Billy Donovan’s SHOCKING Defensive Strategy | Can Bulls FINALLY Reach PLAYOFFS?

Billy Donovan’s SHOCKING Defensive Strategy | Can Bulls FINALLY Reach PLAYOFFS?

All right, Billy Donovan so far throughout training camp has said all the right things, but how much should we trust it? Well, we’re going to discuss that on today’s episode of Locked on Bulls. We’re going to get to all that and more right after this. You are locked on Bulls, your daily Chicago Bulls podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Thank you for tuning in to Lockdown Bulls, member of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where it’s your team every single day. I’m Hayes, host creator of Chicago Bulls Central, Chicago Bear Central YouTube pages and podcast, and I am joined by Big Kev, the host of Chicago White Sox Central. What’s going on, Kev? How you feeling, man? It’s good to be back. How you feeling, brother? I’m good, man. I’m good, bro. It’s it’s basketball season’s around. We had the first preseason game yesterday, so we’re we’re there, man. We’re gearing up the Bears. I mean, uh, the the Bulls play on Tuesday, which is going to be fun to watch. We’re going to we’re going to preview and talk about what we want to see in that first preseason game today. But Kev, let’s go ahead and jump into it. Man, Billy Donovan has said just about everything that’s right. Uh, we’ll talk about the double big lineup. Kind of I want to talk about that in its own section, but so far talking about physicality, focusing on that, focusing on defense, and it’s not just he’s saying like these these general things of, well, we need to get better defensively. He’s actually talking about how they can get better defensively. He’s talking about the style. as far as detering uh teams from the rim, how that’s going to help them get more rebounds, thus get better out in transition on the offensive side of the ball. It doesn’t seem like this thing that we’ve gotten from Billy Donovan at sometimes where he says these generalities, but it’s not really a game plan on how to do it, right? Like we we saw for three years he talked about they wanted to change their shot profile and last year we finally did it right through the pace and things like that. But the question I want to throw to you is is that like last year we legitimately changed our offensive style. It was it was real. We changed it before the All-Star break, changed it again after the All-Star break. So these changes we’re hearing from Billy Donovan, physicality, getting charges, the defensive side of the ball, focusing on that offball movement, all these things, Kevin, me and you have talked about both publicly and and privately for a while that the Bulls need. How much do you trust Billy Donovan in the words that he’s saying? Ah man, like I I guess if we base it on how things went last season as opposed to the previous what five or six seasons, we can take his word a little bit more seriously. He can say all the right things, right? You know who else said all the right things? I’m pretty sure I turn said all the right things a few times and right Ike Turner reference three minutes into the show is crazy. Go ahead. Pretty sure Joe Jackson said all the right things a few times as well. But, you know, at the end of the day, it’s all about results. The NBA is about results. And you can say the right things, but you got to go out there and put it on wax, as Bobby likes to say. So, I’m not going to just sit here and take him at his word right now. I got to see them go out there and do it. Uh, the double big lineup is something that we wanted back when Andre Drummond was here. Now, they started to do it a little bit before he left with Drummond and Vu. Uh, but I need to see this team do it to the point where it’s going to lead to playoffs. Not that’s its own segment. So, don’t get too much into the double big cuz I I I got takes on the double big lineup, but I I agree with you there, right? Um, let me ask you this because so much of the team has stayed the same, right? The only two new faces on the team are Isaac Okoro and Noah Essenay. Um, but a little man, too, right? Well, Yuki’s on the on the two-way contract. we’re probably not going to see him at all in in the in the actual NBA. But um but with most of the teams staying the same, do you believe that they can change enough because so many of the pieces stay the same? Now, Billy has done a good job at pointing out how their rim defense, like just to kind of point out the the the numbers of it all. The Bulls went from being 28th in rim defense up to about 16th at times last season after the All-Star break. They finished around around 18th just in rim defense. Finished at 12th of the last 20 games in overall defense. So, we did see a little bit of change legitimately in that after Zack Lavine left and just the style. Is is adding Okoru and changing your methodology enough? Do you believe that we have the personnel to execute these changes? Yeah, I mean Aoro, he’s he’s a defensive dog. That’s that’s his that’s where he makes his hey, right? So, like we’re not going to see uh I guess this is kind of like the replacement for um for uh what’s I can’t think of his name right now. He just won a championship with OKC. Alice Caruso. Alex Caruso. So, it’s going to be that dog out there on defense. And we know the type