Matas Buzelis Looks STRONG In Bulls Preseason WIN vs Cavs | CHGO Bulls Podcast

Matas Buzelis Looks STRONG In Bulls Preseason WIN vs Cavs | CHGO Bulls Podcast

We could. What’s going on, Bulls Nation? We’ve got a live CO Bulls postgame coming up for y’all right around the corner. The Bulls take down the Cleveland Cavaliers. 118 117 is the final in the preseason opener. Modest in that starting unit. Looked really fresh, really active. Turnovers were an issue. We’ll talk about it. Plus, how deep did Billy go into that bench? Did we get any hints on the back end of his rotation? We will break it all down with you, Bulls Nation, next. [Music] Get something. [Music] What’s going on, Bulls Nation? Welcome in to CHGO Bulls Post Game. Coming to you live from our studios here in West Loop, downtown Chicago. CHO Bulls post game presented by Bet365. Download the Bet 365 app. Be sure to use promo code cho365 when you sign up. Whatever the moment is never ordinary at bet 365. Woo! Bulls win. Bulls win. I’m back. Bulls_pack. That’s big day. Bam. BWL sports. Will the goat gole? Will go and running the controls. It’s King Joey C. Gentlemen, my first post game with you guys. It’s like this all the time, right? All the time. Oh, good, good, good, good, good. Excited to be big Dave. Oh, who got whist? You can do it. Okay. Slap him with the bulls win. Just do it yourself. [ __ ] want the Bulls. Bulls win. Hit him with the manual drop. Sarah, come back. Show them where the Bulls win drop is. We don’t need it. You can just do the manual version. Yeah, Bulls win. Bulls win, ladies and gentlemen. I did the Wheel Cathol version. Uh, Bull Nation, thank you for hanging out with us. If you’re hanging out live on YouTube, throw us your thoughts on tonight’s game. Also, hit that like button while you’re at it. Make sure you are subscribed to that CHO Sports YouTube channel on our climb to 90,000 on the way. Okay, a lot to break down because it is the first actual action that we’ve seen after a very long off season of waiting. Correct. But gentlemen, I feel like the place to start that makes the most sense is the Bulls starting five against the Cavs starting five. Okay. As that ball got tipped up. Okay. Kobe White sitting this one out. He’s been nursing the sore calf throughout the past week and change of training camp practices. Was in street clothes watching this one. Hopefully he uh is feeling better when the Bulls are nearing that October 22nd date against the Pistons. So the question of will it be Isaac Aoro in the starting lineup? Will it be Kevin Herder in the starting lineup tonight? The answer was yes, both because no Kobe White. Dave, turnovers were a bit of an issue early. I think the Bulls turn it over three times in their first four possessions. Yeah. nine turnovers in the first quarter and this is on the heels of Billy Donovan preaching a lot about possession and importance of winning the possession battle. Yes. Throughout his training camp, you know, uh media session. So, what what were your first impressions of that Bulls starting five against the Cavs starting five? Um not good. Uh they weren’t super great out there. You know, actually before I get into it, shout out to Alec. Uh, and shout out to Drew, uh, who we were talking to yesterday at the Cubs watch party. I wanted to make sure I shouted out Alec and his brother who he told me his brother’s a huge fan. So, shout out to Drew. I forget my man’s name that started with an M cuz you know I suck at names, but shout out to him as well from Cana Key. My name is Matt, Dave. No, you from Ki. I didn’t know. Yeah. Shout out to you, man. But shout out to him as well, man. Mr. Hernandez, shout out to you, too. Uh, and everybody else that came through. It was great to see y’all. Thank y’all for all the love. Uh but to your point about the starting fives, not great, Bob. Um the Bulls just looked out of sync with that starting five. They struggled like from the beginning from the opening tip after that uh they ran out to that one lead that they got there. There was a struggle. You know what I’m saying? That kind of happened uh for for this team. That was that was a good one. Thank you very much. it it just didn’t look like they were on I don’t want to say on the same page. They but they just weren’t on the same kind of level with that Cavs starting five on both sides of the ball. So, I’m not I can’t really blame a side of the ball for it. They didn’t shoot well and they turned the ball over a lot and they got Cavs got a lot of, you know, breakout buckets and on both sides they just really really struggled until that second unit came in that we’ll get into later. But yeah, that Cavs starting five looked like they’re ready for postseason basketball and the Bulls starting five just didn’t look like they were. Now, Alex Jacobe White not being out there plays a huge part. It does in this as as does not having Darius Garland if you’re the Cavs. Yes, also true. But I think that uh Kobe plays a bigger part uh than Garland does u for that Cavs game comparatively how important he is to the Bulls versus Garland to the Cavs, right? Because you remove Kobe, you don’t really have another one of those. You know, you remove Garland, I can bring in another guard. I can have Donovan Mitchell cheat there and if