Are Matas Buzelis & Isaac Okoro the ANSWER to the Bulls Frontcourt Issues? | CHGO Bulls Podcast

Are Matas Buzelis & Isaac Okoro the ANSWER to the Bulls Frontcourt Issues? | CHGO Bulls Podcast

Big Dave, CHGO Bulls. It is Friday. I am really excited. Not because it’s Friday, but because my main man from the Big Red Bus podcast, C Red Fred is here with his Big Red binder with his Big Red takes. We’re going to get into all of it. Allstar game changes. Billy Donovan Hall of Fame, Isaac Auroro, Bulls Front Court. We got a lot to get into. Marqu’s in the chat, too. Katie, slap him. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I’ve been [Music] CH Bulls. It’s Friday. I’m excited. I’m not trying to scare you, Katie, but this is where I’m at right now with my energy and excitement. It is Friday, ladies and gentlemen. It is a NFL weekend. It is a Bears football weekend. They play on Monday night. Go Bears, Vikings. Thank y’all for being here. That is Will the Goleave. You can follow him at will Godleeve on the ones and twos. Perfectly manicured as always is Katie Duffy and I am Big Dave. B AW Bow Sports is where you can follow me. But the man of the hour with the soul power is the one down there at the end. You see him, you know him, you love him. His name from the Big Red Bus podcast, our guy C Red Fred. How you doing, brother? Oh, I I I am doing absolutely awesome. I can’t thank you enough for having me on the Chicago Institution. I’m so excited. I see Mark Hayes in in the chat already. That’s great. Our good old friend from Australia. Well, I must admit I was shocked when I finally met him. I expected him to be like 5t tall or like 411. He’s actually a normal 5’11. So, it was great to see him. It’s great to see him and I’m really excited about today’s show as we get in dig deep into Isaac of Coral as we take all things the glorious monstrosity out for a ride on the streets of New York Chicago. What did you think of my uh intro imitation of you? It was incredible. I’ve been waiting so long to do that. I was like we need to get Doug on just so that I can say the great one Doug Tonis. How you doing, brother? I loved it. You’re a fan for it. You Oh, yeah. I thought it was incredible. Like and I actually said like if you played it out of nine of 10, if you paid it uh played it to 10 listeners, nine out of 10 would have said that you were better. Yeah. Nine out of our 10 total listeners that we said 9 to 10 listeners. That’s the kind of math you can expect out of that binder today, ladies and gentlemen, from our guys Red Fred. We are going to be talking Bulls front court. We’re going to be talking Isaac Auroro for sure. Also, we got some other news and notes that we are going to dive into. How about right now? How about the NBA All-Star game changing its format, ladies and gents? The format for the 2026 NBA All-Star game is likely to be roundroin tournament consisting of three eight player teams, two USA teams, and one world team. The two USA teams and one world squad would play each other in 12 minute quarters. The All-Star game will be played in Los Angeles at the Into It Dome, uh, the home of the Clippers on February 15th. The game will be aired on NBC and will shift from Sunday evening to a Sunday afternoon start time. This is all coming from the man Shams at ESPN. They took it off. They took it off prime time. They did put it into the afternoon slot. They did. Good. I’ll start with you. Your feelings on this? Yeah, it’s interesting. Um I I do feel like they need to continue experimenting to try to find something that works or just give up on it. Uh because it really has been just not worth it. Honestly, it’s like really just about the accolade at this point. Um the for the last couple years I’ve been feeling like shorter games would be better because at the end if it’s close they do try. I don’t know if you guys would agree or disagree with that. So I feel like having it competition kicks in. Exactly. You’re like mess around for three and a half quarters and then if the game’s close then they start to try. So for me, like having shorter games would just ideally make you try from the start because there’s not enough time to dog it in the first three and a half quarters. You just got kind of got to go for it. So I’m hopeful this works and maybe like the round robin element. I also like I feel like the Euro, not the Euro team, but the world team will try. I feel like they will come with the energy and maybe that will inspire the the team USA guys to try a little bit harder. I don’t know. What do you think? What say you? Uh, well, you know, do you guys know what All-Star game had the biggest largest US viewership? Can you take a guess? Was it the one in Chicago? No, it was in Utah 19 1993. Okay. Were you alive in 93, Will? I was. Okay, good. All right. Sure. I was a whopping one-year-old. Do you remember it? You remember, right, Katie? Uh, there was 20 there was 22 million people who watched that game. Obviously, it was Jordan. There were 4.7 million who watched the All-Star game last year. So, it’s been a steady decline. in two in 2003 was the last time they were over I think 10 million or more. Um so they have to do something. This is a business decision and I think the growth in bringing in an international audience and the NBA doesn’t really share those numbers. I think this was a brilliant move. I think it’s going to work. I and I think you’re right Will. I think these international teams are going to take a lot of pride in trying to beat the uh US team and I think the US team overall there’s no doubt about this. US has uh got overall the better amount of really quality players despite Jokic, despite Luca. Uh so I think it it will result in a massive success for the US. Do you feel this way? Well, I think that they have better depth, but I think the top five players in the world right now are non-American. Yeah. Shay, Joician, Luca, Giannis. I guess Embiid would be in there if he was healthy, but we can’t say that definitively. Shay’s gonna play for the intern. Yes. Oh, really? I’m shocked to hear DVR put up put up their picture of you know pick on uh Twitter of what the world team could look like like picking your own world team and it’s very similar to what go just said Luca Shay Giannis Joker and they had Pascal Seakum as well. If Josh Kitty makes the allar team he will play for the he’ll be playing Yeah. He will play for the world. Yes. You know I I do have to say this though. One bit of good news. Everybody should be excited. Every Bulls fan should watch the All-Star game next year. You know why? Why is this? Out of the last uh 25 winners of the player of the month award uh in the Eastern Conference since co 25 of them. They give out five a year. Uh there’s only been actually 12 players that win the award. Obviously Giannis won it multiple times. Embiid won it multiple times. 