Illini in the NBA

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#753      
With the covid outbreak the Bulls have right now, I'd be surprised if the NBA doesn't start postponing some of their games.

LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. both entered NBA's covid protocol today. That now puts the Bulls at 9 players in the protocol. They could potentially get a couple of them back for Tuesday's game vs. Detroit but I wouldn't be surprised if those players aren't fully ready.

Players haven't been the only ones affected either. Stacey King and Bill Wennington have also tested positive for covid recently too and are in isolation.
 
#761      
A different level of extension/expectations with a former lottery pick vs. 2nd round pick, but both Ayo's and Coby's contracts only go through next season.

NBA contract and free agency rules are about as obtuse as sports contract rules get.

But, if I understand things right, after the expiration of their rookie contracts after the 2023 season, Coby will be a restricted free agent and be under the full Bird exemption (up to max salary doesn’t count under the cap for the Bulls) and Ayo will be an unrestricted free agent with an early Bird exemption (up to League average doesn’t count under the cap for the Bulls). If Coby gets traded this year or next, the Bird rights go to the new team, but the same doesn’t happen were Ayo to be traded.

Which is all to say, absent an extension for Ayo, it’s more likely that the Bulls or whomever their trade partner would be will be more likely to keep hold of Coby beyond 2023. So in a trade, a team looking to build would want Coby, while a team looking to salary dump would want Ayo.

If the Bulls see Ayo as a piece going forward, you’d have to believe an extension would be a top off-season priority Spring/Summer 2022.
 
#762      
NBA contract and free agency rules are about as obtuse as sports contract rules get.
obtuse-the-shawshank-redemption.gif
 
#765      
FWIW:
EDINBURG, Texas (December 13, 2021) – The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the NBA G League Affiliate of the Houston Rockets, announced today that the team has waived guard Alan Griffin. Griffin appeared in four games for the Vipers and averaged 1.8 points, 1.5 rebounds per 4.1 minutes played.

Not exactly the waiver he was seeking when he left the Beloved...
 
#767      
It seems to me that the Bulls are probably looking a little longer term and are not going to trade away the future this year. I'm guessing the front office will try to put themselves in a good position for the free agency market. Of course, sometimes there are steals available from teams looking to unload salaries so that could play out. But trading either Ayo or White for the fairly middling talent they'd get in return doesn't make much sense to me.
DeRozan will be 33 next season and Vuc 32. I would argue they aren't thinking long term, otherwise they wouldn't have given up a lotto pick + another 1st rounder + Wendell Carter for Vuc last year, and then spent their salary cap space on a 32 year old. They're not going to be able to be free agency players -- they're over the cap and only slightly (~$3 mil) under the tax line, and will need to re-sign Lavine. Those facts plus the landscape in the East, with 2 major contenders (Nets, Sixers) experiencing some level of turmoil, gives me the impression that now would be a good time to push more chips onto the table.
 
#768      
FWIW:
EDINBURG, Texas (December 13, 2021) – The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the NBA G League Affiliate of the Houston Rockets, announced today that the team has waived guard Alan Griffin. Griffin appeared in four games for the Vipers and averaged 1.8 points, 1.5 rebounds per 4.1 minutes played.

Not exactly the waiver he was seeking when he left the Beloved...
I do feel bad for him as I feel like he got some really crummy advice. He has the length, spring, and shooting to be a 3nD wing in the NBA. But really needed to learn how to play defense. All due respect to Cuse, the way to do that was not to go hide in a 2-3 zone, which sounds like he didn’t do anyway.

Again, ton of potential. Feels like a waste. Best of luck to him and hope he figures it out somewhere else.
 
#769      
If the Bulls see Ayo as a piece going forward, you’d have to believe an extension would be a top off-season priority Spring/Summer 2022.
100%. The original post was about Ayo being a cheap role player whereas Coby will soon become more expensive. I was only saying they will both be becoming more expensive at the same time. Unless Coby shows out and is able to demand far more than he would garner at the moment, there's a decent chance Coby and Ayo could end up in pretty similar salary ballparks by the time 2023 rolls around. So the value aspect of Ayo's production relative to his contract is really only relevant for the next 1.5 years, the same amount of time as Coby's (albeit his is a different level of "value" at $5/7 mil).

Re: the salary dump for Ayo trade...I'm not sure I see why Ayo would help a team would do that. The outgoing salary (in a straight up trade) could only be slightly more than Ayo's salary and a $1 mil salary dump is negligible in the NBA. A team wanting to shed salary (in a trade with Chicago) is going to be targeting your Derrick Jones Jr.s and his expiring $10 million or Troy Brown and his expiring $5, imo, or a cheap contract guy they can justify waiving, like Matt Thomas.

What you noted about the transferring of Bird rights with Coby vs. Ayo makes it pretty clear that if you're going to trade somebody, it's got to be Coby. Odds are that's the most sensical thing for both the Bulls and their potential trade partners.
 
#771      
Yeah. It's either 10 days or two negative PCR tests 24 hours. Once they're cleared, they then have to go through a cardiac screening before they can be allowed to return to normal activity.
LeBron wasn't 10 days...must've had 2 quick negatives.
 
#774      
Giorgi finds himself on an amazing (though middling standings-wise) team. Grand Rapids is the current stop for Isaiah Thomas' get-back-to-the-league tour. His backcourt mate is Lance Stephenson (I would love to see those two interact) with Stauskas at the 3. They are coached by Jason Terry. That's a lot of NBA experience to be around. Giorgi went 11 for 12 for 25 points last night.
 
#775      
Giorgi finds himself on an amazing (though middling standings-wise) team. Grand Rapids is the current stop for Isaiah Thomas' get-back-to-the-league tour. His backcourt mate is Lance Stephenson (I would love to see those two interact) with Stauskas at the 3. They are coached by Jason Terry. That's a lot of NBA experience to be around. Giorgi went 11 for 12 for 25 points last night.
Mad Ants (Fort Wayne's team name) may be my all-time favorite (at least for a pro team). Top 5, easy.
 
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