Not fully relevant to this thread but any idea why Buzelis didn't play at the end of the game? As well as PWill and Huerter played, I would have rather had him out there. He could ice those Kornet lobs and to be totally honest I'd rather put him out on iso against VWemby then Vuc.
“The two bigs out there and then him having to be in coverage, I think that was really challenging for him quite honestly,” Donovan said. “We weren't switching. We had been switching earlier in the game with Barnes.”
I love Buzi but yeah, I agree with Billy he was not matching up well defensively with the Spurs in the 4th quarter.
Bulls Spurs is an instructive comparison. The Spurs had young 'talent' in Vassell, Sochan, Keldon Johnson that was supposed to be their new core. They are still on the roster but replaced with better players...obviously Fox but also clearly Castle and Dylan Harper. Their young core is now their bench. The Bulls started that same process last year with Matas for PW. They SHOULD have drafted another ready replacement this year instead of Noah (I believe they had Cedric Howard in their sights but Memphis jumped in front of them with a smart trade, while AKME sat back as usual).
What was clear last night and its good to be reminded was who can play when the game is on the line and who can't. Not surprising, but soooo clear. Yes: Huerter, Jones, Jalen Smith (Giddey and Coby fit that group too; Ayo also, but he either wasn't healthy last night or Wemby scared him away from the rim; I think Zach Collins is also a fine backup center). Clearly no: Okoro, PW, Vuc + the bench long-tail). Matas missing in the final lineup was clearly Donovan over-thinking; Matas is playing way too lose right now, yes, but he's aggressive with talent. PW and Okoro have the same sloppy downside with much less upside). Good start but they need to clean that all up.
And also: Wemby to me seems like a dick. A talented dick, but I found myself rooting hard against him last night to fail. Unfortunately, those final threes shut me up. Probably just jealous :)
I'm not sure the Bulls' situation in regards to drafting players is the same as San Antonio's. The Spurs drafted Wemby #1 in 2023, drafted Castle #4 last year and then drafted Harper at #2 this year. All three of those guys were known quantities with high upsides, hence being such high draft picks.
The Bulls continue to draft outside of the top 10 where known quantities are all but gone or have limited upside. Since the Bulls don't currently have a Wemby-type player (young, superstar upside) to build around, they kind of have to take swings at unproven, but high upside young guys like Matas and Essengue. Sure, Coward is good, but the expectation is that his ceiling is fairly low. What does that do for the Bulls?
I'm not saying we'll look back in 10 years and say Essengue was the better player than Coward. It's quite possible he won't be. But Essengue clearly has a way higher ceiling than Coward and that's kind of what the Bulls need to prioritize right now.
Regarding your final paragraph, I'm not sure I see how Wemby seems like a dick. He seems way more humble than most superstars in the league to me.
I was going to put in a bit about Buzelis losing playing time, especially to end games, but will wait and see on the Pistons game
this shouldn't be too surprising: Billy played Buzelis last year only because others got hurt, even when he was contributing more than veterans Billy didn't 'trust' it. And he may be right on that, but it is a '43 wins by any means necessary' mindset versus 'building while competitive'
Some of the amazing "recovery" plays Buzi makes on defense tend to cover up a real lack of defensive awareness that I've been noticing quite often (e.g., head often turned the wrong way when guys make basket cuts, not understanding his assignment, switching communication issues, etc.). Like, blocking your own man's shot from behind is a pretty incredible thing he can do consistently, but why is he behind that guy consistently?
He's young and learning (and still too skinny to body up bigger guys). I feel like he's going to get better, unlike Zach who we finally understood was a lost cause. But I understand what Billy is seeing on that end, and that's why Billy sat him (as Billy explained).
Now the alternative was PWill, and, well...different strengths there (literally) but not sure I like seeing him play crunch time minutes on offense. In fact, I kind of hated that.
The Bulls franchise is not "perpetually running in place; a third of the NBA franchises are perpetually without an NBA championship.
I suppose injuries matter for all teams except the Bulls.
Coby White is a major cog in the wheel; call him and Josh Giddey 1A and 1B if you will. Now they're both out.
The biggest predictor of a team's chances in their next game is the quality of their next opponent. The Bulls schedule was easier, now it's harder, next it'll be easier. Let's see if they revert to winning if they're healthy.
I've leaned into the "well, fine, let's just see what happens if we try to be good" side of my Bulls fan brain/heart this year, and honestly whatever happens the rest of the way, I think 6-4 to start the year, against that schedule, and with our best scoring option out all 10 games, was an absolutely incredible achievement -- especially considering we were competitive in all four of those losses, with 2 coming down to the wire. And all losses against arguably top 10-or-12 teams in the NBA, with three on the road. Games where all but the most elite teams come in as underdogs.
I think we probably would have won last night with a healthy Giddey. And while the analysis about Coby White in this post is also probably correct (his replacements have been balling out at a high level), Coby is the closest thing on our roster to a star that can counter the "superstar effect" in 4th quarters. He's also the guy who dunked over Wemby last year -- nobody else came close to trying that last night.
But...<screeches tires>...a quick left turn, let's pivot to the Mavs GM news. AD trade rumors are swirling. Probably worth a post of its own, but is there any world where we get AD and we're thrilled about it? (I mean the real-life current version of AD who's aging, constantly injured, and paid a boatload -- not the platonic ideal of what AD can be.).
I highly doubt the Bulls would go for Davis anytime soon. He has a a hit of 53k over the next three years and even assuming a swap for Vuc it would put them over the first apron and close to the second.