11 of the 12 all made an all-star team. In fact, 11 of the 12 made an allNBA team. The only player to not make an all-star team to win that prestigious award was Kobe White in March of this past year. It will be a massive statistical anomaly if Kobe White does not make the All-Star team. And we should all be excited about this. So, I’m looking forward to watching Kobe in his first All-Star game next. And he’ll be 21 in that game. Uh, excuse me, 25. Yes. Turn 26 the day after. So, young, exciting. We should all be excited about Kobe White. That’s that reminds me of Derek Rose being the only MVP that’s not in the Hall of Fame. So hopefully both of those things turn out better than how they are right now. Way to take a lot of cold water and dump it right on that point. Brilliant. I see Mark in the comments and I just have to do his bidding a little bit. Yeah. Just do do it. Yeah. Yeah. Keep you in line. Keep you in check with that. But does this excite you though in any kind of way just seeing these kind of changes to the All-Star game? Does does that make you want to watch more? Is it the same level that you kind of approach it with every year? Absolutely. I I I’m excited about I think it is going to create a lot of intrigue and interest and you know national pride. Uh kind of like replicating the Olympics. In fact, I think the winter Olympics are going to be going on. Yes. During this kind of kind of push this idea kind of forward. I love moving into the afternoon. I mean, my kids aren’t young anymore, but I think that’s always a good idea to try to get younger kids involved and excited about it. Okay. I think it’s a brilliant move. I’m really excited. I think it’s going to rejuvenate the I do like I do like the move to the afternoon because in my opinion, I feel they got to prove it now. Yeah, that they belong in that prime time because it hasn’t been proven. It’s been a given and it shouldn’t be that way anymore because the All-Star games honestly I don’t even remember the Allstar game last year and I watched it and I still don’t have a a good memory of what happened or anything that went down. So, and that’s usually for me like the past few years like I’m a junkie. I love it. I love the game. I love the players. I’m going to watch it. But it’d be cool to have a memory, you know what I’m saying, of looking at those things. The the most recent one I have is of Steph Curry and I can’t believe was it Damen Lillard having the half court shot off from the half court line just taking half court shot after half court shot and making them in the All-Star game. Like that was amazing to watch. Watching Steph Curry go crazy is always amazing to watch. But yeah, this will add I think just a little bit of juice to it. But we’ll see how serious the guys take it. Yeah, I uh when I worked at Blecher Report I we we covered like I was on the program app team programming. And so we were like constantly cutting videos and like updating the app with like live events. And so I was watching all those games very carefully. Since I left there in 2020, I’ve watched one NBA All-Star game and it was the one that I was at. So I just like am not interested in the All-Star game anymore. I’m hoping that this brings it back cuz it is fun in theory. Like it should be fun and I appreciate that they’re trying new things to try to make it more fun. I don’t know if this will work, but like I’m I don’t know. And I don’t even know if I’ll watch, but like I am glad that they are taking action towards changing it because it’s an acknowledgement that it hasn’t worked. Yeah, it’s true. Uh, moving into the afternoon is good for our senior citizens. Fred will be able to watch it before his 7:00 p.m. bet time. That is coming from the one and only Marqu. I got to hand him. That’s really good. That’s pretty good. Let’s let’s move on uh to talk about a Hall of Famer. Billy Donovan is going into the Hall of Fame today, ladies and gentlemen. It is happening for young Billy Donovan. Congratulations to him. Uh when I say that to people, some might say, “Oh my good, what do you mean? His record isn’t great, his NBA.” But it’s again, it’s the basketball hall of fame, ladies and gentlemen. Is what you’ve done in your career in basketball, including coaching, incl I’m sorry, including uh coaching as a player, college and pro, and in some instances high school, uh as well. But Billy Donovan’s record from college is insane. So, let’s take take a look at what he’s done, man. There it is. There. Threetime SEC coach of the year. Uh he’s a six-time SEC regular season champion. Four final four appearances. Uh two uh NCAA tournament championships. He went to three actually, but he won two. And that’s just absolutely amazing coaching career. You see what he’s done in the NBA. He’s going to get to a thousand games as far as coaching is concerned. He’s going to get to 500 wins as a coach as well. He’s had six playoff appearances. I’ll let you guess where five of those appearances came from. Um, so even though he you see that and you see the record and you see what Billy Donovan has done, uh, Fred, what do you feel about Billy Donovan as the coach of the Bulls and just the actual coach of what he’s doing and going into the Hall of Fame for it? I absolutely love Billy Donovan as coach of the Bulls. I know I’m probably alone on an island a little bit with this take, but it’s a miracle what I think he did last season. And I think he should go in the Hall of Fame alone for the fact that this team was top 20 in defensive efficiency. If you look at this team, there’s probably one player or last year’s team now that Cororo’s here that’s changed, but last year it was IO and he missed half the year. Somehow he got this team with that type of defensive talent to be top 20 in defensive efficiency was an absolutely incredible achievement. Um, every year he’s been a coach with the Bulls with the exception of the first year they’ve been top half in defensive efficiency. He’s an excellent coach and I still remember reading Rick Patino’s book. I think it was Born to Coach in the 90s right before he took the job with the Knicks. He was talking about uh some of the players he loved coaching in his career and he was talking about Billy Donovan who he went to a final four with at Providence and saying that Billy Donovan was a coach on the court. He was a fantastic leader. Just the the the way he talked about him. You heard Jake Noah who played for Tibs in 2015. He said Billy Donovan’s the best coach I ever played with. Billy Donovan is not a problem for the Chicago Bulls. He’s an incredible coach. I think we should all celebrate it and I’m glad to see Kobe’s flying out there. IO’s flying out there. Modis is flying out there. It shows. I think that’s indicative. If Jim Boland somehow got into the Hall of Fame, do you think anybody’d be flying out to see him? No. Nobody would be flying out. So, um, flying out to stop it. Yeah, exactly. Flying out to stop it. Exactly. So, congrats Billy Donovan. I love you and I hope you’re a coach for a long time. And to me, it’s by far this and the Aoro trade are two best moves that Acme has done. go. You have always uh backed up Billy Donovan, man. I’m sure you’re on board with this right here. Yeah. I think and rightfully so, I’m saying. Yeah. I just feel like Billy’s so far from a problem on this team. And I know there are a lot of problems with this team. And like it’s not even that he is one of them. I just think he is not one at all. Like he’s just a very solid coach. Again, we’ve talked about this a million times. I don’t think he’s like the best coach in the league, but I think he’s really good. And I think there’s sort of this grass is always greener complex where it’s like if your team isn’t performing, you the first thing you look at is the coach. And I just don’t think Billy is the problem um at all. So uh I think he’s been a a fantastic leader for the organization, a spokesperson person uh for the organization and just like taking the tough questions from the media in being like I mean coaching in the NBA is kind of like being like the head manager like head of a department in a company like you’re you’re overseeing the entire coaching staff uh like player development staff like he’s responsible for all these people. Uh, and then on top of it, he has to have the individual personal relationships with the players and bring them along as talent, but also like get them, you know, rowing in the same direction, improve their play, develop young talent, uh, come up with like the X’s and O’s, the strategy, uh, implement that stuff in the game, dealing with the lineups, the rotations, like that’s a lot to deal with. Um, and I just think he’s very solid across the board at all those things. So, um, I have a lot of respect for Billy. I really appreciate the way that he handles the media and and his role uh as far as like being like I said the spokesperson for the team. Um but