Speaker 1: What is up?
Speaker 2: Fela Siko's I'm Dama Valley coming at you with another
twenty twenty five twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: NBA season look ahead.
Speaker 2: We are onto the Chicago Bulls, which means we get
to speak with Jason pat He's a co host of
the Cash Consideration podcast with Ricky O'Donnell. He's also an
editor at Clutch Points. You can find him on the
Socials Machine. He's at Bulls Underscore Jay on Twitter and
X whatever who cares, and then at Bullsjay on a
blue sky all spelled exactly as it sounds. He spells
Jay out jay a why And I meant to say,
I don't care what to call Twitter or actually should
absolutely care about following Jason, So please go do that.
Speaker 1: Jason.
Speaker 2: I can't remember the exact I have certain notes on
how long I've been doing this with people, but I
think that this is at least year four for you,
maybe year five. So I appreciate you coming back so often.
Speaker 1: How are you doing?
Speaker 3: I'm doing good. Ready for media day to start, Ready
for another exciting you could I guess you could call
that Bowl season like we've been doing this for whatever
it is, four or five years and we've basically had this,
I mean literally the last three years we've had the
same end result of a Bowl season. So maybe we'll
get a little something different this year, but really not
counting on it.
Speaker 2: So ill defense like Demart Rosen and Zach Lavine are
no longer on this team, so there is like there
has been some change, yes, the way.
Speaker 3: It looks much different now than it was I guess
a couple of years ago. And still yet it was
the same result last season, even after moving on from Tomorrow,
moving on from Zach in the middle of last year,
moving on from uh Alex Cruiso of course, and he
won a championship. But we still got to call Busman yere.
But is still here?
Speaker 2: He's still us question.
Speaker 3: I don't think he wants to. Yeah, I mean maybe
he would sign an extension just with Ak's the only one
who had givenim that money. But I'm pretty sure he
doesn't want to be here. I think he like thinks
he or he should thinks wants to be somewhere else.
I think he thought he was probably be somewhere else
at the line last year, the Bulls laid that groundwork allegedly,
and then he's still here. So we are starting another
Bulls media day. I believe that's next Monday for the Bulls,
and Nikolovouchwich will still be here along with a lot
of mostly the same team as last year. And yeah,
we'll get into it.
Speaker 2: So I was when I was going through my notes
for this podcast, I allegedly, I don't know if I
actually began with it, but this question was in there,
and I'm assuming it's been in there every single time
that you've been on here. Just after going through last
season with them as well as this off season with them,
what is this team's end game exactly?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to make the planes. I mean, it's
literally what they've done, what they've been doing. Ultimately, Again,
I've bitched about this on this pod, on my podcast
Cash Considerations for a long time. We have not agreed
with what this front office has done. I think urs
Karnashovs and Markups they should have been fired a long
time ago, but they're still here. They got extended, they're
doing what they're doing, and they're clearly it seems like
their plan is to try to be as competitive as
possible and hopefully at some point they're actually good and
whether that how they get there, whether that's like modest
Bizels turns into a star player, Josh Giddy somehow turns
into a legit star whatever it is, like they're trying
to or they're getting they want to get to a
point where they they're again stay competitive and become more
attractive for probably like an actual star player. And like
they get from like a point A where they're however,
they've been at point A for however god knows long now,
with the same the play and stuff, they get to
a point where they can be again a playoff team.
Maybe they win a series and then take that however
they would take that next jump on contention, that seems
to be the plan. I mean, and we'll talk about
the Giddy extension and the whole deal with him and
all that kind of stuff obviously coming up. But and
again do I necessarily agree with it. No, Like would
I love to see them play more for the draft
and this especially this upcoming draft twenty twenty six with
a Jent Deboce and Cam Boozer and Darren Peterson and
all these studs at the top. Of course, I'm'm pretty
sure we talked about it last year's podcast, Like what
I have loved for them to try to get be
more aggressive to getting the Cooper Flags sweepstakes. Sweep stakes. Yes,
that is not what this front office is about. They've
clearly they prioritize again competing as much as they can.
Whether you can call what the bulls are doing competing,
I think the ownership and this management has a different
definition than many fans do. But again, I think that's
what they're going to try to do again this year.
And I mean they played better. They played better than
a lot of people thought last year they to get
thirty nine wins, They changed up their whole playing style,
they got to thirty nine wins, but then ultimately again
they got into the playing tournament and lost again to
the Miami Heating in absolutely embarrassing fashion. At least they're well.
Is that two straight years where they got embarrassed. I
think it is because one of them was at least close.
I think the last couple of years have been really
really bad from what I don't know. They all plund
together at this point. But again, ultimately, and in this
Eastern cont where everyone's dead, they have no multiple torn achilles,
and who the heck knows what's going on, Like this
front office is probably, oh, maybe we can make a
playoff run for young guys, take a leap, and then
we'll build from there. So again, do I necessarily think
that's the right play. I'm very skeptical that it will
work out how we'd like to see it In terms
of getting back to championship contention in a few years.
Who knows. But it's the path they're taken. We're gonna
it kind of is what it is until this group
is fired. And again they're not gonna be fired anytime
soon because they just got extended. Uh, we're gonna have
to live with them. See and hope and hope. Like
I said, I'm not a Josh Giddy guy, but I
hope Josh Giddy ends up out playing this contract and
being really good because if he doesn't, that just is
gonna doom the Bulls the mediocrity or sub mediocrity for
years to come. So so we'll see.
Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, you were right.
Speaker 2: They got embarrassed by the heat in the second playing
game before the.
Speaker 3: Year, So they beat the Hawks. They smoked the Hawks
and then got embarrassed by the heat and the second
play and that's what it was two years ago.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned the AKA and Billy Donovan extensions. A
K shouldn't have gotten it. We don't need to get
in it. He shouldn't have got they this front office
did not deserve an extension. Do you think the pendulum
is like swung too far like away from Billy Donovan.
Not to say that, I don't want to say it necessarily.
Speaker 1: He's earned the extension.
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer Billy Donovant.
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer Billy Donovan.
Speaker 2: Why wouldn't you give him an So my whole thing
with him is, I don't know that you can sit
here and say, oh, he definitely like this is the
guy you can I don't think you can say that,
But I don't know that he doesn't deserve an extension.
Speaker 1: If it's just you want the Bulls to.
Speaker 2: Totally overhaul and veer away from this entire era, I
totally get that. But I'm like kind of especially with
the way they played offensively, like the style, Like, I'm
kind of okay with Billy Donovan just being here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, firing Billy wouldn't have done anything. A lot of
fans don't like Billy, Like again, in the last few years,
when usually a guy like Billy's a great coach. He's
a Hall of Famer. Obviously a lot of that was
what he did him with Florida, but it was a
solid coach. A lot of fans I think would not
do not want him here anymore. And again the resume
and you look at it and like him and Ak
have been here for the like the second or third
like longest tenured, like front top runt off as coach
duo in the league. At this point when you look
at the Bulls result, it's like, why the heck of
these guys still here? And the Ak stuff. You don't
need to get into it with Billy, like he's done
a decent job. I think of what he's been given.
You could argue that, oh, like the Bulls like they
thought they were gonna be a lot better when they
had Damorro and Zach and Vouch and since they weren't,
like he should have been fired then sure certainly, like
you would get no argument for me if you said
toltally like Billy Doham shouldn't fired a couple of years ago.
Just the results of the name of the game in
sports like this, and when you don't win usually get
fired after a couple of years and Billy's kept the
team mediocre for however long he's been here now. But
in terms of last year, like, yeah, he got the
team to over overachieve. I mean from the start of
the year even before like Gideon and Kobe went on
there at the end of year when they still had
Zach around and and Booch was like playing some of
the best ball of his career. They started the year
like eighteen and twenty or something like that before they
kind of fell apart, and then they started playing great
at the end of the year and Mickey Mouse March
and they did overhaul their whole style. They went from
the kind of slow, more methodical pace with Damar kind
of running the show there. Damar gets traded. Zach was
still there, but I mean, Zach was playing great too
before he got traded.
Speaker 2: He was Do you think Billy Donovan want DeMar deroze
and traded so that he could implement that stuff, because
it felt like there was just as soon as Damar
was gone, like he was able to implement that, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I think Billy was. He was
just kind of playing the what they had on the
roster and bringing in Josh Giddy too, Like, definitely that
style plays more to his strengths in terms of just
pushing the pace and all that kind of stuff. So
just kind of being adaptable to the styles of the
players on the team. And I think Ak also, I'm
sure for an office had handed in as well in
terms of how they just wanted to change things up.
And again I think he was probably a big part
of as well. And yeah, again we saw saw Zach
have a great season before he was traded. We saw
Voo shooting the lights out, best shooting years career like
by by a mile. Gidey and Kobe had great closes
of the season. We saw a lot a lot of
guys like had like career shooting seasons.
Speaker 2: Zach Collins was like, well, he didn't have a career
shooting season there, but he was good.
Speaker 3: I mean that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: After the trades, Zach Collins he did like I mean
for like a month there, like he was shooting like
over sixty percent and Trade Jones was shooting like sixty
percent of the yield. I was like, what is what
is happening? You're like again, who knows how much of
that was Like just Mickey Mouse March and the way
the Bulls did play that style I do think probably
during that portion of the season was taking teams by surprise.
Those a lot of teams just got like, especially if
you were dealing with older, more veteran teams, like you
don't want to play this like young upstar team that
just wants to like run all the time. In March,
like that's just like all right, we're just gonna not
do this. And like we saw the Bulls smoke some
pretty good teams and they I think they they finished
the year strong. I mean they beat the Lakers in
LA butt like thirty or like something that like the
best game of the year in LA. And they of
course said the Giddy game too, where he hit the
a half court shot and they beat them. And they
want some other like kind of fun games too. So
like again, how much that matters, I don't know. But
back to the whole thing with just Billy in the style, Yeah,
he got them to buy in. He changed just changed
the entire style of the team. They bought in, and
they're gonna keep playing like that. They're gonna double down
on playing fast and getting up threes. I mean, they
went from like one of the lowest rated three the
lowest like three point rates in the league to like
one of the highest. They were, I think behind only Boston,
I think in terms of like three point at times,
or it was something like that. And again the pace
was just so much higher than one of the highest
in the league, if not the highest, I can't remember exactly.
