Brian Tucker: I’m trying not to focus on the Bulls apparent aversion to having a .500 record and general destiny for mediocre results. Imagine that, they do little to change the team last offseason and the product outcome is similar. So, any chance they can defeat Atlanta then the loser of Miami/Philly to become an actual playoff team, for the opportunity to face Boston in the first round? At least we’ve seen Coby and Ayo take huge leaps.
Sam: This season’s play-in should renew the discussion about eliminating conferences and having a one-league system. Because in the East, the Atlanta Hawks don’t even deserve a play-in game, and in the Western Conference after what we saw Thursday in Houston, the Rockets are deserving, and someone is missing out like even the Lakers or Warriors. My usual answer to that unfair thing is that nothing’s unfair if we’re talking about being denied a spot if you’re in eighth place. It’s still tough for Houston to get a shot, and we all know the NBA won’t let LeBron miss. Wink, wink, eh? So I know; one game anything can happen and all that. But the Hawks supposedly have their April 15 tee times. The Nets are too far behind in 11th and seem even less interested in extending a few days. The Bulls still have a chance to move up, especially with Embiid still out and the 76ers falling. They’re eighth now just ahead of the Bulls where the most interesting race in the East is among the 76ers, Heat and Pacers, all with 31 losses, and just one to get the coveted sixth spot to avoid the play-in. If it stays as it does now, the Bulls open at home against Atlanta for 9/10. And then after the Hawks shoot 50 threes in the first half and are pretty much out of it, the Bulls go to Miami — that’s my vote; have you been there in April? — Indiana or Philadelphia for the right to get eighth place and an opening round series with Boston. Who you may remember a few years ago was the No. 1 seed when the Bulls of Wade and Rondo came in and won the first two games. Unfortunately Playoff Rondo then got hurt and the Bulls lost four straight. So like the guys say, I’m saying there’s a good chance. Especially, as you note, the way Coby and Ayo have improved.
Matty Bowen: Honestly, I’m not upset about this group of guys at all. In fact, I knew we would improve later on in the season and I’m happy my prediction has proven true, especially with the emergence of our younger players and DeMar and Alex’s leadership. I think it’s good that we’re seen as “underdogs” too because we surprise people with our explosive talent. We’ve been faced with several overtime games this season, which have trained us to be prepared in “Back-Against-the-Wall” situations like the postseason. Even with all the injuries, I’m extremely proud of this team and other Bulls fans should be too. And I know some people are demanding trades, but I see what AK was talking about regarding “continuity”. I’m hoping we get the same roster — if not somewhat the same as the last few seasons because I’ve always enjoyed watching them play together.
Sam: They’ve had a nice run lately and have pulled out probably more than their share of close games recently, which sometimes can turn against you. But in sports we support the binary; you win and thus you are a winner, you lose and you must be a loser. Though remember last season when the Bulls had a nice run, or maybe it was the season before, and Billy Donovan said it could easily turn the other way with a shot here or there. And then it did. So we’ll get a better sense of this when we look back at the end of the season and whether the post season becomes just a playin game or two, or a playoff series or two. It will make all the difference. Though mostly ignored nationally for the obvious reasons of the record and the place in the standings — and despite what they might say, the national TV guys don’t watch the team because of, well, the record and… — those of us like you watching the team have mostly been pleased, if not also impressed, with the resilience (their favorite word) and ability to make comebacks and hold on at the end even in the most unlikely of situations, like the Indiana overtime win. Forget the bounce on the missed free throw, how do you get Obi Toppin to spike the ball out of bounds, basically the only way they could lose. But most games in at least basketball and football come down to the last few minutes, and succeeding there does mean something. And perhaps something that will catch by surprise a lot of those experts not watching the Bulls this season. The larger question is the plan. You just can’t assume because you won all those close ones and some Utah guy missed a wide open three at the end that all that will occur again. You’ve got to pick a lane, as they say, with who’ll be your core players, with whom you will support them and whether you veteran players are worth paying well into their late 30s. The question is typical for another day, whether to change for a new look or wear the same because it looked and felt good.
Suri Lennon: Is there a reason why Michael Jordan’s jersey isn’t retired league-wide? He’s achieved success during his career with the Bulls and without, so I’m just curious as to why the league hasn’t retired his jersey like they did Bill Russell. The Miami Heat have retired his jersey even though he never played for them and several players wear 23 for their team (Draymond Green, Lauri Markkanen, LeBron, and of course: Derrick Rose for the Grizzlies are a few to name), which I think shows the impact he’s made on the game and on generations.