I also think that he’s just like an incredibly solid coach, but I mean he is going to Hall of Fame because of his college career and I think he’s one of the great college coaches of all time. I mean you put him in the cate with coach K and you know Patino and all these people like he’s done some stuff in college that very very few people have. So can I get one more thing on it? Let’s get this break for I’m going get that from you when we come back. Fred, we’re gonna take this break. We’ll be right back. Fred’s got thoughts for sure. And we’re going to talk Isaac Auroro, ladies and gentlemen. CHGO Bulls on your waves. Okay, we’re Oh, I got one. Hello. Can I should I keep talking? I think there’s two types of coaches in in in basketball. There are coaches who adapt their system to the talent and there are coaches who ask their talent to adapt to the system. Okay. Billy Donovan is absolutely I think you can have success with either way. Bill Bobby Knight was a legendary coach who always asked his talent to adapt to a system. I think Tibs is that way too. But I think it’s much harder to walk that tight rope of asking creating a new system for your talent. He’s done that. Look at the pace, the change in pace when we had Demard de Rozan to what we were doing now. Second in the league in pace. Incredible job. And it’s so difficult to do that and so under to me uh underrated how he was able to do that to a high high degree of skill. Um he’s an incredible coach. He doesn’t get enough love. Yeah, I’ve always given him a lot of love for for just that turnover and how fast that turnover came because like you said Demar De Rozan, it was Demar De Rozan and and Andre Drummond rebounds as go pointed out to me that was your offense. Yeah. you know, for the Chicago Bulls and to go from a team that didn’t take a ton of threes, you know, to a team that can’t take enough, you know, three-point shots to a team that was kind of slow and plotting and getting into a mid-range to a team that’s always just getting the ball out of the basket and running for sure or getting the rebound cuz I feel like rebounding is Josh Giddy’s superpower and that’s one of the things he really does well is get rebounds and starts to break and things like that. So, I think that’s a great thing and I credit Billy Donovan for all of that. Turning over the offense and turning over the defense as well. He deserves a lot of credit and yeah, he deserves all the love that he needs to get for being a Hall of Fame coach. We’re going to take our break right here. When we come back, it’s Isaac Kuro, the opening night starter. I know one person with a binder who thinks he should be. We’ll talk about it next. You don’t see a RC can in my hand. 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CO Bulls, Big Dave, Will, Short Punch, Godly, and the man over there. That is C Red Fred. Hit the like button. Just because we’re having an awesome Friday does not mean Katie won’t come after you. Hit the like button. Make sure you’re dropping your comments. And also, I forgot to mention at the beginning of the show, we’re this is our last day of our uh Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America donations. This is the last day we’re doing it this week. It’ll be going on all month long, but this is the last day of the week that we’ll be doing it. So, please donate. And if you would like to become a Big Brother or a big sister, it would be awesome if you did. BBBS.org/allcity org/allcity is where you need to go to become one and to donate and to find out more about the awesome things they do at the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. And you can also see in the chat the little heart handshake. Yes, that’s where you donate. Click that and donate. Mhm. And shout out to my man Nick, man, who was hitting me up earlier. I was talking about it earlier. Shout out to Nick P. I saw him in the chat also as well. Peace to you, bro, my man. Appreciate you. Um, let’s talk about C Red Fred’s favorite guy. That is Isaac Auroro. He is here for the Chicago Bulls and Fred is very happy. Made the trade for Lonzo Ball. Straight up. Lonzo Ball. Congratulations Lonzo Ball. Wish you nothing but wonderful success uh in Cleveland. But Isaac Auroro is now a Chicago Bull. And I think the question, the biggest question I have and and I’m specifically I’m going to ask you this Fred is Isaac Auroro. Is he what the Bulls have kind of been looking for as far as a three and D wing? Because they have been missing that for years. Like my man has always said, it’s a Patrick Williams size hole in this offense and I feel like the Bulls have been putting up patchwork uh trying to fill it. And Isaac Auroro when you’re looking at him, if you look at his stats, like it doesn’t really showcase it truly. Um, if you Okay. Do you have that his career stats? Let’s take a look at his career stats. Because if you look at them, it doesn’t really showcase truly what he his value can be. See the eight points, the two rebounds, the one assist, the 46% from the field, the 35% from three, and the 73% field goal shooting. um not a super efficient scorer as far as percentage is concerned, but it’s just all solid. Just all kind of solid numbers across the board, but his impact might be a little bit bigger than that. Um we talking to my guy Bob from the Field the Fro podcast. He was saying the same kind of things. How he would have games where his three-point shot would just be truly falling where he was really impacting the game with his defense also as well. But hearing all that, Fred, and knowing all that, do you think that Isaac Aoro is the 3N and D wing that the Bulls have been looking for? Isaac Aoro is 6 foot five, 225 lbs, 68 wings, man, of pure granite, 24 years old. On in March of 2024, I watched a game against uh the Cavs versus the Timberwolves. He held in that game was I think one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen any player have. He held Anthony Edwards a seven to 27 shooting. And after that game, nobody watching this show or none of you guys watched that game. I did. After that game, JB Bicker Staff got on JD Bickerstaff got on and said that hands down Isaac is the best perimeter defender in the NBA. We have a and if you Google Aoro defensive highlights, you will find you and watch the first minute, you’ll see him guarding Jaylen Williams. uh you’ll see see him guarding, you know, Trey Young, you’ll see him guarding every good one and then three. Every game that he played, he was asked to guard the best player in the opposition. He is incredibly versatile as a defender. And most importantly, and this is the best stat that I can’t stress enough when he’s I asked to guard one-on-one against the best player on the opposite team. You have to be able to to get through the mountain of of uh picks that are going to be set on you. And what did Isaac Auroro do against the players? What did the players who who shot against Isaac Auroro do? 5% less from the field on two-point shots and within six feet of the rim, they shot 8% less. Thank you, Michael Walton, for that stat. He’s one of the most versatile, fantastic defenders in the league. Now, let’s go to the offensive end. Wait, wait. Let’s let’s stay with defense for a second because I I feel like there is a lot to get into with that. And I agree. Like I think what I’ll keep going. I was wondering when one of you guys was going to know. I saw it early. I was just laughing. I feel like I want to break it down or like the way I’m envisioning this is like talking about his defense a little bit, talking about his offense and then talking about his net impact, right? Um because I think the defense is definitely his calling card and I agree that like he is very solid there. I wonder if he is going to be like a B+ A minus defender or like an A+ defender. And I’m very curious to see kind of what he looks like. I think when you