worse come to worse, I can give it to Moy and tell him just go score 40 and and we’ll do it that way. Or Jared Allen who can get 20 and 20 for them as well. So, they have other options. It’s just uh Kobe White is just so important to this Bulls team offensively. And I think that Josh Giddy was missing him also out there as well. Kevin Herder, you know, he really struggled like the Velvet like he he really struggled, man. you know that that wasn’t velvet. That was some polyester out there. You know what I’m saying? That he was rocking. But it was he still played okay, but not not great cuz he’s supposed to be the shooter and he was one of six I believe from the field and it wasn’t great. Isaac Auroro I thought was solid and it looked like the Isaac Auroro I kind of had already been seeing. Uh ended up with 11 points. I don’t know what he didn’t miss all his three. He didn’t shoot terribly from three. Um but he did okay. He he played really really well. was uh two or six from downtown. Yeah. Okay. And and the fact of the attempts, I’m sure Goat will get into that, too. But the fact he took six is a good thing. Uh the form still needs some work, I think, in my opinion. But overall, yeah, the starting five wasn’t great, Matt. They weren’t great. It was all about the reserves and what they came in and did to get this Bulls victory. Uh first of all, I just want to say I think it’s 192 people watching right now. Uh, it’s great to be back watching a basketball game, baby. Back, baby. Welcome back to those of you who took the offseason off. And no shame to you. I hope you enjoyed your mental break while we were here driving ourselves crazy. We do have 192 watching, 27 likes. Please hit the like so that the ghost of Katie and Troll Joe do not haunt your dreams tonight. Don’t like that ratio. Don’t like that ratio, goat. Shout out Shout out to both of them, too. We miss them. Um, go your first impressions. My first impressions though is just the to your point Dave, like it kind of just started out where they were like not looking at all like the version of the team that they said they wanted to look like, right? It was a lot of turnovers, nine in the first quarter, not a lot of physicality, not really like pressuring the ball at the point, not really taking away paint penetration from the Cavs. Um, we can get into like the individual performances, but I I felt like that first quarter was just not at all what the Bulls had been like advertising to us, the media, to, you know, everybody else about who they wanted to be this year. I do feel like it got better. Um, but even like Trey Jones, who I thought turned it around a little bit, like had a handful of turnovers in her his first game. He’s like a very low turnover player. He’s a mistake free player. You have one of the best assist to turnover ratios in the league last year, dude. I think it was second to Hallebertton. So, um, just kind of like, you know, I never want to like make too much out of any of these preseason games, win or loss. I think what you can take away from them is really like how they looked and how they played. I do feel like they played better. And I bet you that’s what Billy’s going to say is like they kind of got to a shaky start, but started to pull it together in the second quarter and even like, you know, down the stretch of that first quarter. Um, so I don’t know like what version that they will ultimately get to, but they certainly progressed over the course of the game in a way that I felt like was positive. Um, and that was obviously like during the competitive portion, which was like the first half and then, you know, first five or six minutes of the third quarter. Yeah. And real quick, I remember his name, Marco. Shout out to you, Marco. Shout out to you, bro. Um, so, uh, I look, I think it’s no secret that this Bulls fan’s hopes are resting on Modis Buzzales’s shoulders this season and sanity. And sanity and everybody’s maybe saying, don’t put too much expectation on this young man cuz, you know, we’re going to set ourselves up for failure. Yeah. Bulls fans wanted Patrick Williams to turn into a star because they drafted him fourth overall. Look where we are now. He played tonight. Maybe we’ll talk about that, maybe not. Yeah, but when it comes to modest, what I’m looking for is activity and smart play on both ends of the floor. Dave, you were talking one of our recent shows about how you are excited about Modis saying things like, “I want to be coached like an alldefensive team candidate.” Correct. And I am sitting here saying, “Man, I watched Modis make some yes quality aggressive uh you know, in tune with the play uh plays on the defensive end, but I am hoping for Modis to turn into an offensive star that can turn this Bulls team into something other than a play in tournament participant.” And there were a few like Modis I think played within the system of the offense for the most part tonight, but there were a couple moments where Modis took the offense unto himself and it’s when I got all tingly inside. That one take he had coming up the left side. He was bringing the ball up to left side. DeAndre Hunter very wellrespected NBA defender. Yeah. On him taking point on him. Modis just little little half of a head fake puts the ball on the floor flies