It "appears" you are 5 games too late with this assessment CB

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Since the Ball Stopping Lavine has been out my guy the Paw has looked like a different player. Just As Always Knew that he would. Got to get rid of Derozan next so that he can play his natural position. As of last week he was the only dude on the team with a positive +- his biggest problem has been Derozan/Lavine and Billy Donovan.

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Derozen and lavine are both playing for money. Even if they say they aren't, they way they control the ball screams 'i want a new contract'. And then they don't score and the team loses.

Fuck them both. The bulls are clearly better without them. It's not even close. If they WANTED to play team ball, they would be a massive benefit to this team. But they are both staring at the face of retirement and they want to grab as much cash as they can, and you don't get money for assists or playing defense.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

He is about to take off as a player. Book it!

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Lavine was what was holding him back

God I hope you're right!

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Yep. Him and Derozan. Killer part is that Derozan has taken in under his wing the past 2 summers as his protege and this never passes him the ball once the season starts. It's likely because he sees the kid as his competition more than he does a future NBA star. The Paw plays Derozan's position actually and has really been held back since Derozan has been on the squad. At this point of Derozan's career its obvious that his best role is an off the bench instant offense scorer kind of player. However he'd never settle for that role. Particularly as he is trying to sign a new contract. He almost blew the game last night with his Iso Bullshit down the stretch. Paw and Vuc bailed him out with 2 3's apiece in the last 4 minutes of the game or they were going to lose last night.

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They are playing with much more ball movement now and Billy D has gotten him out of those damn corners all of the time too. I think the kid is about to take off. He also has taken on a different, more aggressive demeanor on the floor too. But its hard to be "aggressive" as a player when you never get the ball on offense. Particularly when you have that kid's skill set. I'm sure he realizes that he has likely jagged off a lot of money by deferring to Lavine and Derozan for the past 3 years.

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The Paw has gone 50% from 3 since Zach has gone out.

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This the the longest stretch by far that we have seen PAW play to his potential.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

14 and 5 over the last 10? I mean, it's better. Maybe even good. But his potential is is supposed to be all star. I'm glad he's only 22.

The Justin Fields bump.

For 22 those aren't bad numbers.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I agree. In order to be All Star level the numbers have to improve. However he's hardly a "bust". Which is what MANY around here (including you) were proclaiming around thus time last year.

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Coby White is averaging 17.6 ppg/4.1 reb/4.9 ast & 42.3% 3-pt for the entire season (not just a stretch of games). What were you proclaiming about him around this time last year?

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

coby took a huge leap this year without even looking at the numbers. you can see it on the floor. he's been awesome.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Coby White sucked as a player for 4-5 years. There was nothing "off" about that assessment.

Patrick Williams has never sucked as a player. Even last year he was the team's best 3 point shooter and 2nd best defender. That's hardly sucking.

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And Coby White is only 23.

Young core!

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Best 3 point shooter on the Bulls last year? That’s quite an achievement! And 2nd best defender too. If that’s the best argument you can make for him not sucking (or even worse, “never sucking”), then we have a different view of what it means for a starting NBA player to suck.

To be clear - as I have written in the past - I would love for PAW to be great. I thought he might be going into years 2 & 3, but I’ve pretty much given up. He doesn’t seem to have the mentality of a top level player. I hope I’m wrong and would be very happy to accept the mea culpa if that happens.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

His biggest problem has been the coach that he plays for and the selfish players that he happens to play with. It's not a coincidence that his numbers improved when one of the chief ball stoppers went down. That's what I have been stating for a few years now.

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Blaming the coach and other players sounds like the argument that the pro-Fields cult regularly makes. Both have had the time and opportunity to showcase their skills and have failed. If PAW were a budding star we would have seen that by now. Stars don't disappear for extended stretches like PAW has. Their talent shows up regardless of the other factors. Stop making excuses for him. He needs to play better.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Whose idea was it for him to compete for a starting job with a guy that's not even in the NBA anymore? Stand in the corner while Derozan and Lavine play iso ball all day long? If that's not Billy D then who is it? He has never been allowed to show anything. That's on the coach.

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Excuses. Plain and simple. A stud would show it regardless, whether it's spurts in games, in practice (where every teammate would know and talk about it) or at least in training camp. It's also silly to think that the head coach wouldn't recognize his skills or would purposely hide them. PAW just doesn't have that dog in him.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Paw's got 2.5 quarters left to prove whether he's a big time player or not.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

What basketball have you been watching? His teammates and team announcers have talked about his talent since he entered the league. And the coach does determine how he is going to be used. Or if he is going to be used at all. And if Donovan were doing such a bang-up job of coaching, then why did Vuc meet with him about he's used on 2 separate occasions before resigning? And why did it take Lavine being injured before the offense changed?

And whether the Paw becomes a,star or not is besides the point. He's hardly a bum. Which is what you and quite a few others here were Screaming over the past couple of seasons. He shot over 40% from 3 last season and also was one of the toughest guys in the league to score on. That's hardly spells "bust" does it?

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Another goalpost shifter. You were yelling "bust" too this time last year too. He ain't that.

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I never said the coach doesn’t determine how a player is used, nor did I say Billy-D is doing a bang-up job. The team has underperformed and that is on him and AK more than anyone. The point is if PAW were showing some great skill in practice I don’t believe for a second that Donavon wouldn’t recognize it or refuse to use it. Given where he was drafted, PAW has been a disappointment. Defense is nice but nobody would use a high pick on that skill alone (maybe if he were 7’+ tall).

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

We've seen enough at this point. We don't need to give him more than 1.9 games more buts that only because we are Chicago.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

The "great skill" that he has been showing has actually been done in games. He is trending towards being a "great" shooter. 40% from 3 is nothing to sneeze at. And even Stacy King has discussed how Billy D has misused the kid since he's been here.

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Y'all say Donnie misused him by keeping him a shooter then you say he's a great shooter

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.