Should the Bulls trade for Anthony Davis?

Should the Bulls trade for Anthony Davis?

All right, Bulls Nation. Anthony Davis and the Mavericks, are they heading for a divorce in the wake of Nico Harrison being fired for the Luca Dodge trade? There have been rumors swirling everywhere on NBA Twitter for the last week or so. No substantial reporting suggesting that AD might be on his way to Chicago, but there is some substantial reporting that the Mavericks in the wake of Nico Harrison’s dismissal and the AD and Luca trade being his idea might mean let’s focus on Cooper flag in the future instead of this championship window that doesn’t exist with an injured AD and an injured Kyrie. So, of course, Bulls fans are asking themselves and each other that big question. Mhm. Might the Bulls get involved if the maths start calling teams about Anthony Davis? Should they? And what would it take? Big Dave, let’s start with the uh let’s start with the should they? Should they? If the Mavericks call AK and say, “Are you interested in Anthony Davis? Do you want his immediate answer to say yes, let’s talk?” Uh, no. I do not want that to be his immediate answer. I want his immediate answer to be, “Hell yes, let’s talk. Let’s have a discussion right now. Do you need me to fly down to Dallas to talk about this without a doubt? Why? Because we know that the boys have talked about part of the things that they want to do, Matt, is bring in one of those big-time free agents. That’s what they want to do. They want to bring in a big name with this team that they’re putting together while they’re building this culture. And a guy like Anthony Davis, even having these ties to the city as he does, I mean, it just seemed like something the Bulls would absolutely love to do. And Anthony Davis, you know, still got some stuff left in the tank, man. This is still even on the decline that he is, this is still a 20 plus, 10 rebound plus four or five assists guy who’s going to play incredible defense uh for your team. So yeah, the Bulls are lacking in several of those areas that I just stated right there. And you can sh that up with a guy like Anthony Davis. So yes, there’s nothing wrong with having the discussion and having the talk. I think they absolutely should be talking about this. Uh, the Charlotte Hornets, the Utah Jazz without Walker Kesler, Texas Ranger, the Indiana Pacers without Miles Turner. Those are three teams that have had better defenses than the Bulls over the last two weeks. So, when you think about, okay, the Bulls want to be competitive this year. They want to build on the 5-0 starts they had the season. Well, they’re two and five in their last seven games or the last two weeks. And their defense has been really bad. It’s 25th in the league. you’re just not going to win at a remotely high level if you don’t have somebody that can really anchor that defense. Uh the Bulls are trying to do this whole thing where they’re more physical at the point of attack, try to take away drives from happening and that’s going to help their defense. Those things are true, but you still need to have an anchor down there. And I think Anthony Davis, his reputation right now is not great because he came into camp out of shape. Uh he wasn’t playing great. He gets injured all the time. To me though, like there are very few guys in the league that I think really fit perfectly how the Bulls want to play and with what they need at the center spot. And I think Anthony Davis might be one of them. Um, still an elite rim protector, still somebody who is really going to transform who you are on that end. Um, and I think it really can change the Bulls both floor and ceiling. Yeah. Um, we can talk about like what the deal would look like. We can talk about um, how much he has left in the tank or like how many games they could rely on from him. All valid concerns. But to me, I think big picture, the answer would be yes, given the price, just because he’s the kind of talent that could really change things for this Bulls team without a doubt. I think his talent would absolutely raise the floor of the roster the Bulls have now. Uh even if you’re obviously sending back some player or players most likely to match salaries in a mid-season trade for AD and who those players might be raising the floor, yes, the ceiling, I’m not so sure. The ceiling might be, hey, this could be a second round playoff team instead of maybe trying to fight their way to a first round through the playin tournament or maybe getting bounced and and or getting bounced in the first round. I would argue that is raising the ceiling, but go on. Okay, fair enough. Some Bulls fans see the ceiling as actually competing for championships, which I would call conference finals and finals. I’m sorry, but that’s my standard as a Bulls fan. I think it should be the standard for every Bulls fan, but fan how you want a fan. But AD, I mean, in the five games he’s played for Dallas out of the gate this season, we know he’s also been sitting with some injury issues. He’s averaging 21 and 10, shooting 52% from the field. Like, there is still some Anthony Davis in there. And I think AK has been preaching about flexibility along with competing while building this younger roster. It’s a lot of things all at once. AK could help them as a vet. And he’s only under contract for two more years. He does have a player option in the 27-28 season for 62.8 mil. Good for him. But in the meantime, if he raises your team’s floor and maybe ceiling a little bit for a season and a half and then you cross that, you know, player option when you get to it, maybe he picks it up or maybe he, you know, thinks he can get one more big multi-year payday on a fresh contract and that’s somewhere else. At this point, if you’re the Bulls and you’re trying to be competitive and the cost is the Portland pick, another future first, maybe has protections, maybe not, and some of the, you know, journeyman pieces you got on your roster to match salaries right now, I I don’t see a huge downside. Would I include Kobe White in this deal? Absolutely not. Um, would I give up like three first round picks unprotected? Absolutely not. I don’t think that’s going to be what the cost is. you look around the league and what teams might be interested in. Um, Anthony Davis, it just doesn’t really feel like there’s a robust market out there for him. And I think the Bulls are in a position where because they’re paying like their lead guys right now, Giddy and Kobe White so little, they can afford to take on a bigger contract in the form of somebody like Anthony Davis and not rely on him to play 75 games, not rely on him to be a 25 point per game scorer. He can just kind of come along the season uh hopefully be ready for the playoffs. I think that’s the big key. Um, and just be additive. Like the Bulls are basically not getting any defensive presence right now out of their five spot. Um, I mean, I do think Vu is like