make a trade for a player like that and you talk about trying to build a defensive identity, like you are hoping that he can be the starter probably and you are hoping that he can be someone that fills in a role that maybe a Caruso had a couple years ago that was like being the identity of your defense. Um, and I think he’s like capable of doing a lot of that. I think he’s probably closer to like an A minus defender than an A+. Um, but you know, he’s still a young player. he can still uh continue to improve on that end and he is still really good. So um I just wanted to pull a couple of stats on this. So uh last year defensive EPM which one you know advanced all-in-one stat uh not be all end all but uh plus.7 which was 78th percentile. So that’s like C plus B minus caliber um but not his best season as a defender. The year before that it was also plus.7 but that was in the 81st percentile and then the year before that was really his best season defensively that was plus 1.1 89th percentile. So I think he’s got like you know B+ a minus caliber of defense in him uh in the right role and um I think he’s got a chance to step into an even bigger role which could vault him higher. I don’t know if you would agree or disagree with that, but like for me, I think the defensive element there is huge for the Bulls, especially with what they need because I think you’re right that like the 3 and D wing, especially when you’ve got like Giddy, Kobe, Vu out there, I think Modis is not quite a positive defender yet, although he certainly has the tools and I think projects out to be. Uh you do need to have point of attack in there. Fred, how do you see him uh in terms of his defensive role? Is it more of a point of attack guy where he’s guarding, you know, ball screens and like you’re talking about getting over screens? Is it versatile where he’s switching onto the, you know, whoever’s in front of him and guarding anyone from like Stephan one night to Jimmy Butler or I was going to say Tatum, but he’s obviously not playing. But that kind of player. Absolutely. I mean, if you look at the Cavs, they have Garland and and Donovan Mitchell at the in the back court. They absolutely neither of those guys can guard. They had to bring Moro in to take on the best defender in every game. He’s elite at switching. He’s a high IQ defensive player. I I am like shocked. I think we’ve officially jumped the shark in terms of a fan base in the reaction to this trade. If you look at Lonzo Ball, I’m going to get a little bit in offense here. Lonzo Ball last year, he first of all, he never played a game for the Chicago Bulls in four years after the All-Star game. Zero. Four straight years. last year in his comeback year shot 36% from the field. Isaac Auroral shot 37%. So 36% from the field that includes layups for Lonzo. Isaac Coral shot 37% from three, 46% from the field. 10 full percentage points higher than Lonzo Ball. And yet the trades made and I hear all the hand ringing. Oh my god, what did we do? We traded you. We were acting like we traded Jordan for, you know, Harold Miner. It was insane the reaction to that. So I will say that made me nauseous. And I see the question on here. Cavs. Why did the Cavs trade a Coral for an often injured Lonzo Ball if a Coral is such a great defender? This is the most the least talked about topic out of this entire trade. The Cavs did not want to trade Isaac Auroro. They were forced to because there’s one team in the NBA that’s now projected to be over the second apron and that’s the Cleveland Cavaliers. If you go back one summer, there were three teams projected to be in the second apron, and that was the Minnesota Timberwolves, that was the Boston Celtics, and that was the Phoenix Suns. Do you really think the Timberwolves, despite what Joe Collie will tell you, wanted to trade Kar Anthony Towns for two inferior players to the Knicks? No. They had to. I don’t want to get in all the specifics of what this means, but basically is a death sentence for a team to be in the second apron two years in a row. So, that’s why they made the trade. That’s why the uh Suns made all their trades. That’s why the Celtics blew up their team. The the Cavs have no choice. They needed to do whatever it takes to make maximum flexibility on the on the margins to make this trade. And I can guarantee you this, Lonzo Ball will not be on the team next year. They’re either going to trade him or they’re going to cut him. or if he is on the team, they’re going to renegotiate his contract to a lower dar mount because because the Cavs cannot be in the second apron for two years in a row. That’s why they made the trade. They sold it to all these dumb national writers like, “Oh, this is what we’re doing.” No, that’s not why they did it. It It’s so obvious to me and it’s incredible to me that this isn’t being debated. I’m sorry. I’m here for. Yeah. This is why we invited you on. But I I will say like one I’m just looking it up right now. Uh I believe they still are in the Second Apron. I know. I know. That’s my point. You can’t do it two years in a row, though. If you do it two years, they weren’t last year, too, right? No, they weren’t. Oh, they weren’t. They were under They were under the operating. So, here here’s the ramifications if we’re going to get a little bit into that. Your draft pick is then frozen for seven straight years. Seven years out. You can’t trade anything. You can’t if you’re in the second apron. That’s why it has become a hard cap. People don’t realize it yet, but that’s why all those three teams made blew up all their teams and made all these trades. The Cavs are the only team in the situation. They they might be over the second apron this year, guys. That might happen. They will not do it two years in a row unless they win a title. I think they’re right now they’re significantly over 13 million over the second apron. This says uh 19.7. So, I don’t know exactly what it is, but uh in that range, and I think that’s certainly going to be a challenge, but let’s talk about Let’s talk about I I definitely have another question and more questions dealing with Isaac Akuro and the Bulls front court. We will get into them. Make sure you are sending your comments and hit the like button. George Katie, hit the like button. Just come on, man. I’m trying to help y’all. It’s a Friday. Let’s do it. CSGO Bulls, come on back. Why don’t you put All right, athletes. Here’s the question for you. Are you serious about leveling up your game? Because right now, the right coach can change everything. And right now, finding one is easy with Eye on the Ball, created by two of our very own diehard subscribers. Shout out to them. It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid starting out or competing at the top level, you can sign up at eye ontheball.net. 