Not fully relevant to this thread but any idea why Buzelis didn't play at the end of the game? As well as PWill and Huerter played, I would have rather had him out there. He could ice those Kornet lobs and to be totally honest I'd rather put him out on iso against VWemby then Vuc.
Billy's words:
“The two bigs out there and then him having to be in coverage, I think that was really challenging for him quite honestly,” Donovan said. “We weren't switching. We had been switching earlier in the game with Barnes.”
I love Buzi but yeah, I agree with Billy he was not matching up well defensively with the Spurs in the 4th quarter.
Bulls Spurs is an instructive comparison. The Spurs had young 'talent' in Vassell, Sochan, Keldon Johnson that was supposed to be their new core. They are still on the roster but replaced with better players...obviously Fox but also clearly Castle and Dylan Harper. Their young core is now their bench. The Bulls started that same process last year with Matas for PW. They SHOULD have drafted another ready replacement this year instead of Noah (I believe they had Cedric Howard in their sights but Memphis jumped in front of them with a smart trade, while AKME sat back as usual).
What was clear last night and its good to be reminded was who can play when the game is on the line and who can't. Not surprising, but soooo clear. Yes: Huerter, Jones, Jalen Smith (Giddey and Coby fit that group too; Ayo also, but he either wasn't healthy last night or Wemby scared him away from the rim; I think Zach Collins is also a fine backup center). Clearly no: Okoro, PW, Vuc + the bench long-tail). Matas missing in the final lineup was clearly Donovan over-thinking; Matas is playing way too lose right now, yes, but he's aggressive with talent. PW and Okoro have the same sloppy downside with much less upside). Good start but they need to clean that all up.
And also: Wemby to me seems like a dick. A talented dick, but I found myself rooting hard against him last night to fail. Unfortunately, those final threes shut me up. Probably just jealous :)
I'm not sure the Bulls' situation in regards to drafting players is the same as San Antonio's. The Spurs drafted Wemby #1 in 2023, drafted Castle #4 last year and then drafted Harper at #2 this year. All three of those guys were known quantities with high upsides, hence being such high draft picks.
The Bulls continue to draft outside of the top 10 where known quantities are all but gone or have limited upside. Since the Bulls don't currently have a Wemby-type player (young, superstar upside) to build around, they kind of have to take swings at unproven, but high upside young guys like Matas and Essengue. Sure, Coward is good, but the expectation is that his ceiling is fairly low. What does that do for the Bulls?
I'm not saying we'll look back in 10 years and say Essengue was the better player than Coward. It's quite possible he won't be. But Essengue clearly has a way higher ceiling than Coward and that's kind of what the Bulls need to prioritize right now.
Regarding your final paragraph, I'm not sure I see how Wemby seems like a dick. He seems way more humble than most superstars in the league to me.
I was going to put in a bit about Buzelis losing playing time, especially to end games, but will wait and see on the Pistons game
this shouldn't be too surprising: Billy played Buzelis last year only because others got hurt, even when he was contributing more than veterans Billy didn't 'trust' it. And he may be right on that, but it is a '43 wins by any means necessary' mindset versus 'building while competitive'
Some of the amazing "recovery" plays Buzi makes on defense tend to cover up a real lack of defensive awareness that I've been noticing quite often (e.g., head often turned the wrong way when guys make basket cuts, not understanding his assignment, switching communication issues, etc.). Like, blocking your own man's shot from behind is a pretty incredible thing he can do consistently, but why is he behind that guy consistently?
He's young and learning (and still too skinny to body up bigger guys). I feel like he's going to get better, unlike Zach who we finally understood was a lost cause. But I understand what Billy is seeing on that end, and that's why Billy sat him (as Billy explained).
Now the alternative was PWill, and, well...different strengths there (literally) but not sure I like seeing him play crunch time minutes on offense. In fact, I kind of hated that.
The Bulls franchise is not "perpetually running in place; a third of the NBA franchises are perpetually without an NBA championship.
I suppose injuries matter for all teams except the Bulls.
Coby White is a major cog in the wheel; call him and Josh Giddey 1A and 1B if you will. Now they're both out.
The biggest predictor of a team's chances in their next game is the quality of their next opponent. The Bulls schedule was easier, now it's harder, next it'll be easier. Let's see if they revert to winning if they're healthy.
I've leaned into the "well, fine, let's just see what happens if we try to be good" side of my Bulls fan brain/heart this year, and honestly whatever happens the rest of the way, I think 6-4 to start the year, against that schedule, and with our best scoring option out all 10 games, was an absolutely incredible achievement -- especially considering we were competitive in all four of those losses, with 2 coming down to the wire. And all losses against arguably top 10-or-12 teams in the NBA, with three on the road. Games where all but the most elite teams come in as underdogs.
I think we probably would have won last night with a healthy Giddey. And while the analysis about Coby White in this post is also probably correct (his replacements have been balling out at a high level), Coby is the closest thing on our roster to a star that can counter the "superstar effect" in 4th quarters. He's also the guy who dunked over Wemby last year -- nobody else came close to trying that last night.
But...<screeches tires>...a quick left turn, let's pivot to the Mavs GM news. AD trade rumors are swirling. Probably worth a post of its own, but is there any world where we get AD and we're thrilled about it? (I mean the real-life current version of AD who's aging, constantly injured, and paid a boatload -- not the platonic ideal of what AD can be.).
I highly doubt the Bulls would go for Davis anytime soon. He has a a hit of 53k over the next three years and even assuming a swap for Vuc it would put them over the first apron and close to the second.