Tina and KC Johnson preview the Chicago Bulls’ 25-26 season

Well, the Bulls preseason just right around the corner, which means the actual season is nearing us. And of course, when that happens, we have to bring in the one and only CHSN’s Casey Johnson. Aren’t you just so glad to be here, Casey? Well, I’m back. You had me back. You’ve got the offseason glow. It’s kind of fading, though. Just a little bit. No, we got to keep it going. We got Bulls action coming up. We do. We do. Let’s talk more about the Bulls because they are coming off a season that saw them finish ninth in the East, 39 and 43 record overall. Casey, a lot of young stars on this team. Josh Giddy inked a four-year hund00 million contract. Modis Buselis enters his second season. Isaac Aoro also now on this team adding some defensive help. Uh but Kobe White, IO still here, the rookie Noah Essen, and of course, Vu, he is also still here. So, first off, let’s start here. What have you heard about the offseason? Who’s been in and out of the gym? Who’s been locked inside the gym, too? Well, as you know, after Labor Day, pretty much everyone comes to the Advocate Center, starts working out. I actually was there last week and ran right into a few guys. Everyone’s very excited for the season to start. As you saw, five of those guys, uh, Dalon Terry, Modis Buzzelis, Patrick Williams, Kobe White, and I sumu were out in Springfield, Massachusetts for Billy Donovan’s Hall of Fame. So, there’s a lot of good vibes right now. Um, you know, as far as offseason, I put that talk in perspective. I mean, everyone has a great offseason, right? But, I mean, one guy that might surprise you that I’ve heard has had a good offseason is Dalen Terry. So sometimes consider an afterthought. Let’s see what he’s got this season, right? But uh you know, it’s going to be an interesting season as they always are. Okay. Okay. Let’s talk about Josh Kitty because they just resigned him this past off season. Uh how does he fit into this long-term vision for this organization? Well, I mean, it was clear even though there was some hand ringing amongst the fan base that there was a long-term marriage at some point between these two parties. Um the Bulls did not trade Alice Caruso for Josh Gad to let him hit unrestricted free agency. So, they got a deal done. And, you know, you saw last year after the Zack Lavine trade, they really trust him to run the offense. Billy Donovan’s fast-paced, high-profile offensive system. And you’re going to see him have a high usage rate. Okay. And obviously, the Bulls hope uh they get the Josh Giddy that finished last season as opposed to the one that started last season when, in Josh’s own words, he was trying to defer too much. Okay. Uh let’s talk about who is the number one elite scorer on this team because you enter this season without uh Zack Lavine and Demar Rosen. So who is it? It’s Kobe. I mean Vu obviously can still score when he needs to, but he’s at a point where he obviously just kind of reads the offense and is more of a secondary or supplemental scoring piece. I mean Kobe is to me going to be the guy that’s going to have to provide the bulk of the offensive scoring, especially on nights when you know guys are having difficulty scoring. I mean, Kobe has the ability to score from three different levels. You’d also like to see Modis Buzzelis take a jump from the offensive standpoint. Um, in his, you know, times as a starter, he averaged close to 13 points a game. Maybe you’d like to see that number around 15 points a game now that he moves into a full-time starting role. So, you mentioned Kobe. So, Kobe and I are entering their final season uh in their contract. How much does this complicate things for this front office, especially with the resigning of Josh Giddy? What are they going to do? Yeah, I mean, you know, uh I’ve reported multiple times that I sumu was involved in some trade talks lot last off season. So, I mean, sometimes you try to proactively get ahead of those situations and make sure you don’t lose a player for nothing. I want to emphasize though that both those players are valued extremely high internally, but to your point, they’re headed for unrestricted free agency. And with Josh Giddy being a focal point for this front office, do you maybe see one of those guys on the trade block throughout this season? I think that’s one thing that you’re going to have to see from both those guys is ability to block out rumors, block out the noise. Both players have been extremely professional in their time here in Chicago. So, I expect more of the same. You mentioned Modis Buselis just now. He’s entering his second season. We saw him really take a jump there after the All-Star break, but going into this second year, what’s he been working on this off season? And how crucial is it for someone like him, a young player like him to really take a step forward here? Yeah, I mean, you saw in summer league a little bit more ball handling responsibility. I mean, I don’t think you’re going to see him in a lot of screening role just because Billy Donovan’s offensive system doesn’t really focus or feature that. Um, but I think that’s why you saw that happen in summer league just to see if he has that tool in his bag, so to speak. One thing the emphasis will be on from the coaching staff from Modis is the graband go component. I mean, he’s a very good rebounder with his athleticism, his length, and he’s got ball handling ability. So, it can’t always be Josh Giddy bringing the ball up. You’re going to see Josh Giddy kind of in that grab and go mode. Um, and as far as offensively, you want to see him get to the line more. Um, you know, obviously he has the ability to make the three-point shot, but, um, you want to play see him play through contact a little bit more and just be consistent. I mean, as I mentioned before, I mean, he’s only started 31 games. I mean, you know, he was off the bench for the majority of last season. So, now that he moves into that full-time starting role, can he take a jump? Bulls ranked second