November 2, 2019

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November 21, 2013

In 2012-13, Chicago paid the luxury tax for the first time in franchise history. The Bulls did not have to, but they did so because Derrick Rose's injury made the signing of Kirk Hinrich so important that they felt it worthy of paying tax. Furthermore, while they could have gotten out from under the tax at the trade deadline, they chose not to, as it would have meant relinquishing a first-round pick. That is how much they valued the first-round pick. (On a slight tangent, it makes their subsequent attempts to trade Marquis Teague for a first-rounder look even more ambitious.)

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November 6, 2013

Feeling a need to cut costs, the Bulls recently shopped little-used third-string point guard Marquis Teague around the league, asking for a first-round pick in return, according to ESPN's Marc Stein. Despite being a competitive team in a big market, the Bulls are $7.5 million over the luxury tax and therefore due to be paying the $1.75-$1 rate, so they wanted to save some money while also gaining a basketball asset in the process. In the process, they deemed the player they so rarely use (and whom they want to trade before he even turns 21) to be worth asking for a first-round pick.

Three months ago, in a similar situation, the Grizzlies succeeded in trading fellow 2012 first-round pick Tony Wroten in exchange for only a 2014 second-round pick. In fact, they will only receive that second-round pick if it is between Nos. 51 and 55. Considering the pick they traded for is from Philadelphia, which will not draft that low, Memphis will never receive that pick. They therefore traded Wroten for nothing, gaining only financial savings.

When viewed together, these two players demonstrate where the market lies for first-round picks these days. In light of the Grizzlies being unable to return a single basketball asset (other than a Traded Player Exception, which the same financial constraints that necessitated they deal him will likely prevent them using) for the older, but highly comparable Wroten, Chicago's attempts to land a first-round pick for a player to have proven nothing so far look highly ambitious.

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October 15, 2013

There are stories of a disconnect between the Chicago Bulls's front office and the head coach Tom Thibodeau. Despite both of them being very good at their respective jobs, and having built a quality product out on the floor, rumors abound that the relationship is very fragmented, a disconnect born from various origins, including the departure of assistant coach Ron Adams and the handling of Joakim Noah's minutes.

However, the parties must still have some line of communication. This week, the edict came down from management that backup guard Marquis Teague was to receive extra playing time, in an unashamed and completely unsubtle 'showcase' event. After receiving barely any time during the first two preseason games, Teague promptly played more than half of the third game, given an opportunity to demonstrate both his improvement and his talent.

It didn't work. Teague, indisputably, was terrible, scoring four points on five shots with one assist against four turnovers in a 25 minute outing against the Pistons.

The game epitomized the struggles of young Teague, whose rookie season was a macrocosm of this one game. Put concisely as possible, Teague looks completely lost out on the floor the vast majority of the time. Never an efficient scorer or good shooter, Teague scored 99 points on 113 shots, and while he defended fairly well, his adjustments to the NBA game led to high foul rates.

More importantly, the aspect of the game in which he most figures to need improvements - the playmaking - is sorely lacking. The Bulls' halfcourt offensive playbook is not that hard for a point guard - it mostly involves entry passes, a lot of waiting for all the curls to be completed, and the occasional drive to the basket. However, Teague can't seem to do it. He has similarly struggled in transition, a part of the game that wasn't expected to be difficult for him.

It is not so much that he's having trouble translating his skills to the NBA floor. Rather, Teague has yet to demonstrate NBA calibre skills. So far, Teague has only one average college season and one decent four game summer league stint to his credit. At the NBA level, he cannot shoot, he cannot finish, he cannot run a halfcourt, his transition game and defense are merely decent, and his good athleticism and ball handling aren't of much worth without the half court skills to use them. Marquis is less Jeff Teague and more Royal Ivey at this point, and the prognosis isn't great.

The Bulls are ready to move on. Despite a fairly poor 2012/13 season - in fact, a fairly poor last six seasons - the Bulls value the services of Mike James, who they had for a brief period in the 2011/12 season. They want James to be their third string point guard this season, not Marquis Teague, This decision has already been made, hence the edict from management to play Teague more. Teague, none too subtly, is being shopped. Utah are a reported suitor for his services; before that, talks were ongoing with the Minnesota Timberwolves (whose interest later cooled after the 'showcase' that wasn't.)

The decision is mostly performance related, as seen above. Financial considerations, however, also play a part. Teague's salary for this season is $1,074,720, whilst James's would be $884,293 - that $190,427 seems negligible, but, when considering the Bulls are due to be in the 150% luxury tax range, the $476,068 it becomes after tax is added is significant enough when talking about third string point guards not likely to figure in the rotation all that much.

Essentially, though, this is a tale of a young guard struggling to find his place. He declared for the draft after one season, found himself in the heavily regimented system of a good quality team, and struggled to learn it. He found himself caught betwixt two stubborn and conflicting factions, his coach and his general manager, who seem to be permanently looking to replace him. And now, as soon as they can do it, they will do just that with a 38 year old veteran journeyman who has posted a double figure PER only once since 2007.

It seems fair to say Teague is available for cheap.

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October 10, 2013

Marquis Teague, Chicago Bulls

The Bulls generally draft extremely well, particularly late on in the draft, where their recent yield includes Mirotic, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, three players who would feature in the rotation of any contender, all picked after the 20th pick. However, they occasionally have a Mr. Hyde side and exhibit a marked tendency to pick high-upside picks who are nevertheless extremely raw (Tyrus Thomas, James Johnson).

