ChiCubsFan

Agree. I *miss* Lens voice... but this works, too.

I’ve been one of his biggest fans, and I never thought he’d show this efficiency. Very impressive. Coby having a good game. Wendell is not.

Thought Thad was a goner, but I’m seeing that less likely now. You’re at the point of needing to think about being competitive in order to keep Zach in a year, though money talks and we can offer the most. There’s definitely something to gain both in playoff experience and the external view of your team around the league by making the playoffs. Also, Thad is on a nice team-friendly deal for next year and you’ll probably get a late first for him at this point? Meh. You’re unlikely to find a star there. I think the path is being competitive, playing well, and being viewed as a top destination around the league, like Brooklyn did 2 years ago.

1/2 game out of home court advantage in the first round.

He made it. Thank god.

Great game by Zach, again. Coby looked better as an off ball scorer. PW looked good. Thad was solid.

Probably. I think Williams can still be a player and may still have the highest ceiling, but id rather have Haliburton at this point. Williams was a pleasant surprise early on, but has kind of stalled out since. He’s still 19 and shows flashes, but I can’t say I feel as confident about the pick as I did a month or two ago. May just be a bit of a rookie wall, which is going to be common for a 19 year old, especially in a somewhat condensed season. Pretty sure in a redraft LaMelo goes first and then Haliburton, Edwards, Wiseman would be the next 3. Some other guys like Bey, Quigley, and Anthony have seen their stock rise tremendously too.

So much potential?

Currently tied for 13th in the NBA in VORP (tied with Zion, Beal, and Bam)

That was special on both sides with Zach and Grant. The 3rd quarter defense was great to see, too. If Zach gets traded, I will lose my mind. Once he starts getting some calls he will be a top 10 player. He might even be one right now without them.

Believe he was 6th in QB pressures this year. 85.5 PFF grade. The reason he is available is because Houston was over the cap and terrible. He was almost definitely going to be cut. His body is also breaking down and I’d take the under on 2.5 more seasons out of him.

Will it though? I certainly don’t disagree that platoons aren’t bad, but I’m pretty sure in 2021 all MLB front offices can interpret analytics as simple as L/R splits. It’s not like they’re going to go “hey we shouldn’t give up too much for this Joc guy, he only has a .800 OPS” when his overall numbers are depressed by allowing him to face more lefties this year. Unless you think facing more lefties is going to psychologically affect his ability to hit righties. Conversely if Joc does better than expected against lefties, you might be able to get a little more as teams may not see him as a black hole vs lefties like they currently do. Works for Joc since he has a relatively low number of PA vs lefties (I think <400) in his career. If Heyward gets hot vs lefties, it’ll be meaningless and rightfully shrugged off as a small sample size. Yeah I'm probably not giving FOs (nearly) enough credit, but I do think there is some aspect of having to sell a move to your fan base, who aren't going to look much past the basic stats. Letting Pederson flail against LHPs to drag his average down near .200 (ie, what we're used to seeing from Schwarber/Happ) isn't going to help his trade value. Then the (overly basic) point of platoons keeping these players marginally more healthy (and thus able to be traded), though to be fair I wasn't really thinking about that when I made my original point. There is definitely something to the optics of selling it to your “dumb” fan base that I didn’t consider. Hopefully most FO don’t put much into that, but I’m sure it comes into play particularly if needing to get owner approval on trades.

Will it though? I certainly don’t disagree that platoons aren’t bad, but I’m pretty sure in 2021 all MLB front offices can interpret analytics as simple as L/R splits. It’s not like they’re going to go “hey we shouldn’t give up too much for this Joc guy, he only has a .800 OPS” when his overall numbers are depressed by allowing him to face more lefties this year. Unless you think facing more lefties is going to psychologically affect his ability to hit righties. Conversely if Joc does better than expected against lefties, you might be able to get a little more as teams may not see him as a black hole vs lefties like they currently do. Works for Joc since he has a relatively low number of PA vs lefties (I think <400) in his career. If Heyward gets hot vs lefties, it’ll be meaningless and rightfully shrugged off as a small sample size.

Unintentionally?

Also stunned Curry and Klay haven’t done that.

This team almost definitely makes the playoffs with Lonzo, and I really don’t think all that highly of him. I just think that little of Coby in his current role and the Eastern Conference. Lonzo’s shooting form LOOKS much better and the results over the last 5 or so games that I bothered to look at are starting to show that. Might be a nice buy low candidate, but I don’t want to trade our first rounder for him as he’s a RFA this summer. Gotta trade Thad for a late first if that’s on the table.

