Zach Lowe on the Bulls (no, he’s not optimistic about them)

23 comments

1. This is about how I feel. I love Matas. Like I love his personality and hes the first Bulls player to get me to watch the YouTube shorts for his answers and not just the *Run with Us* episodes.

   I feel our best direction right now is to lean into **size and skill**. The Thunder did it, the Magic are doing it, and its the only way I can wrap my head around drafting Noa Essengua is if we think we can make a lineup thats always got 4 guys 6’8 or taller and everyone can dribble and shoot *somewhat*.

   I like Ayo too. Id keep Ayo and Matas for sure.

2. duh

3. Matas will be a top 30 NBA Player within 3 seasons. Watch this space. >!Im delusional!<

4. The Bulls will probably continue to push the pace like they did in the 2nd half of last season. It will make for some fun games, but I don’t expect a winning record. Being young & fast has its advantages though

5. Why don’t you just say that he said about Giddey? Is this viral marketing for The Ringer or something?

6. Thanks for posting. Enjoyed that discussion.

   It’s honest.

   It makes me sad watching Bulls fans trying to read things into the tea leaves that really just aren’t there.

   There’s nothing going on with this team. If everything goes right for them and they catch every break… they’re a mediocre team. That’s it.

   There’s very few teams in the NBA where you can say “if every single ball bounces their way they’re still just a nothing squad…” and the Bulls are one of those teams. And have been forever.

7. Saw a season ticket email today upper bowl starting at $70 yeah I’ll passs lol

8. The Giddey haters who want him to fail don’t make any sense to me! especially if you are supposedly a bulls fan. If the second half of the season was the real Josh Giddey that is a good thing, and you should be happy that the bulls are actually negotiating with him and not just giving him what he wants if you don’t like him.

9. Zach Lowe, Bill Simmons etc are professional clickbait artists, I care very little for what these media guys have to say these days because they’re very clearly all about engagement farming and pushing narratives.

10. Sadly, this is spot on.

    I consider myself to be a generally optimistic sports fan and I even have taken some sips of the Kool-Aid last 6 months or so with this team but if I’m being honest, we’re stuck in NBA purgatory until AKME is gone.

    Even then, we will need to pray Reinsdorf lucks into a good hire for the next GM.

    Go Bulls!

11. Those Giddy comparisons they threw out there were atrocious. And I think that’s why you gotta roll with Giddy going forward for a bit and see what happens. He has no comparison, so how do we know what the ceiling is? Might as well find out, teams not going anywhere anyways. He’s 22 years old that should be exactly the young player bulls fans should be rooting for to develop.

    Only three players last season that scored more than 14ppg, 8rpg, and 7ast. It was jokic, luka, and giddy. Not a stat that’s all that relevant to my point but that’s not nothing.

12. 

    IM SHOCKED

13. Lowe is about as unbiased and knowledgeable of an analyst you are going to find. I think he’s basically spot on here

14. I understand the hate he bulls get but at the same time I don’t mind path the bulls are taking. Young tall athletic guys Matas, Noa, DT, JP, giddy.

    Years ago they were drafting 23-24 year olds with no vertical lol

15. The owners of all chicago sports teams are in this to maximize profits. Winning is secondary, if it’s even that important. If Matas becomes a superstar, he will be traded away. 

16. They’re gonna have to get lucky with drafting and developing. This front office is never going to fleece anyway in a trade and they aren’t good enough to get the A- level star in free agency

17. I am not optimistic either but more than they were. So, if the Giddy shooting spike was real (and that is big if) I think he much better than Hedo Turkogulu. And the stats back it up, if you compare there first four season Giddy is basically better at everything other than 3P%. And not by a little, twice as many points per game, 5 more ast., and it has limitations by a VORP of 6.8 v 4.2. If Giddy fails I think it will be because his shooting falls back to earth. 

    I am also higher on Matas than them. 

18. As long as we have Yuki I have hope

19. You guys did the same thing with the national media when GarPax had a good tank job going and then AKME were brought in with obviously a directive to abandon the tank and get the team to the playoffs no matter what so they traded for/signed/acquired every castoff/misfit that became available for good reason. The national media doesn’t know the Bulls and I, for one, am actually pretty excited about this roster. The goal was to get younger and acquire players with potential. We got younger and acquired players with potential. I’m excited about Giddey. I’m excited about Matas. I like the new kid they drafted. Donovan is a good coach. I haven’t given up on Pat. Julian Philips, Jalen Smith, Ayo Dosunmu, Dalen Terry — all guys with their best years ahead of them. Things are going in the right direction.

20. Apparently I’m way higher on Giddey than most

21. They had a winning record after the trade last year. 17-7. And that was with injuries. And we got better. The team had turned a corner. I don’t pay attention to the national media as they don’t follow the team close enough. The second half was more than just fun ball. It was winning ball.

22. There’s a reason Simmons had us as the #1 team in the East that he’d rather not be. We’re rudderless and don’t have any real assets. Everyone sees it.

23. Anyone’s opinion of the Bulls centers on your opinion of Giddey, their moves don’t make sense on a team without him at its core. Matas, Noa, and Okoro were all brought in to facilitate an up tempo, movement offense. They need these types of upside bets to pay off big to get the best out of Giddey while covering his weaknesses, which were outlined pretty thoroughly in Lowe’s discussion, if a bit harsh imo.