So he got him to do that. Billy is not
the problem. Do I think Billy should have got an extension,
I mean, probably not, but I know in the NBA,
like once you started getting to the end of these
guys contracts, it's either basically extend him or fire him.
Loves him, AK loves him, and Billy always often takes
a lot of bullets for AK and the media. So
given that AK got extended, no surprise that Billy got extended.
It doesn't really bother me. I'm not that surprised. Billy
did a good job with the team last year, and
I'm sure he'll do similar things this year.
Speaker 2: Josh Giddy, I want to break some things down going
layer by layer here. So let's start with everyone wants
to talk about the shooting. Focus on the shooting first.
How high he shot after the trade deadline last year?
Or how accurate he was, and then also how much
that matters when you go pack it.
Speaker 1: I was watching some of those three point attempts and it's.
Speaker 2: Just like we look at like six plus feet some
of them you probably could have gone to sixteen plus
feet with the closest defender. So how much do you
buy into the shooting in the sense of this is
someone who might force defenses to either keep someone on
him or forced guys to actually close out on him
moving forward?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he has, to his credit, he has
improved his three point shot. I believe each season in
the NBA, Like he when he came in with a thunder,
I think he was sub thirty percent or right around
thirty and it's steadily gotten up in last year, ended
up with like thirty seven to thirty eight after. I mean,
he was awful to start the year. He was terrible
before the Zach Lavine trade, and then Zach traded and
he just flipped a switch. Obviously the offense kind of
got turned over to him. And then the forty four
forty five percent whatever that was after the trade, after whatever,
the All Star break. I mean, I'm not expecting him
to shoot like that. You mentioned just like a lot
of it is. The stands still wide open three point shots.
He's gonna have to I think be a lot better
for a lot longer for teams to start caring. We
saw in the playing game the heat bam out of
Bio guarding him a lot and just kind of leaving
him alone. And while Giddy put up I think twenty
like five or something like that points in that game,
took him a lot of shots. The hesitation was there,
So what wouldn't really matter. It's like teams still are not.
I mean, I guess we'll see if the Bulls playing
the games that really matters. But I think still if
to start, the teams are still probably going to treat Giddy,
probably with a little more respect, but ultimately probably not
in the half court. Like I think they're gonna still
need to see him just a lot lot higher volume
in terms of the three point shooting before they start
just kind of being like, all right, we're actually gonna
guard you out there, we said we We kind of
see it all the time. There's guys who are kind
of like fake three point shooters in the regular season
and teams just say off them and then they do
that in the playoffs too, and then they kind of
stink it up and there's another guy the Bulls just
traded for who's kind of another guy like that as
your corouh. And we're gonna have to just see more
out of them in the regular season for a much
larger sample size before, Like Josh Giddy, like good three
point shooter is really a thing? Could he do it? Sure? Absolutely, Again,
he's gotten better every year, so like that's to his credit,
that's something that's not nothing. So he's not like a
total dud from three now. But I think again, we're
gonna have to see a lot more of that for
teams to actually like have scout that actually be closing
out to the point where he can then attack closeouts
and really really make a difference, especially in the half court. Again,
Giddy's a really good transition player with the half court
offenses we saw in that play in game. Again, that's
kind of where it all fall apart. The Heat scouted it.
They had the Bulls transition game snuffed out. They put
Bam on Giddy the Bulls half court and Davion Mitchell
and Kobe Bulls half court offense was toast and they
had absolutely no counters to it. Giddy developing that three
point shot even further would go a long way towards
helping get more counters to it. And of course other
guy's developing too.
Speaker 2: The other thing that he did that I don't think
received enough attention. Still not a good finisher at the rim,
I would say, but he over half his shots after
the trade deadline came at the rim. What specifically went
into that was it? I know he played a lot
with Kobe White and Kevin Herder and Vouch and so
that floor is just so open at that point or
is there just something else that was it? A sort
of just a like he actually made a note to know,
I'm not gonna bail out the defense by just like
doing things from float to range as often.
Speaker 3: And his free throw rate. He took a big junt too,
like just getting fouled using them. Because he's a big guy,
Like he's so awkward to watch and he's like slow.
He just looks like he shouldn't be good at basketball
at all. But like he's bit he is, what six seven,
six eight, Like he's pretty strong too, So he finally
started like using that strength to his advantage. And again
he's not like the fastest guy off the dribble and
all that. But again he's so big as like a
point guard. Use that size of your advantage, get downhill
a little bit and use the shoulder, use your strength,
your upper by chink to draw files. He did that.
Like you said, I don't think the finishing is ever
going to be like elite. Elite was just not that athletic.
He's like not above the rim guy.
Speaker 2: I also think he's my my suspicions, he's determined to
like not be good at the rim. Just you look
at some of the takeoff points in the angles. There
was even just a more than a few of just
like whiffs like a rout like I don't.
Speaker 1: Know if he thought someone was behind him.
Speaker 3: I mean sometimes yeah, and he gets I mean he
gets stuffed. Still a decent amount. He's a blow the
room player. There's like some awkward like hurky jerkiness to it.
But again the free throw rate, we'll see if that
can stick around. Like you said, just getting taking more
shots at the rim as opposed to those ugly little
floater mid range shots like those are just not good.
Can he make them sometimes? Yes? Like you don't want
a heavy diet of those shots. They're not efficient, they're
they're ugly. It's garbage. That's it's not going to get
you anywhere.
Speaker 2: So like five guys, you're like Yokic and whoever with
the floaters that you're okay with living from them.
Speaker 3: You do not watch Josh Can taking a huge amount
of those shots. So yeah, like that there was some
improvement there. And like I said, getting to the rim,
getting to the line, that's another thing in addition to
three points shooting, for sure is something to keep an
eye on it to help if he's gonna take another
next step and be like an actual like high level
point guard, like an All Star type guy, uh who
can leave a high level offense and especially when it
matters in the half court when the games slowed down.
That's gonna be another big factor for him.
Speaker 2: So what is like that just defining skill? Then that
like Josh, If Josh Giddy becomes a star, or let's
say he makes an All Star game, what's the one
thing that you know for sure has happened.
Speaker 3: Yeah, besides that one, I do think it's just the
off the dribble shooting. I mean, you look at the NBA,
these days. I mean the top offensive engine guys like
you gotta be able to make shots off the dribble,
jumpers off the dribble, I mean just I mean look,
I mean obviously Steph Dame, Shay Tyres, Halliburton, all these guys,
I mean, all these guys, top level guys. They're drilling
threes off the dribble, or they're getting the mid range spots,
hitting the mid range shots. Can Josh you to do that?
We talked about how Josh Getty's three point ing GT
a lot better, but it was wide open no one
in there. Can Josh Kitty actually take guys off the dribble,
gut separation on jumpers and knock those down like that's
I feel like such a huge part of the high light.
I mean, Luca obviously another guy to James Hardy, all
these guys like these guys can just shake and bake
guys off the dribble and they can nail the jumpers
in addition to getting to the rims. Like, can Josh
Gitty turn into a dangerous off the dribble jump shooter?
Very skeptical that he can do that, just based on
again his shooting motion, just like oh, he's just not
doesn't have that much shake. Can he like get that
release a lot faster to get those shots off? Again,
he's big, so we can shoot over guys, But very
skeptical about that. But again I'm not gonna totally count
it out. He has gotten a lot better just in
general with the jumper. Can that be that next step
that he takes and become a really dangerous move in
the half court when games slowed out and we see
those guys just give him the ball and they get
out the way and they're able to make stuff happen.
We can't. We haven't really seen that stuff out of
Josh Kitty yet. So that's gonna be a big thing
I think for him if he never does it, like
he'll see he's still again pretty good player. Like I
think he's definitely better than I thought. I mean he was.
He really was so bad to start last year, Like
I was ready to be done, like he was gonna
be he was probably gonna play on the qual thing
offer the way he was playing this first two months,
and then like he was so much better. It was
like such a crazy just like swing and it's like
who is the real Josh Ginty. He's had these stretches
before in his career where he has had these like
one or two months where he's like, oh my god,
like this guy's awesome. Can he actually do that for
a full season and and live up to this this
contract that he just signed, It's gonna be a big
question mark.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of that, I don't think I've ever heard
or used the phrase middle ground as often as I have.
I'll talk except for talking about this Josh Kinny contract. Ultimately,
when you factor in what he is now, what you
think he might be able to become, the prospect of
him not reaching it, just the risk per war profile here,
How do you feel about the four year, one hundred
million dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you talk, you talk about the middle ground,
and it literally does seem to be the middle ground
between the bulls. Alleged starting offer was basically like four
eighty whatever like twenty million year, and he wanted four
to one twenty thirty million year, and they end up
at twenty five million after all this time, they end
up in the middle. And you could say, all right,
that's like a compromise, Like that's exactly how they should work.