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Got us some tickets and we’re right in enjoying that game. It is absolutely awesome. And as advertised, ladies and gentlemen, oh they come with the fees included so you don’t have to play around with nothing. And you already know what you’re getting right up front. Zone deals, y’all. Seat views, y’all. The lowest price guarantee. And of course, that game time ticket coverage. They have got it all. So take that guesswork. Got to buy NFL tickets with game time. Download the game time app create an account. Use that code HGO. Get yourself $20 off your first purchase. Turn supply. Turn supply. I said C H O. Get yourself $20 off your first purchase. Turn. Turn. Okay. Time today. Y’all creating the account. Redeem that code cho get yourself $20 off. Tap ticket and go download with the game time app today cuz once again got time. Just kidding. Game time cho Bulls rolling along with y’all. Make sure you’re hitting that like button. Make sure you’re dropping those comments. Like Mark K definitely is. Shout out to you, friend. Will the godly see Red Fred Katy on production. Big Dave hanging with you. Here’s my question now for you. Uh T red Fred, you love Isaac Auroro. You’ve discussed it. You’ve discussed uh his impact, what he could do for this Bulls team defensively. And you know, the three-point shooting has definitely gotten better. You know, it’s still it’s in the middle, but it’s gotten better because it was like a 29% when he first walked in here. So, he’s definitely gotten way better at that. My question is, should he be the opening night starter for the Chicago Bulls? Unequivocally, the answer is yes. And I I understand you’re concerned about three-point shooting. Last two years, he shot 39%. Two years ago, 37% last year. Yes. Kevin Herurder is is the other guy everybody’s talking about. Kevin Herder is in in the same stratosphere in terms of defensive uh point of attack ability as Isaac Coro. Isaac Coral shot 37% last year from three. Guess what? Kevin Herder shot 37%. Now, I know I understand volume is not the same. Correct. I understand that Kevin Herd is probably going to probably going to attract a little bit more attention. The fact of the matter is he still shot better than Kevin Herder. 39% two years ago. I I I it’s like I’m living I just I feel like I’m taking crazy pills with this whole situation. I I cannot believe maybe I am. Maybe maybe I am. I I I don’t know how many quotes I have to come up with with coaches who say here’s a quote from an unnamed Eastern Conference coach like Jimmy Butler. Isaac Auroro is not going to give you anything easy. He’s because of his level of physicality. He embraces that role. He’s that guy. He knows how impactful it can be for a group. I can impact winning. He He’s comfortable knowing I can impact winning by doing just this. So, you can believe this coach in the NBA or you can believe Mark Kay in his basement in Australia or the attic. I don’t know where he’s at right now. One of the two places. But I would go with whoever this coach is. Unless it’s Jim Boland. I don’t know who this person is. Do you have a question, Katie? I just feel like it’s not trustworthy because it didn’t come out of the binder. Like if the quote came out of the binder, I’d probably trust him. This binder was from the University of Northeast Idaho. And here’s another stat. Here’s another stat. Here’s another stat that I’m going to throw over at Mark that’s going to blow his mind. I’m going to read it as is. Based on the 2024 25 Cavs net rating impact, points per 100 possessions while on the court. Here’s where Isaac Aoro stands. Third on the team. He’s ahead of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Jared Allen and Evan Moley are one-two. What does this mean? Even though he plays fewer minutes, a Coro’s efficiency impact is on par with Cleveland’s cornerstone bigs. Listen, I know we weren’t celebrating when we signed Caruso a couple years ago. I know this there wasn’t a big party for it. We cannot be this jaded as a fan base to say this was a big mistake of trading Lonzo Ball who shot 36% who’s never played past the All-Star break for a 24year-old defensive stud. We you have to stand up and be honest and be like, you know, this was a good move because it absolutely was. And again, I’ll say it a hundred times. The Cavs did not want to trade a Coral. A Coral is the new age Keith Bogen. I am so upset at Mark. I can’t even take it anymore. I feel like throwing my red binder through uh the TV screen. We know you won’t. We know how you Exactly. I’ll calm down. But just these comments are just so outrageous. Let go. Well, I think like I think the the money and the the cap piece of it is an interesting factor. I do feel like the Cavs needed to cut salary. Uh to your point, like the second apron and the penalties there are too much to handle. And so basically what they were able to do was turn Lonzo into the replacement for both Tai Jerome, who they let walk away for nothing, and Aoro. So, they were able to get a replacement guard who can shoot, but also a defensive player who obviously, you know, needs to stay healthy in order for for him to be able to help them, right? Um, and so they didn’t need to cut salary in that way. Um, and I think like Aoro, yes, he uh is low volume, but like his last 537-point attempts over the last three years, he shot 37% 37 and a half%. So like I do think he’s the kind of player where if you leave him open he’ll probably knock it down at a pretty reasonable rate. To me the issue there or the question that I have with that is like how much is he going to force teams to guard him? Are they just going to be fine with him knocking down 37% of open threes? And if so like is that enough to overcome playing four on five in other scenarios? Um or a and also I think like when you put him into the Bulls offense and like his fit with Giddy I think could be really interesting there where he’s getting up and down maybe touching the ball a little bit more driving attacking closeouts having more opportunities to play with an advantage I think that helps him. Um I don’t feel like having him stand in the corner and space the floor is productive. So, I’m I am uh curious and optimistic to see how Billy Donovan decides to use him to one unlock his skill set a little bit because I do think he’s got some ball skills. Uh but two to prevent Billy’s offense from having multiple non-shooters cuz to me that is a big concern is like if Vu stops goes back to 29% from three instead of 43%. Like that really changes the floor. If Giddy does not have the ball, he’s not being guarded. Correct. uh you sent us some clips of Kobe drawing attention. The reason he’s able to do that is because of the non-shooters around him. If you introduce Aoro instead of Kevin Herurder and you’ve also got Vu who regresses to the mean and you’ve got you know Modis who is improved but still not like a really reliable or threatening shooter to a lot of defenses. The court is just going to be so cramped and uh that that’s my concern. I I’m open to like seeing how it goes with him. Um but those are kind of the the questions that I have with it. Well, let me I’ll say that then I’ll hand it right back to you, sir. Um, as far as a starter, I don’t mind a Cororo. I think I do agree with you him being a good player and a defensive stalwart for sure. When I see him, I think bench player and that’s how I feel about him. Not to say he can’t be a starter for the Bulls. Obviously, he can’t be that three position is wide open for him to go ahead and challenge. Things may change in training camp, but I haven’t seen what Kevin Herder has done to lose this position. Like to be for it to just be given to Isaac Auroro. I haven’t seen what Kevin Her matter of fact when you had Kevin Herder and you brought him in there is when your team started winning. It’s when they started changing it around. It’s when you went 17 and 10 cuz he was a huge part of that. He also can help uh start some of the offense as well because Billy would give him the ball and allow him to bring the ball up the floor and try to run the offense in that kind of way. You have to work whether he’s shooting the same as Isaac Kakuro or not. He’s a threat every time he steps on the floor from the three-point line. Teams are gonna have to take notice of him regardless more so than they would Isaacro who’s going to have to prove it when he’s out there on the floor. Like he’s going to have to hit a few in a row. Kevin Herd, if he hits a few in a row, oh man, you know, whoever’s guarding him is getting out the game. You know what I mean? Because you’re not supposed to leave him open. So I haven’t seen what Kevin Herder has done to say, okay, let’s move him to the starting lineup. And I also like Isaac Auroro coming off the bench more because of the defense. I think that change of pace from what the Bulls like to do as far as getting out and running the floor and the guys kind of spacing