Lonzo has been playing very well

7/10 from 3 tonight. Always one of the top +/- on team. Fills all the stat categories. Griff ruined that relationship and gave him up for nothing. So disappointing.

His last 2 games before tonight he was a combine 6-25 from the field. Dude is avg 12/5/4 on the season. He is doing what the Bulls need him to do, but he is the same player. If he was still here our record wouldn't be much different but we be paying a 3andD guy 20 mill who still can't drive to the basket or get to the line. And truthfully he is overrated defensively.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

His last 2 games before tonight he was a combine 6-25 from the field. Dude is avg 12/5/4 on the season. He is doing what the Bulls need him to do, but he is the same player. If he was still here our record wouldn't be much different but we be paying a 3andD guy 20 mill who still can't drive to the basket or get to the line. And truthfully he is overrated defensively.

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This is true, but the reality is that Lonzo has fanboys, has always had fanboys, and his fanboys feel spurned that we didn't pay him absurd money to be the 4th best player in any given lineup. So every time he has a good game, they'll crawl out of the woodwork like this, and then when he goes 6/25 from the floor over two games they will be quiet and pretend it never happened.

As a Bulls fan (Pelicans are my 2nd team) who has watched every game, I think I can address this pretty well.

On offense, Lonzo has been exactly as advertised. Very good three-point shooter, solid transition passer and floor spacer, but bad driving/inside scoring. He's at 44.4% from deep which is a bit better than advertised I guess, but that will likely come down some.

It's his defense that has not been as advertised. Any comment about him being "overrated" on defense is clearly outdated, as he has been an absolute monster on that end, and I expect him to gather some all-defensive team love if it keeps up. I think the difference is that his defensive inconsistency in New Orleans is gone — he doesn't take plays/quarters off anymore, he's always extremely active, ball hawking, generating turnovers, closing out, switching, and communicating. He truly has been a joy to watch on that end.

So yes, he still is a flawed player on offense and will have an off shooting night every now and then, but his defense is always there. I think he's the perfect complementary piece (#3/4 guy) on a contending team.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

This is true, but the reality is that Lonzo has fanboys, has always had fanboys, and his fanboys feel spurned that we didn't pay him absurd money to be the 4th best player in any given lineup. So every time he has a good game, they'll crawl out of the woodwork like this, and then when he goes 6/25 from the floor over two games they will be quiet and pretend it never happened.

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Lol, I am far from a fanboy, I care more that we didn't get anything at all for him, rather than having him specifically. Looking at just his raw #s is ignorant. He's a smart player on the court and is a great 3rd/4th guy. "crawl out of the woodwork like this", gtfo here haha

It took me a while to see it. The red flag is Zo is a 20+ million a year maker taking less than .5 FTA.

I?m still trying to find chalk on another player that can fit that same bill.

I say that to say Lonzo appears to be a career 4th option on a contending championship team. But not a serious one. I?m glad today we moved on from him.

I hate how terrible the trade was and that's it. I don't care about paying Lonzo $20 million. The most overblown argument with this whole thing.

I did make the we should pay Lonzo thread after all..

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Originally Posted by Taker597

I hate how terrible the trade was and that's it. I don't care about paying Lonzo $20 million. The most overblown argument with this whole thing.

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I would much rather be paying a 24 year old Ball $18.6 million this year than paying a 30 year old Satoransky and 35 year old Temple a combined $15 million. Ball could easily be starting on this team while Temple and Satoransky are end of the bench fringe players at best. At worst, he is a much better future trade asset than those two.

I love it. Some of his biggest detractors are now big proponents. AHHHH, Fandom!!!

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Originally Posted by gobulls

As a Bulls fan (Pelicans are my 2nd team) who has watched every game, I think I can address this pretty well.

On offense, Lonzo has been exactly as advertised. Very good three-point shooter, solid transition passer and floor spacer, but bad driving/inside scoring. He's at 44.4% from deep which is a bit better than advertised I guess, but that will likely come down some.

It's his defense that has not been as advertised. Any comment about him being "overrated" on defense is clearly outdated, as he has been an absolute monster on that end, and I expect him to gather some all-defensive team love if it keeps up. I think the difference is that his defensive inconsistency in New Orleans is gone — he doesn't take plays/quarters off anymore, he's always extremely active, ball hawking, generating turnovers, closing out, switching, and communicating. He truly has been a joy to watch on that end.

So yes, he still is a flawed player on offense and will have an off shooting night every now and then, but his defense is always there. I think he's the perfect complementary piece (#3/4 guy) on a contending team.

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Good to hear. I actually have a reason to root for Chicago now. It’s hard to blame any defensive issues here on him when the reality is our coaching staffs are always changing and it’s been wildly inconsistent with this franchise for a while. He could not have landed in a better destination (IMO).

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

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Better watch out, Pelicanidae is going to accuse you of being a Lonzo fair weather fanboy, coming out of the woodwork.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

This is true, but the reality is that Lonzo has fanboys, has always had fanboys, and his fanboys feel spurned that we didn't pay him absurd money to be the 4th best player in any given lineup. So every time he has a good game, they'll crawl out of the woodwork like this, and then when he goes 6/25 from the floor over two games they will be quiet and pretend it never happened.

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Fanboys? Look at that stat I posted yesterday.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

Good to hear. I actually have a reason to root for Chicago now. It’s hard to blame any defensive issues here on him when the reality is our coaching staffs are always changing and it’s been wildly inconsistent with this franchise for a while. He could not have landed in a better destination (IMO).

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Completely agree. With DeRozan and LaVine controlling the ball in most halfcourt sets, he just gets to stand in the corner and nail 3s. And in transition, he's the primary ballhandler, as he should be. He's not being asked to do too much or be something that he isn't, and that's why it's working

This is getting old.

Was moving Ball the right decision? 100% Yes
Was how Griff did it was terrible and inexcusable negligence of asset management? 100% Yes
Would Ball better here than Satos and Temple? YES
Would Ball help us to win more games than we have currently? Yes, he would. We would be able to rotate NAW and Graham on the bench.
Should we kept Ball or try to bring in a Dinwiddie or etc? We should of still moved on.

The issue was that we was unable or unwilling to pay(Dinwiddie) for a suitable replacement or upgrade from Ball. Graham was replacing Bledsoe. We had no one to replace Ball. This was our downfall. Not keeping him.

End of story.

NAW was supposed to replace Ball