of uh win shares that Alex Caruso brought to this team. Uh if Oko can have just like, you know, a third of what Alice Caruso brought to the table. The Bulls would be a much better team. Uh Zack Lavine was a terrible defender. There was no we can’t we can’t ignore that, right? That that was true. And bring getting Io back, a healthy IO is going to help that as well. So, Auroro Io, those guys are going to wreak havoc in the back court. I’m excited to see it though, honestly, because we need to have a defensive identity. Last season, we we kind of got to it toward after the All-Star break, a true identity on defense, but at the beginning of the season, we were giving up a lot of points to a lot of teams. Yeah. I mean, and and that and there was there was a noticeable change in that. Like, so prior to the All-Star break, we were 28th in defensive rating. We finished uh the last 25ish games at 12th in defensive rating. So, there was a noticeable change after Zack Lavine left. and not to just blame it all on Zack Lavine. I do think, you know, we we’re playing better offense and I think you’ve seen it before when you when you’re winning team uh players seem to to buy in more on what you need to do on both sides of the ball and I thought we saw a little bit of that um you know after the all-star break. The question is can they keep it up consistently for a full season and it’s going to have to take sacrifice from these players, right? They’re going to have to cuz while we don’t have the best one-on-one individual defenders, we’ve seen it. Hell, we had a team with with Demard Rosen, Zack Lavine, and Nicolus in your starting lineup that still had a top 10 defensive uh uh rating, and the only one-on-one defenders we had at that point in time were Alice Caruso, IO Dumu, and then of course, we had some solid defenders in in Derek Jones Jr., Javvante. But you had Lonzo Ball, too, huh? You had Lonzo Ball, too. Well, I’m talking about after Lonzo went down. We were still top 10 after the year after Lonzo went down, but yeah, I mean that, too, for sure. Right. So, um, so like you you don’t need a bunch of a great one-on-one defenders to have a really good team, uh, defense. And I think with this team, Kev, my mark that I that I look at with this team with the way if we still play offense at the rate that we did last year, one of the best teams offensively in the in the league last year, the team really only needs to be around 15th, 16th defensively to like you look at, for example, the Pacers. Uh, the Pacers were the number one offense in the league, but were still bottom 20 in defense. Then the year that they actually moved up to more middle of the pack, they they made it to the finals. Right. I’m not saying that the Bulls can make it to the finals. I’m just saying that when your offense is so good, you don’t necessarily have to have an elite defense for you to do enough defensively to win some close games. What do you think about that, Kev? I mean, that’s true. That’s just the nature of the NBA today. If you’re middle of the pack defensively, you’re going to be a good team because a lot of these teams just jack threes. Look at Cleveland last year. Look at Boston the year they won the championship. they jacking threes and sometimes they’re going to have nights where they hit 20, sometimes it’s going to be 10. Uh the Chicago Bulls are just going to have to close out hard. They’re going to have to make sure that they win the close games, right? Because that’s what Billy Donovan’s biggest issue has been throughout his tenure here with the Chicago Bulls is those close games, they haven’t gone so well for the Chicago Bulls in his tenure as a head coach. So, if they can figure out how to win those games uh and play strong enough defense, I’m excited to see it. Now, I did want to mention something that’s important for the Bulls this year, and that’s Trey Jones. That’s a sneaky signing right there. That’s something right there that’s flying under the radar just period, uh, this offseason, and I think having a full season of him is going to help change the offensive identity that we were talking about earlier as well. Yeah, I I love that you pointed that out. Me and Dub talked a little bit about that because Trey, what Trey brings is somebody who, you know, he can hit a shot. Make no mistake about it. I mean, we saw it at times last year. There were times where he he did score pretty decently, but I think you have somebody that is a creator. He’s also a really good rebounder for his size and he’s going to be able to help the Bulls keep up the style of play when Josh Giddy sits or something like that, right? And we don’t have necessarily the players that are best at creating their own shot. But I tell you what, you put Trey Jones out there in a bench unit with IO Kevin Herder who looks like he may come off the bench because it seems like Aoro has the has the starting small forward locked down, but we’ll see. And then and then Zack Collins like and and whoever whatever your your starter is that’s staggering like that’s a that’s a unit that at least is going to be able to keep up the pace. That’s a unit that’s going to be able to hopefully limit turnovers and and what they’re doing there. And like Trey Jones is a big lynch pin and an important part of all that. And Billy said that after one of the uh