#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Last season, the Chicago Bulls had one goal and one goal only...make the playoffs. We made some moves to stay afloat, and with less than a month left in the regular season, we were in 4th place in an incredibly competitive division. Then we lost our last 10 games.

Was the schedule tough? Sure.

Did some key players go down with injuries? You bet.

Are those acceptable excuses? Hell no.

When the offseason arrived, we knew it was time for changes...to officially end a championship era and build towards something new. We traded Talen Horton-Tucker in a hyphen-swap to the Utah Jazz for Terrance Lewis-Weeks and the 5th pick in the draft, which we used to select Ayo Dosunmu. Then, we traded Michael Sneed to the Cavs for Jalen Warley and the 13th pick in the draft, which we used to select Booker Davis. And finally, we resigned Frank Daily and traded him to the defending champion Pistons for Emoni Bates and Charles Jarrett.

During free agency, we signed some more young and promising players to some great value contracts in Graig Howerton and Malik Osborne. Other than that, we turned our targets and remaining cap space to try to fill out our roster with seasoned vets who could not only give us a chance to experience relative success in a rebuilding season, but also valuable leadership at every position to help our young guys develop.

Not only did we land OG Anunoby, Carle Gabauer, and William Pearman, but we lured back former Bulls in Daniel Yandell, Gary Loredo, and Richard Hunt.

Overall, we know we don't have a lineup that's going to be going toe to toe with a team as strong as the returning champs, but I'm excited to see what both our vets and our prospects can pull together to do this season.

Without further ado, we happily open the floor to your questions. Fire away!

With your history, it's probably no secret that your current group of young, blue players are not at all safe from a quick relocation if a deal for a high caliber player presents itself. That said, who do you currently see as the jewel of this crop of youngsters that would he hardest to part ways with?

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Following the Bulls' decade of dominance, seeing this amount of young talent already back in Chicago is terrifying. It would appear it's Detroit's time, now, but how long do think it will take to fight back against a team like the Pistons?

MexicanMamba wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 1:08 pm With your history, it's probably no secret that your current group of young, blue players are not at all safe from a quick relocation if a deal for a high caliber player presents itself. That said, who do you currently see as the jewel of this crop of youngsters that would he hardest to part ways with?

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Aron Lizarraga. I couldn't even give him away last season.

greepleairport wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 1:43 pm Following the Bulls' decade of dominance, seeing this amount of young talent already back in Chicago is terrifying. It would appear it's Detroit's time, now, but how long do think it will take to fight back against a team like the Pistons?

I plan on taking a non-violent route. Perhaps after the Pistons collect too many rings for their liking, they'll trade me their win-now players for my budding prospects, and we'll repeat this dance until we both have more rings than fingers or when rebuilding GMs learn to be less protective of their prospects to go all-in instead of just half-assed.

Chet Youbetcha Dimmadome News: It has been a few seasons now since we have seen any sort of media (articles/podcast) from you. Do you plan on doing any more moving forward, or is this sabbatical more permanent?

AngryBanana wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 3:04 pm Chet Youbetcha Dimmadome News: It has been a few seasons now since we have seen any sort of media (articles/podcast) from you. Do you plan on doing any more moving forward, or is this sabbatical more permanent?

Maybe

Who wins in a dunk contest between Richard Hunt and OG?

K-100 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 10:39 pm Who wins in a dunk contest between Richard Hunt and OG?

The fans!

Who's the one player in the league you'd risk it all for and trade any of your players for?

ballsohard wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 11:41 am Who's the one player in the league you'd risk it all for and trade any of your players for?

I think there are multiple players I'd trade any of my players for. Right now, we've got a lot of great prospects and some solid veterans, but no true it guy. So the question is, do I go for the best player in the league and then just figure out supporting pieces from there, or do I go for a young prospect who could be the future of the league?

If I'm taking the former route, I probably put it all on Montoya...slightly over Saddiq Bey. In terms of young guys, I really like Safi Fino-A-Laself. However, I always believe a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and you can never really tell which prospects are going to reach their full potential. Since Montoya's at his peak now, I think I go with him. He just does so much so well for a player his size.

Random Reporter: What would it take for you to commit to a complete, calculated, from-the-ground-up rebuild?

Xist2Inspire wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 8:25 am Random Reporter: What would it take for you to commit to a complete, calculated, from-the-ground-up rebuild?

This is probably as close as we're gonna get. It'd take more people willing to trade cornerstone prospects, and because of the way training camp works and the way salaries are constructed and cap penalties work, it rarely makes sense to be patient unless you want to mostly disengage from the game for a few seasons.

Jeffrey Bahmer; MCC Chicago, Federal Bureau of Prisons: Although you made a great deal which ultimately landed you Ayo Dosunmu, you were forced to depart with Talen Horton-Tucker, a player who exploded offensively last season. Do you think Ayo Dosunmu has the ability to replace such a renowned superstar? And, moreover, what size shoe does he wear?

digiskunk wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 3:03 pm Jeffrey Bahmer; MCC Chicago, Federal Bureau of Prisons: Although you made a great deal which ultimately landed you Ayo Dosunmu, you were forced to depart with Talen Horton-Tucker, a player who exploded offensively last season. Do you think Ayo Dosunmu has the ability to replace such a renowned superstar? And, moreover, what size shoe does he wear?

Down the line, I don't see Dosunmu being the best offensive player on any team, but he projects to be a solid player who can score, facilitate, and defend well enough to be valuable at both ends of the court. We'll likely want to give him a little extra training down the road to maybe work on his shot, but for now, he's going to be doing a lot of watching and learning.

Size 14.