uh last year in the league in terms of pace. Can he find some comfort in this uptempo approach? Modis. Well, I think all of them can. I mean, Modis is certainly one that, you know, for being as young as he is and as athletic as he is, you saw many times in transition him catching lob dunks and um, you know, you’re going to want to see more of that. You know, one guy we haven’t mentioned, maybe it’s on your list, is that I think is actually very good in transition that’s a little bit underrated is Isaac Aoro. So, again, all these guys are going to be asked to run. That’s going to be Billy Donovan and the coaching staff’s philosophy. And you saw it last year with their ability to play at a high pace and they’re just going to try to wear teams down. Well, guess what? Yes, that was going to be my next question for you, Casey. Obviously, they’ve got Isaac Aoro now in a trade with Cleveland. They sent Alonzo Ball, 67 guy who certainly can guard, adding some defensive help for them, but how can he strengthen this roster? Well, it starts with the defensive end because if you project the starting lineup to be Josh Giddy, Kobe White, Modis Buzzelis, and Nicole Vuchich, I don’t see a lot of individual defensive stoppers there. You’ve got some responsible team defenders, but they’re not elite one-on-one defenders. And Isaac Aoro has that ability to um you know, take on a big high-profile defensive assignment and and show some prowess. So, he’s going to be asked to focus on defense first, but as I mentioned before, his ability to run in transition, I think, was an underrated part of his game in Cleveland, and he’s a very consistent corner, three-point shooter. I think if you keep him at low volume, he’s probably better. Um, and really his physicality and his defensive approach is what to me that starting unit needs. So, I project him to be a starter. I know that three position is kind of open and will be a story line throughout training camp, but I project him to be a starter. Uh, you mentioned Dalen Terry beginning of this interview. I know he’s been having a really great off season. He said he’s locked in. I think I believe I read he said somewhere, “I’ve been preparing for war.” So, I missed that quote. It was on CH CHDO there. But, you know, what have you learned about him this offseason? How hard has he been working? Yeah, I mean, all these guys work hard, but Dalon, I’ve heard, has really worked hard on improving his shot, which obviously has been inconsistent, but showed some promise last year. And there’s another guy that can play in transition, and to me, always brings pretty consistent defensive energy. Okay. Um, and you know, he’s got length. Uh, I I know he put on some muscles and some pounds in the weight room, so I’ve just brought him up mostly because he’s kind of a guy that is almost overlooked and almost considered an afterthought now. And I think I’m kind of expecting quietly some big things from Dalon Terry, but we’ll see what happens. Well, what are you expecting from the 12th overall pick, Noah Essen. I’m expecting uh some drives out to Hoffman Estates. I mean, I don’t want to be harsh on the kid, right? I mean, he’s very young. He’s very raw. He has played professionally, so let’s not overlook that, but I also saw him in summer league and he’s got to learn the pace of the NBA. He’s got to get stronger. Um, you saw last year Billy Donovan bring Modis Bisellis along very, very slowly. He does not believe in entitlement minutes and Noah is a project. So that’s not a bad thing for him to go out to Windy City and play for Billy Donovan the third, another Billy Donovan and um you know develop in that way. I I think you’ll see him get times some minutes in the NBA, but I think mostly he’s going to be more of a development piece. So Casey, Vegas has the win total set at over under 32 and a half. Are you taking the over or the under for that one? You know, I’m not a gambler, Tina. Uh, but if I was a gambling person, I would take the over. Here’s why. First of all, I like the over for this. 32 and I feel like that’s that’s low. Yeah. First of all, let’s just start here. The We know that the Bulls philosophy is not to tank, right? They are they don’t believe in tanking. They try to win every game. So, let’s start there. Billy has said before, they want to stay competitive. Yeah. And let’s also just focus on the fact that the East is really up for grabs. Yeah, I mean, you’ve obviously got the terrible significant injuries to Jason Tatum and Tyrese Hallebertton. I don’t know who’s winning the East. I’m not saying the Bulls are, but I don’t think they’re going to lose 50 games in that conference while they have a winning mentality trying to win every game. And then the other thing is like they’re pretty well suited for the regular season because they may not have like a ton of allars, but they do have depth and with the style of play they have and their depth, they can wear down enough teams that I think they’ll be fine. So, you got a lot of young guys, a lot of young talent on this team. ressign Josh Kitty. Uh overall, what is next? What’s the focus for this organization moving forward? Uh well, you want to see Modis Busellis take a jump. You want to see Noah Asen learn the NBA game and kind of start his journey towards developing. And then you want to see Kobe White take a jump because he’s hitting heading for a big payday. Um and then, you know, from the coaching staff, you want to see them continue that style of play that we saw last year. That was actually pretty entertaining to watch. win or lose, it was pretty entertaining to watch. Um, and then Isaac Aoro is a fresh face and we haven’t even mentioned Patrick Williams. There’s so many story lines, Tina, which means you’re gonna be really busy busy. Casey Johnson, thanks for the time. Thanks for having me, too.

The Chicago Bulls’ 2025-2026 season is about to begin. Tina Nguyen sits down with Chicago Sports Network’s KC Johnson about the upcoming year of Bulls basketball.

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