out, you know, and letting Josh Giddy do what he does and finding people and letting Kobe do what he does and finding people and and getting his own shots as well. I feel like there was a nice chemistry between Kevin Herder and Josh Giddy and Kobe White and Nicole Vuch. I thought it fit kind of well and worked that way. Now, again, like I said, this might change in training camp, but I just haven’t seen what Kevin Herder has done to say you should not be the starting three for this team, at least to start the season. Yeah. And just my opinion, and I disagree, I will state that the delta between Kevin Herder, his three-point shooting, and uh Coral’s three-point shooting is much smaller than the delta between Isaac Coro’s defense and Kevin Herder. I agree. But as far as a threat is concerned, when teams come in to play, like who do you think is the actual threat on the floor before on the offensive end? On the offensive end, that’s all. I agree 100%. But my my counter to that is the top 13 teams in defensive efficiency in the NBA made the playoffs. The bottom bottom eight missed the playoffs. There is no better predictor of a playoff team than defensive efficiency. Absolutely. You cannot go into a season with Kevin Herder, Kobe White, um Josh Giddy, and the great rim presenter as your four starters and expect to win as a consistent rate. You just can’t. You need to have a defensive stopper, point of attack who will assign himself to every great perimeter scorer in the league, whether it’s Brunson, whether it’s uh Tatum when he’s healthy, he guards them all. And he takes the most importantly he takes that huge pressure off of Kobe and off of Josh Giddy. And then whoever the best defender is, that’s who Isaac Coro has. And and and just Herder can’t do that. He just can’t. He’s not a great defender. He’s he he’s crafty, etc. I agree with that. What you’re saying for me feels more second half of the game, fourth quarter things, than it does starting the actual game. One more. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. But but I think he’ll he’ll close. But I think the other point that we’re we’ve also glossed over is how good a Cororo is in in transition. All the advanced all the advanced stats talk about that. Do you know two years ago the the Cavs were like 30th in pace. Last year even though they improved quite a bit, they were still 10th. They’re not second like the Bulls. Like this is a match made in heaven. And I cannot wait to come back on this show sometime when Mark is here and Isaac Auroro is like taking Chicago by storm and everybody loves him because he is exactly the type of player that Chicago loves. And then I can’t wait because I’m going to remember all these comments. I’m going to put it in my big red binder and I’m going to write it down and repeat it all and we’re all going to have a great laugh. I love that goat has a laptop and he’s got a binder. That’s the best. Go ahead, go. Um, you know, I I feel like I’m pretty in the middle on Aoro, like as a player. Um, I get the limitations and I think it’s probably more of an issue around like the Bulls continuing to get guys that are really like solid on one end, but like pretty shaky or questionable on the other. Um, again, I think Okoro has has improved over his career and I expect him to continue to do that. And like I said before, I think he’s really going to fit well in the Bulls offense and and hopefully that unlocks some things. I agree. Um to me though, the question and I this is kind of where I’m curious to get your opinion, Fred, is like the opportunity cost of it. So we talked a little bit about the cap uh implication uh where over the last you know six or eight months, Arturus has come out a couple of times and said we’re going to have flexibility going into 2026 27. when you turn Lonzo Bal who had a team option that year and theoretically could be an expiring contract into $1.8 million for that year, you cut into it. It’s obviously not a huge number, but to your point with the Second Apron being effectively a hard cap, like every dollar matters for you, but then more importantly for other teams. If these guys are not the players that you hope that they can be and they’re making that kind of money, they’re just really difficult to move. Um, conversely, if he does play really well and, you know, really pops, then he’s only under contract for two years and you’ve got to now pay him. So, that’s not the end of the world. I think that’s a good problem to have. If you want to end up retaining him, like because he’s earned it, then by all means. Um, but I think that the opportunity cost there of what you could potentially do with your cap space and maybe you just think Aoro is better than what they could have done with that space. I’m open to that. Uh but then the uh the final piece of it just being that um a draft pick there which you know we don’t know what it would have looked like at the end of the year but obviously there were the rumors about the Grizzlies pick uh being available for Alonzo if they had taken on Marcus Smart. Marcus Smart was expiring this year which would have lined up with their plan to have cap space after next season. Uh and then you’re getting a costcontrolled rookie for four years making like you know three 4 million. So, I think it’s just like the question of what else they could have gotten. And if Isaac was the best they could have gotten, like I think that’s a fine bet to make. He’s younger, he’s more consistent, more reliable, less injured. Like, I don’t have a real problem with that. To me, it’s just like I wonder what the other options were. Great question. And I being as high on a Cororo, maybe you feel differently. Well, the fact is when the Bulls resigned Lonzo at the trade deadline, I I was very vocal. I wanted the Bulls to trade Lonzo. Every argument I have ever had about Lonzo Ball has started with and for the people I I want the Bulls to be out of the Lonzo Ball business and everybody would counter with, well, if he stays healthy. If you start out the sentence with that, if Alonzo stays healthy, you lost the argument. There’s it’s insanity to me that people actually thought this was like a great decision and you know, people were kind of celebrating. I agree with you. Like I wanted them to make that trade with Memphis and Memphis at the time at the at the All-Star break was like second or third in the Western Conference. They collapsed. It would have been a high top 20 pick. Yeah. That said, there’s nothing we could do about that. Now, I have the fact is Isaac Coral paid on this contract is underpaid based on how he played when that contract was signed. What did the Cavs do? Because they have a smart front office. They took the restricted free agent hammer that they’re finally using now on Josh Giddy and everybody knew that Isaac Aoro had a better year than Patrick Williams. He saw what Patrick Williams signed for and the the the Cavs said we’re not signing to that. And they took the hammer because restricted free agents. We’ve seen it happen here with Josh Giddy and everyone else in the in this market and they forced him into a deal that he actually outplayed. He shot 39% that year. He was had an excellent season on the defensive end. So the this is a bargain contract for this player. It is. And he signed for one more year after this. I think where the Bulls are right now, this is a great move. Will I don’t think they would have got anything better than that. And let’s play it out. Like what do you what do you expect in a best case scenario? What happens? Lonzo plays really well. Are you confident in that? No, I agree with you. They should have gotten out of the Lonzo business while they had the opportunity. Um, I suggested that they do a very team- friendly deal with like half, you know, around basically what they gave him uh before that, but that was operating under the assumption that