Confirming a pair of earlier reports, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report states that the Jazz haven’t entertained inquiries on Donovan Mitchell, but have been willing to engage in talks involving Rudy Gobert, with the Bulls among the potential suitors for the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
According to Fischer, a Bulls offer for Gobert would – as expected – start with center Nikola Vucevic. The “popular package” discussed by various league executives would also include Patrick Williams, according to Fischer, who notes that the Jazz have long been seeking a wing defender like the former No. 4 overall pick.
However, as Fischer writes, the Bulls weren’t interested in discussing Williams during in-season trade talks for Jerami Grant, so it remains to be seen how open they’d be to including him in an offer for Gobert. If Williams is off the table, adding Coby White and Javonte Green would work from a salary-matching perspective, Fischer observes, but presumably the Jazz would be seeking a more substantial return for one of their two All-Stars.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- The Jazz offered Quin Snyder a variety of contract structures in an effort to keep him in Utah, but those offers were rebuffed, with Snyder deciding it was time to move on. The expectation in league circles is that Snyder – who is highly regarded by Spurs CEO R.C. Buford – would be the leading candidate for the coaching job in San Antonio when Gregg Popovich steps down, says Fischer.
- The Jazz are still working on their list of head coaching targets and will begin to formally reach out to candidates in the coming days, according to Fischer. One of the names included in the team’s preliminary list of candidates was Terry Stotts, who has the same representation as Snyder and spent several weeks around the Jazz in 2021/22, Fischer notes.
- While there’s some skepticism around the NBA about how much Jazz CEO Danny Ainge will cater to Donovan Mitchell, Ainge isn’t viewed as someone who “scours the market of the NBA’s up-and-coming head coaches,” Fischer writes. In other words, if Mitchell and team owner Ryan Smith both want to bring in former Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant as Snyder’s replacement, Ainge likely wouldn’t stand in the way, sources tell Fischer.
Snyder and the Spurs makes all the sense in the world. That’s a solid win-win for both.
As for Gobert, if the Bulls offered Vucevic and Williams, I jump on that offer. The Jazz can always go after a defensive big like Robinson if needed to sure up the D. That would be an interesting team with some decent depth.
Hilarious and hideous at the same time. What Robinson are you talking about, it better be Duncan Robinson cause the Blockness Monster ain’t leaving the knickerbockers. Stop dreaming after falling for the click bait. There is no way in this time and space the Blockness Monster will be residing in the boondocks!!!
Gobert anchoring a Bulls team with those wing scorers and Lonzo on the ball would be hella dangerous. I like that move for them a lot. Not so sure for Utah.
The Bulls shot horribly from 3 in the playoffs and Lonzo isn’t going to be the one person to fix that. They need multiple taller and better 3 and D guys on the roster than they do a defensive center who can’t shoot.
DeRozan and Gobert om the floor together may well clog up the inside of the arc too. The idea is enticing at some level but has some big downsides.
DeRozan rarely gets inside 10 feet. Lavine goes in there much more. Gobert would force Lavine to the outside; whether that is optimal is open to debate but DeRozan shoots mostly from the corners of the key.
Agree they need 3&D perimeter wings, but without an inside defender they are not going to succeed, and Vooch has essentially refused to play that way. He instinctively rolls outside instead of cutting to the basket, and his 3pt % ain’t good enough to justify thst choice.
Gobert would be awesome but you can argue that an inside defender is the Bull’s number one need.
The “popular package” discussed by various league executives? There is only 1 executive that counts here. I say there’s no way AK includes PW in almost any trade.
The Gobert Report says Coby White not Pat Williams, since after adding the Styfle Tower, Bulls will be beefing up their French Rejection. If Ball is healthy the offense won’t need a Gobzilla more.
I like nicknames.
White is expendable. The team, as quickly rebuilt, is very reliant on the cross over defense of Williams (and Ball as well). Gobert might not improve the overall defense if DDR and LaVine have to match up with the opponents wings. Williams would likely be replaced by a wing defender, not a typical PF.
Patrick Williams has shown glimpses of being a productive offensive/defensive player. The comparisons to Kawhi by some fans were outrageous and unfair to him. I still believe they should’ve selected Halliburton with the 4th pick. Vu is turning into Markkanen/Mirotic with just settling for 3 point shot when he has a strong postgame and passing skills for a big man. We desperately need to get better on the boards and rim protection. Gobert provides BOTH those needs. Yes, his contract is enormous but he doesn’t need to be a scorer on this team, he can be the “Tyson Chandler” of this team and just get the rebs and be effective on P&R and protect the paint. Bulls definitely need to be ALL in in Gobert. You cannot waste another year of Derozan who could possibly decline in Year 3 and Lavine with his knee problems. The East is strong as it has been since the late 90’s and you still have Embiid/Giannis to deal with. I don’t believe they’re real contenders in the East even after adding Gobert but this fanbase isn’t patient enough for yet another rebuild. Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the last title team here in Chicago, it’s starting to become like like Boston post 1986 until 2008. I trust AK and Eversley in making the right choices and decisions for this team.
Ball
Lavine (resign)
DeRozan
Sign or draft a 4
Gobert.
Defensively you will get better just by adding Gobert and removing Vu who doesn’t intimidate anyone. Ball needs to be 100% healthy. He was such a pest and defensively gave this team a defensive identity in the first half of the season. His health is crucial going into next year for this team not to fall flat on their faces once again.