past DeAndre Hunter. Then who is challenging Modis at the paint? Evan Mobley. Yeah, defensive player of the year, Evan Mobley. And Modis just gives this beautiful little heavy drag euroep finger roll finish. And I said to myself, my god, my god. This is why I’m watching the Bulls this season. It’s for stuff like that from Modest Freaking Boozelis. Yeah. And and also when I was saying that about how I wanted defense, it’s cuz I continued to say the offense will come. I was like the points are going to be there. That’s not going to be an issue like but it was just defensively I wanted to see and I loved how he moved his feet defensively. Might as well a team high 19 points by the way tonight. Yeah. And eight rebounds with that too. But he was a disruptor on on several plays on on defense and I thought that that was great too. But offensively, uh yeah, get excited. Yeah. Admittedly, right, I didn’t watch every single minute of Bulls basketball last season. I know. I know. I’m coming to you. My name is Joey and I have a confession to make. But but like am I wrong or am I ahead of myself that they said you put on 10 pounds of muscle, all that good stuff? He looked faster. He looked quicker and he looked a little bit stronger. And that has to feel good. And he looked more like decisive. He looked like he knew. Come on. What he was supposed to do a little bit more. And to me, like that’s the big key. Like, you know, I don’t think Mattis is at a point right now where he’s like off the dribble like doing the James Harden tween tween tween sideep three thing. Like, but he can create, I think, for himself if he’s able to make quick decisions, especially in like uh semi-transition, transition, or even attacking closeouts. Like, that’s where he really needs to make a living. I think all that comes from his ability to read defenses and make quick decisions. Um, and I felt like that was just at another level from where it was last year, even the end of last year when he did start to really put some stuff together. Um, really being aggressive. He had the uh catch and shoot three in transition where he was just like running the sideline. Um, there was a guy in his I I believe he was in the same corner, so the floor was not spaced super well. Uh, but he just caught the go-ahead pass from Giddy and just pulled up and hit it. Um, you mentioned the the layup where he kind of had that step through. Um, there was a couple of them there where he just like had some really crafty finishes, but I I feel like for him it’s all about just can you make the right play before the defense can react and get back in front of you. Um, and I felt like that was why he was successful tonight. I mean, seven of 11, he’s not going to shoot 40% on threes every night. Um, but to me, I mean, five of six from inside the ark with three of four from the line, like that’s a really positive sign. And I don’t feel like he was ever like forcing it or taking tough shots or taking ill-advised shots. It was all within the flow, but it was like quick decisions, smart decisions. And that’s like I mean, we mentioned Patrick. I think that’s been like his detriment for all these years is that he just hasn’t been able to like make those snappy decisions. And so I think for Modis, like that’s the key. Um, and to see him take a big step with that. Like to me, that’s more important than the 19 points or the seven of 11 shooting. It’s like, okay, is this something that I feel confident can scale through the course of the season? To me, that’s it. and and you talk about making the smart plays like letting the game come to him, not uh having that rookie feeling of the game being a little too fast for him to process. You mentioned that pull-up three he hit in transition. I think it was either the next time down the floor or one of the next couple of possessions down the floor. Modis also had the ball again in transition, Dave, and he gave a little bit of a fake like he was pulling up at that arc. That’s the one I love. And then instead, nope, kept the ball on the floor, burst pass his man, and got to the rim again. Yeah, it was attractive. It was very attractive outside of that layup where, you know, he hesitated and went that play right there because it’s just how lean he looked when he did it and how he the way his body, you know, it didn’t look clunky. It just looked very smooth and very sleek. Like, yeah, this is what I’m built to do kind of situation that we didn’t see from him last year obviously because he was a rookie still, you know, getting acclimated in several things. leash was a little shorter, just a little bit, you know, but I just really enjoyed the way he said, “Oh, no. This is mine. I’m taking it.” And he knew when to pick and choose his spots on the floor, when to take over in that game, and when to get those buckets and get those shots. And also, four attempts at the free throw line in 18 minutes. I like that as well, too. He also uh I know we got to go to break here, so just real quickly, like I don’t think Giddy, and I want to talk more about him, I don’t think he had like a spectacular game by any means, but he had a couple of really nice setups. one of which went to Modus where it’s just like man he’s going to get these guys such easy baskets and that builds