postpractice interviews, you know, Billy talked about the importance of training, what he brings from the point guard role and how that’s needed on the team. And to be honest, like correct me if I’m wrong, when’s the last time we had a backup point guard that was actually a point guard? We’ve had back people who’ve played point guard. We haven’t had like a traditional point guard like that as a backup role in quite a while. It’s It’s been a minute. And quiet as it’s kept, Josh Giddy played pretty good defense for long stretches last season. He wasn’t just this pushover that we expected. Like none of us expected Josh Giddy to be a defensive stalworth for this team when we when we picked him up. But at the end of the day, last year like he got big steals. Uh he forced turnovers late in games. Uh he was when they tried to post him up, he wasn’t just laying rolling over for these guys. So I expect him to take a step forward. I don’t know what to expect from I mean we do know what to expect from Patrick Williams. We did want him to be defense like defensively that’s where he was really good early in his career. I don’t know if we can get that Patrick Williams back, but hopefully surrounded by other players that’s hungry defensively can wake him back up. And it should wake PW up because they brought in Isaac Okoro was drafted one spot after Pee Will, right? If I’m not mistaken. And they do a lot of the same things. The difference is is Okoro, you don’t have to worry about his drive. You don’t have to worry about about him falling asleep. You don’t have to worry about uh him being passionate and physical. Like he brings that consistently. And so hopefully that should that should be something that people looks at and it’s like, well damn. I mean, I could do a lot of those same things too. He’s dropped the weight. Um, so hopefully that helps him get some of his agility and mobilility back because now he doesn’t have to play just four, right? And he’s going to be guarding some more threes. So we’ll see. I I don’t expect much from P Will, but I will say this. I’m not going to act like it’s impossible that he gets back to that either, right? Facts. Facts. So, but all right, with that said, we’re going to we’re going to pick up on what I think me and Kev are both excited to talk about, and that is that double big lineup and what that could bring for the Chicago Bulls. But first, we got to get some message from Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s their most advanced equipment yet. Designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or crossraining with your favorite instructors. This is Training Reimagine. Pelaton is built for breakthroughs with tools to help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak performance. Love how the Pelaton IQ system offers real-time strength conditioning coaching. It’s actually tracks your reps, suggests the right weights, and corrects your form, making every rep safer and smarter. The Swivel Screen is a game changer. You can go from running on a Tread Plus to strength training without missing a beat. And the personalized class recommendations keep you engaged. You get workouts tailored to your vibe and energy level each week. So, let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Pelaton cross trainining tread plus today at one pelaton.com. More locked on bulls coming up next. [Music] All right, Kev. So, something that Billy Donovan said after practice yesterday was he was asked a question on why Jaylen Smith fell out of the rotation. And his answer actually made some sense. He said, “Well, you know, at that point in time after the season, we realized we need more rim protection. Zack Collins brought that.” And then he said we didn’t really practice for double big lineups and it wasn’t something that he felt comfortable kind of just throwing out there but did mention that there are going to be more opportunities for double bigs or there are going to be more opportunities for Jaylen Smith. Not necessarily saying that it’s like a big part of the rotation plan right now. But I do think Jaylen is one of those players that if he’s given an opportunity and he has the ability to shoot, he is a little bit of a of a rim protector. He’s a solid shot blocker, not great or anything like that, that Jaylen can play small forward. And if Jaylen gets that opportunity, I can completely see him performing at a right rate where Billy Donovan may feel like he has to get him out there more. Now, I think expectedly though, you can come in and think it’s going to be situational, maybe in some specific lineups, but this is more openness than we’ve ever really heard from Billy Donovan to go to those double big lineups. How you feeling about that, Kev? I mean, I think this is mainly about Zack Collins because Jaylen Smith, part of the reason why he fell out of the rotation and and Billy probably didn’t want to say this is because he settles too much. Like he he wasn’t aggressive enough from my take. I think I think feel like Zack Collins came in and snatched his spot because he was a lot more aggressive. So, if if Jaylen Smith is showing the work in practice in offseason workouts and so on and so forth, then he can work his way back into the rotation. But this has very little to do about Jaylen Smith in double bigs in my opinion. I just feel like, hey, Jaylen