Like this, they want this thing he wants. This will
be in the middle and we're all good. And ultimately,
like I feel like they probably could have squeezed maybe
a little more. But if you look around the league,
like and there, and there was an article in the
Athletic uh, like the survey of the RFA contracts, and
I think like the Giddy one ended up like the
consensus was like four ninety year. It was like twenty
two twenty three million a year, and like the highest
was like twenty five million years. So like again maybe
a little on the higher end. I think I had said, like, oh,
my best offer would be four ninety I thought maybe
he would sign like a three year deal that maybe
was like three seventy five to get like a little
higher av the Bulls game in that fourth year with
the twenty five million year, Do I love it? No. Ultimately,
if he does can play like he did the last
couple of months moving forward, it should be fine. With
the cap rising and all that stuff. Like I think
in terms of percentage of the happen, it's gonna be
around like fourteen or fifteen percent over the course of
the deal, So like that's not that bad. My thing
with Giddy has always just been again, could he outplay
this and could he prove himself to be like again
an actual like foundational cornerstone of this team. Sure. The
thing that he's got to prove, especially to me, is
like is it worth building a team round? Because right
on the balls are like building their roster, like as
with Josh Giddy, as like their focal point. Your best
player is Josh Gitty. You're really not going anywhere. You're
not gonna be any good the way things stand right now,
and like if you if your whole thing is all right,
like we're gonna again, Josh is our guy, like moving
forward here, get it? Just I keep coming back to
the thunder World. Kiddy was a high pick and like
he started pretty good for his career with the Thunder,
Like he had some moments, but then once everything all
these other guys around him got a lot better, he
kind of faded back because he just like struggled to
fit in with better players around him. And like he
like needs, I mean, he needs like a specific team
I think right now to succeed. So like for right
now that's gonna be it's his team. Like the way
they're playing, the way they're start the roster like they
don't really have any other guys who you're like, Okay,
this guy is like the guy I guess you could
say Kobe White, but even him, like he's not that
much better. They're probably in like a pretty similar tiers,
like can you build a team around Josh Getty a
good team? We'll see about that. Pretty skeptical, But again
I think for when I'm going back earlier to me
talking about just like with where the Bulls are like
trying to build, it does feel like, all right, Getty's
their guy here for a few years. They want to
use Josh Getty to kind of build this kind of
build this thing here with what they got right now
to a point where they're a more respectable team, a
playoff team that can maybe make a little noise and
then may I mean maybe and then from there do
something to try to get to the next level of
contention and maybe Josh Gutty is not that guy to
be to take you to the next level. But whether
that's again modest turning into a star, whether that's using
using Giddy to trade for like a disgruntled star something
like that, or they draft somebody they get lucky there
and then it comes Can Giddy play with those guys
and he can he still be as effective as again
to the Thunder thing as Shay As, like chet as
jadub All took to the next level. Giddy took a
step back. He was not effective. He was going to
come off the bench for them. So again, does he
have to be like the centerpiece like moving forward? Can
he play with other guys as as they bring in
more talent or as other guys on the roster develop
around him. How is that all gonna work? I have Again,
I'm very skeptical. I was not a fan of the
trade when it happened for Cruise, and so very funny
that Cruso immediately became like the third best player in
the playoffs with the Thunder on a championship Thunder team,
while while Giddy fell out of their playoff rotation a
couple of years ago. Obviously, play they play very different roles.
So we'll see if Giddy can do that overall. When
you look at the contract right now, like I know,
some people hate it. I think Ricky called it like
immediately untradeable when we talked about it after it A
sign twenty five million a year like, I don't love it.
I basically keep calling it fine with where they were
at again, the compromise aspect of it, could they have
stretched or squeez him little more? Probably the Bulls they
like Josh Gitty. They made the Cruiser trade for Josh Gitty.
They weren't gonna let Josh Gitty go. There were reports
about maybe some teams of interest. The Bulls had no
interest in signing trading. They were gonna bring him back,
so they guess negotiated kind of good faith here to
maybe give him a little extra then I would have liked.
He could still play play to that contract, maybe even
plays above it. If he keeps getting better, he has
gotten better. I will absolutely admit that I was wrong
that I thought he was better.
Speaker 1: He was.
Speaker 3: He turned out better last year than I thought he
would be. Hopefully he just keeps getting better from there.
So that's I'm right now as a Bulls fan, I'm
were putting so much on Josh Gitty, which makes me
feel absolutely terrible. But maybe he will actually surprise me
and prove me wrong and shut me up and turn
into a really good player again. He's already pretty good,
but like really really good to word, it actually matters. Hopefully,
I hope proved me wrong. Josh Kitty, please because I
don't want another five to ten years of mediocre and
garbage bulls basketball.
Speaker 2: I think the contract is the thirty five to thirty
nine win of contracts. I think that's just the best
way to look at it. Uh, how did you feel
about the Isaaca Corro for or the Lonzo Ball for
Isaaca Coro trade? And how do you think that a
Chorro fits in here?
Speaker 3: So I kind of reference to Koro for another is
like fake shooter who I think it's three point percent.
Speaker 1: The regular season from the corners.
Speaker 2: He's gonna he's gonna make right exactly.
Speaker 3: And then in the playoffs another guy who slipped in
the rotation because he let's got playoffs.
Speaker 1: Do we really need to be concerned?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 3: No? I mean, so the a Coro trade, I mean
kind of fit like almost not. I mean, Giddy is
better than Isaaca Corrol. I've seen much different players, but
like it kind of fit a similar mold there where
they took a guy, an established player. Cruso is better
than Lonzo at this point. Is Lonzo you can't rely
on him being available. Lonzo at his best was obviously
very good, but just another like, all right, we got
this guy twenty million dollar contract, can't really rely on him,
and they target another young player with experience that was
kind of a big the Aks and Mark Eversley. I've
talked about the young players of the experience. So they're
once again go and find like another elite teams like
the stressed asset their young guy who's kind of fallen
out of favor with them, and they think that they
can kind of rehabilitate isaacakor he's got a cheap oat country.
Was it like eleven million a year or twelve million
for like another year or two something like that, So
like it's whatever there. I mean, he's good defensive player.
The Bulls need wing defenders, so like a Coorro should
help there. Again in the regular season, he can hit
open three pointers and in their style like in transition
and getting out in transition and shooting threes like from
the corner. A Coorro should theoretically be like a totally
fine player there and could probably help them, and they'll
probably be more available than Lonzo ball is with the Cavs,
and obviously Lonzo Ball barely. I mean, the fact that a
Lonzo Ball gave anything last year was a pleasant surprise.
And then he had another weird injury, like totally separate
from the weird knee injury that he had, He had
just had another weird thing with his thing. It was
his wrist that kept him out for a while. So like, yeah,
you can't real the line lines at this point as
good as he is when he is healthy. So Korras
is the guy who who'll probably help you help the
Bulls win some regular season games, you know, in the
playoffs with the Caves. He's not very good and a
lot I know the Cavs fans were done with him.
I mean, you can get almost kind of sim similar
to Actually also Patrick Williams. I guess Korro was better
than Patrick Willis. Patrick Williams had was maybe one of
the worst NBA players in the in the league last year.
But again they were both drafted what a coros what
sixth fifth whatever he was picked? Is that the same
draft to twenty twenty? Right? Uh?
Speaker 2: No, I think Patrick Lellners has picked a year before Okoro.
Speaker 3: Either way, again, just like six similar with a six seven,
six eight wing hopefully like a three and D guy.
And again they never really kind of developed like their
teams hoped. Uh So now the Bulls have both Pat
will and as a Corro on the team. But uh
and I know we'll talk about this later in terms
of like the starting lineup. Like I when me and
Ricky talked about the starting lineup stuff, and like I
totally forgot ask Korra was a team and I was like, oh, like,
I actually think he might start this year just because
like the defensive thing, like I think they think that
they need wing defense. I mean you have Josh Kiddy
and Kobe White starting in the backcourt, Like he needs
someone on the wing or who can defend guards or
wings when you have so like that size a good Korro.
So like again another the trade. Again, fine, he should
help them in the regular season. It's just the similar
it's very similar vein to the Cruiser things where it's like,
all right, we have this pretty good guard wing we
and we're gonna target instead of targeting draft picks or
anything like that, we want this young player with experience
who an elite team Calves Thunder didn't want anymore. And
there was also playing also part of this was there
was reporting last year that Lonzo they could have traded
him like at the deadline. I think all the I
don't know if it was confirmed for sure that it
was the Grizzlies, but I know that that was the
chatter was like the Grizzlies were offering like their first
pick for Lonzo Ball and that would have ended up
I think in like the late teams or something like that.
They didn't want it because they don't really know. The
Bolls don't seem to value draft picks. They instead they
target the young player with experience, just like the cruiser thing.
Could they have made a cruise or trade in the
last couple of years and they got multiple first round picks.
It does seem like that's the case. No, they went
out and they targeted Josh Kitty and did not ask
for any other draft picks from Sam Presty's giant war
chest of draft picks because they loved their young players
with experience. So well, Isaaca cour end up being pretty good.
I mean, I think I'll be again totally fine on
this team. Will he actually may be a difference maker?
Pretty skeptical about that given just the time he spent
in the league. But he's still pretty young. I think,
what twenty three, twenty four, whatever he is, so it
pyb be fine.
Speaker 2: Kobe White another player who finished the season on a heater,
and I think in general the biggest improvement I noticed
from him anyway was just like okay, like the shooting
foals he was drilling, like that went way up.
Speaker 1: What did you make of his season?
Speaker 2: And just kind of like what your expectations now are
for him for his like player ceiling.
Speaker 3: Kobe has just had a crazy career man like came
into the league that rookie year like and he had
some of those heater games just threes, and for a
while he was just super inconsistent but microwave three point shooter,
and like I mean even going back to like his
third or fourth year, like I thought he would be
traded at some point. I can't remember what I think
the year they made the playoffs and they lost to
the Bucks in the first round. I feel like by
that that year, like he was not good, mortal line, unplayable,
and then even like was it two years ago, started
the year horribly and then like all of a sudden,
it was like boom, like he just went off and
I think I can't remember Zach got hurt that year.
I think that he Zach was hurt a couple years
we had the neat thing. I feel like it's both
times that it's has coincided with Zack being out of
being out of the lineup. Just like Josh Giddy Perry,
Zach would be just bringing all these guys down.
Speaker 1: It's like the theory. But Kobe White.