confidence that builds the like willingness to cut if you know you’re going to be found for an open layup. I mean Herder got one, Mis got one, Patrick got one. Like all these guys are going to be way more encouraged to continue spacing the floor that way by moving without the basketball. Um and I think that can really help all of them. Yes, agree. We’ll pause it right there and knock out our first couple of shoutouts to our friends and sponsors. While you are listening to these words from our sponsors, do us a favor, yourselves a favor. Spread the joy. Hit that like button. So Katie won’t be under your bed tonight. Lurking. That’s right. It could happen. And uh yes, we will dive more into what we saw from Josh Katy Aoro and also some of the bench unit as well on the other side. Thanks for being with us, Bulls Nation. We’ll be right back. Joey C. After a late night of watching the Chicago Bulls basketball, there’s only one thing to make it better and M. PC’s about to do it. And he’s gonna do it because he poured it into the cup. But he’s punching himself in the thirst with some RC cola on ice. We didn’t have any cold ones. Oh, it don’t matter. On ice. Not on ice. It’s still getting punched right in the dang on thirst. That’s the original cola that does not fold under pressure. RC is that OG cola in a world of spineless soft drinks. Get out of my free spineless soft drinks. No trends, no gimmicks, no woozies, and no wazies at all. RC has not changed its price since 1905. Guess why? Because they didn’t need to. It’s been the same bold crisp flavor it’s always been. It’s a punch in the dang on thirst. 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Uh, so as we were saying right before the break, um, Josh Giddy, obviously the $100 million man, Regg G, and the NBC on Peacock or NBA on NBC/ Peacock crew was talking about him, uh, a lot throughout the broadcast. A lot of eyes on him. Can he be the guy to be, you know, the setup guy for some of these younger offensive weapons that the Bulls have? Kobe Modis coming into year two. Mhm. I I don’t know about you, Dave, I felt like I saw the same player I saw for large stretches of last season. Josh Giddy makes some incredible plays, some incredible passes and reads uh in transition and oa occasionally in half court and he also does some stuff where I’m like, you just reminded me again that you can’t really create your own shot off the dribble based on your certain limitations as an athlete and what you what you have to work with. So like it’s one preseason game. My opinion about Josh Giddy did not change watching the 14 minutes that he played tonight. I think that’s a safer way to put it for me is I don’t think the opinions really changed whether you were over the moon about him or whether you were already low about him. I don’t think you saw anything to change anyway anybody is kind of feeling about him. I think the one thing I looked at about it Matt is one like I keep saying like he’s the engine. It’s built around him. I’m completely looking at the players around them and how they play with him. And the one thing you definitely notice is his um chemistry with Modisellis. It was definitely there. Uh even though Modus had a great game, you mentioned some of those great passes. Couple of them was was Modest was Ellis, you know what I mean? And knowing where he was cutting and where he was going, even when he was missing the three, like the passes were crisp and on point. He definitely had some great ones. We saw one to uh Patrick Williams, who I call Lee Patrick. Uh but he saw a pass to him that was a great little uh baseline cut. We saw the Bulls actually do that a lot more. Something I had been screaming about when we would sit over there and watch the games is I wanted to see more of those kind of baseline cuts and we did with Isaac Auroro. We saw it happen uh with Patrick. We saw it happen and yeah, it’s just going to continue to move on and on like that. But I think I’m going to give Giddy a little more grace obviously because it’s preseason and again it’s his. So I have to give it more grace in the preseason for that young man to get those things together. But you’re right, three points, three rebounds, five assists, and then not playing in that second half at all. It was nothing, you know, really to write home about. But I’m I’m more so like, okay, you’re going to get another opportunity in this second game with this preseason uh against these same Cavaliers again at home. Let’s see what you learned from that first one. Yeah, I feel like the the matchup was just a little bit tough. And this is something I think the Bulls are going to have to try to uh figure out how to counter. But to me, like a lot of these screening actions with Giddy coming across, they were just switching Jared Allen right on to him. Yep. Um and he wasn’t really able to break him down off the dribble. Like a lot of times, like either teams won’t want to give up that switch because they don’t want to put their center on an island against the point guard. Um or, you know, they’ll, you know, just drop back and not deal with it. But when uh when the Cavs were in those actions, they had the switch. They let Allen switch onto Giddy and then they still played off of him. and Giddy like isn’t really going to