didn’t really do the work last season. He was settling for threes. He he didn’t want to attack the basket. Now, he was good defensively. Not not great, but good enough to be a rim protector in certain instances. I feel like we might see more Jaylen Smith once the Bulls finally move off Vousvich because they’re gonna probably trade him this season, especially depending about on how the season starts and depending on what happens on other teams and what they need as far as bigs are concerned. I know we talked about this all season last season, who’s going to trade for Vu, who’s going to trade for Vu, but this is the last year of his contract, right, if I’m not mistaken. So, he’s going to be an attractive big this season. and then we’ll see Jaylen Smith a lot more. But I just don’t have the confidence in him based on what I saw from him last season. I mean, and the thing is he he was inconsistent, but his role was also inconsistent. There are times where he absolutely shot the three great and it actually changed the tide for the Bulls. There were some times where he didn’t. Um, but I do think like it’s hard to expect consistency from players who don’t play consistently. Now, you do have players that can do that. Like as much as I hate him, Javon Carter came in the game after not playing against Atlanta where we needed him. put up 20 points, right? Like that that’s veteran. He’s always ready to go. So, there are players that can do that. Um and and Jaylen didn’t do that consistently, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily tied to Vuch cuz my mindset is I don’t think they’re trading VU. I I I’ve said this many times before. Not to say that they won’t try, but I would not be surprised if they do the same thing they did with Lonzo. They may try to move him if they don’t find a deal to their liking because I think teams are going to try to wait it out because he is a free agent. You sign him to a reasonable contract and then try to move him in the offseason. I I could see that happening for Vu, but I don’t think they move Vu either without having a starting center in the wings or something like that. So, you know, we’ll see what happens there. But punch in the air right now. Listen, Cub hates to hear it every time. Uh but I I you know, I think Jaylen has some abilities uh that we that we have not used. I do think he can play the four a little bit too. And I think when you look at it too, I think when you look at it too is that um we don’t really have a a backup four per se. Like it’s not anybody that you look at and that’s clearly a four. Like P will if he plays and and can play defense that’s great. He could do that. Of course Julian, but I think Jaylen’s right there as a player that has some size and some some stuff like that that can actually play the floor while still stretching the floor. So it just depends on what looks Billy Donovan really wants to throw out there. You’re right. I mean, and Patrick Williams is is probably that guy that they’re going to try to run at the four because they’ve done it for the majority of his career, but he’s not a four. He’s just not. Uh Jaylen Smith, I would like to see him push Patrick Williams, like push him for minutes, right? Like if Jaylen Smith comes out with the right attitude, and I think they from the same draft as well, like we got a lot of the people, are they? That’s crazy. I think Jaylen Smith and Patrick Williams and Isaac Aurora were all in the same draft. Uh, so it’ll be crazy watching all of them go out there and play, but it’s gonna be them fighting each other for minutes. Patrick Williams, uh, Zack Collins, and Jaylen Smith. And I think Jack Zack Collins has the the he’s the front runner right now in my opinion, just based on what he did last season. Oh, for for the backup five, like Zack Collins is definitely the guy that’s there. Like I and I don’t I don’t think there’s any question about that. Um it really comes down to like the matchups and things that they’re that they’re trying to employ. And you know that that’s another thing Billy’s talked about all throughout this this pre this uh training camp period so far is you know using their lineups to their advantage and finding the rotation. He even said yesterday like hey we’re not going to have a set rotation even coming out of preseason. Like there’s you know you let the rotation kind of figure itself out as the season goes on which to me means that there’s going to he’s going to give a lot of guys opportunity and see what sticks. Now, I think you do need to kind of settle in as soon as possible because I think guys perform best when they know their roles and they know, hey, I’m going to play this many minutes with this guy and I’m going to play off that guy like and stuff like that. But, you know, you do want to use the preseason maybe the first five to 10 games to kind of figure out who’s going to bring it consistently for you. And then we we we we got to talk about Noah, right? Noah Asenuay. He he is probably a part of the reason why they’re talking about How’d you say that man’s last name? Ain’t a sing. Yeah. Okay. Noah and Sing, but uh he he he’s going to push for double big minutes, too. Uh just depending on how he looks. Now, we saw him in summer league. Um he was okay, but he’s going to be that rim protector, too, as well. Like, he’s 6’10”, so he