The Lonzo Ball Wasn’t THAT Bad…But a Deeper Issue Persists w/the Bulls

The Lonzo Ball Wasn’t THAT Bad…But a Deeper Issue Persists w/the Bulls

all right so now that we’ve had some time to let the Lonzo Ball news settle a bit we’ve got to see all the reactions on Twitter the shock and awe of it is out of the way i had my quick reaction video on it yesterday so now it’s time to dissect this trade a bit further and why the trade itself the straight trade Lonzo for Isaac Aoro in a vacuum isn’t that bad i don’t like the trade it’s not something I would have done if I was the Bulls but the trade isn’t as egregious as I see a lot of Bulls fans including those in the media are making it out to be problem though is you can’t necessarily look at this trade in isolation the problem with a trade like this is that it’s simply a microcosm of a much larger issue a pattern that we’ve continued to see from this front office that really needs to be addressed now let’s start first with this trade lonzo getting moved to the Cavs for a straight player for player swap no additional draft capital incoming or outgoing now I think what most people are taking issue with this trade is the fact that the Bulls reportedly had a first round pick on the table for Lonzo Ball at the deadline the deal in question was a first round pick from the Grizzlies for taking on Marcus Smart’s contract which was eventually traded to the Wizards the pick of course at the time it was allegedly offered looked to be a late firstrounder as the Grizzlies were one of the better teams in the West around the trade deadline but then of course they fell off towards the end of the season and it ended up becoming a pretty valuable pick the 17th pick so when you compare that to what the Bulls are now getting in exchange for Lonzo it looks pretty bad because I think most would agree we would much rather have the 17th pick in this year’s draft to further add to this young core than a pretty average player in Isaac Auroro but there’s a couple things there we don’t know with 100% certainty that trade was on the table for the Bulls for Lonzo Ball at the deadline i had Darnell Mayberry on the channel shortly after the deadline and he called this out as something that John Hollinger reported but we don’t know if that was in fact the case and we also don’t know if that was the pick in question that was offered to the Bulls it could have been one of those fake first like the one the Bulls got from the Blazers that’s lottery protected and still hasn’t conveyed since 2021 but let’s assume for a moment that was actually the pick the Grizzlies pick that’s what the Bulls could have gotten had they just taken on Smart’s contract you have to understand leading up to the trade deadline Lonzo was still active as a player he was playing games somewhat consistently and playing well it wasn’t until February 28th where Lonzo played his last game of the season and even though the expectation was that he would return it kept getting pushed out further and further all the way until the playin before he was ruled out for that game as well so going into the deadline Lonzo’s value was much higher than what it is today that’s on the Bulls for not capitalizing once again on a player’s value when it was high once again they waited too long before trading away their guy like I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re not going to get draft capital for a player who played 35 games last season and this was the first season he played in almost 3 years to finish off the year like that you’re not getting draft capital for that player what the Bulls should have done in my opinion is let the season start have Lonzo play recoup some of that value to entice some aspiring contending teams and move them then that’s really what they should have done instead of pull the trigger on a trade like this right now at the beginning of the offseason now the other reason this trade wasn’t as bad as people are making it out to me and again just strictly talking about this trade in a vacuum i’ll get to the overall approach and strategy the Bulls have been utilizing is the real problem but just looking at this trade well I’m not a fan of Aoro i don’t think he’s going to be anything more than a role player or rotational piece but what you are going to get from Aoro is a pretty hard-nosed defender something the Bulls truly lack a very physical player we’ve been talking about it for a while the Bulls lack physicality and on top of that he’s obviously more durable than Lonzo Ball is and younger than Lonzo is so yes there are things you’re getting from Aoro that the Bulls do need and you also don’t know if this is another case of a player just needing a new environment where he’s given more opportunity like Aoro was one of the Cavs main starters in the first couple of seasons he was in the league and then his role slowly reduced as the Cavs started moving towards contention and really started becoming thin in their rotation centered around their starting lineup so this could be a situation of a player with a chip on his shoulder that is ready to prove himself that he’s more valuable than what you saw last season the biggest downsides to me and