Sam: I actually never understood why the Heat retired his jersey number. Probably Pat Riley — and he really has made some excellent financial decisions — knew Michael was going to open a golf course in Florida and maybe he wanted a comp membership. Of course, knowing Michael I doubt he does that. I guess I get the Russell thing, though he wasn’t exactly the all-time racial pioneer like Jackie Robinson in baseball. And in many ways Wilt and Kareem were more transformative figures in basketball for their impact on the game. I guess my meandering around here is a way to suggest it would seem ridiculous for every team to honor a player who played a big part in defeating them during his time, but also a player whose teams for almost seven years were badly outplayed often by teams led by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas in their primes, and that with LeBron James establishing the all-time scoring record and looking like he’ll play so long that many of his records never will be matched the tiresome debate about the greatest of all time will evolve until, and this I often have been assured of lately, that Victor Wembanyama passes them both. He’s No. 1! I do love the most vertical guy in the league picking a number to match his body type. Some of this retirement number thing has gotten way out of control as evidenced by Celtics players who soon will have to go to thee digit numbers. Hey, why haven’t the Wizards retired his number?
Robert Craggs: You guys don’t seem to realize that without Ayo the Bulls would not have been close enough to win many of these games! Give him the major credit he deserves to be playing his minutes. Hope Lavine never comes back!
Sam: This sounds like one of those I hear about on Twitter or TikTok or something else I don’t look at of anger without not paying enough attention to my team. OK, maybe TNT and ESPN are not discussing Dosunmu, but local Bulls media in newspapers, TV and web sites have been saluting Dosunmu like they’re privates walking through a convention of generals. The Bulls generally make two players available post game for interviews, and it’s been Ayo as much as anyone the last few weeks after previously he could go a month without speaking to a reporter (he tends to be quiet with media, if not with teammates, and modest, if always respectful). There have been almost as many stories lately told or written about his emergence as there were about Coby White with his, though the LaVine part is the ugly Bulls fan thing. Perhaps that’s also why Chicago doesn’t have a history of championship teams. I’ve noticed with several of the sports — though hope the executives don’t make their decisions that way — that fans develop a negative attitude toward a player when things don’t work out for a bit and then lobby to send him away; you see it with the Bears often. It even occurred with Derrick Rose in the then erroneous belief he didn’t want to play. So rather than add LaVine’s talent to the development of some of the young players there’s this ship him out on a rail thing. LaVine’s problem, if you want to call it that, was that the team set him up to be a Jordan/LeBron/KD (and KD hasn’t exactly been so on his own) when he was a Beal or Booker or Jamal Murray or Lillard type, and basically left as the main guy on their teams those players were good enough to make All-Star teams and not carry their teams much beyond a play-in or first round series. Klay Thompson is a max player, but he’s not leading any team to the playoffs. Or Khris Middleton or Jaylen Brown or Trae Young. The Bulls were on the way to a 50-win-ish team when Lonzo Ball got hurt. With what do you know, Zach LaVine as one of two main scorers. They’re not back to that level yet. The more talented players you lose the less talent you have. Calling Bartlett’s. How about that quote.
Alix Laroi: I watched Draymond Green’s most recent podcast and listened to his frustration and confusion with not being able to get wins at home, despite (and maybe in contrast to) them having success on the road. This made me think of the Bulls in a way because I feel like we’re going through something similar: maintaining big leads during games. After we beat the Blazers, too, and Caruso’s quote about “learning how to maintain our composure when being down 20...” Really stuck out to me because he also talked about how the guys are still learning how to keep critical leads and prevent opponents from getting back in the game. How do you think we can improve this? We were able to get the W against the Wizards, blowing them out by nearly 30; so how can we manage situations like these when it matters most?