If the Bulls trade Patrick Williams then that just causes one more problem while solving another. Williams is going nowhere IMO and nor should he. If the Bulls could swing Gobert without trading Williams I’m all in. Vujevic, Coby White and Portlands 1 next year gets it done for me if the money works. Then draft Liddell and find a decent backup 5 and you have something good. Reinsdorf has said he would pay the luxury tax for the right team so with those guys you don’t necessarily need Lavine and he can be dealt for assets. Another 2 guard and a wing for Lavine. Wonder if a sign and trade Lavine for Gobert could be worked out. If Utah doesn’t want Lavine maybe a 3rd team could be factored in. Lots of possibility here to like. Still would like to know what the plan is for Simonovic.
for vucevic, white, plus someone else for matching purposed its fine.
if you are willing to extend vucevic next year when hes 32 for 2 years for example, its ok to pay gobert for 4 years until he’s 33.
gobert takes 7 shots less than vucevic, these should all go to williams who shot 50% from the 3 point line this year (hopefully he can sustaon a % more than 40%).
in gobert+ball+caruso+williams you got 4 very good to great defenders
you also get a player who can guard the main roadblocks to the east title, giannis and embiid
you can then spend the mle to get some wing shooer like batum, youn etc and sign a minimum vet like carmelo and you go all the shooting you need
Ayo and Green are also good to great defenders. If Ayo improved his 3 point shot he could be the steal of the last draft( If he isn’t already). I don’t want to include Green in a deal if I don’t have to. White and Lavine are allergic to defense and DDR is a fair to middling TEAM defender. Defense will get the Bulls farther in the East than Lavine. I still don’t understand the angst I get when I suggest the Bulls don’t need Lavine. The only thing that makes him special are his hops and with 2 knee surgeries now in the books, The odds of him even playing 70 games a year are way down.
Ayo is good and I love the guy but he’s not great yet, which us normal as he was a rookie.
He’s 3p shooting was great for a rookie, almost the same with vanvleet, Middleton and other vet starters. Even if he can just sustain he’s shooting going from 2 to 5 attempts he would be the 65th best shooter in his second year.
I don’t mind an s&t for Lavine but we shouldn’t lose him for nothing.
Maybe Atlanta trades huerter who’s a a great shooter
Green is a likable guy but we can’t have so many undersized defenders. I would gladly swap him with thaddeus young for example.
You couldn’t even swing Green for Thaddeus Young by using the 10 million Trade exemption they have. Green is not an undersized defender as he’s 6’5″. They asked him to guard 4’s when Williams went down which he did fairly well. But as for him guarding 2’s and 3’s he more than adequate size wise. He took a beating guarding 4’s. I doubt Thad would even come back as he’s still bitter about being dealt in the first place.
he’s a 6’4”/6’5″ (depending on the source) SF, shorter/same height with Ayo, Coby White and Lavine among others. that’s undersized any way you look at it.
I don; think he’s such a good defender and we don’t really backcourt defenders with ball, caruso, ayo check his on-off stats at link to cleaningtheglass.com
If Mitchell leaves I think the best trade idea would be dealing him to OKC for SGA, the 12th pick this year and a future first.
SGA isn’t quite as good as Mitchell is right now but he’s still developing and is already a fringe all star level player. I think two areas he is certainly better is his passing/playmaking and his outside shooting. Two areas the Jazz could really benefit from getting better at. SGA could learn a lot from Conley and with his versatility I think would actually be the long term point guard of the side. The Jazz would also gain two first round picks to build with and would stay a strong competitive side.
For OKC, Spida probably isn’t worth 2 extra first round picks on top of SGA but because you have so many picks it’s something you can easily afford to give away. If it really came down to it, I’d give away 3 possibly even 4 first round picks on top of SGA to get Mitchell.
According to reports they love Giddey at the 1 and want to build around him and with this years second overall pick apparently they love Chet and want him. I just don’t think Giddey SGA and Chet make for a strong side, and building for the future I think Spida is a better fit. We have already seen what he can do carrying the Jazz previously in the playoffs.
OKC has 3 firsts this year and another 5 next year so losing picks isn’t the concern it’s just about getting better and that what this deal does.
Okc is the last team that would trade picks fir a star, especially at 5 this point.
3,4 1st picks for Mitchell? No way in he’ll.
What makes you think OKC wouldn’t give up picks?
They have 3 first this year, 5 first next year, another 3 in 2024, 4 in 2025 and 3 in 2026.
In total they own 38 picks, 19 firsts and 19 seconds. NBA rosters only allow for 15 fully contracted players so they will definitely be dealing picks at some stage if not trading players while still on rookie deals.
In my line of thinking I’d offer SGA, this years 12th and a future first let’s just say 1 of the 5 in 2023. Now if they get turned down they could easily throw in more picks.
You’d have your core of Giddey Spida and Chet and be building around them with your future picks. Dort would be great at the 3 and Bazley at the 4 next season. You’d have plenty of cash to spend in FA and lastly the more wins you have during the regular season the better the picks you’ll receive from other teams.
I’m talking about lottery picks and considering they are not ready to compete so there’s no point trading for a star now. they can always swap ther picks with future ones, draft and stash or trade up if they like. that’s way more suitable for them than trading for a star now. maybe in 2-3 years they will