The only meaning I find in these remaining games is watching the young guys play while everyone is out with injuries. I'd love for DeMar to get an injury and miss a month or so (don't wish that for him personally, obviously) just so we can see the young guys get lots of minutes and try to play a more up-tempo pace.
I disagree. Well, not about them getting waxed but about it being extended garbage time. Garbage time means you're playing against another teams' scrubs. If DeMar is out, the Bulls will still play another team's starters 25-30 minutes before that team puts their scrubs in. So it would still be some good experience for the young Bulls even if they're getting trounced.
I will grant that if it was anyone else out it does provide some opportunity
which then immediately makes me angry that they didn't trade Drummond or Caruso! What are they still doing here if they intended to give the younger players more opportunity?
That's the problem. They didn't intend to give the young guys more playing time. They intended to make the postseason and their best bet was to keep Drummond and AC to achieve that goal.
The only reason the young guys are getting minutes is because everyone is injured.
Just wanted to give you props on the first point. Not having to churn out content for the sake of it means a lot of what you are saying includes actual thought and reflection, which is lacking in today's content driven sports coverage.
The Bulls in-game experience is actually great and probably the best in Chicagoland sports (just in terms of what the team does vis a vis kids, timeouts, halftime, etc).
And the broadcast is honestly really high quality too. Maybe people don't like Adam or Stacey's style but they are definitely in the higher tier of local sportscasting.
The players all seem like objectively good folks too. LeBron is almost in the same playoff position, but provides a crazy amount of drama the DeMar avoids. Coby is genuinely nice, even Zach's media complaints are relatively tame.
It's really just a team construction problem that the management seems content to wait out, while betting that big market, basketball loving Chicago will put up with. With the Bulls not getting blown out every game like earlier this year, that bet may pay off.
Looking forward to Dalen Terry minutes, squinting into the sun to see his defensive potential, during the Gentlemen's sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
For any team you can look at their roster and wonder what X would do with more minutes, if they would help him next year, etc. The Bulls' Xs are simply not very good. I'm not being a hater but every team has like a lost 1st and 2 or 3 other guys that they're developing, but when you look at the quality of young prospects that are not really contributing at the moment even on win-now teams you recognize the real cost of what Karnisovas has spent to create this play-in caliber roster.
I would trade the entire back half of our roster tomorrow for young end-of-bench guys like Springer, Tillman and Queta (BOS), Ousmane Dieng, Keyontae Johnson, Olivier Sarr (OKC), Strawther, Watson, Nnaji (DEN), Andre Jackson, TyTy, Livingston, Beauchamp (MIL). Most of these guys will probably never be average-level starters but these are really a cut above what we have, and most are on teams that will trade everything not nailed down for a backup center or wing that might help in the conference semis. Yet somehow their "young prospects" are still significantly better prospects than ours.
The cupboard is bare and we still aren't done bleeding out picks.
Generally agree, although I'm not exactly sure what we have in Phillips and Bitim. We know Dalen stinks but I'd like to see a lot more of those guys. Possible (read as "probable") that neither one ever starts an NBA game but I'd like to at least know for sure.
Phillips is confusing. You'll see a flash of the guy doing something super athletic, or making a 3, but then you look at the big picture and he mostly looks like a non-shooting version of Tony Snell.
Yep, and Drum and Caruso could have landed some of these guys. Philips and Bitim are likely rotation NBA players….but so was Tony Snell! Ayo, PW, and Coby are good but not great, but I still (foolishly?) think they all have upside. If Dalen Terry doesn’t start shooting better he’ll be out of the league. Our youth is meh, just like our vets.
A gentleman's sweep?! I think there would be a higher likelihood of the NBA implementing a mercy rule after that series than the Bulls actually stealing a game.
Individual NBA players, scrubs or not, no matter who they are playing for, continue to be an astounding thing to watch. It's something that transcends this stupid team. Watched LeBron at his height wax the Bulls at the end of a game, just deciding in the last couple of minutes to win it because what the hell, and realized it was stupid to trade a Bulls win for missing that show. Rose obliterating the Cavs at an away game--never saw anything like that before or since.
Disagree with most comments and the general tone of pessimism.
The Bulls GM made a great move by keeping AD and AC.
They don’t need to make trades that do not help them win and those 2 guys help them win more than anyone else on the team.
Coach Donovan does some very good things in preparation and getting guys to play hard and execute the offense he designed. His team plays very good defense but the wrong guy is playing at 5. Hence he’s a blockhead in terms of knowing who to play and getting his team to execute in close games and at crunch times.
