Should the Chicago Bulls Take a Chance on Deandre Ayton After Buyout?

Should the Chicago Bulls Take a Chance on Deandre Ayton After Buyout?

[Music] Did you put it in your bet? Were you putting in your bet? Were you getting your parlay? You’re muted, too. Like, what’s going on? What is happening over there? He’s muted. Like, what what was Pat over there doing?
I said my bad. The wife called.
Oh, okay. That’s That’s hilarious. Uh, first of all, FanDuel, too. Why Why is it that you have to make your bets or you get you can’t go outside? You can do you can place Fandal while you’re on the sun sunbathing. Nonetheless, um
they did say you can’t be on the beach. You can place bets. Do you Hello, mobile internet. I can be anywhere and place my bets. Um with that said, Pat, um DeAndre Aiden bought out last night by the Portland Trailblazers. This now puts an unexpected unrestricted free agent on the market. Uh reportedly the reason why they bought him out is that there were teams that were calling on the trade, but it was difficult to find a trade that they didn’t take long-term salary back with his $32 million. They didn’t want long-term salary back, so they went ahead and bought him out. Uh they have they have two young centers now there in Cleveland. Cleveland and um I oh my god, this is going to sound like I’m like the the the young Chinese guy that they just drafted as well. Um
I forgot his name that quick talking about Yang. Is that his name? Nonetheless, um, so they, so they bought bought out Donovan, uh, bought out DeAndre Aiden. I’m going to let you have this one first, Pat. How would you feel about the Bulls taking a one-year flyer? I don’t want multiple years, anything, but a one-year flyer on DeAndre Aton. No. No. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen No, we’re fine. We’re good. Like why why do we forget that who DeAndre Aton was? We know this dude is a low IQ, low work ethic, uh uh a loweffort, low defensive ability player. You know what? Actually went and looked at his defense, he’s actually been pretty solid defensively except for the last two years in port like and I I was surprised by that too. like he uh he holds centers in the paint to almost 5% lower field field goal percentage which is crazy to me because most of the time I see DeAndre Aiden it’s like maybe it’s just that he’s a big body and they can’t get around him cuz I’ve never seen a DeAndre Aiden defensive play where I’m like he was active on that play but maybe that’s just me here here’s here’s my thing right and and maybe the numbers do say that he had a a better defensive rating than whatever right I watched this man in a pivotal game seven where where he also underperformed in game five and game two where the Phoenix Suns could have gone to the Western Conference Finals I believe for the second year in a row get killed by Maxi Clebber and Dwight Pal. Bro, Maxi Cleber gave him the business to
boy. He shouldn’t be having this conversation on that alone.
He gave he gave that man the Maxi Cleaver did he got paid after that. I think that’s seriously how Maxi Cleaver paid. That is my point. Like I’m good on the whole DeAndre Aiden thing and and honestly it’s the
you know listen there’s a lot of ability there. There’s a lot of talent there but he is tall pe will. It’s the mindset. It’s it’s the it’s the lack of want to. It’s the the lack of aggressiveness. He’s got the skill set to be the best uh uh um one of the best centers in the NBA, especially one of the best back to the basket guys. He’s got a nice little turnaround. He’s got a nice touch on his fader, right? Like he’s got he’s even got a hook shot. He’s got every skill set you want to see from this mug, but he doesn’t have the want to to go out there and be aggressive. This man was in Portland and just didn’t show up to a game because he didn’t want to go. And he was like, “The ice is too bad.” And he was like, “We can shovel you out.” And he was like, “It’s okay. Don’t do it.” Like, what are we talking about with this one?
It’s okay. Save yourself. That’s
save yourself. I don’t want you to get stuck. Save yourself. No, this is the same dude who he is essentially the talk Murray of the NBA. Like wasn’t it like a uh a PR person or something that was like yeah I lived like around the corner from him. I made it to work. It was something like that that came.
They sent that dude to go get him. He was like no like I literally can see you like no save yourself. It’s okay. Like and I get it right. Like there are people who are ready to move on from Nikolus, but just because somebody has the physical attributes that you’re looking for, that you think you want in a player, remember who that player is. Like if you think that all of a sudden playing with Josh Giddy is going to unlock him, because that was what JC said this morning, too. He was like, “Well, I think playing with a point guard like Giddy could unlock him.” He played with Chris Paul. If Chris Paul can’t unlock you, nobody can unlock you. I get Well, let’s be clear here though. Chris, he had his best season of his career under Chris with Chris Paul though. He had a pretty damn good season during the regular season with Chris Paul. It was the postseason where it was like DeAndre Aiden was like, “What happened to you?” He had a pretty damn good regular season. I think that was the only season averaging over 20 points if I’m not mistaken. I could be mixing the seasons.
Uh, you’re probably right on that. No. Well, he’s never averaged over 20 points, so you’re definitely not right on that.