got to go out there and figure out a way to block some shots and get some minutes. Now, we know how Billy Donovan is with with rookies, especially when the season starts. Uh they’re going to probably be on some Windy City Bulls and up and down and so on and so forth, but I I expect to see him out there, too. So Jaylen Smith is going to be fighting that guy as well. Yeah. I mean with with Noah, I do think they’re going to bring him along similar to Modest. I don’t know how much they’re going to throw him out. But I mean, I’ll say this. If he’s ready, if if we if we come out of train training camp preseason and we’re saying, “Hey, Noah’s even if it’s just 8 to 10 minutes a game, to me, that says a lot about how they view this guy in his future.” And that says where he is because, you know, Billy Donovan doesn’t play a lot of rookies early. He likes to let them earn their role. He’s he’s kind of mentioned that, too. But I mean, Noah fits stylistically. He’s best when he’s in the open court. Uh he he he draws fouls at a great rate. Um he can protect the rim. He could be a lob threat. So I could clearly see the role that Noah could play for this team. I just, you know, Billy likes to play it safe with the young guys. Mhm. I mean, he did it with matches. We were screaming for matches last season. And once he came, you know, the rest is history. He looked really good. So yeah, we’ll see what what what could be what could happen there. Uh, so since you since you mentioned it, uh, we know, let’s just say the starting five is Josh Giddy, Kobe, Okoro, uh, Modis Misellis, Nicolusvich. What’s your rotation look like? Right. Right. Based off what we know right now, what do you think your rotation is going to be after those guys? You got IO, you got Zack, you got Kevin. Uh, did you have Montas in the starting lineup? Yeah, Mus in the starting lineup. Awesome. Yeah, you I owe first off the bench, Zack as well and Kevin Herder. And then the rest of these guys are going to be fighting cuz Julian Phillips, we know what he’s capable of. He can hit that corner three. He’s a lob threat, pick and roll threat, so he’s most likely going to be in the rotation. Jaylen Smith’s definitely going to be in the rotation. Of course, Trey Jones, right? Like they got You think Jaylen Smith is definitely going to be in the rotation? Jaylen Smith is going to be in the rotation. Nah, he’s not. Not definitely. He gonna have to earn it behind Zack Collins, right? Yeah. Jaylen Smith’s going to have to earn it. Patrick Williams, unfortunately, the $90 million man, he’s going to have to earn it. Uh, but Trey Jones is definitely in the rotation as well. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. So, we shall see. But, uh, we’re going to talk about our expectations for the Bulls first preseason game coming up next because, uh, I’m excited about that. I can’t wait to see what the Bulls look like. But, first, we got to get to message from FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love how FanDuel gives me so many ways to play. I’ve built parlays, tried player props, and even followed the live lines during games. Makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something riding on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanduel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. More Locked on Bulls coming up next. [Music] All right, Kev, last topic of the day before we get out of here. Real simple, man. First preseason game is going down on Tuesday for the Chicago Bulls. How excited are you? What’s some of the things you’re going to be looking for in that game? I want to see Yuki. Look, he he had me hype in the in the summer league. Like the the guy has eyes in the back front side of his head, bro. Like the the way that he can run the pick and roll, the way that he can start the fast break, initiate the fast break. It’s going to be fun to see. Like I don’t expect to see him play much in the regular season. So like these are the types of moments that I’m excited for. The guys that we’re not going to really see, right? I want to see Yuki. I want to see our rookie No, Noah. I’m not going to say his last name. I’m just going to call him Noah. I’m just going to be biblical with it. His name is Noah. And uh and just, you know, it’s going to be fun to see those guys. And of course, just a little bit of of of what Billy Donovan’s been talking about, right? Are they going to play defense the way they’re supposed to play? Are we going to get the the rim protection that we’re looking for? Um what type of pace are we going to be playing with? But, you know, the first preseason season game, we’re not going to see much from the starters and so on and so forth. Just probably 10 15 minutes from each of those guys. The rotational guys are going to have to earn their keep though. This is where Jaylen Smith is going to have to prove that he’s ready. And Patrick, well, ain’t he already injured? Ain’t Patrick Williams? Uh, well, he came back to practice yesterday. So, okay. So, Patrick Williams is going to have to show that he’s ready, too. So, but I’m I want to see Yuki, man. I want to see Yuki. Yeah. That’s funny. Like a lot of people like the funny thing is like people bring up Yuki and it’s like we’re not going to see him in the regular season. Hope hope people are ready to see watch Windy City Bulls