Andre is easily the best center on the team and one of the top 5-10 in the NBA yet many games last year he was benched and this year plays15- 20 Minutes unless there are injuries. If Williams or Craig were not injured last night… Andre plays 15-20 and they lose in regulation. Think I’m crazy?
Well advanced stats say he’s the first or second best rebounder IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA. He’s also one of the most efficient players on offense on the team. He’s got quick feet and good hands and gets deflections and steals.
He can guard 3-5 20 feet from the basket. He’s also an intimidating force and guys don’t want to battle him under the rim. He’s probably worth 3-4 points of offense and 4-5 on defense over there current center. Meanwhile Donovan likes Vuc 25 feet from the rim shooting 27% from 3 point range. He also likes 4 guys standing outside the 3 point line while someone who’s not good at going downhill goes 1 on 1. No one moves/cuts. No back doors for this team… his half court offense is horrible because his scheme and coaching is horrible.
The Bulls need a better coach and they need to get healthy.
Best case .. everyone gets healthy and the Bulls get a good draft pick for Zac in the off season or an All Star caliber 4 ( or point)
They also should try to trade Williams.
If their point can get healthy Coby moves to 2.
Demar at 3 Andre at 5 and they get lucky and get an athletic (All Star caliber) at 4 who can score and rebound.
I like their young guys and Donovan is crazy not to play them more. Caruso off the bench.. limit his playing time and try to keep him healthy.
Vuc off the bench with Craig and Ayo.
If Ball is out or just can’t come close to his pre injury performance then they need an all star point and possibly keep Williams.
This team has not been healthy and people forget that when Ball was playing they led the league for most of the first half.
Another key don’t keep Zac for any reason.. he’s a loser who doesn’t play defense or play smart.
A healthy Bulls team with a new player (All Star caliber) at 4 and Ball at point with Andre playing 30-35 minutes ( he will lead the league in rebounding at both ends) with DeMar at 3, Coby at 2 backed up by Craig,Caruso, Ayo, Nikola and their young guys is a team that can go deep in the playoffs. Since Donovan prefers Vuc ( who can’t protect the rim or defend) fire him!!!!
Okay weird, at first I couldn't like any comments, then I reloaded and I had liked all of them, and now I couldn't reply to this until I pressed "like" again and the reply box showed up.
What's funny about this is I remember I used to worry during fantasy drafts that Pop would bench his stars for most of the regular season, but you look back and except for strike years Tim Duncan only played less than 60 games once.
Obviously one thing has changed, which is premium ticket prices based on the opponent set every summer/fall. So people in Charlotte are paying to see Giannis and they're not seeing Giannis. (Jerry was at least an early adopter of this if not its pioneer. I remember being shocked to see they had charged a different price for home games vs. the Cavaliers during Lebron's rookie season, and realizing that he was going to get away with this even if Lebron was a bust because if he was nobody was going to be paying any price to watch Ricky Davis rebound the basketball to himself in pursuit of phantom triple doubles.)
Good article, but I am sorry, you cannot be a fraud if you are the 5/6 seed. Being occasionally awesome and also occasionally baffling is just what it means to be a 4/5/6 seed. So that's a "no" to your NOP application. Furthermore, you cannot be a fraud if no one currently believes in you. So that's a negative on MIL and MIN.
So while we appreciate your interest in #Fraudwatch, we must respectfully decline all three of your applications. Thank you.
I made it to halftime and could barely keep my eyes open. Watched the rest this morning and was not disappointed in Pat Bev and Bobby Portis causing the Bulls to lose their composure 😂
really though the part i laughed at was when i went to espn to check the score and the headline was as if they were surprised it was a blowout.
also i don't get why thibs got so much shit about minutes when here we are with guys playing 38 min a blowout and no one says anything (though wtf to giannis playing 37 also).
This is going to be the one and only defense of Dalen Terry I'll make: playing him 400 minutes in his second season is incredibly stupid.
Terry has not done much to justify more playing time, for sure. He's up to a paltry 10 mpg this year and somehow playing even worse than his totally forgettable rookie season. Nikola Jovic has played about the same number of minutes in his career as Terry but is "suddenly" a contributor at this point, the Heat have been grooming him for the last 18 months and it shows in how much he's improved. Terry's just a pain sponge soaking up minutes because everyone else that's better than him is injured.