Was it what was it? 19. Uh, 18. 18 is the most points he’s averaged. Uh but he he actually averaged 18 in his second year and when did Chris Paul come? 2022 2021 2022 he 14 his third year 17 his fourth year 18 his fifth year 16 and 14 again. It’s just he’s not a player to me that I think you can count on and and I think that’s what it comes down to me and we got enough of them dudes on this team. I don’t need to trade for one. See, and I and I and I sit at the opposite side because as a one-year flyer, I’m not I’m not worried about it. Like like I would love to give him a chance to unlock here, like you said, because it’s J not even just joking. It’s also it’s also Kobe White and how he creates off drives and those type of things. And I think what the Bulls would need him to do is a lot different than what he’s needed to do with his other stops. They were looking for him to be a huge part of the offense. I don’t think that the Bulls are would even be dumb enough to do that. It’s like, hey, play off our guys. Um is I think what they would have him do and what they would ask him to do. But I I can’t deny like that you’re right that the questions that and that’s why that’s why I would only be willing to one year flyers because yeah you you it’s been a little pee Willish for you at times like your highs are way higher than anything Pee Will has done. But I wonder if that’s because you were a priority on those Sun teams as far as getting whereas Pee Will has never been a priority offensively here for the Chicago Bulls. But I look at that I look at the the blocks. I look at the the rebound percentage, right? And I’m like, I’d be willing to take a shot at it because again, I don’t think this Bulls team I don’t think they’re going to be terrible, but I don’t think we’re going to win a crap ton of games either this year. So, I’d be willing to take a flyer on a on a 26-y old player to see what they can bring here. Um, but you know, there’s another player out there that I’d be and he’s older, but Mo Vagner, sign me up for Mo. I’d rather go Mo than DeAndre Aiden.
I listen I there’s a bunch of people I’d rather I’d rather go P than DeAndre Aiden. At least I the the devil, you know, is better than the one you don’t. You know what I mean? Like what if this He couldn’t get there in Portland, Hayes. You think he’s going to get to work in Chicago in the winter,
bro? Who the heck would get to work in Portland, though? Like I mean, let’s be clear there. Like like like Portland is not much to do. Like I I I get what you’re getting at. Like like I said, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with your logic here. I just I just be willing I would be willing to take the risk at this point. So
honestly to me the the big thing is just you know is coming to this team going to increase his effort
because that’s been the biggest thing on top of the injuries which I think have been you know I mean listen he he don’t want to be there so I don’t know how much you can take into the injuries like
and they didn’t want him there like literally
they didn’t want him there first three months and they were like hey um yeah you can go ahead and clock out for bro they thought they was go remember they thought they was going to flip them they thought they were going to be able to trade them and then like everybody was like nah we Good, bro. We watched Maxi Clever f this man up for four games, dog. Like, no, we don’t want him, bro. That’s still like you like go and look at the highlights from that series. Maxi Cleber made that man’s whole series a living hell.
And you know what it was, too? It wasn’t even that Maxi Cleber was killing him offensively. It was that it was messing him up that Maxi Clebo was killing him and he wasn’t shooting. Yeah. Like, he literally just turned it like Devin Booker is dead, but he’s trying to play through it. I think he missed two games in that series. Chris Paul was 106 and just like kind of still going through some injury as well. Like they it was literally like a we need you for one game to be bigger than Dwight Pal and Maxi Clever and you should be able to do this easily. Like I ain’t got it. Three for five though. I was efficient. Like that’s that’s not a player I want on my team. At least in my mind.
Well, you’ll get a DeAndre Aiden. will be happy with a Dion. No, I’m just
I’m going to be honest with you. The second I saw it, I was like, “O, he’s a bull.” No, he’s a he’s a Laker. He’s a Laker. Like, he has the same agent as Luca. He’s a Laker. I hope so.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this it’s a fun conversation, but I do I think he’s a Laker. I I don’t think there’s really any other outcome for that one. I think the Lakers and I also think the Lakers would be willing to give him more than a one-year deal that most of the teams will probably be willing to give him because again, it’s the Lakers. So, it is the Lakers. Although they say they gonna be a lot more aggressive uh trying to trying to get this thing back on track. So if DeAndre Aiden is aggressive, they didn’t say the player had to be aggressive. They said they were going to be aggressive to get players.
They was just going to be in a contract meeting and be like, “We are very excited to trade for you.”
Yeah, basically Vince McMahon on the whole time. Oh god. Hey man, uh we got to keep it moving along though cuz uh Anthony Simon V trade rumor is very interesting. Yeah, talk about that as well. Yeah, more locked on bulls coming up right after this.

Deandre Ayton is officially a free agent after finalizing his buyout with the Portland Trail Blazers — but does he make sense for the Chicago Bulls?

In this episode of The Chicago Bulls Breeze, we break down Ayton’s strengths, red flags, and how he could fit next to Zach LaVine, Matas Buzelis, and Patrick Williams. Could Ayton finally reach his potential in Chicago’s system? Or would the effort issues and locker room concerns be too much to handle?

We also explore what a one-year “prove-it” deal could look like and whether Artūras Karnišovas should take the risk. Don’t miss this deep dive on one of the most polarizing big men in the league.

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