There’s confidence that Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball will return at some point this season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Ball underwent another left knee surgery on Wednesday and doctors are optimistic the issue has been fully addressed. However, he’s going to be out a number of months, Charania adds.
Ball was still unable to “run or jump” entering training camp despite a lengthy rehab from two previous procedures this year.
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Bucks showed a lot of interest in trading for the Jazz‘s Jordan Clarkson but the Jazz balked at Milwaukee’s proposal, Tony Jones of The Athletic said on the Bill Riley Show podcast (hat tip to HoopsHype). Utah was uninterested at taking back George Hill‘s contract, which Jones described as a non-starter in trade discussions. One of the league’s top scoring reserves, Clarkson averaged 16 points last season. He has two years left on his four-year, $51.52MM contract. Hill has an expiring $4MM contract, so Milwaukee would have still needed to send out more salary in a potential trade.
- The Lakers and Suns were among the teams reportedly pursuing Bojan Bogdanovic but he wound up getting traded to the Pistons. The former Jazz forward says he wasn’t concerned where he ended up, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “I didn’t have any preference,” Bogdanovic said. “There’s a lot of rumors. Who knows if that’s true or not? I’m super happy and excited to be part of the Pistons.”
- Pistons forward Isaiah Livers wound up playing 19 games during his rookie season after recovering from a foot injury. He’s aiming to become a regular part of the rotation this season, he told James Edwards III of The Athletic. “I wanted to build off those last 19, 20 games,” the 2021 second-round pick said. “Coaches and everyone seemed to love the way that I was playing. It was working effectively.”
- There was heavy speculation that Bulls center Nikola Vucevic would be part of a package to acquire Rudy Gobert during the offseason. Vucevic had serious doubts that would happen and was proven correct when Gobert was dealt to Minnesota, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “Rumors are a part of what we do,’’ said Vucevic, who is on an expiring contract. “Whether they’re true or not, it’s out of my control. I focus on what I can control, and, in the end, I had some fun with [the Jazz rumors]. At no point did I feel it was going to happen.’’
- Bulls guard Alex Caruso is one of the candidates to replace Ball in the starting lineup as he mends from his latest knee surgery, but that’s not Caruso’s focus, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “It won’t be a conversation I’ll have with Billy (Donovan). He might have it with me depending on what we need,” Caruso said. “But I’ve always been team-first trying to win games. If that’s me starting basketball games then that’s what we’ll do. If that’s me coming off the bench, that’s fine too. I’ve always been I’d rather finish games than start games.
I really find the numerous reports of the Jazz being so averse to taking on salary weird and hard to believe. Why wouldn’t they want George Hills small expiring contract? No teams have cap space to absorb the players that the Jazz are looking to move so taking back salary is non-negotiable. Are they really planning on signing a max player in the next year or two? What A list free agent is going to sign in Utah? And how does it help their timeline with all the picks they acquired?
I think the Utah Jazz was probably looking for a trade like they did for Bojan Bogdanovic to the Detroit Pistons. Take back less money. Danny Ainge got a ton of picks this off season. Now he’s trying to free up money.
Mark my words. The Utah Jazz going to make a run at Jaylen Brown in 2024. Will Hardy was the Boston Celtics assistant coach last season and Danny Ainge drafted him.
In this day and age of social media, it doesn’t matter as much where you play. Donovan got plenty of exposure and fame playing in Utah. Someone like Jaylen Brown probably just wants to be the go-to guy and main star of the team and/or wants to win. The Jazz could be much closer to title contention by then, in 2 years.
Location somewhat matters, it cost Mitchell the R.O.Y.
Who was Utah’s last major free agent acquisition other than Bogdonovich? Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer in 2004?
Actually, I think Simmons got the ROY because he could get triple doubles and play defense. Donovan can’t even get double doubles. He only has a couple of them to this day. We all know Donovan’s defense has never truly been a big focus for him. What’s weird is that in the Summer League before his first regular season, he had a game with 8 steals! So I blame Coach Snyder.
I think there’s more to it than just taking Hill or not. In a couple days or maybe a week we’ll find out they didn’t want the rest of MKE’s spare parts (aka Grayson Allen and end-of-bench guys) not to mention I don’t think MKE has much in the way of draft capital which I’d guess Utah is most interested in.
I find it hard to believe as well
I think there was a mandate by upper mngt to trim as much money as they could from these last 2 trades (about 5~6 mill) to further trim the taxes off that
Not a “full” tank as the fans would want as they are leaving value on the table for the sake of good ole fashion money.
But that wouldn’t sound too great when they just broke up a team with the 2nd most wins the last five years in the tough Western Conf…. So here we are
@ac106 The reason that you stockpile draft picks like Utah has done is to include a bunch of the picks in a trade package to possibly acquire a “max” player as opposed to signing one in free agency. The draft picks are also highly enticing to get a “sign and trade” deal done during free agency.
Thanks Captain Obvious.
@AC106 Apparently, that wasn’t obvious to the Knicks. They could’ve added more picks to the trade offer if they wanted to keep all their young guys. That or picked a different 3rd team other than the highly stingy Lakers.
Do you guys believe that Mitchell Robinson was ever offered? I think the Knicks resigned him early so that he wouldn’t be added, just like they did with RJ. Same pattern.
I honestly don’t think Lonzo Ball will play none this season. I think he needs to take this year to just get 100% healthy and mentally strong again.
Yeah, I tend to agree, what has seemed like a pretty minor injury has turned into something that’s kept him out significantly longer and required another couple more surgeries.
I say they need to make sure he is 110% healthy before he ever plays for the Bulls again..
It’s unfortunate, especially as a Bulls fan having to say this, because they were really cooking with Ball, DeRozan, Vooch, White Mamba, and LaVine, and that was without Colby White and Patrick Williams being added for bench scor8ng and versatility/depth at the 4..
Still though, what’s most important is that Ball plays again period, and if they don’t get this right this time, idk it may end up costing Ball alot more than just a month or two of games…
Ball has worked extremely hard to improve his game, and he was just starting to show the world he was the real deal as a two-way PG. This sucks, but hope he can come back healthy, prayers go out to him..
I think blogabull’s take suggesting the Bulls attempt a Vuc for Turner trade makes sense, as they should be looking ahead a season at this point and to the years when DeRozan is gone.
Without Ball their defense and 3pt shooting is suspect, unless Williams blooms into a better 3pt shooter. They have no interior defense now and only mediocre rebounding.
Might as well pivot to the future when Ball may be fully healthy.