can address it in the offseason. This. The trade for Vuc was NOT for this year. It was for the next 5 years.... and particularly for the next year+ to help keep Zach. And the team is good enough where the pick is going to be a late lottery/non lottery or they are going to get really lucky, but then get to keep their pick. So there’s really no downside, other than trading a 2023 pick in what may be a double draft. But we can worry about that later.

Still like the trade. A lot of guys need to be better and BD needs to be much better. Hope we can luck into a top 4 pick.

Why was Rex taken out?

Vuc

Interesting not to save Mills to piggyback Alzolay potentially.

You all probably said this after the first couple weeks last year. I don’t disagree, though.

I think we may have found a closing lineup. Sato, Zac, TBJ, PW, Vuc. I like it as long as TBJ can hit open 3s well enough. If not, maybe Temple when he’s back, even though he’s been struggling the last month+ and I’m personally not a big fan of his. It’s a nice mix on offense with 4 guys who can make shots surrounding Vuc and some size and athleticism. All 4 wings can switch and Vuc has impressed me with his defensive positioning that makes up for his lack of foot speed and athleticism.

Lol Joc is better Really? If you look at the statistics they're almost identical in BA, OBP and SLG in fact, Schwarber' OPS is slightly higher. 117 wRC+ 12.9 fWAR (2525 PA)- Joc 113 wRC+ 9.6 fWAR (2108 PA)- Kyle Joc is probably slightly better overall, makes a little more contact, and plays better defense. Either way, he is definitely not “a worse version” of Schwarber.

Weird take when they just traded 2 FRPs for an all star to try to win. Turning over 1/3 of your rotation at once while facing the toughest part of your schedule with no practice time and a hobbled Lavine is going to cause things to take a little longer to turn around than we’d all like. I'm happy with the trade and 45-50 wins will be relatively fun, but they're still in nba purgatory unless they lure a superstar. So you’d rather purposely lose for several years to try to improve your odds to win the lottery in a year that happens to have a generational talent? And even then, maybe end up as the 76ers? I don’t know. The NBA is just so difficult to position yourself to really have a chance to win a ship. It obviously has to do more with the inherent issues that plague the NBA (max salary, buyouts, etc.) than the Bulls, or most other teams, not trying their best to win. All that said, I think your best shot is to hope Lavine can develop into a superstar or hope a superstar wants to force their way here to play with 2 other Allstar quality players.

Porter gone

Weird take when they just traded 2 FRPs for an all star to try to win. Turning over 1/3 of your rotation at once while facing the toughest part of your schedule with no practice time and a hobbled Lavine is going to cause things to take a little longer to turn around than we’d all like.

It’s not like Lauri and Coby were doing anything other than, maybe, providing space. Thad was just doing work.

Yeah that was rough coaching. On the positive sign, it was nice to see the team get some defensive stops down the stretch. I bet the Bulls go on a nice little run here vs some weaker competition.

When’s the last time we only had 6 TOs as a team?

It’s personally taken me longer than most.... but I kind of hate this entire team.

Bring back the DH

Take solace in the fact they likely would have got pounded by Gonzaga Saturday.