Sam: Well, Draymond’s not the smartest guy. I actually don’t know, but he always says he is. So since the Warriors last season had the best home record in the West with basically the same team and finishing sixth in the regular season, I assume he’s having memory issues. That seems like a cliche answer from Caruso, but it’s regular season and that’s common. I don’t think it’s so much that the Bulls are this unique team that has trouble holding leads, and foot off the gas and letting go of the rope and all that, which is convenient in trying to come up with a one sentence explanation for an event that had 200 opportunities to score over two and a half hours. The regular season is filled with scheduling and personnel issues, meaning who is on a back-to-back, who traveled, who has players out injured, who is giving up a game to play some young players, long season and all. That’s always been the NBA, and why good teams lose to bad, and the Wizards are not 0-82. But the big sea change in the NBA in recent years that basically accounts for this is the part that I think has badly hurt the game, this overweening reliance on the three-point shot, though not obviously so much with the Bulls. But you see opponents coming in taking 60% of their attempts from three. So there’s these huge swings in games when all of a sudden someone makes or misses five or six in a row. I recall that last Celtics game and I think their first six shots were threes. But the Bulls also have gotten a bit better with Ayo and Coby taking more threes, so they’ve experienced more of the swings as well. This with the higher scoring is just becoming part of the NBA, and I know we’d like to have some analytical or strategic answer to this, but it’s sadly become more serendipity. Like Coby most often likes to say — and I actually prefer to disagree, but perhaps I just am holding onto a dying past — it’s a make or miss league.
Mike Sutera: So on TNT Thursday when they were showing our highlights against the Clippers Chuck said the Bulls couldn’t win March Madness. Love Chuck and think he's hilarious but it's clear to me he and Shaq do not watch any NBA games besides the ones they call on Thursday. Bulls came off a trip where we went 3-1 and had a huge win the night before. Also not to mention you take any lottery bound team and out them in college they easily win the tournament. It's like that whole thing where fans always question how certain guys can be in the NBA and say oh I can beat for example Henri Drell in a game of 1-on-1, Henri would destroy any regular joe in a game. It's just stupid talk.
Sam: Of course it’s stupid talk, which is partly why that show is the most popular sports show on TV and why ESPN never has figured out how to counter it by hiring people who keep yelling at us. You saw in that clip, of course as you note, Ernie and Kenny shaking their heads, which is why that show is so great; it’s just a bunch of guys like your friends talking about stupid stuff (sports) and really having little idea what they are talking about, but doing it with a wink and twinkle in their eyes. You’re in on the joke with them like nowhere else. They are not secretive of knowing Barkley does not watching games when they test him on players in the league and he’s never heard of most. He’s smart and insightful, but also the magic he has that few others do is not taking himself seriously and especially being able to be the butt of the joke and admit he was wrong. Professional players, and especially full of themselves media turned TV people, generally are too prideful to mea culpa as often as he does and willing to fall for the banana in the tail pipe trick played on him. Stupid talk also gets to a lot of your audience.
Parker Lerdal: Will hometown Chicago native Juwan Howard return to the NBA as a coach for next season after he got let go of the coach in Michigan for 5 seasons? Will the Bulls retire Derrick Rose jersey after his retirement as a final season in Memphis?
Sam: I don’t think the NBA, like the rest of us, takes college very seriously these days with all the money and transfers and firings, so I assume if he wanted to he could hook on as an assistant somewhere. He’s a smart guy who knows the game, and it sounded petty and ugly there in the ends; lots of he said, he said. Though it’s tough to become an assistant grunt after you were running such a high profile program. I suspect he’d wait out something more. The Bulls, as we know, don’t much like to retire jersey numbers. Which is actually OK as rosters expand. They seem to have remedied that with their Ring of Honor, wall of fame that I assume Rose eventually is added to. I believe he eventually should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but if he’s not there’s two Bulls even the NBA decided at least for one season was the GOAT. Rose is the other. That’s something. The Bulls made up a waiting period post retirement for their honor, so I assume eventually. It’s unlikely now despite the lobbying of some (like me) for a Rose return to the Bulls as a veteran bench guy as he has one more year on his Memphis contract and has been out injured a lot. But I can see one of those last day and retire as a Bulls things like Luol Deng did. It would be appropriate. He deserves to be back. On basketball talent and impact, there’s been only one player in franchise history who was better, albeit for a much shorter time. Maybe two. But not everyone is as big a fan of Chet Walker as I was.
Bill Kochneff: Hard to tell if the Bulls are rebuilding or not. Looks like for now White, Vučević, DeRozan, Caruso, and Drummond are sticking around. Craig is looking like a strong rotation player. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that the building blocks might just be White and Dosunmu? Like Caruso, Ayo seems fully capable of being a "plug and play" guy at the very least. Can't have enough of those kind of players on your team. Biggest question mark: Patrick Williams. If only he could follow in the steps of White and Dosunmu. Will he or won't he? I have absolutely no clue.