This is the "basketball hell" that they didn't warn you about. It's not all mediocrity and play-in game exits. Compared to Jovic, nobody has any idea what Terry's position is, what role they seem him playing or even what he's supposed to be good at. In what game circumstances would you insert Dalen Terry? Nobody knows.
So yeah, I have no idea what this guy is doing but neither do the Bulls, and their grooming of him as a raw prospect has probably consisted of urging him to stay in Chicago in July and making fun of his diet like they have with Pat Williams. Get ready because we're probably going to be having this conversation about Julian Phillips next year too.
I'm not on Twitter, but have seen a couple articles with tweets embedded in them about Lonzo. One showing him dunking and one showing him shooting jumpers.
I love how those articles talk about how amazing he looks. I mean.. he looks ok? But goodness to say he looks better than before is not saying much lol.
Seriously! And they all act like he's rehabbing from a minor injury. He hasn't played basketball in over two years and had a surgery very few athletes have ever come back from...
The only meaning I find in these remaining games is watching the young guys play while everyone is out with injuries. I'd love for DeMar to get an injury and miss a month or so (don't wish that for him personally, obviously) just so we can see the young guys get lots of minutes and try to play a more up-tempo pace.
if DeMar is out they're getting waxed , just extended meaningless garbage time IMO
I disagree. Well, not about them getting waxed but about it being extended garbage time. Garbage time means you're playing against another teams' scrubs. If DeMar is out, the Bulls will still play another team's starters 25-30 minutes before that team puts their scrubs in. So it would still be some good experience for the young Bulls even if they're getting trounced.
I will grant that if it was anyone else out it does provide some opportunity
which then immediately makes me angry that they didn't trade Drummond or Caruso! What are they still doing here if they intended to give the younger players more opportunity?
That's the problem. They didn't intend to give the young guys more playing time. They intended to make the postseason and their best bet was to keep Drummond and AC to achieve that goal.
The only reason the young guys are getting minutes is because everyone is injured.
Just wanted to give you props on the first point. Not having to churn out content for the sake of it means a lot of what you are saying includes actual thought and reflection, which is lacking in today's content driven sports coverage.
The Bulls in-game experience is actually great and probably the best in Chicagoland sports (just in terms of what the team does vis a vis kids, timeouts, halftime, etc).
And the broadcast is honestly really high quality too. Maybe people don't like Adam or Stacey's style but they are definitely in the higher tier of local sportscasting.
The players all seem like objectively good folks too. LeBron is almost in the same playoff position, but provides a crazy amount of drama the DeMar avoids. Coby is genuinely nice, even Zach's media complaints are relatively tame.
It's really just a team construction problem that the management seems content to wait out, while betting that big market, basketball loving Chicago will put up with. With the Bulls not getting blown out every game like earlier this year, that bet may pay off.
How much did Reinsdork pay you to write this ? All that's missing is asking for Craptain Kirk to be put on the roster.
LOLed at that caption
AK Bulls are predictably uninteresting. The last thing you'd want to be if the goal is anything other than unearned big population city game sellouts.
Looking forward to Dalen Terry minutes, squinting into the sun to see his defensive potential, during the Gentlemen's sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
For any team you can look at their roster and wonder what X would do with more minutes, if they would help him next year, etc. The Bulls' Xs are simply not very good. I'm not being a hater but every team has like a lost 1st and 2 or 3 other guys that they're developing, but when you look at the quality of young prospects that are not really contributing at the moment even on win-now teams you recognize the real cost of what Karnisovas has spent to create this play-in caliber roster.
I would trade the entire back half of our roster tomorrow for young end-of-bench guys like Springer, Tillman and Queta (BOS), Ousmane Dieng, Keyontae Johnson, Olivier Sarr (OKC), Strawther, Watson, Nnaji (DEN), Andre Jackson, TyTy, Livingston, Beauchamp (MIL). Most of these guys will probably never be average-level starters but these are really a cut above what we have, and most are on teams that will trade everything not nailed down for a backup center or wing that might help in the conference semis. Yet somehow their "young prospects" are still significantly better prospects than ours.
The cupboard is bare and we still aren't done bleeding out picks.
Generally agree, although I'm not exactly sure what we have in Phillips and Bitim. We know Dalen stinks but I'd like to see a lot more of those guys. Possible (read as "probable") that neither one ever starts an NBA game but I'd like to at least know for sure.
Phillips is confusing. You'll see a flash of the guy doing something super athletic, or making a 3, but then you look at the big picture and he mostly looks like a non-shooting version of Tony Snell.