games, which I do anyway cuz Yuki Lachlin Albrrick bring down there. I think they’re going to have a nice big man point guard kind of duo thing there. That’s that’s going to be fun to watch. But I mean preseason is an opportunity to watch some of these guys that you don’t see because people are trying to earn their roles, right? So like you’re going to see Dalian Dalen and Julian and and Jaylen um you know Patrick Williams. you’re going to see these guys, you know, get opportunity more than they’re going to in the regular season to see who’s bringing it and who’s playing into what Billy Donovan needs them to do the best. And Kobe’s already not going to play the first couple preseason games, maybe not the whole preseason overall. So that’s already going to open up more minutes and more opportunities. And I think a guy like Dalon Terry who, you know, talked a lot about, you know, coming into this confidence, saying he was ready for war, talked about, you know, what he did this offseason. He’s he worked out this offseason with Kevin Durant. He worked out with Peter Patton. He worked out some with uh with Anthony Edwards. He like put Steve Nash, he worked on passing with Steve Nash. Like Dalen put slowly but surely put himself around a bunch of really good NBA players and coaches this off seasonason. So like this is a contract year. Nobody’s talking about it being a contract year for Dalen because of course IO and Kobe take precedence. But like this is this is it for Dalen, right? Like he’s a restricted free agent at the end of this year. And if he doesn’t show something, I could clear I could see the Bulls just letting him walk to be honest with you. I mean and you you know I I love Dalon. That’s one of my favorite young Bulls players. Uh but it’s it’s it might be too little too late for him. Like positionally like where does he fit in the rotation for the Chicago Bulls? Now injuries might change that for him. uh if somebody gets hurt and he can work his way up, but he’s gonna have to play good defense and he might be auditioning for other teams. Unfortunately, it’s not that we me as a Chicago Bulls fan, like it’s not I’m not low on Denton Terry. I always thought he was a good player. I always felt like he could uh be better than he has been. Uh but I also think he gets an unfair shake with fans as well. Like because he doesn’t he’s a rotational player. Like what what are we expecting from him, right? So this preeason, he’s going to be fun to watch too. But I don’t expect him to crack the rotation pretty heavily. Now, I didn’t know those things about what he did in the offseason. That’s good for him because he might be auditioning to play with one of those guys. Yeah. I mean, as long as he’s not playing with Steve Nash, that’s a problem. Um, but uh, no, I mean, like Dalen I mean, he did that like people forget too like his rookie year when he came in that summer like not only did he like work with with Demar and stuff, but he he worked with some pretty big NBA players then too. Like I think at that time I want to say it was it was uh uh Donovan Mitchell, but I could be wrong on that. But like he’s done a good job of trying to soak up some information. But here’s the thing that I’ll say and I get where you’re coming from is that it may be a little too late. But like here’s the thing. If you’re good, it’s never too late. And you know, like the Bulls can get him cheap. If he shows some type of flashes, it’s not like it’s going to be a bunch to extend him. He could I could see I could see the Bulls extending him, especially to be at the bare minimum be on the back end of the bench. But I can also see them with a offseason where they have, you know, only seven players under contract. They have $120 million under the luxury tax to spend. I can see them just being like, “Hey, we we gonna go and completely revamp this bench.” And Don might find himself, like you said, looking in auditioning for another team. I still think there’s an NBA player in Dalen. I don’t know to what level, but I like he’s improved as a shooter. He shot almost 30% from three last year. not high volume, but like when you look at Dalen, how he came into the league and his shot look to to be able to do that is is quite a bit of development there for him. So, there’s things that we’ve seen from Dalen, the defense, there’s been times where I’ve seen Dalen like last year against Atlanta, they switched Trey Jones on him and I think they they thought, not Trey Jones, Trey Young on him, and I think they thought, oh, well, you know, we could hire Trey on Dalen and Dalen took him off the dribble, took him to the rack three times in a And it’s like if you have that type of recognition to where it’s like you start realizing, hey, I don’t care what type of NBA player you are. I could take you off this dribble. I mean, that that’s the right mentality at least to have. We just got to see if he’s going to be able to do it at any type of meaningful rate consistently for the Bulls. I mean, I think the biggest issue here with Dalen is that again, he’s he’s a little bit slight in frame. Like, he’s about 200 pounds. Uh he’s the same height as uh as Patrick Williams. Pat, that’s his biggest uh help though right there. Right. Patrick Williams mentality versus his mentality. If you put Don Terry’s mentality and Patrick Williams, you looking at