Sam: Join me and the Bulls management there. OK, just assuming that latter part. But though we mostly talk about big offseason decisions regarding DeRozan and LaVine, the biggest may be with Williams. Everyone pretty much assumes with the failure to reach a contract deal last fall that the Bulls pick up the qualifying offer—which is significant for cap purposes at $13 million—and he eventually becomes unrestricted after next season and the Bulls get one more look and maybe a sign and trade. But with the team’s evolution you notice do they even want it? If DeMar returns as most expect, is it worth another bench season for Williams with Craig in the fold? Is there a market? Part of a LaVine deal? How serious is his injury? Another of the offseason mysteries, and I also am interested to see how that story ends.
Nicholas Hill: I'm so tired of the empty stats narrative around Zach LaVine. "He doesn't effect winning!" What even are empty stats? It's not like he's scoring 20 points in garbage time with no assists or rebounds. It's such an annoying stamp that he really doesn't deserve. He never had a team around him to match his talent until 2021 and we know why that team fell apart. Just another Chicago all-star that is being thrown under the bus because he's not Jordan. I bet a lot of people are saying Coby is better and no he's not. He might be as good as Lavine in his last year in Minnesota. But on a positive note; if you look closely enough, you can see the next iteration of the roster forming. Phillips, P-Will (big if right now), Ayo and Coby. That lineup has a lot of versatility and all 5 can shoot. Although scoring may be a bit of a question mark. It'll be interesting to see who they pick this year. I'm personally hoping for a center. It would be nice to have a young player with some actual size. Kelel Ware would probably be my pick considering he fits the type of player that AKME has been drafting.
Sam: Hey, I said that. I also hate that empty stats thing, which is another of the shorthands for I don’t know why the team isn’t winning, so blame someone. It’s like the Zach’s not a winning player thing. You know, like Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon are. You know Gordon wasn’t when he stood next to Vooch and Mo Bamba (sorry Vooch) and now that he stands next to Jokic. You know LaVine can’t make a big shot, and then the Bulls were about to be bounced in that play-in game in Toronto last year and he made about 10 straight big shots to pull the upset. It’s a team game, and when Gregg Popovich wanted to put together his perfect team he asked Zach LaVine to be part of it to represent the US. But as we’ve often discussed, and I guess the Bulls have discussed more than we have, the time may have come for some farewells. We had our doubts, or at least questions, but some of those young players like White, Dosunmu, and perhaps Phillips have made an impact, and that will be a large question hanging over this summer’s personnel decisions. Trust White and Dosunmu to take that backcourt handoff from LaVine and DeRozan and give Williams a larger role? Or maybe give it just one more chance; just one more?
Michael Metz: Malik Monk’s a free agent this summer. A sign-and-trade for Zach?
Sam: The Kings are a team that’s come up often in connection with Zach speculation and a contract offer a few years back when he was restricted. And I don’t have a good feeling about them this season. They look like a play-in team, and I don’t see them making it through with their casual style of play. They could use a legitimate alternative scoring option who can create like Zach could with Fox and Sabonis, though the hangup probably would be taking on Zach’s contract. And especially the risk with Zach coming off surgery if it’s to be this summer. So I suspect it might take adding someone like Caruso to the deal. Maybe Craig? I do like something like that for the Bulls if they feel they cannot reintegrate LaVine because the Bulls still don’t have that big time catch-and-shoot guy like Monk. Start the rumors! Are you a source who may or may not know?
Guy Danilowitz: Phillips was starting to look good. His finish over Kawhi was masterful. Leonard thought he had the block. Seems like as soon as a young Bull starts looking good, they get injured, must be that MJ karma …
Sam: Nah, we’re long past the curse. Because, and I reiterate here again, again, again, the Bulls did not break up the 1998 champions: Michael sliced his right hand finger and needed surgery, Scottie Pippen had a second back surgery and was not the same as the Rockets found out and quickly traded him and was so mad anyway (see Last Dance) he wasn’t staying as a free agent, Rodman had that final break with reality and blew up the Lakers, Kerr, Buechler and Longley had one last chance to cash in and were taking it. And did you really want to see Michael like Curry dragging a 10th place team to the end? It’s like as a kid I recall Mickey Mantle at first base for those 10th place Yankees. Those Bulls were the ultimate Goldilocks team of all time. Well, maybe also the ’69 Celtics. That was just right.
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