Speaker 3: And then this last and his last year took it
even to the next level. I mean, I don't have
the stats in fronting them, and he was putting up
just again those like last two months of the year's
ridiculous numbers. He said getting the line. His handle really
has tightened up a lot, So that's just got He's
gotten really crafty and creative getting to the basket of course,
shooting three pointers, scoring from kind of just all over
the place. And he was awesome again, really fun to watch,
really fun player. But then again I mentioned earlier the
play in game he stuck davey On Mitchell at him,
and Davion Mitchell had him an absolute hell in that game,
just absolutely nothing he had. Kobe had nothing for him,
and Kobe has been pretty rough in these playing games.
I think the Hawks when he was awesome, he had
like that what I think he had like forty points.
But then again, these these heat games and against a
good defensive team, against Eric Spolscher, like he's just had
no answer. So again, like another question, like similar to Giddy,
Like can this guy when it really the chips are
really down, can he like be a really good player
and half court settings. Again, he's a really good fit
for how they want to play right now. Can he
and Josh Giddy be like a back court of the future. Again,
there are major questions on the defensive end about that
as well, big time. As I kind of just mentioned
a few minutes ago with the Akorro stuff, his contract
situation is gonna be fascinating. Last year I was banging
the drum for him to get traded before the deadline
when he was still kind of just like putterning around
for the first half of the season. Bulls have did
not want to trade him. There were like, there weren't
anything really like that many concrete reports. I think there
was a lot of like, oh, like there's interest in
Kobe Web but the Bulls don't really seem to have
much interest in training anymore, just that their asking price
is just way too high. I cannot remember if there
were specific offers reported.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's a good point.
Speaker 2: I don't Yeah, I don't remember hearing about like specific tea.
I remember everyone trying to trade him to the Magic.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was. I was trying to push the Magic
and the Thunder like all season. I was the Thunder
did not need him, but I thought the Thunder could
use another score. The Magic were so obvious. I mean,
just the Magic need more offense, They needed more shooting. Uh,
and they had draft picks they could have traded as well.
That would have made some sense. Obviously did not happen.
So like now Kobe's gonna be no extension this summer
because just the CBA rules. I think it's like one
hundred and forty percent or whatever that percentage that of
like his current contract was. He's on such a cheap
o contract three years, thirty six million or whatever it is.
The extension he can sign him was I think for
eighty four ninety, which he was just not gonna agree to.
Like he right thinks you can have a big season
and get more than Josh Giddy. I mean there's already
the rumors out there that Kobe's gonna be looking for
that thirty thirty five million, But it is fascinating, like,
is Kobe White gonna get that? I when you look
at something like the young the smallish like guards are
on the league kind of in his mold, Like, I mean,
we just Kobe's definitely better, a better player than Cam
Thomas I think, but Camp Thomas just sound. The qualifying
offer for an RFA is different than the UFA. But like, yeah,
and Cam Thomas was looking for thirty million. I mean,
Giddy was looking for thirty million and he got twenty five. Like,
maybe Kobe will come down to something like that, but
I guess it could depend on the year he has.
Like if Kobe comes out and plays like he did
for the last two months, for like a full season,
or like for most of the year, I mean, maybe
he will get thirty million. And if he does do that,
the Bulls will probably be better than I thought, because again,
his numbers were ridiculous for those last couple of months.
I mean he comes out to averages twenty five plus
per game on ridiculous efficiency. I mean that's an A
level player. Yeah, yeah, that's an All Star player, and
that's a guy who's gonna get thirty plus million a year,
And that's fine. But I guess that's fine. I guess what.
I guess we'll see. But it's it's it's been a
talking point for a while. It's like, what are they
gonna do with Kobe? Should they move forward with Kobe
and Giddy? Should they have looked to trade Kobe earlier?
Speaker 2: Do you think they view Giddy as more of the
tent pole for the future than Kobe.
Speaker 3: I would think so, just because he's just like more
of like the point guard, and I think they think
they can like build a team around him with Kobe
is a getting Kobe is just like the I don't
want to call him as a microwave score now because he
is better than that. But again, it's hard to see
like a team building a team. I mean, I guess
it's hard to see building a team around either of them,
but like Kobe being like the high end, like an
engine of an offense. Also, I guess I just have
question marks by both of them. But I don't know.
It's so hard to say they're both good players, but
they're clearly not great players. Again, I feel like they
are on a pretty similar tiers. Giddy is just a
bit more unique in that he's a six a point guard. Again,
the game that he had that he brings to the
table is just I mean, his passing is elite. I
will absolutely give him that. His passing is incredible. And
Kobe is Kobe is like good at a lot of things,
but just I wouldn't say he's like great at anything. Still,
like he's he's always been a good shooter, but I
feel like he's his numbers have never been as good
as I thought they would considering. I think a lot
of times when Kobe shoots threes, it's like like this
guy's never missing and he still goes through stretches where
he misses a lot of shots since he's never been
like a forty plus percent three point shooter. Again, he's
he's tight in his handle up. He's gotten better at passing,
but he's not an elite passer. He's gotten better at
getting to the line, but he's not like an elite
follow uards. Kobe does like a lot of good things,
really well, he's not like elite at any one thing.
And that's Giddy is an elite passer and then Giddy
actually did develop that the shooting more like he could
has I guess the ceiling of some more foundational piece.
But right now they're just both. They're both pretty good.
Can they get better and help the Bulls, like again,
get to that next step? That is kind of what
everyone is wondering.
Speaker 2: The other one of those things they think this offseason,
the Trey Jones three year, twenty four million dollars deal,
final year. I think he's a team option, right, just
a really good contract.
Speaker 3: Team option instead of a player option.
Speaker 2: He shot the literal hell out of the ball when
he was like from mid range was insane. It's think
he's rim percentage was insane too when he got to Chicago.
Speaker 3: And the entire thing, like even like the volume from
three wasn't high, but like he was I think, like
fifty five or six percent from three, and like he
was hitting clutch threes too, like the Bulls did Mickey
Mouse March. I was tracking it like the entire time.
It's like the whole team was shooting a ridiculous number
from three, and especially like in the clutch it was
literally like almost everybody in the roster and it was
like It's like, how the how the Bulls winning all
these games? It's like, well, they're making literally every three
they take in the fourth quarter. And Trey Jones is
one of those guys and he was just playing the
lights out until he had an injury at the end
of the season a bit early.
Speaker 2: So but yeah, crazy, do you look at you keep
him on that deal? So this isn't actually like a criticism,
but like him being on this team. And then you
have Kobe White and Josh Giddy. I know he's big,
but he's also a point guard. Does this spell We're
gonna see a lot more three guard setups?
Speaker 1: Does this spell doom for Io? Dessume move? Is he
gonna get moved?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: What is just the read on what how they're trying
to flesh out the back court part of their rotation?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the roster is goofy as hell with
all the guards they have. They still you mentioned Io.
They have Trey Jones, they have Giddy, they have Kobe,
they have Kevin Herder. Billy loves three guard lineups. He'll
play four guard lineups for the love guy. He will.
He will throw a bunch of guards out there. And
the way they play like they want to have a
bunch of ball handlers. They want to have a bunch
of guys who've been shooting on the court. So, like
i there was talk again, we talked about Kobe trade stuff.
There was talking about Iow getting traded, and like, Iowa
has absolutely has some value. I know he had. He's
had injury problems too, and he kind of took a
step back the session. He was hurt for the last
couple of months of the season, but he'll be but
he's back, and he's also be an expiring contract. I
thought Io would get traded this offseason.
Speaker 2: I feel like maybe I'm just like, I know, he
did some like different things offensively, and they've thrown him
more like sometimes they've thrown them more ball screens. He's
made some better decisions out of him. But I justly
like he would help so many teams because of his defense.
I've been trying to figure out how to get him
to Denver for two years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, uh, hell good. The Rockets can go trade for
him with Fred Van Vliet.
Speaker 2: Can they even make a trade because so many of
their guys are just untradable, like they're not really tough.
Speaker 3: Sorry, Yeah, I was looking. I was looking at it,
like I know, they're like right up against the first apron,
so they don't have much wiggle room there. Like I
don't know if they could even make like anything work
there with Io or or like Kobe if they wanted
to try something like that, but the balls aren't trading Kobe.
But uh, I mean that would be if they could
do it. Like again, can't really replaced Fred and I
are much different players, but like if they could use
like a point guard to help them at least a
little bit here, like I could be an interesting option there.
But uh yeah, so like I would have thought that.
I just they have so many guards and like how
they divvy up those minutes is gonna be interesting to see.
But Billy absolutely loves playing regard lo if you look
at the rest of the team that they don't really
have playable that many playable wings, Like they have a
bunch of like young guys who aren't really any good yet,
and then they have Modess and they have Pat's still
there again, and they're still like Julian phillips Dale and
Terry and Noah Sang the rookie you probably will not
play very much. And they have a korro.
Speaker 4: And they don't have any big I mean, the roster
is just so's just so good that they really they
have so many guys, Like we joked about the AK
thing that was like you need like nine or ten
really good players, like the Bulls legitimately have like a
deep team of like pretty good players.
Speaker 3: Like they don't really have like any like that many
like legit bums like Patrick Wims was off, Flasher and
Dale and Terry's bad, but like most of their guys
like are pretty or like playable guys. They don't like
once you get like deep into their bench, like they're
still okay. I think they sell Javon Carter on the
roster too, like back so so so it's really silly
this this the roster is kind of goofy. But again
they are pretty deep with just playable NBA guys. So
how like Billy Divisep, the minutes will be We'll be
interesting to see.
Speaker 2: So what were your rookie year impressions of modest Buzzellis
who I think it's just I don't know where to
land on the stardom stuff. I'm very interesty what you
think about him on offense, But this guy can defend
man and just like the help side shot blocking or
just rim protection is just like he's like a wing
big It's insane.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think is pretty dope. I'm pretty he said
the star stuff. I don't want to say like he's
gonna become a star. There's so much to work on
still in terms of strength and the ball handling again,
shooting off the dribble, that kind of thing. But like
he showed his mindset. Love it. I mean, the guy's
got no fear. He's got so much swagger. You mentioned
the defensive stuff, some of the insects, the block shots.