beat you with a pull-up jumper. Yeah. Um and he’s not really going to blow by a guy and certainly when you’re when you’ve got that much space like he he has to have an in between game. So I think he he needs to go more to that floater. Um he needs to like rescreen quickly to get back going downhill. There was one play that stood out to me which was uh on a drive um where he just kind of did that like swipe through and got to the foul line. It was his only free throw attempt for the game. like those are the ones I think he’s going to have to really make a living on where he’s just not somebody that’s going to like isolate and score, but can he put enough pressure on the rim that it at least forces defenses to have to address you as a scorer? Um because otherwise they can just back right off. And then you saw there was another play where uh he was on the left side of the court. Aoro was in that corner and uh Allen switched on to him and the low man, whoever was guarding Auroro slid over and then Allen also just left them too. And so it was two guys just on the entire half of the court where nobody was really paying attention. He got a three out of it, missed it. I I like the aggression. It was good of him to take that and I think they got an offensive rebound and found Modest in the corner for a three. So it worked out. But like those are the the kinds of plays where it’s like Billy’s going to have to dress them up to get him in more advantageous positions because like he does have I think a lot of you know potent offensive abilities, but he needs to be in the right situation to really maximize those. And if you’re just not guarding him or like playing way off of him, it’s just going to be hard for him to put any pressure on the rim. And now you’re just kind of passing the ball around the shell and that’s not really getting you anything. So obviously they’re trying to get out in transition as much much as possible. That’s going to put pressure on the rim. But there there are going to be a lot of half court situations. Last year I think it was like 16% of the Bulls offense was in transition. That means 80 85% is going to be in the half court. What do you do in those situations to try to get Giddy on the move downhill creating offense so that other guys can get those open threes so that other guys can get in those back cutouts? I do think that they put uh especially like those angle slash cuts when Patrick had the uh you know back door layup like they’re putting in some stuff to try to alleviate that but um I think it’s going to need to be like a a real area of focus for them to try to just get out of that situation. Yeah. And also um it’s hard to they they took away his superpower because I always say superpower is rebounding. Yeah. And they took it away uh from him by Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. Like it’s kind of hard to get you know in the paint and you know push those guys around and cause a little havoc when you know it’s not going to happen that way. And and you’re completely right go like he was not able to break down. He’s not like he is a guy who’s going to break you down off the dribble but they completely removed that. you know, anytime he tried to get to the bucket. Jared Allen’s pretty big, you know, and he can move his feet and can stick with the guard, which is what he did. Any move he was trying to make, they were on it. They were like, “No, you’re going to have to beat us with some shooting.” And we saw the three-point shot that he took and not pretty uh when he did that. So, I’m going to give you give the Cavs their credit also as well with how they played against uh Josh Giddy. So, I think it was a mixture of both. I don’t want to remove the credit from from the Cavs with what they did with him, but you know, we that’s why I’m eager to see what it looks like in game two. So, now you have a kind of a blueprint on how they kind of played you and what they want to do against you. How do you combat it? Uh Mike Mills in the chat said in all caps, “Please bench Herder.” Uh Kevin Herder, the Red did not have a great night tonight. Uh just one of seven from the field, one of three from downtown. three turnovers, which for a guy who should never be dribbling, how do you have three turnovers? Uh, just his three points. And again, we mentioned it at the top, but because of Kobe’s absence, we saw Aoro and Herder in that starting lineup together. A lot of people think that they are the two leading candidates to fight for that final fifth player uh fifth starting spot alongside when healthy Kobe, Josh, Modis, and BCH. Uh, so uh, you know, a lot of tonight’s game and shout out to Connor who said Kobe’s spacing was sorely missed tonight. Yes, it was. A lot of this is like, okay, let’s put a pin in this because we didn’t have Kobe White tonight. And as you said, Dave, makes a big difference when you’re trying to break down what the Bulls showed us tonight. Everything I just talked about with Giddy, it’s like Kobe can be somebody that for sure does that. Absolutely. Spaces the floor and breaks down the defense. So, I do think that that’s a big big key as well. When it when it comes to the whole herder Aoro thing though, you know, Dave, you were touching on Aoro a little bit earlier. what we’ve