if he was able to remain healthy because at that point he was that they could flip him for a first round pick at the deadline or in the offseason because of the team friendly. They couldn’t have. He didn’t finish the year playing a game. Yeah, I agree. They should have they should have traded him at the deadline and if they couldn’t do that then try to get him to sign a cheaper contract so that he would be more movable cuz I think he was playing well enough and obviously you don’t know they didn’t know what was going to happen. Um I do think he’ll like his knee was not a problem last year. It was like a kind of fluky wrist thing. Um so I’m I’m hopeful for for Lonzo that he’s able to play but I agree that they should have gotten out of that business. It’s just a matter of like for me I probably would have leaned pick there because of the costc controlled element and just more upside like Auroro’s this is going to be his age 25 season. Um, are you at all concerned, Fred, about like the the minutes? Like obviously 32 minutes his rookie year, 30 minutes his second year, but from there it was 21, 27, and 19 last year, played 55 games, only 22 starts. Like do you feel like he is just that was just a a product of the environment around him? It was a product of the Cavs are absolutely loaded with talent and and they proved it in the regular season, winning, you know, more games than any other team in the NBA. And then when it gets into the playoffs, you know, things get a little crazy and their head coach made a decision that probably wasn’t wise because they were out in the second round. The Cavs are a unique team and that their back court has, you know, obviously Garland. I love Donovan Mitchell. I’m not as big of a fan of Garland. Neither of those guys can guard, but you have to play those guys. They have insane amount of usage. They have talent all up and down the roster. I mean, I think they were just kind of grasping for straws by the end of the year. I think Aoro just he this happens in the NBA sometimes some coaches like other guys better than others. I think Kenny Atinson made a mistake by limiting his minutes but the coach before that you know bigger staff absolutely loved Aoro and I I feel like he just got caught in a weird situation where there was too much talent a limited amount of minutes. It’s not it’s not going to be a problem here for Chicago Bulls. That’s true. He’s going to have plenty of opportunity to shine. Um let’s move on. We’re going to still stick with our uh Isaac Aoro, but I kind of want to open it up a little bit more. Uh talking about Hoops Hype, who just released their top 26 power forwards list in the NBA. And alas, no Chicago Bulls are represented. Uh I’ll give you the top 10. Uh Giannis, Pascal, Seiakum, Paulo Bonero, Bonero, excuse me, Evan Mobley, Anthony Davis, Jiren Jackson Jr. Still taking him over Luca? No. No, just messing with uh Jul just messing with you. John say it was was one of my favorite moments of my life was watching say bye and you go at that. Um Julius Randall, Zion Williamson, Cam Johnson and Lowry Markin who I would have over Cam. Agree disagree with the this top 10 sound fire. I think it’s horrible that Larry Larry is listed behind Cam Johnson. I think that’s ridiculous. I these I put them up too, but that’s me. Who who wrote the the thing that people get caught up in in these rankings are some guy writes it like I remember a couple years ago they had the Bulls guar packs ranked behind Orlando and like for four or five straight years before that the Bulls had a better record. They were much better. It was obvious to anyone with an IQ over 50, but this guy whoever wrote the article had a better relationship with the Orlando front office. So he ranked them ahead of them. This that’s insane. Lori Markin is a better player than Cam Johnson. And for him to say that, I’m gonna throw whatever he says right out the window. Uh, well, I will say that no Chicago Bulls were on this list as far as a power forward and no Bulls are on it when they did small forwards either. So, it kind of got me to thinking about this question with, you know, no small forward and no power forward. kind of begs the question here like do you think Isaac Auroro Manualis those guys are the answer for the Bulls front court woes going into the future? Like even even if you don’t believe it, do you believe that player is here on the team? Is it Anoa Essenay? Uh uh is it is it uh Kevin Herder or someone like that? Do you feel like the answer is here? And I’m specifically asking though about Isaac Coro because I know that’s your guy. Well, I I love Aoro, but he’s not a four. He’s a No, I said front court. So, like I said, no small forward was on this list either. Yeah. So, that’s why I’m asking it the three or the and the four. That’s why I asked the Coro and Modis. Do you feel that combo is the answers to the Bulls front court issues? Uh, I love Modis. I think we’re putting an undue amount of pressure on him for this season. I don’t think it’s going to be as good as everybody’s expecting. He’s a great I think he’s shown incredible promise as a rim protector, but if you look at some of the games, I still have nightmares of the first play against the Pistons where Thompson just dropped a shoulder into his chest and basically threw him into the front row. He’s just got bigger, man. He’s just He’s He’s just not there. He’s just not there as a defender yet. Ricky, I know. I love him. I love him, too. I love him, too, but I just don’t think he’s one of the best defenders in the league. Come on. Well, no. I’m talking about I’m talking about uh you know, Modis. No, I’m saying Thompson is one is awesome. Yeah, he’s fantastic. Tom, I’m saying like Mus was a He’s not a stick figure, you know. He put some He put a little muscle on. He put a little muscle on. He’s still got a way to go. He’s a great rim defect uh rim defender, but I I think it’s I think it’s unfair to kind of what we’re doing with Modis this year. I I I do I feel like we’re way we’re really kind of like over expecting him to be an all-star. Are you guys sensing this? I’m sensing this. I don’t have that expectation, but I have told go this. I absolutely put expectations on him for year two because it’s what he asked for. It’s what he continues to say. When you can’t continue to say, “I’m going to be the best. I want to be the best player in the league. I want to be the best player on the team.” And not have people start putting expectations on you, you’re going to be challenged with that. And I think it’s it’s fair and it’s deservedly so, Katie. Yeah, I have a thought. I I don’t think it’s fair to expect him to be an all-star this upcoming season. I agree with that. But I think if he’s not in this, you know, top 26 among his position next season, something went horribly wrong. Yeah, I understand why he’s not, you know, top 26 this season, fine, whatever. He’s a rookie. I don’t care. But next season, if he is not on this list, something I mean, Jeremy Grant at 22, Obie Toppin 23. Uh, who else over here? Uh, Tyrie Een starts it off at 26. Like, yeah, he should be flirting with this a little bit. You know what I’m saying? The next year. And again, I’m not putting that. I agree with K. I’m not putting those expectations as far as an all-star, but I do expect some kind of growth. Yeah, I and I I absolutely do too. I just think like I don’t want it to be a situation and again it’s not a fair comparison because Patrick obviously hasn’t developed in the way that people hoped, but like let’s not go through this again where like if Modis doesn’t develop the way that people hope, like are they going to just start hating him? Like that doesn’t feel productive to me. U and I and I feel like it has not been productive for Patrick. So, but I don’t think people were at all critical of Patrick for all I heard was excuses about Patrick Williams for the first