I mean, I know he I can't remember like if
there was like records City said, But I mean if
you just look at something like the rates of like
the like block rates are like pretty pretty sick, that
kind of stuff is awesome. Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be.
I think there's a lot of Modus's shoulder. I mean
when we talk about foundational parts pieces and we talk
about Kobe and Gatey, it's like whatever, It's like, again,
they're pretty good players, but again, are they gonna be
star like legit stars? This morning? I don't know modis
I think has the tools to do it, and there's
gonna be a need to be a lot of skill
development there. But when you look at a guy like that,
who's six whatever ten six on six ten, who will
dunk on anybody, whose three point shot was much better
than I thought it was going be last year, like
he was, he was really he was really rough with
g league ignite and then like he was pretty rough
to start the year, but as the year went on,
like he got a lot better, a lot more confidence
shooting threes again, like he's willing to attack closeouts just
letlessly and just again dunk on people. Uh So, Modis
is really fun and I love just what his energy,
swagger that he brings to the table, to personality. It
seems like a great teammate too. So I think he's
a guy that bolts. Fans should really be excited about
moving forward again. I know there's a lot of I've
been dooming gloom for so long with the Bulls, and
is not its gonna be the savior. I'm not gonna
come out and say that, but I think at the
very least, I think he's gonna be a really fun
player to watch, hopefully for a long time unless he's
traded for like an actual legit superstar player. But he's
gonna be even if you, like again, are really cynical
about the Bulls, which again I've been for a while
and a lot of fans are at this point. He
at least gives you, i think, a real real reason
to watch and pay attention to them to see if
he can maybe be that guy to take the team,
to help take the team to the next level.
Speaker 2: What is the single biggest area of development for him
he'll be looking at this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it is
just the offensive, like creation and passing. He's never not
really much of a passer. There's that's another big thing,
like playmaking, like it's that was kind of non existence.
I think a lot of it's gonna be tightening the
handle up and just getting a lot better there. So
I'm not expecting the passing thing to like this year,
like to go from like a non existent playmaker to
like a really good one and from year one or two,
how young is like, I'm not looking for that. Hopefully
across the course a few years, yes, but just in general,
I guess just tightening the handle, getting better in half
court creation for himself. That's gonna I feel like the
next step to him becoming just a a big level
again maybe on the way to like a one A
or one B type guy. Again one A is obviously,
and that's high, high level stuff, and that's not gonna
happen this year, of course, But can he take those
steps towards that by developing his offensive skill set and
creation this year? That's that's gonna be a big thing.
Speaker 2: Do you think that they're gonna give him enough whether
you want to call it usage or agency on the
offensive end, for him to explore that sort of self
creation party.
Speaker 3: I mean, I hope they do. Like I mean with
and with the way they play and just how fast
they played and so many possessions available to them, And
obviously he'll be good in transition he runs the court
when it comes like the half court stuff, I mean,
you got Giddy, you got Kobe, you do have all
these guards, so like I do wonder like they're gonna
like let him run picking rolls and stuff like that.
Like again, hopefully we see it mixed in there. Like
I don't think Billy's gonna all of a suden. It's
be like, oh, here we go, Modus, Like you're gonna
like play like zero point forward here and tell like
they have again they have so many guards. Billy loves
his multi yar lineups, Like I don't think we're gonna
see that. And Billy made a point to like I
was like not happy like without like he was using
modest to start last year, was he was barely playing
and like it just like felled almost useless as the
team was just like walling along and that's where like
winning them games and it's like I just want to
see more Modus. But he built up the course of
the year, and I mean by the end of the year,
Monus was starting games and playing huge minutes for them.
So like, ultimately, I think the way that Billy used
him was probably fine. After Billy's a hall time coach
and I'm just an idiot with a podcast, Like he
obviously knows much better how to develop NBA talent than
I do. So again, I don't think he's gonna throw
too much at him the start this year at least,
but again, hopefully kind of work works in some of
that stuff so we see that skill development. Sure, that
is what the plan is. And and if you can
deal with it and he takes it well, then hopefully
just keep putting more on his plate, and if it
keeps getting better and.
Speaker 2: Better, I feel like there'd be room. Maybe they don't
have like the best screening guards, but guard set screens
so often now, like why not let modest bozels like
run pick and roll like have a guard screen for him.
So yeah, I'd like to see more of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I absolutely, I said, you don't have to do
a lot of it, but just it'd be a nice
wrinkle to have here and there.
Speaker 2: Their big man rotation is weird. It's it's got NBA players,
as you mentioned before about there in the depth cart,
but they don't have a center of the future, nor
do they have someone on the roster that you could
look at and identify as a potential center of the future.
What is like the like and food specifically, we made
a joke before about the extension and he should be
a trade candidate, but it's like they also kind of
need him in a sense that if they want to
be good and open up the floor in the half court,
they need him to shoot like he did for most
of last season. So just what what do you make
of the entire center situation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I've been trying to get off this
team for a while. Like I said, I'm pretty sure
he's been trying to get off this team for a while.
And I know there was that whole uh like reporting
snap food this offseason about like the buy out stuff, like, oh,
like the Bulls can't trade him, They're they're gonna buy
him out. But that was they were talking about like
after the next year's deadline, which I mean like, actually,
they're not gonna buy him out because they want to
make the play in tournament.
Speaker 2: But but then the other thing too, is like for
someone like him, it just feels a little bit early
to be filed under that like, oh, they're never going
to get a good, like a big contract again, because
once you take that buyout, like Bradley Beal is kind
of for the most part, is the ceiling, right, It's like, oh,
you got part of like mid level type money, and
so the Bulls might just pay him again. So if
I was him, I wouldn't even want I know, you
might not want to be in Chicago, but I wouldn't
want to get bought.
Speaker 1: Out and lose my birthden.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if he got like another big contract,
that's boch is such so weird. It's like he had
like a career shooting season last year. But he's not.
I don't want to say he's bad. See he's still
put up his double double machine. He shot forty percent
from three last year. But like weat, no team, like
contending team is gonna trade for a twenty million dollar mooch,
Like that's.
Speaker 1: You're taking back like long term money.
Speaker 3: He's just he's just in such like a weird spot
contract wise and with where he's on his career while
he's still pretty good, like yet no contending team is
trading for that contract and then like playing him when
it counts, because again when it counts, you don't want
Boots on the court in a in a playoff game
because he can't play defense at all, and like no
one's gonna try. Like I am curiously at this three
point shooting. The three point shoot last year hit from
him was and just says regular shooting in general, Like
he was so bad at shooting threes the last couple
of years and then last year, all of a sudden,
this new play style and he's shooting. I mean, he
was shooting like almost fifty percent from three for like
a good year and like he ended up at forty
plus and his overall efficiency again, his true shooting was
I think by far, like the best of his career,
like in the whatever you aged thirty four to thirty
five season, Like, is he really gonna do that again?
A lot I'm sure a lot of other teams are
like no, Like that's just not gonna happen. Even if
he's still like pretty good offensively, he can still you
can still score pretty good, you can rebound well, but again,
you can't play defense like on a good team like
ch is like a fifteen to twenty minute per game
back up player. That's why no one's trading anything of
value for him, and like, no bad team's gonna go
like sign and like why would a bad team go
or trade for him? Like why would a bad team
trade for twenty million dollars a cold bootfish? So it's
just like an awkward situation. And that's why he was
like and that's why saying that the Bulls were like
allegedly holding out for like first round picks. No one
is giving up vouch at first giving the Balls a
first round pick for Butch. And again I made the
joke about blaying the groundwork, and that was like the
thing that the tradeline was like, Oh like there were
like some like the Warriors stuff there was the worst
thing made a lot of sense for them, But apparently
the Bulls just like didn't want I think what was
the wars were offering because they were holding out for
a first round pick. And I can't remember if there
were other teams involved in that.
Speaker 2: If they were at actually holding out for a first
round pick and weren't taking back one of the five
worst contracts in the NBA, I would like to know
what they were thinking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's that's what the reporting was the
whole time, said they wanted a first Booch. Booch was
having the best shooting season of his career. He's a
double double machine. We want a first round pick for me.
She's like, man, that's just such a misread of the market.
And of course, and again it was reported about like
multiple bulls, Like clearly Ak's like message was we were
laying Groundwrook for a boots trade this summer, because that's
what like the entire beat put out.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: And then he didn't get traded the summer either because
no one again, no one is trading it first for Booch.
Are they even trading multiple seconds at this point? I
don't know. No team.
Speaker 2: I probably would I would take depending on the money
you're sending out, like if it's just even money or
you're getting rid of some long term money. I think
I would gamble on just like someone as you said,
can still grab a bunch of rebounds and like the
mini court.
Speaker 3: He's yeah, an inning mining exter. He's a minute slash,
inning xetter, whatever you want.
Speaker 1: To call it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's very durable. He's gonna give you your double doubles,
he'll whatever. He'll again if you and and if you're
like a good team, you're not going to start him,
but he'll play fifteen to twenty minutes per game off.
That's what I mean. Again, the Warriors I always thought
were such a great fit. I mean they were. I
know Quinton Post was like pretty good for them last year,
but uh, he's kind of made sense. There is there's
another an offensive valve for stuff, and the way he
was shooting, I think it would have hit well in
that system. But again they did not do it, and
nothing happened this offseason and now again Booch is back
for another season in Chicago.
Speaker 2: So I know he's not a lob threat, but like,
if I'm the Lakers, they got some expiring like Cleveland
Vincent and a second for like why why not? Like
I don't like, I mean, between him and Luca, you're
talking about like a lot of ground boundness and but sure,
like I I think he's still good, but I don't
understand theory if I mean, but they again, as I said,
this team kind of needs him if they want to reach.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, yeah, behind him, it's Jalen Smith, it's Zach Collins.
We talked about Zach Collins playing for like a month
like the best basketball's career after.