seen from him, his first impression here arriving in that trade, the Bulls wanted him largely for that defensive identity that he could hopefully help them build, but what could he give them offensively? Where are you after tonight with with the whole herder versus Aoro thing? What What did you like or not like about each of their games tonight? Oh man. Well, that’s a that’s a layup. So, uh, here you are. Thank you, Matt. Good looking out. Kevin Herder, you know, was terrible uh shooting the basketball tonight. One of six like like I stated and I think Aoro looked more so about the player that we can expect to see uh during the season again playing against his former team. So I I the play that I like most from him was the play that really honestly didn’t really mean nothing, but they were out on the break. the Cavs had gotten the steal out on the break and Okoro was running like somebody stole his money after someone and I mean he was after that guy man I’m like yo look at that unlay underly yeha you know what I’m saying like he was after that young man and that’s what I expect to see from my Gakoro on a gametoame basis that kind of intens plays with man and that kind of fire that stuff is contagious man when you see somebody playing that hard, you know, on your team for just a run out, you know what I mean? It’s it’s contagious. So, Auroro definitely helped his chances, I think, of starting, if we’re looking at it in that sense. Yeah, he definitely helped his chances of starting more so than uh Kevin Herder, but Kevin Herder is a very streaky guy. And I don’t think he’s one of seven kind of shooter. I think that’ll get better uh in the next game. But the turnovers, I think he had three of those. But even if you want to go there, Coro had five. So, did he really like it? It happens, you know, like that kind of way. So, so nobody really played well to the point where I’m like, “Yeah, for sure.” I haven’t changed my mind like I said about Josh Giddy. I don’t think this was a game that changed people’s minds. You felt how you felt. My mind wasn’t changed about who I thought is going to be the starter, which was Kevin Herder more. But it definitely helped Isaac Auroro’s argument for why he should be the starter for this team. You know, I just don’t feel like I got quite enough information yet. Um, obviously I think Aurora outplayed her tonight. I’m not going to like dismiss that. Um, what I liked about Aurora, obviously the defense and like the intensity. There were a couple plays where he’s just like all over the floor. Um, and you you really felt that physicality. Five turnovers is uh too many. I like to me I think he’s somebody that I mean you mentioned like with Herder uh you know I feel like both of those guys can and should be like making some plays, attacking closeouts, using the Bulls offense to their advantage. Um but yeah, I mean you just can’t turn the ball over five times. That’s like can’t do it. Um what I really like though is the willingness to get three-point shots up. We talked uh in, you know, before these preseason games started about like the prove it and how I wanted to see him get like I think six threes per 36 minutes. What you think? Uh he took six and 18 minutes. So that’s 12 for 36. Uh I really like to see that volume. There were a couple of bad ones, couple of made ones. He was two for six, but that’s just going to open up the floor. And he was willing to shoot ones that were contested, too. Uh that that was really good to see. And so I think he needs to kind of refine some of the elements of his game where it was like a little bit erratic. Um the turnovers primarily. Uh for Herder, I think he just needs to keep shooting. Um, I like the way that he, you know, look, when you have somebody just like flying off of pin downs and that they can come get a pass and just fire it up, like you really have to be paying attention to that guy. There’s never going to be a situation where Giddy, you know, gets a screen roll on the left side of the court and her in that same side corner and they’re not there isn’t a defender that’s attached to him. So, like I just think that the way that he impacts the floor is really can be really dangerous. Um, but I also understand that like what he leaves on the table defensively could also hurt. And so it’s just going to be this sort of balancing act that Billy’s gonna have to figure out, you know, what’s more important at, you know, any certain point in a game in a season. Um, and I wouldn’t be surprised if like AO starts some games, starts some games. Uh, maybe they go a different direction, but it certainly seems like those two are kind of the the front runners right now. But I want to talk about IO after the break cuz I also thought he had an incredible game coming off that shoulder surgery and he was another guy that I thought should definitely be in the running. Talking about that fight for the fifth spot in the starting lineup. We’re talking about Aoro and Herder. Meanwhile, Aluma was like, “Hey, remember me?” Uh yes, we’ll knock out our second ad break right there. On the other side, we’ll come back and talk about Io and some of the other things we saw from that second unit. Billy initial back half of his 10 deep before they really threw some other pieces out there. Dave, so