should he bench Lavine ?

He's the worst offender by far

Not saying he's Thibs level, but you gotta play the hand you're dealt

What moves would you suggest he make ?

It just has to be blown up. It's more than Donovan, it's more than Lavine and DeRozan's offense. When they drew this plan up, it had little hope of working. The best I could come up with was that it was interesting. My NBA watching is great teams and coming young teams. If this team wasn't in Chicago I wouldn't ever watch them. If this team was in another city, maybe I turn them on just to take a nap.

It wasn't a bad plan actually. They were No 1 in the conference well into the season this time last year. Thus it was hardly a "doomed" plan from the start. That's revisionist.
The problem is that AK stopped tweaking the roster i.e. acquiring more size and failing to obtain a backup point. This team is nowhere near as shitty as the doom and gloom guys on this board would have you thhk. The very same doom and gloom guys that bitched about them even when they were #1 in the conference last year. They can easily be a 2nd round team this season with the right coach. They aren't a title contender however but with the right coach definitely a playoff team.

Take off those rose colored glasses.

Do good basketball teams lose to the G-League Nets, who just traded all their players? Just Asking A Question

What Smith is saying, and I've come to agree, is that White's scoring is too valuable to give away. If DeRozan and Lavine are struggling in the playoffs, for example, having white come in and drop 20 can win you a game. No one else on the bench can do that for you.

Do good basketball teams lose to the G-League Nets, who just traded all their players? Just Asking A Question

Caught a minute or two of the game and heard Van Gundy talk about how every shot the Bulls were taking was a hard shot, that happens when you only have 15 assists and space the floor so poorly that you go 5 for 26 from three, this is a team that takes a lot of nights off, and it seems guys like Lavine are fine with that as long as they get their shots.

Wait till next year for the Bulls is really wait till next years tank, not sure why they didn't start the tanking process sooner and at least pick up a few draft picks to start the every three year rebuilt process the Bulls have been on for the past several decades.

Because AK believes that its best to have "continuity" right now. I think they really believe that Larcenous Lonzo will be the cure for all that ails them.

it is insane to think that right now. no clue how AK can really think that. It is way more likely that Ball never plays again than he comes back and suddenly this team is a contender

I'm inclined to believe that. I never really believed that Ball wanted to have a long or sustained career anyway. From the beginning I always believed that he was all about the "brand" that his father happened to craft for him and his brothers more than anything.

That does seem to be the most likely outcome given the lack of any tangible progress, but once you sign a big contract you have generational wealth, so why would you want to come back?

Probably over 70%+ of the players have multi million dollar contracts which amount to some measure of generational wealth. They all play. For claw to be correct all those players would basically fake injuries shortly after signing their deals. That's not happening. Most players are going all out. Ball is genuine. It hurts his brand to be sitting in street clothes. Ben Simmons on the other hand is a thief and a fraud (177.2M guaranteed contract; 37m this year to take 5 shots a game and avoid shooting free throws).

Jalen Rose: “Ben Simmons is stealing money, ski mask and gloves,” Rose said, citing the guard having 119 fouls, 113 baskets and shooting 43 percent from the free throw line."

Stephen A Smith: “Ben Simmons, it’s a sad situation,” Smith said. “And I don’t mean this literally, because obviously, he’s not doing it, but one would say, he is stealing money.”

Common Sense: He's a thief

LTG: I would sign him for 300M per day right now.

There's no trolling here

He purposely avoids doing his job.

because he doesn't want to shoot free throws.

And for his troubles teams will have deposited 170M in his bank account.

There's no trolling here: Simmons is a fraud and a thief. He purposely avoids doing his job because he doesn't want to shoot free throws. And for his troubles teams will have deposited 170M in his bank account. That's the definition of a fraud. Fuck him.

His intention is not to be a fraud. He has lost his confidence. It's that simple. He either gets it back or he doesn't. If he doesn't, he's a $9-10 mil a year player who can't play in crunch time. I think your intention is to toot your own horn that you were always right about him. I hear you, you were right, now quit chirping about it.

Probably over 70%+ of the players have multi million dollar contracts which amount to some measure of generational wealth. They all play. For claw to be correct all those players would basically fake injuries shortly after signing their deals. That's not happening. Most players are going all out. Ball is genuine. It hurts his brand to be sitting in street clothes. Ben Simmons on the other hand is a thief and a fraud (177.2M guaranteed contract; 37m this year to take 5 shots a game and avoid shooting free throws).

Not really what I meant, but let's take a look at the issue shall we? There is likely a substantial portion of the players that will take advantage of injuries by sitting out as long as they can before being pushed to return, you see this across the board in society, it's basic human nature for some to want to stay out as long as they can while some will come back a bit early and push themselves. When you factor in the Ball family...I guess you would call it life plan, which involves a parent that has voiced repeatedly that he sees this as a business endeavor where his kids are all cogs in the brand he has created, you can easily see that the primary goal was to get the kids into the NBA in the biggest market possible, wins and losses do not really matter, just get the brand out there and make as much money as possible.

That said, you are certainly dealing with an entirely different mindset with the Ball family. Franchise and team success does not matter, it is all about keeping the Ball name on a jersey somewhere for as long as you can.

If you know anything about pro sports, you will see guys making business decisions all the time, giving maybe a half effort, or sitting out until they are forced to make a decision.

There is of course the very real possibility that we have a Tarik Cohen type situation where the injury is far worse than the team/player are willing to admit and may in fact be career threatening, but then again there is absolutely no reason for the player who is getting guaranteed money to come back, in fact why not milk out another year before you reach an injury settlement? It would be stupid not to take advantage of the system.

Surprised you do not know this? Have you never encountered anyone that is on disability, but seems to be totally able to work? Guess you must have a limited sphere of experience?