Speaker 2: Being just kind of a like negative percentage at the
rim against Samuel Us in Chicago.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, like he was incredibly good just for whatever
reason out of nowhere. But yeah, like, is he gonna
be the backup? Is Jalen Smith is gonna be the backup?
Like Jalen Smith They signed to a three year deal
after he had the big season with the Pacers Halliburton
Merchant and he was fine last year and again him
and Zach Collins I mean, they're fine. They're fine bench guys,
nothing more than that. That being the polls is slogan.
That's really what I say about them. Like, like I said,
they have a bunch of fine players the middle ground,
they've given up a bunch of like fine, Like the
Trade Jones deal is fine, the Good You deal probably fine.
Theoch deal extension was not fine. That obviously that sucked.
But yeah, I mean, and that's how you end up
with a thirty perpetual thirty nine win teams. You have
a bunch of fine players and fine deals, but you're
not So you're not good, you're also not bad. And
here you go, perpetual playing team winning around fifty percent
of your games. It makes all the sense in the world, really.
Speaker 2: So between Booch, Kevin and heard Her, Zach Collins, and
then you also have Kobe White and Iota Summu, a
lot of expiring contracts on this team, they're built to
make like some sort of semi significant trade, right. And
I frame it in those vague terms because I would
normally say they should sell those guys off for seconds,
try and get a first round pick by taking on
long term money. But I also wouldn't put it past
them to be the team that is trading a first
round pick along with expiring contracts to do something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we this offseason were making the joke
like who is like such a Bull's trade to make
with like some of what they got here, Like we
talked about like Zion like Demonta Sabonis uh and they
could be your center of the futures demandus bonus. They
could just like redo the Boots trade.
Speaker 2: The Bulls are just gonna keep trading with each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, Like I don't even know who else it
would like it would be at this point like the
I mean, like I mean Trey Young, They're not gonna
trade for Trey Young. I wouldn't him and Giddy that'll
be the back und Like I don't think they would
do that, Like obviously not gonna get Yannis if he
comes on the market this year year. Like it's like, yeah,
they have all this expiring money. I don't know who
they're gonna use it to get if they try. That's
what the plan is, at least at least right now.
I mean never know. Obviously with the NBA, like things
change quickly. Guys get guys get pissed with their situations,
they ask out, Uh, maybe they'll just I think the joke,
one of the jokes I made this year was, like
I think it was the twenty twenty draft. They had
like a bunch of guys from that draft. Maybe just
ultimately they'll end up getting Anthony or the twenty twenty
whatever it is, the Anthony Edward Draft. They'll maybe they'll
just end up with him at some point since they
have all these other guys from that draft already. Uh,
they'll get him at the point. But obviously he's fine
right now. But yeah, I'm not really sure like who
like else, like if like at least this season. D
Alson was talking about like the twenty like the free
agency flexibility next offseason, but like free agency is like
not a thing in the NBA anymore in terms of
like signing games so like and like no one's but
what star is gonna come sign with the like probably
another mediocre Bulls team after all these guys expire, like
probably nobody. So like, do I really expect them to
make a big trade this season? No, just because they
haven't done that at all, Like they've been so hastitan
to make moves in general, but yeah, maybe maybe a
K will surprise me. Maybe he's got something up a Sleez.
I just don't know. Like right now, looking at it, like.
Speaker 2: There's a Paul George team that comes in and gets
the actual player, I thought of.
Speaker 1: My god in.
Speaker 2: All serious was like, I feel like this is just
gonna end up being the r. J.
Speaker 1: Barrett team.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the deal looks like, but that
just feels like that would be a Bulls trade.
Speaker 1: That would be a Bulls trade.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know he's He's been mentioned in rumors r J.
Barrett or Zion. Maybe they will go trade for both
of them. Redo the they go sign Cam Reddish then
out of Europe, just whenever that can the team.
Speaker 1: I like Zion the basketball player when he's healthy, trensent.
Speaker 2: But if you if your theory is Josh Gideon Zion Williamson,
right question, Like I default to all these people who
work in the NBA being waste smarter than I am.
But I'm gonna have some questions if we end up
with a Zion Williams and Josh Giddy.
Speaker 1: Corps in Chicago.
Speaker 3: I mean, maybe they would trade Giddy for him. I
don't know, actually, I doubt that, but yeah, I mean
I gues said, that's why it's just like we made
the Zion jokes in the off season, because that was
just Zigon's the name that's theoretically out there and taking
a gamble on top shelf talent when they don't have
like a top shelf talent.
Speaker 1: If he becomes available in Dallas, would that be a
Bulls move?
Speaker 3: I mean it certainly would. Getting the bringing back a
Chicago guy who's past his prime. A D is better
than Dwayne Wade was when they signed him, but like
it would have getting a D like three or four
years ago would have been much better than trading for
however old a D is now, but who's still get
He's still very good. But that would be a very
Bulls move. But I mean, if they did that, sure,
why not? Like a D is still pretty good, He'll
he'll play half the games for you, but you could
sell the Chicago game, and the Bulls are they could.
The Bulls are great at marketing, Uh Chicago players. They're
like five d Rose Knights this year. Uh market Anthony
Dames coming back sounds great?
Speaker 2: So you said some before that kind of bummed me out,
just because I like to see young players and get
to go off vibes that you don't think, no Sanga
is gonna play all that much. What are do you
have any early impressions after?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean just he's he's so young, so raw,
and in Summer League, like his first sum of the
game was brutal and he did get a little better,
but he's the.
Speaker 1: Same the pacers like he was. There were some like
shot variants too to what he was doing. There was
one of the players I was.
Speaker 2: Like, that looked like, you're honest. I think that was
the Pacer Summer League game. So he's gonna he's the next, honest,
that's I think we just go off that and that probably.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when we've talked like a pod and like some
of like a boll dms just kind of shooting stuff around,
like the Gianna stuff has come up, and really I
think that is I mean obviously again that is such
like so high end not realistic, but like if it
like all came together, that's it is kind of like
the vision in their forum again to super raw, skinny
but super athletic guy even get out and transition and
if you could again get a lot stronger and just
develop into what I remember m vps's won and one
of the best players in the league for a long time,
Like if he could become a poor man's honest sounds awesome.
In terms of this season, there's no reason to think
with just the depth that do have in this team
in terms of playable guys, that he's going to play
and just like looking at modest last year, barely played
the start of the year. He did start playing a
bit more, but again, like I think now unless they
like really move some players around and make trades, like
I'm just not sure where the minutes are gonna come
from for him. But yeah, he showed some cool stuff
in summer League. He also showed like his shooting was
just like all over the place, like he he had
he had some threes and then he also like air
bawled multiple shots in like the ugliest fashion possible. He
also got dunked on by Furfy was that the ugly dunk?
Obviously that doesn't matter, you know it was. It was
a wild like for Noah Sun. But ultimately, again he's
young raw. I think it was like one of the
youngest players in the draft. You think the youngest are
like maybe Cooper was the only one younger, so he was.
He's just so young. He's so skinny, Like he's got
a he's got to got an NBA weight room, He's
gotta do a lot of skill development. Like I don't
know if there's really anything I know, like before the draft,
like Ricky was was Noah was one of his guys,
but he's basically yeah, like he's got always all these
physical tools, but I don't know he actually do that
much on a basketball card like that, like well, uh,
he can't draw. He transitioned drawing fouls with something when
he's playing with his European team. But again, there's just
so much to develop there that he spent. I would
like to see him a lot of a lot of
time in the G League, at least to start, of course,
over the course of the year, I want would love
to see him on the court and see him get
some minutes. I don't want this to be just like
a total like red shirt season for Noah Sungay, especially
when I don't think the actually like winning anything of consequence,
Like I don't want to play like that's deep into
the season and not haven't played at all, just because
they're trying to gun for the play in tournament, which
could they do that year because you know the bulls
love gunning for the playing tournament. But so hopefully he plays.
I hope we get a good mix G League, get
him some reps there. But I do want him to
see get some time in the NBA this season. But
am I expecting a lot?
Speaker 2: Definitely not do any of the other non core just
younger players. Interest you on this team to talk about
whether Dale and Terry could pick Patrick Williams if you
want no, Julian Phillips.
Speaker 3: Nope, I think they're I think at this point there Pat.
I mean we've been talking about Patrick Williams trying to
take another step for what four years now after his
like decent rookie season. He's just never like I would say,
never gotten better. He's improved, he improved like slightly over
the course of the like the next four years. Last
year was truly a disaster, and I'm just not sure
if it's ever gonna come together for him. His his
shooting got worse, is finishing. I mean, he's became infamous,
infamous for miss dunks. I feel like his defense fell
off a little bit. I think he's just say look
slow on the court. Like the injury stuff. I think
has probably caught up to him a bit. So I
just and this is all great to say for a guy.
They just gave a five years, ninety million dollars contract.
Speaker 2: Goes on for I was doing something about which contracts
for It was for Bleacher Report. Are gonna be the
look the worst in two years? He said, we have
two years left on that deal in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3: Very bad.
Speaker 1: I was like, that thing goes on forever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say, like just the Giddy thing, Like
I was worried the bulls were gonna do the same
thing with Giddy that they did with Pat. Seems that
they did learn from their mistake, Like Giddy definitely deserved
more than Pat, for sure, but they I mean, they're
alleged top offer for for Giddy at the start was
right around with Patrick Williams Gott. Pat's making eighteen million
years over five years, and they're offered to Giddy was
four or eighty or whatever. It was like kind of crazy,
which was right. I was very happy that they did
and weren't just like, oh, here you go, Josh, here's
at the start of freedoms. Here's thirty million a year,
which is basically they did with Patrick Williams. They didn't
even let Patrick Williams hit the market. They I think
they were signing even before he started, So like, huge mistake.
