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Ateeq Ahmed: Poor Coby just came back.That stinks for him. Both he and Josh run hard and finish with such force going to basket. I never believe in curses but wow have we had a string of bad luck with guards over the years. Wishing a speedy recovery for Josh and Coby. By the way, I didn’t want Giannis to come here before. Now I definitely don’t want him. Cheap shot at the end of last game. Fans remember things like that.
Sam: Hey, they didn’t like Rodman, either, for all the cheap shots he took at Pippen for so many years, but that changed pretty quickly. I think management would be fine with Giannis, though as Vooch pointed out maybe he’s too mad about the report the Bulls are set without him. Yeah, right. Anyway, the elephant in the room thing is not only a Bulls question. It’s can you sustain this style of play, more possessions, faster movement, and guys getting stronger, and not have so many of those so called soft tissue injuries. I hate to hear it put that way as I always think Charmin or Angel Soft, and that doesn’t inspire the memory of Norm Van Lier. Billy Donovan has tried to respond with quicker substitutions, even trying some four-player changes the other night against New Orleans. But it’s likely a combination of things the NBA—and basketball—has done to itself in addition to the current expedited style of play that’s led to so many of these injuries. There’s so little scrimmaging anymore, and players rarely play basketball in the offseason. So then how are you ready to go 100 miles per hour in a game after walking through every practice? And off season training now is more about weights to build strength than playing to build endurance, and whatever muscles go with that which I don’t know. But I do know players of the past being skinnier wasn’t a negative for playing basketball. It’s also why guys like Zion or Ja break down. You just can’t put that kind of torque on body parts and expect them to continue to function. Of course, there always have been injuries. But it seems to me—who, by the way, has no actual knowledge, which also seems fairly common in many discussions these days—basketball players are trained more these days to be football players.
Mike Sutera: I'm sure with his contract and performance we could get a first for Tre Jones. I wouldn't do it, but I could see the offer being made by someone.
Sam: I might, and I really like the guy and the way he plays. We can see how valuable he’s been with Josh Giddey going out with injury and (despite all the guards) no true orchestrator other than Jones to sustain what Giddey brings. But the team’s commitment, obviously, is to Giddey, and that sort of depth is an expensive luxury for a team that doesn’t have a championship contending roster. I know how the Bulls talk about depth being the road to their success, but really more so because the starting unit isn’t. Tre Jones probably is the most valuable player on the roster for trade now. Not that Giddey, Coby White and Matas Buzelis aren’t ultimately more valuable and talented, but Giddey and Buzelis are starting core type players a contending team isn’t going go to try fitting in mid season. Coby has value as a scorer/shooter, but he is now a short term rental as a free agent waiting to be paid, and has had multiple injuries this season. But Jones could walk right in and possibly be a final championship piece for a team like the Timberwolves, desperate for a playmaker. Or the Houston Rockets after losing Fred VanVleet and seemingly missing nothing more. Maybe the Denver Nuggets, or even a team close to breaking through like the Magic, whom the Bulls historically Friday. Jones has a very manageable and team friendly contract extending as few seasons, is a savvy veteran and even one of the best community people in the NBA as the Bulls' NBA Community Assist winner. This is an issue the Bulls have had even prior to this management, and not isolated to the Bulls. Teams that make a positive deal often become too satisfied with what they’ve done, like a winning bettor, rather than attempting a parlay. Sure, there’s risk, but what are you playing for, to be successful? Or rich? The Bulls where they are and where they have been have to take some big swings, and while it may endanger them a few games now, hauling in yet another first round pick enhances the coming summer flexibility not just with another first round draft pick. But with the multiple assets to combine in trades. Maybe a player and your cap room gets you in the discussion for a star. But throw in a few firsts and, yeah, now we’re talking. Maybe it also enables you to get off a contract standing in the way of something bigger. The Bulls for a long time have been conservative in player pursuit. But the NBA is and always has been about stars, and while you can embrace this Bulls group and how they have played at times, they shouldn’t be an end game. That often takes vision and risk. I recall former broadcaster Neil Funk lamenting at times that if you hold onto assets too long they can become liabilities. It would be painful to lose a competitor like Tre Jones, but what’s the vision here? The dice can come up snake eyes, but like that shooting guard here used to say, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Sometimes you just have to take a shot even if it doesn’t look perfect at the time.