trying to be in the right spots at the right time, but I’m talking about like legit gamechanging defense, and I think Anthony Davis could give you that. And to me, that does raise the ceiling. And then you think about the offensive fit where he can trail the play. He can come in behind the, you know, play and attack closeouts. He can shoot a little bit. uh his his shot has not been great over the last couple years, but he’s still someone that you worry about there. And then also, I mean, the pick and roll with Josh Gaty, him rolling to the basket and catching lobs would be awesome. So, I think the basketball fit works really well. I think the money is obviously pretty daunting, but since the Bulls have so much flexibility, they can absorb it. And if you’re the Mavericks and you’re looking for sort of a reset around Cooper Flag and and maybe Derek Lively, they’re kind of two young core pieces. The Bulls have some expiring contracts, maybe some young players that they might be interested in. I don’t think this is going to cost you an arm and a leg in terms of draft picks. If it were, then I would just not be interested, but I just don’t think that would be the case. Yeah, I’m with you on that. I And also just the just the things he could teach the young guys who are here is what I think of because the two main guys that are going to be directly tied to the Bull’s future are two guys who I look at defensively and that’s Modellis and that’s Noah Essen. So, if I’m looking at those two guys and knowing that Anthony Davis is somebody they can sit next to, absorb what he’s doing, see what he’s doing, how he prepares, what he does in practice, all those, you know, things, all those bells and whistles right there, then I think that’s an awesome thing. Also, just looking at it on the floor, Matt, just the fun part of it, just him and Josh Josh Giddy running pick and rolls and running alleyoops and all that stuff all day and those pick and pops, it’s going to look silky. Like, just giving him the basketball and letting him clear out on guys is attractive to me. Like I don’t think there’s a change in the regular like I and I said this to you guys when we were having a meeting like I don’t think there’s a change in the regular season so much for this team. I think you’ll still be the same kind of regular season team but there’s a change in your playoff team when you get a guy like Anthony Davis. Then you have a solidified guy I can give the ball to. Bulls have been struggling with that. We see that this season. But Anthony Davis is that and just a little bit more when it comes to give me the ball, I’ll get you guys some points. It does make uh an interesting question of if they were to do this and obviously Josh Giddy was not a part of the trade and still here and running things. Could Anthony Davis fit into this young team that wants to run for 48 minutes? Uh and and can he contribute offensively in the ways that we know he’s been able to do throughout his illustrious career within that bull system or does it disrupt the system? Um I I think there can be some of that fun, you know, giddy to to AD action. We also know that he can, you know, enjoy his ISO possessions at times and that can slow things down. Also, sometimes you need those buckets that are more structured in the half court, especially in playoff games, which is again the goal. Uh Dave, I think you mentioned the Chicago thing earlier. That’s the other interesting part of this, the question of would you do this or would you not do this? I think from the Bulls ownership suite, they would say heck yeah, because he’ll probably make us better. He’ll probably add a few wins. He might get us to more playoff games. and his name and his face are going to put butts in the seats and they’re going to have jerseys flying off the shelves. Shout out to Dwayne Wade. Shout out to Jabari Parker. We know that the Ryan are on board with this. Heck, we got we got IO here. We got Modis here. We got Javon Carter here. They love themselves. Some Chicago Tai people on their team. Shout out Premium Liberty. The question that’s bigger, I think, because I think if AK went to ownership and said, I want to trade for for AD. Are you guys on board? He could convince them to do it. The question is, is a would AK do it? Especially knowing that Nico Harrison just got fired down in Dallas for a trade that backfired. That’s maybe a a topic for another discussion where we could really break it down. My initial thought would be no, just because I think they’ve been so adamant about having flexibility, but let me run this fake trade by you guys and see see what you think. And maybe this is enough, maybe it’s not, but this is what I just came up with that I would feel comfortable with. So, Anthony Davis for Vouch, Patrick Williams, Dalon Terry, the uh pick that the Bulls are owed from Portland, which is lottery protected, so it cannot be higher than 14. Um, and then your own pick in 2027, maybe some light protections on that. So, two picks, both protected, one your own, one not. And then basically players that don’t really feel like a big piece of your core, you offer them some expiring money. You offer them some young players. Uh, and you swap Anthony Davis in there. I would do it. Joey don’t look like he’ll do that. What kind of protection can we say? Like top four protected in case we just slide into the the boozer. So I wouldn’t do the the pick this year. I would not do the pick this year. 27 because of what Dave has been preaching, which I think is totally true that you do not want to sacrifice a chance at a top pick this year. But 2027 first round pick, top four protected, let’s say. Yeah. And like it always hurts to watch those first round picks go out the door, especially, you know, if you watch them turn into names and players like France Vagner has become for Orlando from that OG V trade. But so long as the name Modis Misellis is not one of the names on the list getting sent down to Dallas in that trade and those are the two picks, including the one for Portland, you’d be all right. I’d say yeah. Okay. And even Noah, I mean, I wouldn’t probably put Noah in there, but I think this is the kind of guy who at this point in his career, given everything going on around him, you could get him a little cheaply. and that’s why I think he would be potentially available. All right. Well, we’ll keep an eye on this if there’s any more words coming out of uh Dallas about the future of Anthony Davis. In the meantime, make sure you subscribe CS Sports YouTube channel for all of our fulllength episodes and live postgame shows for every game this season. See you. Be good. Jabari Parker. Peace. Bye.

Rumors are swirling that Chicago native and perennial All-Star Anthony Davis could be on the trade block. Should the Bulls make an offer and what would you be willing to give up to bring in AD Bulls fans? Matt Peck, Big Dave and Will Gottlieb weigh and break it down!