August 27, 2021: Finished

Friday brought the fall of the last domino, and unlike about a month ago, when everyone was pissed off as the Cubs traded away the last of their best 3 players, we understood as the Bulls said goodbye to Lauri Markkanen. The “Finnisher” is finished in Chicago.

Of course, he’s not finished in the league. Hopefully he does well in Cleveland… except when we play them. Cleveland… haha… I think of the Noah comments, and sort of feel bad for Lauri. But, Cleveland brings back mostly good memories, no? 2016 Cubs. Heck, even 2016 Cavs when LeBron won his first and only title there… an event that would normally piss me the hell off, actually wasn’t so bad because they beat the 73-9 Warriors; you know, don’t mean a thing without the ring. Of course all the moments MJ had there… the shot, the shot 2, the 69 point outburst. Yeah, Lebron and the Cavs did make our lives miserable for a minute, but for the most part, Cleveland ain’t so bad. Lauri will now start making more memories there.

I thought Lauri was going to be good; he may still be. He was supposed to be the “next Dirk Nowitzki”… I still say Boylen ruined him, turning him into a spot up shooter; that was not supposed to be the game plan. Still, Boylen cannot be blamed for all Lauri’s injuries. He had his moments, where Lauri looked every part of that first round draft pick, but they were too few and far between. Is Lavine and his need for the ball in his hands to blame for some of that? Hmmm, maybe a bit, but Lauri had his chances; it’s not like we didn’t see enough of a body of work to make this determination.

I always thought Lauri should be doing it from all over the court, and not just standing around the 3 point line. He was most effective when he was going to the rim; if he had worked on a post move, I think that would have been huge for his game. Maybe he was most comfortable sitting outside, waiting for a kick out, waiting to fire a long distance shot, and not mix it up in the paint. Was he too soft? Again, there were certainly moments that would suggest the contrary, but again, those times simply didn’t happen enough. He DID appear to be fine with hanging on the outside. I’m fine with the Bulls trading him.

I don’t know much about the guy we got; I do like the additional draft picks.. a first rounder included! Does this make the Bulls a better team today? Maybe not if you look at just the subtraction of Markkanen, but if you take into account all the other moves that have been made, and the minutes that this will create for the other guys on the improved roster, maybe it really doesn’t hurt… at all. Of course, being in Cleveland, we’ll get to see Lauri a whole lot this and every season going forward, if he’s not sitting out with some injury. He can certainly try to prove us wrong for shipping him out of town, banishing him to the wasteland that is Cleveland… haha. I’m willing to take our chances. Looking forward to a playoff season coming up. Go Bulls!