Mike Quick: Just not the Nuggets year with all these injuries. Braun, Gordon, Johnson and now Jokic. This is the new NBA though, win a ring, top 2-3 guys make damn near 60 mil a yr and no room for anyone else. Happened to Bucks, Nuggets, Celts. They’re going to fall to a playin team
Sam: It’s a valid point, and it has followed all the champions in that gush of success that is all too common, the media/fan pay-the-man ethic that especially comes with success, and which is so rare to duplicate if you are not Michael or LeBron. We won, so pay everyone, and the max deal suddenly becomes multiple starters instead of what it was meant to be, the reward for the man. Maybe it’s one function of the NBA being so successful, that so many players can be paid that much. It’s the so called NBA “soft” cap that with waivers like the Bird exception allows teams to exceed the cap to pay their own players. The Jazz and Nets, by the way, are the only teams below the salary cap this season. So not actually a cap. Relax, baseball. It’s OK to have one. You should still be able to make $40 million; OK, maybe $38 million, but then you can say you sacrificed. Anyway, the latest NBA labor agreement attempted to address some of that with the penalty aprons. And that max deal creates it’s own sporting income gap that doesn’t exactly mirror society since the NBA’s “poor” guys are making $8 million annually. Though the aprons and corresponding selloffs like in Boston should serve some to level the playing field other than for OKC, which was smart enough to acquire so many draft picks they can offload some of the big contracts soon and cycle in more rookie deals. Which also is why historically the draft is the best way to produce a high level competing team.
Warren Worth: With the injuries Coby White has had this season his value will be low this summer and we eventually bring him back.
Sam: His name has been the most frequent in trade speculation, but especially the calf issues with three sit-downs have to raise some questions for potential suitors. So if he finishes out the season with the Bulls that does pose a few questions. The monetary amount may not be as much of an issue as the market likely will set his price as an unrestricted free agent. Sure, he then could leave without any compensation to the Bulls, but the Bulls as his team can offer more. Would they? The larger question may be fit in that considering he’s more of an offensive player, is that a long term backcourt for the Bulls with Josh Giddey, who is weak defender? Coby’s latest setback is said to be less serious, so the hope is he can get in a good few weeks of play into February so the team can make a decision if they are in that position now because they have been talking about salary cap room for the summer, and the more current free agents you pay the less money you have for that promised activity with the financial flexibility.
Rayne Yu: I wanted to get your take on Jimmy Butler’s comments after the Warriors vs. Bulls game a few weeks ago. He was asked about a stat mentioning the Bulls winning more games with him than without him, where he responded by saying, 'That’s a helluva stat.' He also mentioned that Chicago and Bulls fans deserve postseason success. What really caught my attention, though, was when he praised the United Center’s atmosphere, calling it unlike any other and said that once this current core figures it out, the fans will show up and show out. He also expressed confidence that the team will get better with time, which shows a real sense of optimism for the future. I remember him saying he was ‘glad the Bulls were on top of things again’ during our 2022 playoff run; but considering his intense on-court persona and complicated history with the Timberwolves, Sixers and Heat (where he’s been seen as something of a 'villain'), I was a bit surprised by the affection he seems to have for the Bulls after all these years. Were you surprised by his comments at all?
Sam: No. Many of his issues at the time were with the former GM Gar Forman. The Bulls had stalled then in wake of the Derrick Rose injury and were getting stuck in that middling era that is now the playin with multiple .500 type seasons. So they opted for the route that has restored teams like the Thunder, Rockets and Pistons to relevancy; the lottery balls and moves just didn’t come up for the Bulls like they did for some of those teams, which led to the management change. Jimmy was something of management and ownership favorite when he was drafted as a reach at the end of the first round. Hardly anyone but the Bulls had him as a first rounder with his poor offensive game, and he was grateful for the guaranteed first round money. I still see him hugging many staffers when he returns. The Bulls also understood at the time he wasn’t about to remain long term, which he hasn’t anywhere. But Jimmy was so popular with staff and their families he even would baby sit on occasion for some. He appreciates starting in Chicago from so low and becoming an All Star. Meanwhile, the stat is seriously flawed because for four years after trading Jimmy they were trying—wink, wink—to lose games for draft picks while Jimmy went to competing teams.
Stian Nordvik: Coach Donovan joked his father to get 10 points being the age of 80 in Atlanta. This is Chicago, we were raised up on the blue collar defense. We need to start playing defense to be true to our fans.
Sam: A coach’s job is to put his players in the best position to win. I believe Billy is doing an excellent job with that with his preferred style of play emphasizing offense, speed and depth because, frankly, just because you want players to commit to defense doesn’t mean they can depending on who they are. It’s why the Bulls imported a defensive specialist, Keith Bogans, to play next to Derrick Rose. So the Bulls did trade for Isaac Okoro, and it looks like an excellent addition considering Lonzo Ball’s play has declined quite a bit in Cleveland. But the players who receive the big minutes with the Bulls, Giddey, White, Vučević, Buzelis, all hew toward the offensive side. I suspect the Bulls will seek a better balance as their roster matures, but now their best chance of winning is 152-150 as aesthetically—and historically—unappealing as that may be at times. Though also remember that this is an offensive game era during which it is both more difficult to sustain defense as teams once did, but also with offensive statistics wildly inflated. Which is why we see this glut of triple doubles and statistical oddities of the never been done before kind because, well, the NBA never has allowed offenses to play like this before without much resistance... at least until we reach the playoffs.
Jackson Heights: Ayo Dosunmu was 6th for a while in 3pt % in the NBA and still is in the top 30 at more than 42 percent, which is really impressive given that horrible form.