a whole different type of player. Absolutely. So, he’s he’s another player that’s going to take minutes from Patrick Williams. If he comes in, he’s he’s never lacked confidence, and that’s why I always liked him. He’s always been confident. So, like the fact that he he’s he’s working on his game at a rate that could have him steal minutes from Patrick Williams, I’m all for it cuz Patrick Williams is just going to be an expensive garden gnome as far as the Bulls are concerned. It’s sitting at the end of the bench useless. Yeah, Pee will, bro. I I don’t even know what to say about P anymore. I still have some hopes. Like I said, I I’m not expecting anything from him, but if he can bring it, he can. We’ll see what he has. It’s all on him at at this point, and we’ll see how much he really wants to do something. But um yeah, anything left uh Kev, before we get up out of here? Let’s go, man. Basketball season is right around the corner. We can focus on it because the Bears don’t play this week. It’s it’s fun, man. The preseason already started. You already know this is this is my first love, basketball. I love football, but basketball is my first love. It’s the first sport I ever played. Uh so I’m always excited uh when the season is right around the corner. And it seems like it’s earlier and earlier every year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I remember when the season used to not start until it was like the week of Halloween, right? October. Yeah. That used to always be when you knew basketball season was going to start. We’re talking about like tonight Phoenix and and um and the Lakers play tonight. Like it’s preseason basketball, but it’s still basketball nonetheless. Like we’re right around the corner from from actual games being played. It’s going and it’s it’s going to be a fun season. The East is open more open than ever before. And we’ll see where the Bulls stand in that, man. Hopefully they can make some. I want to see playoffs, man. I’m tired of playing in Bulls, bro. really play in you, bro. Like, like, bro, I’ve got I’ve gotten the call. No, I did. I have the show. Yes, I got I had I had the show during the first year of Lonzo. I one playoff series, one playoff win and going on five years, bro. That’s it. Yeah, I need more than that, bro. I need more than that. Uh oh, one thing I’ve been asking all the guests before we get out of here, just just so we can have something to reference back to. Win loss prediction for the Bulls this season. You already know, man. It’s the same as last year. and and people beat me and Steve OD to death when we said the Bulls are only going to win 40 to 41 games. Um I think I think a year two Mis I feel like um Trey Jones being on his roster. The Chicago Bulls will be pushing for actual playoff spot this year. They’re going to be in that 678 range 910 but we’ll see how it goes as the season goes. So I’m I’m going to put the Bulls at 44 wins this season. Okay. that I think people will actually love that if that ends up being the case. The Bulls, I’ve been saying for a while I have the Bulls. I think they could be at least 500 this season, maybe above depending on how things really come together. They have to get to an early start. Um, but 44 wins, I think a lot of Bulls fans will go for that if that’s the case. But, uh, that’s our time for the day. Y’all make sure y’all go support Big Cave over at Chicago White Sox Central. He also pops up to Chicago Bears Central, Chicago Cub. Basically everything he pops in in there. He’ll fill in for me sometimes at Chicago Bulls Central as well. Uh, but you guys can follow me at CEO Hayes. You can check us out over at Locked on Bulls. Locked on Bulls is free and available on every podcasting app and platform of your choice, as well as YouTube, the Odyssey app, Amazon Fire TV, Roco TV, Fubo TV. Basically, anywhere you want us, you can get it. We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Well, on Monday, y’all. Peace. [Music]

Bulls’ Preseason Buzz: Donovan’s Strategy Shift and Roster Shakeup

Chicago’s hardwood heroes gear up for a transformative season as coach Billy Donovan hints at major changes. Will a renewed focus on physicality and defense propel the Bulls to new heights? Haize and Big Kev break down Donovan’s recent statements, exploring potential lineup tweaks including a double big formation. The duo analyzes how newcomers Isaac Okoro and Noa Essengue might impact rotations, while dissecting the roles of Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, and Patrick Williams. Plus, get the inside scoop on preseason expectations and bold win-loss predictions for the upcoming campaign. Tune in for expert insights on the Bulls’ path to success and the players poised to make a splash in the Windy City.

Call or text the show: (331) 240-1180

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBulls?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Follow Locked On Bulls on Twitter
Locked On Bulls: https://twitter.com/LockedOnBulls
Haize: https://twitter.com/CEOHaize
Pat: https://twitter.com/PatTheDesigner

Support us by supporting our sponsors! | Offers from our sponsors:

5-Hour ENERGY
Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.

Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.com to get started

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)