Tankapalooza

http://www.rotoworld.com/teams/depth-charts/nba.aspx

The Bulls tank effort is now set up perfectly.  One of the keys to a competitive team is good interior defense.  You need at least  2 guys to clean up the mess when there are the inevitable perimeter breakdowns.  The Bulls have 1 quality interior defender in Robin Lopez.   Every other big man is average at best (Felicio), or a disaster at worst (Niko, Portis, Markkanen).   Overall, I see only 2 above average defenders on the entire roster (Dunn, Lopez).  This team should allow a ton of points, and position itself for a top 4 pick with relative ease. – See Red Fred @cbefred

People haven’t really talked about how bad Atlanta is going to be. I don’t really see a whole lot of absolutely terrible teams. Probably Atlanta and Brooklyn. Maybe the Knicks and Bulls. Will the Lakers and Phoenix still be bad? – Riv Man @flyriv

Niko’s Market

I consider Ersan Ilyasova (1 yr, 6 mil) and Jonas Jerebko (2 yrs, 8.2 mil) to be similar to Mirotic, and they both signed deals yesterday. This should help to set Niko’s market. Of course, Mirotic has the advantage of being 4 years younger than those two (26 vs. 30). So I think a fair deal would be something similar to what Felico got (4 years, 32 mil). I would not go higher than that.

Mirotic also has the option of signing the 1-year qualifying offer of 7.2 mil and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. – Riv Man

Portland’s Bad Tax Situation

Portland has an underrated baaaad salary situation. They’re not an elite team but they’re 2nd in luxury tax:  “Six teams are in the luxury tax including both Golden State and Cleveland. The six teams have combined for an NBA record of $175M in tax penalties. 1. Cleveland ($71.8M) 2. Portland ($48.3M) 3. Golden State ($27.8M) 4. Oklahoma City ($14.1M) 5. Washington ($10.7M) 6. Milwaukee ($2.4M)”

The contracts for Crabbe and Turner are especially onerous. The Meyers Leonard contract isn’t great either. And they’ll need to pay Jusuf Nurkic next year. – Riv Man

Bulls Playoff History

Call me ignorant, but I didn’t realize how rare is was for the Bulls to not make the playoffs. Out of 51 seasons, the Bulls have been in the playoffs 35 times (68.6% of all seasons). The Bulls missed the playoffs in only 16 seasons (31.4% of all seasons). Tim Floyd’s teams account for a full 25% of the seasons when the Bulls didn’t make the playoffs (4, including the partial season when he was fired). But he is a victim of circumstances. Since Jordan, there have been 19 seasons, and the Bulls missed the playoffs in 8 of them (42.1%). It’s been an unusually bad time in franchise history. – Rick Oz

Another fun Bulls history fact: they have the 3rd most championships of all time with 6. Golden State, with 5, could be passing them in a couple of years. – Riv Man @flyriv

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_champions#Results_by_teams