excited to talk about Yuki. We’ll get to all of that and more of your comments after the break. Hit that like button. All 350 of you out there watching Bull Nation. Appreciate you. Hit the mic. Here’s some ads. We’ll be right back. So good when it hits your lips. You know, one thing your coach is always going to tell you, especially if you’re at the plate, is keep your eye on the bow. That’s what they got. And hey coaches, listen up. If you’re looking for more athletes to train, Eye on the Ball is where you need to be. It’s very simple. Create a profile, upload your background check, and kaboom, you’re in. That’s just 150 bucks a month or 500 for the whole year. That’s a deal. Athletes of all ages and sports can find you directly. And here’s the best part. Iona Ball does not mess with your schedule, your payments, or your business. They don’t do none of that. you’re in full control. 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So, we were talking right before the break about taking the temp on the battle for the fifth starter spot. Yes. Uh coming out of the gate this season, what we saw from IO Dumu coming off the bench tonight. Yes, coming off of shoulder surgery that ended his season last year prematurely. And we kept hearing all summer whenever anybody would get a quick check in with IIO doing well. Recovery is on schedule if not ahead of schedule. Feeling good. And then GOAT seemed like this past week of training and practices that was doubly confirmed. Definitely. So tonight, IO comes in off the bench. The Bulls had dug themselves a hole with that starting unit and their early huge number of turnovers and IO just transition IO on offense. IO making things happen on the defensive end, making smart plays and efficient from the field. Finished five of six for 12 points. Chipped in everywhere else. The other part of taking the temp, I saw somebody in the chat earlier, I want to say like Scrug or Sug or something was saying like get ready for teams be calling the Bulls about IO at that trade deadline nearing that trade deadline. He’s coming in on an expiring contract. Everyone’s talking about Josh Giddy just got paid. Kobe White’s next to get paid. IO’s also still here. And IO looked pretty darn healthy for one. Love to see that as a Bulls fan. and two the same very good player that both fans have come to know. Yeah, it’s it’s Yes. I mean, it just it felt so good to sit there and watch him just be I Dumu like I like when I not thinking about the player when I’m watching the player and I mean that for when somebody’s coming back from injury like Lonzo Ball when I got to a point, shout out to seeing him as well, which was great. But Lonzo Ball last year, there were points when you were watching early on where you just watching him during certain games cuz you like Uh, is he okay? Is that all right? What did he do that for? Why did he walk like that? What did he do? Oh, is that okay? Is he fine? Like, he fell down. Did he get up? Like, I didn’t feel any of that when I came in and he just immediately started doing I Dumu stuff. That was a great feeling. And he just looks so smooth, man. Like, everything looks so seamless in his game. Like, when he’s on, you you can just hear the phones ringing from these 29 other teams in the background. You can hear it because when you’re playing that well and you’re doing it again against a Cavs team again, I don’t care it’s preseason, they’re watching everything, when you’re doing it that well and helping the Bulls win a game and come back in a game where they were down double digit points. Iodumu was the lead catalyst for that comeback that they had in this. And shout out to Trey Jones, who we’ll get into as well. But man, it just looked so good. The three-point shot looked good. It was smooth. Everything was pretty smooth for IO Dumu, man. Nothing looked clunk clunky. Nothing looked out of whack. Everything just looked pretty smooth to me out there on the floor for him. And man, that’s exciting to see even all the way to the last second half court shot. Like almost I thought it was going in, but it was just great to see, man. And you know, y’all know I don’t want to ever get rid of a guy like I Dumu. I love Iodumu for these kind of reasons. What a safety valve. what a salve he is for this team when they really truly need it and they’re playing bad. Conor saying when I gets going the Bulls are at their best. Also, shout out to our guy Mo Banks hanging out in the chat. He said problem with that IO trade premise will be AK asking for an allNBA player plus five first round picks for as is his right. Let’s set that preconceived notion aside for now and go. What were your impressions of IO today? I mean he looked great. He played great. Five of six from the field. uh hit both of his threes, 12 points. Um he was a plus seven uh and that was like he played primarily during the competitive portion of the game. He played 19 minutes minutes which was uh tied for a team high. Also tied with Trey Jones, uh V and Herder. So like I think he like immediately got back into the rotation and reminded everybody why he’s a Billy Donovan favorite. Yeah. I mean, if Billy could just play IO and Trey Jones together out there, like two or three of each of them, I’m sure he would because they just