Teague is one of the latter, and he's off to a bad start. After a poor rookie season in which he struggled with every facet of the offensive game and looked woefully overmatched, the Bulls are already shopping him and looking at other ball handling guard options. This, plus the team's luxury tax concerns, must make declining Teague's third year option a real possibility.

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December 19, 2012

[...] The move would be, of course, patently ridiculous. Even if the season was a wash, you don't waive a most vital contributor to save on what, by NBA standards, is a nominal fee, and by no standard is the season proving to be a wash in the first place. Nate is third on the Bulls in PER, the only man who can consistently create a shot off the dribble in Rose's absence, arguably the team's best ball handler, its only creative backcourt player, and one of its best shooters. He's even being masked defensively by the Bulls's meticulous defensive system, and is thus a hugely important player to a team whose season is still important. There are absolutely no basketball reasons why Nate should be cut on the basis of his performance thus far, and the justification offered - that Marquis Teague is showing "signs" - is an unbelievably tepid excuse. Teague has not yet even had the Bulls career of Acie Law, who at least managed three good games to Teague's two. Excited by his future as they may be, there is absolutely no reason why Teague should play ahead of Nate if the Bulls want to win games.

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August 1, 2012

Of the 30 first rounders drafted in June, 29 have signed their rookie scale contracts. There are to be no international draft-and-stashes in the first round this year; 29 are signed and ready to play in the NBA next year, while the other one should be.

The 30th player, the lone unsigned warrior, is Marquis Teague. He was drafted 29th overall, and while the 28 ahead of him (and Festus Ezeli behind him) have all been signed, Teague still awaits his first NBA contract. He has not been renounced, a la Travis Knight back in the day, but he also has yet to sign.

[...] Often times, first rounders sign rather late deliberately, as the team is trying to maximize its cap room. When unsigned, rookie scale players are charged to the team's cap as a cap hold equal to 100% of the scale amount, which is therefore less impactful on the cap than the 120% they usually then go on to sign for. This process opens up a smaller but possibly important amount of cap room, which is why players such as Anthony Davis and Jeremy Lamb didn't sign until much later than may have been expected. The Bulls, however, do not have cap space and have not done all summer. They thus gain no benefit from this, and thus it can't be the reason.

Another reason may be Teague's value as a trade asset. From the minute a first rounder signs his rookie scale contract, he can't be traded for 30 days - therefore, if you want to trade the guy in a big summer time transaction, it is often best to not sign them and let the recipient team handle it. Unsigned picks also have a salary amount for trade purposes of naught, which is usually more valuable for salary aggregation purposes. However, with the Bulls not seemingly in the running for Dwight Howard, or indeed for anyone, it doesn't appear to be the case that they are leaving Teague unsigned with the intention of trading him later.

If Teague was going to be renounced in a Knight-esque way, it would have happened by now. If the plan was always for him to not join the NBA immediately, it would have been known long before now. Instead, we have had only silence. Then, then, leaves one other theory. Sources confirm the depressing truth - the reason the Bulls haven't signed Teague yet is because the Bulls don't want to give him the 120%.

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June 30, 2012

Pick 29: Only one pick all night has not been leaked in advance, and it comes from the notoriously tight-lipped Chicago Bulls. That said, it was still a predictable one - the minute it became obvious Marquis Teague was falling that far, it should have been obvious that the point guardless Bulls would take him.

Teague has more upside than a lot of the players who were still available at this slot. That said, his usefulness is extremely limited, particularly in Chicago. If Teague wants to push the ball, Joakim Noah (who runs the fast break better than any other centre alive, particularly as a decoy) and Luol Deng (who runs a lot without being fast) will happy go with him. So will Rip Hamilton, if he's able to take the court. But in the half court, where the Bulls need the most help, Teague will provide little. The Bulls sorely lacked offensive creators even before Derrick Rose went down - now that he has, they have precisely zip. Bar a massive infusion of scoring talent (see also - Kevin Martin trade idea), which they can't afford due to luxury tax concerns, it will be like the Chris Duhon era all over again, and without a Ben Gordon to occasionally bail them out. Whoever plays point guard for Chicago is unfortunately but inevitably charged with being the answer to this problem. And Marquis Teague likely won't be.

The reason for the prioritising of the short term prognosis here is deliberate, because the Bulls need short term help from a point guard, and only short term help. If Teague can run some basic pick-and-pops with Carlos Boozer, and dribble the ball until his hands turn orange waiting for Hamilton to get open off a screen, then he might be all right. But then, surely any NBA point guard can do those things. And surely many other point guards could do so while demonstrating better understandings of time and score, while not driving wildly into traffic, while shooting better than this. There's a very good chance that Teague gets overused and thus exposed next season, which will not be fun.

The long term aspect cannot be completely overlooked. Teague represents excellent value for his draft slot and his physical tools and age give him tremendous upside potential. He can already impact the game for the better through his transition game and good defensive intensity, which, if he gets the right veteran to platoon with (i.e. not Kirk Hinrich), will see him effective in a backup role. If asked to just come in, press, break, hit open J's and not bog down the offense, Teague may succeed. But this would be easier to do on a team featuring star wing players who can take more than two dribbles. This is absolutely not the case in Chicago, where the point guard exclusively dominates the ball.

If this pick was a pancake, it would be a good pancake, or at least a pancake with potential to flourish into a good all-around breakfast. But I don't like pancakes.

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