season. People were just always defending him and I had a I I’ve never seen a worse rookie season than Patrick Williams had where more people celebrated like he did anything. He didn’t play hard. He shot his uh onoff number. He had the worst plus minus on a team by a by a mile. It took him a half an hour to get around screens. He was not a good player as a rookie, but he was given that opportunity because they wanted to see him develop. And all I heard for the next two or three years, excuse after excuse about Patrick Williams. I feel like they’ll probably we’ll probably do the same with Modis. I have a lot more faith in Modis because I thought we saw a lot more signs from Modis uh than we did from Patrick Williams in his rookie year. So, you know, I’m hopeful. I I realize Pat Patrick Williams is a role player. If he can hit 40% from three and play a little good, you know, some decent defense one-on-one, that’s all I want from him. Modest has a much higher ceiling than that. I agree. Yeah. No, I agree, too. And I think uh Billy has always been very like he’s never thrown guys under the bus, but he’s very honest and he puts it carefully. Uh, but like I think if we were listening more carefully, we would have seen those signs coming in terms of how Billy felt about Patrick. Like the And I and I think I’m going to go into next season listening more carefully about what he has to say about Modest 2 because he’s he said similar things. Not to say like, you know, Modis was like eating the chicken parm stuff, but like he was talking a lot about Modis and his understanding of what it means to be a professional, like what he needs to do to prepare himself and how he needs to get his body in order and how he needs to prepare for games and read the scouting report and all that stuff. And so, um, I’m just going to be monitoring that a little bit more closely now having the experience of gone going through what we have seen with Patrick over the last couple days. So, C Red Fred, my friend, you are here and you know, we wanted to give you this time right here, sir, because on this show sometimes we can get a little cloudy, you know what I’m saying? A little melancholy, you know, on this show and you are just a bright ray, bright red ray of uh, bull sunshine. Um, but we would like to tell you why are you so excited about this upcoming season? Let’s just say I mean the Chicago Bulls have had basically one winning season in nine years. They had the 500 season in between that, but basically one season over 500 in nine years. One playoff appearance. Uh, three straight playins where they all lost to the same team. Uh, some tough injuries, you know, and a bunch of other craziness and insanity that’s going on around this team. Why should the people be hopeful? Why should Bulls fans be hopeful for this season this year? The floor is yours. Let’s start out with the state of the East. Number one, there’s three teams according to Vegas that are to me clearly better than the Bulls. Um that’s the Knicks, the Cavs, and Orlando Magic. Vegas has the number four team being the Atlanta Hawks. Would you be shocked the Bulls finish with a better record than the Atlanta Hawks? I would not. I think there’s a 25% chance the Bulls will have a better record than the Atlanta Hawks. I don’t think there’s any other team outside of the top three I mentioned that the Bulls could possibly not beat. I think Kobe White, you know, people stopped paying attention to the Chicago Bulls right around February last year. They they maybe woke up a little bit when when Giddy hit the half court shot, but I think people are sleeping. I mentioned uh you know how how Kobe won the player of the month award in Eastern Conference. there’s that’s given out five times a year. It’s basically one6 the season. He’s not the best player just on the Bulls. He’s not the best player in division. He’s the best player in the conference. And the fact that he took that jump, I think people are sleeping on it completely. I think Kobe White could be that guy. He’s 25 years old. The the the prime of a of usually an NBA player is 27 to 30. I think he’s taking the jump. So that’s why I am excited and frankly I’m really sick and tired of hearing these dopes denigrate the Chicago Bulls and their fan base over the course of the last year. People calling them sheep for not for showing up at the United Center. What does being a fan mean? It’s a relationship between you and your team. And whatever relationship it is, whether you’re a parent or a husband, you measure yourself how you are in the worst of times. Well, this has been a rough four years. But if you’re immediately jumping off ship, I I I I find it insane that people are calling for a boycott of the Bulls. We’ve had a better record winning percentage-wise than the Bears for four straight years. Almost every year Acne’s been here. Is anybody calling for a boycott of the Bears? No, I don’t think you should. But you can pound sand if you’re going to tell me not to go to United Center and send some stupid message. Get the heck out of here. I’m sorry. Go ahead. No, keep going. You cooking for another minute. So I did I did want to just highlight that number one being a fan. It’s not only a relationship with you and a team. Look at all the relationships that’s opened up. Dave, we became friends. We did Will. We became friends. I be became friends with Katie. And and all this starts with being a supportive of the team. And I will say this, the best game I ever went to was in the middle of the three alpha season, January 2nd. Jimmy Butler scored 52 points. and I brought my first my two kids to their first Bulls game. I would never give that up for 15 first round playoff wins in the interim. So, everybody who’s telling us to to you can do whatever you want in terms of like starting your boycott against the Chicago Bulls or or you know saying, you know, saying I don’t want to go to games and trying to convince others to do so, but you can pound sand if you think I’m not a real fan because I’m showing up supporting this team. We’re going to surprise a lot of players this year, a lot of teams this year, a lot of fans this year. I’m ready to rock and roll. Let’s get going. That’s C Red Fred, ladies and gentlemen. The Big Red Bus podcast is where you can join him and find out more about him. Shout out to the Pondfather, Doug Tonis, who is the co-host. That is Katie Duffy on production on the ones and twos. This man right here is Will the Goatly. Follow him and read everything he does on all coo.com. I am Big Dave. You can follow me at bawwl sports at bow. Hit the like button on your way out. Make sure you drop a comment. Shout out to Matt Peek. Enjoy your weekend. Go Bears. Go Bulls. See y’all Monday. Peace. [Music] [Applause] We all silly like the mayor.

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On this episode of CHGO Bulls, See Red Fred of the Big Red Bus podcast joins Big Dave and Will Gottlieb in studio. They discuss new changes to the NBA All-Star Game. Will it help increase viewership and competitiveness? They also discuss Billy Donovan will being inducted into the Hall Of Fame this weekend. Plus, Issac Okoro was the big off-season move for the Chicago Bulls. Is he the 3 and D answer the Bulls have been looking for? Will he be the starter on opening night? Also, Hoops Hype released there Top 26 power forwards in the league and no Bulls player made the cut. Will Matas Buzelis be on the list next year? Are he and Okoro the answers to the Bulls frontcourt issues?

0:00 Welcome to the show
1:40 See Red Fred is back!
3:05 New NBA All-Star game format announced
10:25 Billy Donovan inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame today
20:55 What can Isaac Okoro do for the Bulls this season?
51:00 Are Matas and Okoro the right match in the frontcourt?
56:25 Crazy corner

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