It's hard to see him turning into anything here at
this point. So if he does, great, but I'm not
counting on it. And you look at like Dale and Terry,
like he's gotten a little better and in this like
system where he can just kind of go out there
and run around like a crazy person, like fine, and
he'll have some games where he hits like a few threes,
but I don't know how much there really is there.
And Julian Phillips also kind of the same way, like
they're both but they're both guys. They're fine, like for
like deeper bench guys, but am I really expecting much
of anything out of them? And I don't know how
the minutes where they're gonna come from either. I feel
like between them, like you probably have to pick maybe
one to have in the rotation and like maybe the
other one plays if there's injuries, but uh, that's probably
about it for for those guys at this point. So
kind of a bummer. But again, I mean Jilli Phillips.
They didn't trade uh stop up for him for Yeah,
they trade two seconds for him to get him dale
I mean Daleen looks like a really bad pick and
eight number eighteen, and there were other guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, what was it.
Speaker 3: I think Christian Brown's like the big one who was
picked like two after him, I think, or a couple
of picks after him, maybe three.
Speaker 2: You would have think you would have thought him as
their whole mantra of young guys with experience. Christian Brown
like being a like in college for a while winning
that he would have been on their radar.
Speaker 3: Well, it's funny because like in the draft it's been
like and they took Ioh who was more experienced than like,
I mean the draft we've seen Patrick Williams not it
was a six man at Florid to stay two one years.
Speaker 2: I just I want to go on the record of
Claire or something. I was all I thought that Patrick
Olliams pick was brilliant. When I saw they picked him
at number four, I was like, that is like the
perfect free So I'm not like I wasn't claire voyant
enough to think that he was going to be this bad.
Speaker 1: So I was in the bag for Patrick o'ing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that thing is just weird and unfortunate. I think
there's a lot has gone wrong with how they've used him,
how they've developed him, and his own injuries, and I
think his own mindset I make it say. I think
we joke about all the time. He doesn't seem to
have that dog in him, which is like modest Modus
definitely seems to and Pat does does not. So it's
a bummer. These other guys, like I said, kind of
a bummer. But hopefully Noah Sung ends up better than that,
and hope modess I have a lot more higher hopes
for him. Uh think looking at this young guys on
this team, we're looking past again Kobe and Giddy like
Modison should be interesting again the se we haven't seen
him in the NBA yet, but he has interesting tools
and hopefully again we can see some of the on
the court. The other guys, whatever.
Speaker 2: Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter slash lightning round?
Absolutely looking at this roster, what is the single We've
talked a lot about all the various needs, but what
is the single biggest need to you for this roster.
Speaker 3: Oh god, I mean, I'd rather look big picture, and
they need a superstar player at some point, like on
this team, like and they have, and their defense kind
of is probably gonna sting, although Billy has done a
better job than you would think, like with this team,
like getting them to play better.
Speaker 1: They punched above their weight, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I thought they were gonna be like about five defense
like all of last season, and they end up ended up.
I think I can't remember if they were in the
top twenty, but they were not nearly as awful as
I thought they'd be, so like again, they could certainly
use again a better defensive center, you could say all
my stuff stuff. Ultimately, I'm looking at the big picture.
They just need a star player. So is that gonna
come this year? I don't know. Again, is Josh Cadi
actually turned into a legit stars, Kobe Wack can turn
into stars, Modess Boils can turn into a star at
some point, I don't know, maybe, But that's if they're
gonna actually take that next step into something meaningful in
the coming years. That's what I'm looking for. And we
can look at all the small stuff and like this season,
and again, defense is a big one. Can they continue
playing the style. We'll see about that, but I'm still
just like they need a star player. They need a
blue chip prospect, star player type guy to take them
into the future. And again, maybe it's on the team,
but it is not for sure.
Speaker 2: Yet knowing how this RUNTOFFS operations, do you think it's
more likely that if and when they get that star
they have drafted him or traded for him.
Speaker 3: I would guess traded for him. But if they draft
the middle, probably have to be from like the middle.
And again, you can absolutely draft a star from the middle.
Well I think, yeah, it could be one of those
guys for sure, but like I don't at this point. Again,
I don't think they're gonna unless like things really fall
off like this year and maybe they get lucky or
they end up like whatever with the twelve slot and lottery,
and we've seen teams the last couple years move up
and maybe they end up one from one of these.
Speaker 2: They're more than willing to make some upside of trade.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like we could see that, but I would guess
that that is not again, not their plan to go
tanking for one of these guys, and that their plan
is have what they have in this team and develop it.
And then again, maybe they'd use one or two of
these young guys and turn it into a star player.
So I would guess more likely trade, but again, they
have some young guys who could turn into that guy,
and or maybe you get lucky in the draft at
some point.
Speaker 2: What's something about this team that's flying under the radar
you think deserves more spotlight?
Speaker 1: Oh God, I don't know.
Speaker 3: The bull I feel like the entire team is under
the raider at this point because no one cares about
the Bulls. But man, uh, I mean you would even say,
I mean maybe Billy is. And just like the way
that he has kind of coached this team and the
style they do play. Yeah, Like again, like I feel
like the Bulls are irrelevant and like no one really
knows what's like going on with them, and like the
fact that they did like change their style and like
became this kind of like running gun team. Like I
feel like they do take teams by surprise with how
they play, and just like how hard they play and
the fast paced style. I don't think teams are ready
for it in the regular season, and fans probably like
are I feel like they're kind of fun. I guess,
like I think with their style. So like again, been
very cynical about the Bulls. I think a lot of
people are on the league, a lot of fans. I mean,
this team just mediocre again, but I do think they're
They were kind of fun that closed this year and
I think last year, and I think they could be
like a fun team to watch. Well, you I know,
like people do their league pass rankings and all that
kind of stuff, like the Bulls probably be like very
high on that. But I think in terms of just
the aesthetic and how they'll play, they should be pretty fun.
So I think they could be more fun than people expect.
Speaker 2: That very I think if there was a way to
cover up their silhouettes and their jerseys and like put
ninja mass on them and you just had these teams
play a basketball game and rank them off their style,
that way, that the Bulls stylistically in terms of entertainment
value would finish in the top ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1: Hang the banner.
Speaker 2: So if you had to build a ten man rotation
right now, who are your five starters and then who
are going to be the five most hues reserves, So I.
Speaker 3: Kind of teased this earlier that I initially thought because
they started the play in game with Kobe Giddy, Kevin Hurder, Madis,
and Bouche and I was like, Oh, yeah, that's definitely
who they're going to start the season with. And that's
when I totally foregued that isaacat Korro's on the team.
I do kind of think a Coro might start at
the three, just because I mentioned the point of the
tech defense stuff. I know Billy loves Kevin hr Herder
played a ton of minutes after the trade last year.
He played pretty good. I feel like Hurder is probably
better as like six man gunner type off the bench,
and that they should probably focus more on having like
a defensive guy. And again, a Korro can at least
like get on transition. He can hit open corner three,
so like again, I don't think he would like hurt
the shooting too much, at least in the regular season.
So my guess is a Korro starts and it will
be those same other four guys, Kobe Giddy, a Korro, Madis,
Booch mentioned Kevin Hurder, so he'll be off the bench.
Trey Jones will play off the bench, I will play
off the bench. Uh eight, exactly a lot. I guess
that we talking about three guard lineups, They're gonna be
playing a lot of three guard lineups. It's going to happen.
The backup four will probably be pat, I would guess,
but maybe I would love that for Noah Sudd overtake
him at some point this year, and then like again
Collins or Jalen Smith whatever, whoever ends up getting backup spot.
I don't really care, like it's gonna be one of
those guys. Maybe maybe they rotate based on like matches
and stuff like that. So again it's kind of like
hard to say ten guys because I mentioned like they
have they're over their whole roster like has guys who
can like theoretically be an NBA rotations like I heavy
you mentioned again Dale and Terry and Julian Phillips and
talk about those guys. This is why I like don't
think not really expecting much of it them because like
I don't think they're gonna play very much, which there's
just that room in the rotation for them right now
based on just like who they have there. When you
resign trade Jones the three twenty four, Like he's gonna
play when you have Io who's been here for a
while and he's pretty good, Like he's probably gonna play.
Had Kevin Herder, he's going to be an expiring contract,
like use him to Billy seemed to like him last year,
Like maybe a trade candidate at the deadline, Like he's
gonna play at least probably to start the year. Maybe
maybe they trade him, and which would be fine, Like
ideally you're he's building some value and you're trading in
for something like I don't need Kevin Hurder on my
team this Bulls team that much longer. But we'll see.
I mean, Collins is an expired to. Jalen Smith does
have again another year after this one. So again it's
just like where how how Billy balances all This will
be very interesting to see. But that's for right now.
That's what I'm thinking my starting five and then Jones Io. Well,
also I think that I mentioned a Korro probably pat
to start the year, and then either Smith.
Speaker 2: Or Collins is the back of the five, assuming operating
under the assumption that they're going to be trying to
win games. What do you think winds up being their
go to crunch time lineup will just be the starters.
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, I think it's I would guess the starters
and then again between like the three spot, the coro
io uh or a coral herder. I could see it
like rotating between those. I think Gidey and Kobe will
start will close routinely. I know Giddy did if he
did get benched and crunch time not a decentized at
least to start the year. He was getting bench and
crunch time not as much to close the dear when
he was paying a lot better. But uh, Giddy and
Kobe are probably locks. I mean, Madis I hope closes
pretty much every game like he should be at the
very least, Like I don't want him sitting in bench
crunch time. Booch theoretically should not be gifted a crunch
time spot. But I would guess for them, he'll play
a lot of crunch time minutes just because again, who
else are they going to play over? I guess I
guess if they try to play smaller, you play modest
at the five and try to throw out smaller lineups.
I would have no problems with that. But so yeah,
like Ultimately, I think it's gonna be like Vouch, Modest,
Ang Giddy, Kobe as like some somewhat of a standard
set for and then that fifth spot I think could
rotate depending on hot hand matchups, who they need guys
to play defense with. Billy's got a lot of options.
