The Bulls recently announced that they have promoted a number of members of their basketball operations department (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). Those promotions and new titles are as follows:
- Pat Connelly – Assistant GM
- Faizan Hasnany – Manager of basketball strategy and analytics
- Josh Malone – Assistant GM of Windy City Bulls (G League affiliate)
- Steve Pankow – Head equipment manager and travel coordinator
- Chigozie Umeadi – Director of basketball operations and GM of Windy City Bulls
- Steve Weinman – VP of basketball strategy and analytics
Chicago has also added Shaquin Albrow to serve as senior manager of team services and player development.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic gives the Bulls a “B” grade for their relatively quiet offseason. Mayberry notes that the team was able to re-sign Zach LaVine, Andre Drummond was a solid and affordable bench upgrade at center, and Goran Dragic will be an insurance policy in case Lonzo Ball is still dealing with his knee injury when the season rolls around. Dalen Terry, the No. 18 overall pick of last month’s draft, also looks like a solid addition, but Mayberry expects him to spend a good amount of time in the G League as he works on adding muscle and improving his shot.
- Eric Nehm of The Athletic covers a number of Bucks-related topics in his latest mailbag column. Nehm doesn’t believe Milwaukee will give veteran extensions to either Khris Middleton or Brook Lopez before the season starts — Lopez is entering the last year of his contract at $13.9MM, while Middleton has a $40.4MM player option for 2023/24. The 2023 offseason will be a crucial one for the Bucks, Nehm notes, because if Milwaukee fails to win the Finals, ownership might choose to dodge the luxury tax and retool the roster with the salary cap flexibility created by Lopez and possibly Middleton becoming free agents.
- The Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks‘ G League affiliate, have acquired the rights to Alex Antetokounmpo and a second-round pick in the 2023 G League draft from the Raptors 905, Toronto’s affiliate, in exchange for the rights to Jalen Lecque, the Herd announced in a press release. The youngest Antetokounmpo brother appeared in a total of 23 G League games last season, but didn’t receive much playing time.
I believe Khris middleton is still one of the most underrated players in the association… that being said… 40 million dollars!?!? Jeez.
IIRC they were just doing whatever they could to keep Giannis around, including locking up Middleton by any means necessary, he had leverage to get a max deal from them
No one with a max is underrated. Not possible at that money. Maybe by the media but not by the league. If anything some dudes are making way too much. Like Tobias.
If Middleton stays reasonably healthy he’s gonna be very highly coveted on the open market next off-season. OKC should go after him aggressively. They’re deep with young guards & young 4/5s. They just need an elite vet scorer on the wing to pair with Shai & the youngsters. Plus Middleton fits their goal of having the longest team in nba history, his wingspan is close to JWill territory. Thunder will have all types of cap space too & a 3yr max may be more than Mil is willing to pay… if Mil does the smart thing & maxes out Middleton then OKC could pivot to Wiggins or Herro. Rest of the cap space gets offered to Steven Adams, sumthin like 2yrs $25M
Don’t know who Middleton’s agent is, which of course could be a factor, but he seems like a guy who might be willing to take a bit of a discount to stick around for a couple more years.
And from the Bucks point of view, who’s his replacement if they let him walk? Nwora..?
Lopez is on the downhill side of things, so unless the dollars are much less I don’t see him as a Buck after this year.
Assuming Middleton opts in he will finish the contract and need a new one entering his age 33 season. He should not be given any sort of max contract unless it is of the 1+1 variety. Anything longer should be for less money otherwise the Bucks competitiveness during Giannis’ late 20s will be diminished by an untradeable overpay.
Lopez is on his last legs. And Middleton won’t be worth that money. Bucks have to be smart next off season