I really want to tank one more year at this point. How do we do it without trading Zach? Sure, we’re bottom 5 right now but seems like we can’t count on that going forward. Sorted by point differential were the 12th worst team only. Do we just hope we continue to drop these close games once Lauri and Wendell come back? Trade Lauri and Wendell and anyone else not named Lavine and PWill? I guess moving Thaddeus would help the losing efforts as he’s the one big who contributes consistently on the offensive end.

And then you recall the picture of Brady in a MAGA hat. Lose-lose.

Replace the PG and C position with league average players and you’re probably a top 4-5 team in the East. I’m gonna say it again. Zach is becoming a star. Do not trade him.

I disagree and think he could be the second best player on a championship team. He’s playing so well lately, just surrounded by absolute bums. I mean Garrett Temple and Denzel Valentine are getting big minutes. Coby White is statistically one of the worst players in the league. The second best uninjured player on the team right now might be a 19 year old rookie. I get that 25 year old Zach Lavine may be too old/expensive by the time we get this figured out. But with the way the lottery is now, I don’t want to take a shot unless I’m guaranteed a top 3 pick in 21. If Lauri is out for an extended period of time, we MIGHT be bad enough to luck our way into a top pick, while keeping Zach. That would be ideal. I just don’t see it in Zach, he seems like empty stats that don’t translate to winning and also plays terrible defense. The fact he hasn’t been able to get them to an 8 seed as the guy tells me he’s just a third best or role player on a championship team. Especially in this horsefeathers eastern conference last few years. Talent wins out in the NBA and he hasn’t proven he has it other than getting the volume to put up shots on a bad team. I’d cash out on him before committing big money to him. He’s obviously talented, just don’t think he’s a guy if you’re trying to win. It’s not like he’s out there chucking to get to 25ppg. TS of 64% this year. That’s very good. He did this last month: “However, LaVine was even more spectacular in January, putting up 25+ points with a 75+ true shooting percentage, tying Charles Barkley (March 1988) for the most such games in a calendar month in NBA history. He averaged 28.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game on 53.8% shooting from the floor, 45.6% from deep, and 87.95% from the free-throw line, joining Steph Curry (2x) as the only players in history to put up 25/5/5 on 50/45/85% shooting in a month.” The guy is becoming a superstar. He’s even starting to limit the turnovers compared to earlier in the year. His on ball defense is very good- well above average. He admittedly is a very poor off ball defender and I’m not sure if he can improve there, as he hasn’t shown it yet. But that can be overcome with the right pieces around him. He’s far from the player you’re making him out to be. He’s been efficient, while still getting his 25+. He also doesn’t seem like a diva that’s going to bitch and demand a trade if things aren’t going his way. He’s the perfect first big building block. Maybe we start doing some load management with him and work our way into a top 5 pick. Everything I’ve read has called it a 5 player draft. PW continues to improve and you have Zach, PW, and ‘21 top pick to build around and attract the next disgruntled superstar.

I’d trade him for the right package. He’s not the best or second best player on a championship team and with his age he doesn’t fit whenever the next peak/core is for this team. I disagree and think he could be the second best player on a championship team. He’s playing so well lately, just surrounded by absolute bums. I mean Garrett Temple and Denzel Valentine are getting big minutes. Coby White is statistically one of the worst players in the league. The second best uninjured player on the team right now might be a 19 year old rookie. I get that 25 year old Zach Lavine may be too old/expensive by the time we get this figured out. But with the way the lottery is now, I don’t want to take a shot unless I’m guaranteed a top 3 pick in 21. If Lauri is out for an extended period of time, we MIGHT be bad enough to luck our way into a top pick, while keeping Zach. That would be ideal.

Please don’t trade Zach. There’s too many rumors out there for my liking.

That’s pretty much my take. They aren’t going to tear it down and rebuild so let’s accelerate the sink or swim. Drafting a rookie QB allows for more excuses. Maybe Wentz gets back to performing like a top 5 QB he was in 2017 or even top half QB like he was in 2018-2019 and the defense gets re-energized and the team is a somewhat serious contender. Or Wentz fails miserably and everyone is fired and the franchise goes back into rebuild mode.

Unfortunately this looks true. I wonder if he will play better as the 6th man. I’m ready to end the starting PG experiment as soon as possible.