You could turn to a lot of optionality with this
mid roster and goofy roster.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of that, is there a weirdo lineup you
want to see Billy Donovan try this?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I would love to see like some some of
the young crazy lineups. If we're talking like with a
like get a singing Madus out there together with like
with Cod being giddy, and then uh, I don't know,
throw someone else out there something without Vouch. I feel
like for these I always trend towards like smaller ball lines.
But if you got Modest, like he's at least again
a big guy, so you're not like going super small,
and I feel like I think before on the Spott, like, oh,
let's try Patrick Williams at the five minutes, so I
guess something called like Modus at the five minutes and
now again throwing him out there with like Kobe Giddy,
and then against what somebody else, Uh, one of these
other millions of guards or wings that they have and
have some fun with young running gun lineup that could
just have weeks some havoc out there.
Speaker 2: Yours was early close to mind. I also had modest
and a Sangay is my front court. And then let
me see Kobe White, I oh, and Kevin Hurber in there.
Like that'd be like a really turbo charged, like fun
line up to watch.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it, just skidding, even if the ball's
gonna be mid going back to the league pass, I've
just gonna be a fun team that's at least entertained
to watch, and they can have some fun with the
lineups that they they're out there.
Speaker 2: Before I get you to make some predictions, is there
anything else anyone else we haven't talked about that you
think deserves to be discussed.
Speaker 3: Oh, let me start talking about Javon Carterismore. Now, I'm
absolutely absolutely not. I got nothing for like, I know,
like the two way guys a lot of people love.
Speaker 1: Was a Yuki awesome another guard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, hopefully he has some fun in the with the
Windy City Bulls and it can do some stuff there.
But Yeah. We mean I feel like I've touched on
basically everybody. I like a fifteen man roster because they
got all these fine players on their team. But I
think that's pretty much you've gone over basically. Yeah, we've
gone about basically over basically everybody. So I think we're good.
Speaker 2: So how many games do you think you wind up winning?
And where do you think they land in the Eastern
Conference regular season standing?
Speaker 3: So when me and Ricky did our annual go through
game by game podcast after the schedule came out, I
believe I ended at thirty six, and that is without
that that's missing two games the plane or the in
season two ornament. So thirty six or thirty seven is
kind of where I landed. It would not surprise you
if they finish again thirty nine. Again. I do think
this is like a regular season team that will that
take teams by surprise. Mickey Mouse March is like built
for this roster. Again, with the portion of the season
when veteran teams are just trying to get to the
end of the year and there's other tanking teams, the
Bulls are not gonna tank, and they have a bunch
of young legs. They have a deep roster that can
play a lot of guys, and they're gonna come out
and they are gonna run up and down the court,
and they're gonna win games that they're not supposed to,
especially in the second half of the year. Ultimately, they
just don't have the top level talent of actual good teams,
which is why I don't think they're gonna go like
forty five and thirty seven and surprise everybody. Could they
A lot would have to go right. I'm not gonna
totally rule it out, but ultimately it just seems destined
for another high thirties season, probably another play in spot.
Again with this Eastern Conference, it's gonna be really fascinating
to see, just like how what the Celtics do, Like,
do thes Go do like a kind of a tank here,
what the Pacers do? Like the Pacers I have also
a deep team and a lot of other really good players,
but I mean, Helburn just means so much to them,
and over the course of the regular season, if there's
like any attrition there, like and they lost Miles Turner, like,
are they just gonna end up also like doing like
a kind of pseudo tank season. So like I'm curious
super Boston and Indiana wind up and then just like
there's always other teams, like I mean, we got the
Magic and the Hawks look like they should be really
good and obviously got the cams in the next to
the top, I mean the Bucks with Giannis, like who
the heck knows what happens with them and the Raptors
and others. Kind of a weird team and they've been
weird for a long time too. Uh, we know there's
a couple teams are gonna be awful, and that's are
gonna be awful the Wizards of.
Speaker 2: The teams, would you be prepared to guarantee right now
in the East.
Speaker 1: Right this is me and rick the Wizards and.
Speaker 3: Who, yeah, guarantee you be worse than.
Speaker 2: The Bulls maybe the Hornets, but like the Hornets, like
the Hornets could be again, they're another team that was
just like they could be feisty, but it all depends
on what LaMelo is staying healthy and like he just
never is healthy.
Speaker 3: So it's like they'll probably be bad, but they have
a lot of a lot of talent there, so like
they could could be interesting. But this is our next podcast,
me and Ricky we're gonna go through the East a
little closer and be like we're I think I was
gonna be, like, who do we think for sure? Is
going is going to be better for sure than the Bulls,
like kind of coming almost from the other way, So
like it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting. Like again,
the Hawks theoretically should be the Hawks that have kind
of been the Bulls. And then there's the Heat too,
of course, and they just lost Tyler hero to what
foot surgery and he's gonna be up to start the year,
So who knows what's gonna happen there? Like Bulls, Hawks
and Heat have kind of been in this, just like
the play in like Morass, the play in Maven's whatever
you want to call him. The Hawks should be a
lot better, but well they who knows, they've been so.
Speaker 1: Much Hawks pilled a lot of people are.
Speaker 3: I mean, theoretically like their roster should be really good,
but like so like they should be good. Again, I've
mentioned what four or five six teams that should definitely
be better, but I guess I have not mentioned the
Philadelphia seventy six ers either, and like who knows what
the hell of but think of them either. It's like
the East is just such a joke and such a
mess where it's like, could the Bulls have like a weird,
funky season and they end up like low forties and
like end up getting a top six spot. I'm not
gonna totally rule it out when I bet on that,
Absolutely not. But I did bet their over number was
Oh god, I camera what it was, but I think
it was lower than I thought, and I definitely have
already bet the over on it. I think it was
like thirty three or thirty two. Like, I'm very confident
they're gonna be better than that, just like they were
much better than their line was last year, So I
would guess the Bulls are better than expected once again.
Do I think they're gonna be meaningfully better? Probably not again,
it ultimately looks like another mid team, but again, the
East is so messed up where who knows, maybe they
they overachieve and East is just so bad that they're
they can avoid the playing tournament or get at least
like the seven eight game and not being the nine
to ten.
Speaker 2: Jason, can I get one more Bulls prediction for you
for companies from you for this company season?
Speaker 3: Please? What like a general one.
Speaker 2: It could be whatever you want, and it could be
about Julian.
Speaker 1: Phillips, all right, predicted about whatever you want.
Speaker 3: Let's see here. Oh god, I know I was talking
with a friend about most Improved. I want to throw
out like a modest Boselli's most Improved like case out
there that he's I'm not gonna say he's gonna I'm
not gonna say he's gonna win it.
Speaker 2: I'm just say, you know who the last second year
player was to win it. I think it was Monte
Ellis if I think, I'm gonna double check that now,
but I'm pretty sure it was him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think he's gonna win it. I think
that'd be a huge leap, but like I could see
him maybe working his way into some conversations for it.
At the very least, that's a lame prediction. Was I'm
not saying like something's definitly gonna happen like I wish.
Speaker 1: I can't really.
Speaker 3: Predict that like Giddy or Kobe is gonna be an
All Star because I don't really believe that at all.
No rookie, no rookie, Like I don't think he's gonna
play enough Yeah, some of my lame predictions that Modus
will work his way into some most improved conversations.
Speaker 2: It was Monte Elise was the last second year fired
away and most improved, So that battle goes three deep.
If he finishes, like in the top three, that's a
pretty big deal.
Speaker 3: That Yeah, that would be that would be pretty sick.
Speaker 1: Again, do I think.
Speaker 3: It's gonna happened?
Speaker 2: It?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just I just printed it. He'll at least
be in the conversation. So I guess top three? Am
I saying that? Not really opportunity of the table? Yeah,
they'll finish third and most improved. Why not?
Speaker 1: Jason? This was great as always are.
Speaker 2: You're just able to tell our subscribers, listeners, audience where
they can find you and all the work that you do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Cash Cast Co Sederations, Chicago Bulls Podcast. It's me
and riky O Donald. We'll have another pod. We we
pod once a week. Uh, we've been a little lace
yeer during the offseason. Has just been like nothing to
talk about. But we'll be ramming back up once Media
to Day starts up back to our normal once a
week cadence. But let's make it Me and Rikyo Donald, Uh,
you mentioned my socials. I don't really post on Twitter
or X or whatever you want to call it anymore.
But I'm at Bull's Underscore J. I still do post
the podcast there, but I do most of my posting
on Blue Sky now. Also, it's bulls Jay. No underscore there,
just Bulls Jay.
Speaker 1: That's what you got.
Speaker 2: You're only the second person. This is like look Ahead
number twenty or twenty one. You're only the second person
that needed two separate handles. So congrats to you on screen, and.
Speaker 3: Then yeah, Clutch Points basically kind of run the show there.
I'll shout out my guy Brett Siegel, who does NBA
reporting there. He's been on top of like the Jonathan
Kaminga stuff. He's had some stuff on the Giddy situation.
But interesting that the Kaminga thing's still going on. They
said the Giddy thing's done, but we're still waiting on
Jonathan Kaminga. But go chigu out clutch Points dot com
as well. Brett does a lot of good reporting there.
We'd have a lot of coverage in the NBA and
other sports in general. So yeah, I think that's basically it.
Thank you so much for having me once again. It's
always a pleasure to do this. I always love going
deep with the Bulls, even though it ends up being
the same thing every season for the last three years.
Hopefully we get a different, different outcome this year and
that next next offseason we do this pod, that we'll
have something a little more better.
Speaker 2: I don't know, we'll be able to talk about modest
buzzellis finishing third and.
Speaker 1: I look forward to that.
Speaker 2: You guys can find a link to Cash Considerations in
our podcast and YouTube descriptions to go check out Jason
and Ricky over there. Until next time, Jason, thank you
so much. You know I'm gonna be best for you
again down the line.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, thanks for having me. Have a good one.