Yep, and Drum and Caruso could have landed some of these guys. Philips and Bitim are likely rotation NBA players….but so was Tony Snell! Ayo, PW, and Coby are good but not great, but I still (foolishly?) think they all have upside. If Dalen Terry doesn’t start shooting better he’ll be out of the league. Our youth is meh, just like our vets.
A gentleman's sweep?! I think there would be a higher likelihood of the NBA implementing a mercy rule after that series than the Bulls actually stealing a game.
There will be a game where the Celtics shoot 8/48 from three, all wide open but missed due to, uh, determination
And they'll still win because the Bulls will shoot 5/30 from three due to, uh, lack of talent.
Individual NBA players, scrubs or not, no matter who they are playing for, continue to be an astounding thing to watch. It's something that transcends this stupid team. Watched LeBron at his height wax the Bulls at the end of a game, just deciding in the last couple of minutes to win it because what the hell, and realized it was stupid to trade a Bulls win for missing that show. Rose obliterating the Cavs at an away game--never saw anything like that before or since.
Disagree with most comments and the general tone of pessimism.
The Bulls GM made a great move by keeping AD and AC.
They don’t need to make trades that do not help them win and those 2 guys help them win more than anyone else on the team.
Coach Donovan does some very good things in preparation and getting guys to play hard and execute the offense he designed. His team plays very good defense but the wrong guy is playing at 5. Hence he’s a blockhead in terms of knowing who to play and getting his team to execute in close games and at crunch times.
Andre is easily the best center on the team and one of the top 5-10 in the NBA yet many games last year he was benched and this year plays15- 20 Minutes unless there are injuries. If Williams or Craig were not injured last night… Andre plays 15-20 and they lose in regulation. Think I’m crazy?
Well advanced stats say he’s the first or second best rebounder IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA. He’s also one of the most efficient players on offense on the team. He’s got quick feet and good hands and gets deflections and steals.
He can guard 3-5 20 feet from the basket. He’s also an intimidating force and guys don’t want to battle him under the rim. He’s probably worth 3-4 points of offense and 4-5 on defense over there current center. Meanwhile Donovan likes Vuc 25 feet from the rim shooting 27% from 3 point range. He also likes 4 guys standing outside the 3 point line while someone who’s not good at going downhill goes 1 on 1. No one moves/cuts. No back doors for this team… his half court offense is horrible because his scheme and coaching is horrible.
The Bulls need a better coach and they need to get healthy.
Best case .. everyone gets healthy and the Bulls get a good draft pick for Zac in the off season or an All Star caliber 4 ( or point)
They also should try to trade Williams.
If their point can get healthy Coby moves to 2.
Demar at 3 Andre at 5 and they get lucky and get an athletic (All Star caliber) at 4 who can score and rebound.
I like their young guys and Donovan is crazy not to play them more. Caruso off the bench.. limit his playing time and try to keep him healthy.
Vuc off the bench with Craig and Ayo.
If Ball is out or just can’t come close to his pre injury performance then they need an all star point and possibly keep Williams.
This team has not been healthy and people forget that when Ball was playing they led the league for most of the first half.
Another key don’t keep Zac for any reason.. he’s a loser who doesn’t play defense or play smart.
A healthy Bulls team with a new player (All Star caliber) at 4 and Ball at point with Andre playing 30-35 minutes ( he will lead the league in rebounding at both ends) with DeMar at 3, Coby at 2 backed up by Craig,Caruso, Ayo, Nikola and their young guys is a team that can go deep in the playoffs. Since Donovan prefers Vuc ( who can’t protect the rim or defend) fire him!!!!
This is truly exhilarating! Can you write some more, please??
Please No......
"Well advanced stats say he’s the first or second best rebounder IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA."
No they don't.
🌍👨🚀🔫👩🚀 🌕
Ricky O is saying Carter ‘pulled a Ben Simmons’ passing up that layup 🤣🤣🤣
https://apple.news/AssnkjByRSHCXI6XHesooLA
someone just outed themselves as not clicking on all the links I painstakingly put in these posts
I think I may have found something actually interesting to follow the rest of the way:
can Caruso even qualify for All-Defense team? Needs to play in 20/23 of the remaining games, and over 20 minutes in all of them: https://substack.com/profile/3012-your-friendly-bullsblogger/note/c-50712140?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2bo
Okay weird, at first I couldn't like any comments, then I reloaded and I had liked all of them, and now I couldn't reply to this until I pressed "like" again and the reply box showed up.