why I wouldn’t have done this trade and a move like this is just doesn’t really do much for the Bulls like despite everything I mentioned Aoro is still an average player a player that is coming off his worst season and a player whose contract isn’t that bad he’s making around the mid-level exception but it’s still 2 years guaranteed on his deal compared to Lonzo’s which was effectively a one-year deal like in my view this just wasn’t the move if you’re trading Lonzo Vault like the point of extending Lonzo in the first place and getting him on that very team-friendly deal was to give you some leverage in it being a tradable contract and to go through that and use it on Isaac Aoro is pretty underwhelming i don’t think it’s a god-awful trade like I see a lot of fans saying on the socials but it’s a meh trade there is some potential upside given AOR’s only 24 but I really don’t think this is going to do anything for the Bulls it’s not really going to hurt them but it’s also not going to really benefit them either i know some will say “Well it is actually going to hurt them because it’s going to take away minutes for Modus and Asen.” Nah the Bulls exchanged a wing for a very guard heavy roster that part of it was actually necessary and I don’t see it taking away opportunities for Madus and a Sen despite those guys at times playing the wing to me the bigger issue here in a trade like this is not the trade itself but the pattern we’ve been seeing in the Bulls trying to turn over their roster and is very very concerning i mean when you look at what the Bulls got from their initial core their first core they put together Vuvich Demar Zack Caruso Lonzo Ball they traded four of those five guys now the return they’ve gotten for Demar Caruso Zack Lavine Lonzo Ball has been one first round pick which was their own and two second round picks josh Giddy who I love you guys know I’m higher on Josh Giddy than most and then obviously a bunch of role players next to him like if you look at it from a macro perspective and see everything the Bulls have gotten from these guys those four guys it’s pretty bad like a fireball offense for most front offices when you package it all together because while I’ve always maintained the NBA draft is a crapshoot you can’t just keep tanking for picks and hoping to get better but there is value in having draft capital excess draft capital at your disposal either to have multiple cracks at trying to land a top talent or using those picks to make trades to acquire other talent around the league and time and time again we’ve seen this front office not value draft picks as much as they probably should again I don’t think it’s realistic to think the Bulls should have gotten draft picks in a deal for Aoro because it’s not like Aoro was on some 25 plus million contract that the Cavs desperately needed to get out of and there are things about Aoro that the Bulls can absolutely use you can always use 3 and D players and yes he has improved his three-point shooting over time but yeah to me this isn’t about the Lonzo Okoro trade swap itself but more of an indication of how the front office is going to operate going forward because what we heard from Mark Eversley is hey we’re going to be patient we’re going to build this slow we’re not going to skip steps this kind of contradicts that where instead of acquiring assets in the form of draft capital you’re going after younger players with experience to try and still be competitive if you want to call it competitive so no I don’t take issue with this trade itself necessarily i would still have rather the Bulls held on to Lonzo and look to try and move him closer to the deadline to me this is a bigger systematic issue that I worry about for this team going forward anyway we’ll see what other potential moves the Bulls make going into free agency still nothing on the Josh Giddy front and potential contract extension for him however it was reported by Casey Johnson that he’s been hearing a lot of chatter and trade talk around Iodumu more so than Kobe White and then of course Vuchovich obviously the bulls are still making calls on Vu doubtful they’re going to be able to find anything for him but you never know anyway let me know what you guys thought about the trade let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next

Breaking down the Lonzo Ball/Isaac Okoro trade and the deeper problem at hand

NBA Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCikoP0pxZTRqNp9XgMJlIqQ

Sign up for Underdog Fantasy with Promo Code [Bulls Central] to get a Special Pick in the lobby AND up to $250 in Bonus Cash on your first deposit: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-bu…

Discord: https://discord.gg/NCnTQFZkkj
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bulls.central.official/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BullsCentralYT

#ChicagoBulls #BullsNation #lonzoball #isaacokoro #nbadraft2025 #nbadraft #cobywhite #nikolavucevic #matasbuzelis #NikolaVucevic #LonzoBall #CobyWhite #MatasBuzelis #PatrickWilliams #NikolaVucevic #AyoDosunmu #JoshGiddey #BullsNews #NBANews #NBARumors #BullsUpdates #BullsRumors #NBAFreeAgency #BullsTrades #NBATrades #NBATradeRumors