Sam: The players love to talk about the work, and Ayo certainly has—worked. Despite being one of the best collegiate players, he dropped into the second round and the Bulls not only because of his shooting, but because scouts didn’t believe it could improve. He’s the leading three-point shooter on the Bulls, and see if you’d have got that answer from fans without looking. Zach Collins is slightly higher, but doesn’t near qualify in attempts. The issue for Ayo as a Curry impersonator is not so much his limited playing time off the bench, but he doesn’t attempt that many. Like Josh Giddey, who also is vastly improved despite an unusual stroke (38 percent), their threes are closer to set shots and not off the dribble like the higher frequency three-point shooters. They could be great catch and shoot guys now, but they are capable of much more with Giddey’s facilitating and Ayo’s defense and half court driving attacks. Ayo’s an inspiring kid, and he continues to show that in the way he attacks his own development.
Parker Lerdal: Will Cooper Flagg wants to be a 1st All Star appearance by February?
Sam: I guess it’s possible, and I think the fans would approve, but he’s likely not getting voted in. The coaches select the reserves in a very deep Western Conference. So I doubt he’d get selected this time. Hey, LeBron didn’t make it as a rookie. The last rookie (though his second year after sitting out one) was Blake Griffin in 2011. Michael made it his rookie season, and you’d be surprised when Magic and Bird made it as rookies, so did this former Bull... (no, not David Greenwood) Bill Cartwright. Then a high scoring Knick who, somewhat like Derrick Rose, had injury issues reduce him to more of a role player by the time he came to the Bulls, and becoming for the Bulls a final championship piece, as it were.
Nicholas Hill: I wanted to mention an observation that I had on Josh Giddey. He did not have a good game against Milwaukee and it was clear the Bucks scouted him well. That said, he made adjustments in the second half that I think were noteworthy. He started moving without the ball, grabbing rebounds and made a few nice assists from the middle of the floor. Those kinds of little adjustments are important to his growth as teams start to give him a bit more star treatment. He really reminds me of a small Jokic. Just need the guys around him to move and cut as frequently as Nuggets players do. Also, can we stop acting like scoring at the end of the game is so disrespectful? The Bucks are out of the playoffs right now. He came back and is trying to get his team fired up. You don't want that to happen? Defend until the clock says 0. I do think Coby and Vooch handled it well even if I don't agree with their sentiment. They clearly weren't being hostile when they approached Giannis. It was really Gary Trent Jr who escalated the situation. If Bulls fans want to be mad at anyone, get mad at him being an instigator. I have noticed, though with Giddey, the loose handle. He seems to default to this dribble left, spin right, flip shot move that teams caught onto quick. Thus the drop in scoring. I think we all knew that 24 PPG wasn't sustainable from Josh yet. As much as he worked on his shooting, he should definitely work on his handle this summer. In fact, his next step is probably to focus on shot creation in general next summer (could say the same for Matas). Difficult to hone in on that mid season. He does deserve credit for more closely resembling the post all star Josh Giddey. I've been impressed with him overall.
Sam: I think it’s clear Giddey has found a home and no matter what the Bulls do they have point guard covered, which they believed they did with Lonzo Ball. So that’s a pretty impressive recovery even if it took a few painful seasons. I’m letting you off the hook with the Jokić comparison since pretty much everything else you stated was reasonable. Josh is a smart guy, but what’s impressed me with him is the competitiveness and ability to adjust and realign. He’s probably had to try to be more of a scorer than he naturally is because of Coby White’s absences, and teams began to attack his dribble. He’s sometimes like a power baseball hitter or golfers where their power comes from extending their arms. Giddey sometimes leaves the ball out like that in traffic and players have come to bang at it like defenders do to ballcarriers in football. Sometimes he holds the ball probably a little longer than Donovan would like, but his point guard size is unique with that IQ. It enables him to take advantage of size mismatches to score and pass over opponents, but leaves him less responsible with the ball than someone like Tre Jones, who is smaller and thus has a tighter handle. Giddey’s not Magic, either, but closer to him than Jokic, which you take.
Mark Metz: Chicago Bulls two-way player Trentyn Flowers supposedly is drawing interest from many college programs. The 6-foot-8 wing was a top-25 recruit in the 2023 class who initially committed to Louisville. Guy played NBA games. This is getting ridiculous.
Sam: That’s what all the famous coaches were whining about the other day, and I haven’t paid much attention and are not sure how they’re doing this in college. It always was pretty clear once you entered the draft your collegiate eligibility was over; but college is pro sports now, and that was because off the courts and not what happened on the court. So maybe what it finally means is Mac McClung can return? The fan favorite in Windy City is averaging more than 25 points per game. I know he’s sort of a Jevon Carter type, but with the dunking, and likely why he can’t stick in the NBA. The Bulls also don’t play a six foot shooting guard. But it still would be fun to take an occasional look. Maybe after trade deadline with roster moves? At least for a practice dunkoff with Matas.
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