What's funny about this is I remember I used to worry during fantasy drafts that Pop would bench his stars for most of the regular season, but you look back and except for strike years Tim Duncan only played less than 60 games once.
Obviously one thing has changed, which is premium ticket prices based on the opponent set every summer/fall. So people in Charlotte are paying to see Giannis and they're not seeing Giannis. (Jerry was at least an early adopter of this if not its pioneer. I remember being shocked to see they had charged a different price for home games vs. the Cavaliers during Lebron's rookie season, and realizing that he was going to get away with this even if Lebron was a bust because if he was nobody was going to be paying any price to watch Ricky Davis rebound the basketball to himself in pursuit of phantom triple doubles.)
Stopping rest games is not about the fans, it’s about casinos!
Good article, but I am sorry, you cannot be a fraud if you are the 5/6 seed. Being occasionally awesome and also occasionally baffling is just what it means to be a 4/5/6 seed. So that's a "no" to your NOP application. Furthermore, you cannot be a fraud if no one currently believes in you. So that's a negative on MIL and MIN.
So while we appreciate your interest in #Fraudwatch, we must respectfully decline all three of your applications. Thank you.
I have taken this to heart and am not evaluating the Kings
Roster snapshot for the Bucks -> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHnTvzqa0AAfgIr.png
revenge on Gallinari for the snub?!?
jeez i was thinking this game started at 9 eastern, not central lol. guess i'll have to see how badly they embarrass themselves tomorrow haha.
I made it to halftime and could barely keep my eyes open. Watched the rest this morning and was not disappointed in Pat Bev and Bobby Portis causing the Bulls to lose their composure 😂
ahaha.
really though the part i laughed at was when i went to espn to check the score and the headline was as if they were surprised it was a blowout.
also i don't get why thibs got so much shit about minutes when here we are with guys playing 38 min a blowout and no one says anything (though wtf to giannis playing 37 also).
::me checking every Bulls box score::
Oh thank God Vuc has double the next closest teammate in field goal attempts
Remember when Vuc said it should be him
And we thought it was funny
But then it somehow became him anyway
For me personally Vooch is the most infuriating player to watch on this team.
He's like a "poor man's Jokic" in the same way that Brad Sellers was a "poor man's Karl Malone."
Dalen Terry is truly awful at basketball.
He'd probably be playable if he could shoot with something close to league average efficiency. But that's apparently asking for too much.
This is going to be the one and only defense of Dalen Terry I'll make: playing him 400 minutes in his second season is incredibly stupid.
Terry has not done much to justify more playing time, for sure. He's up to a paltry 10 mpg this year and somehow playing even worse than his totally forgettable rookie season. Nikola Jovic has played about the same number of minutes in his career as Terry but is "suddenly" a contributor at this point, the Heat have been grooming him for the last 18 months and it shows in how much he's improved. Terry's just a pain sponge soaking up minutes because everyone else that's better than him is injured.
This is the "basketball hell" that they didn't warn you about. It's not all mediocrity and play-in game exits. Compared to Jovic, nobody has any idea what Terry's position is, what role they seem him playing or even what he's supposed to be good at. In what game circumstances would you insert Dalen Terry? Nobody knows.
So yeah, I have no idea what this guy is doing but neither do the Bulls, and their grooming of him as a raw prospect has probably consisted of urging him to stay in Chicago in July and making fun of his diet like they have with Pat Williams. Get ready because we're probably going to be having this conversation about Julian Phillips next year too.
Terry back out of the rotation. When Torrey Craig returns Terry really should be back in the GLeague
I love that every time we get a negative Lonzo update, it's quickly followed by footage of him doing something basketball-y.
where was this? on the broadcast or just instagram?
I'm not on Twitter, but have seen a couple articles with tweets embedded in them about Lonzo. One showing him dunking and one showing him shooting jumpers.
I love how those articles talk about how amazing he looks. I mean.. he looks ok? But goodness to say he looks better than before is not saying much lol.
Seriously! And they all act like he's rehabbing from a minor injury. He hasn't played basketball in over two years and had a surgery very few athletes have ever come back from...
Kings roster snapshot (Fox is questionable): https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GH3WczzbIAAF04k.png
lots of continuity! (though with actual good reason)
Nets were 9 point favorites and lost hosting the Grizzlies led by Luke Kennard 🚮