play the style that I think he wants to play. And look, I feel like I’ve been uh I’ve kind of like waffled on this over the last couple of years, depending on like where the Bulls were in their sort of timeline. Um about like should they trade him, should they not? And at this point, like I just can’t I can’t imagine a deal where it like makes sense where the Bulls like win a trade. Okay. uh giving up IO because uh an expiring contract and a guy who is going to need to get paid. You know, maybe a team really covets that especially at his low number. But for me, it’s like he’s maybe the one two-way player on the roster right now. Like you’re a team that’s trying to establish a defensive identity. Um, you know, Aoro is obviously a very good defensive player and can make some open threes from time to time, but I feel like what Io gives you, the dynamic of like being able to put the ball on the ground, uh, you know, grab and go on rebounds, push the break, get downhill, uh, make plays with the basketball, like he’s got that point guard background that I think can really help him there, whether he’s playing at the one or off the ball, uh, to where even if like he isn’t making his threes on any given night, he’s still able to add value on the offensive side because of what he can do to your pace in your transition game. Um, and then on top of that, tonight he’s making his threes, so he looks really good. Uh, and then on on top of that, he’s also a very solid defender, one of the better ones on the team. So, for me, it’s like, you know, I I know people are worried about like the cap and the salaries and stuff like I I’m not worried about that. I think you can easily bring back Kobe and IO if you want to, and I just don’t see a deal out there where you’re getting like a really good first round pick, like a lottery pick for IO or a two two, you know, mid to late first round picks where it’s like, okay, yeah, you probably got to do that. instead just like sign him or wait until the end of the summer. I think you can probably get him on a number that’s like around where his cap hold is and you just like you bring him back because he’s great for the culture. He’s great for both sides of the basketball. Um he obviously means a lot to the community here and again if you mean more to your team than you do to any other team, there’s no way you’re getting a value uh you’re getting value in that deal. So, um I I just think like, you know, he’s probably one of those guys that could be like Ricky O’Donnell has been saying this a while, like he should be the Bulls version of Yonas Hasslam. And I feel like he’s kind of sold me he’s kind of sold me on it. Like he he should just be like a Bulls lifer. I think he’s I agree. He’s good enough. He’s like big dog on it. People like and he’s able to contribute in so many different ways. And the Bulls need that. You can’t just have like guys that are specialists at one thing and expect to put a good team together. You have to have two-way players. You have to have versatile players up and down the lineup that can play a little point guard, that can’t play off the ball, that can defend. Like, he’s the only one on the roster that really gives you all that. And I just wouldn’t be in a rush to get rid of him. If you get a great deal, okay, yeah, you got to think about it. But, I mean, who else is giving you everything that I gives you? I mean, that’s a great point, go, because you’re right. Like, lacking a three and D is what the Bulls kind of are. Like you have guys who can do certain things in certain spots. Like you have but everybody you just kind of want to combine, right? You know, like I want to take Kevin Hurder and Isaac Coral and put them together. You know what I mean? Like I want to take uh uh Lee Patrick and I want to take Dent Terry and kind of put them together. Some of the offensive moves that DeAndre Hunter displayed tonight and you’re just like gosh, I want that. That is he that is why the Cavs are like we got this Isaac Aoro lying around. You want to give us Alonzo Ball? Yeah, man. Like, no, that’s that’s dead on, man. And I love how you say that because you’ve said that previously about if he means more to your team. And I’ve heard you and I’m never disagree with that argument. I think you’re dead on. But yeah, I want him to say for what he does on the court and what he does off the court. What he means to Chicago, what he means to the team. And he not only means more to the team, he means more to the fans also as well. And I think also just to add to that, when you bring in Isaac Aoro and Trey Jones and Josh Giddy and you still have Kobe, like maybe it does get to a point where he means less to you than he might to another team. Maybe you are trading from a position of strength where you have a surplus of one type of player and you can trade that to another team that’s at a deficit and get an asset for it. Yeah, I I think that’s possible. But I also watched this game tonight and it’s like, well, I was the one standing out. Like I thought Trey had a really good game. We could talk about him. Um only one turnover. I thought he had a couple, but 10 points, four steals, plus 16. Like, he was really solid. But I also saw IO contribute next to him. And I think that’s exactly the point I’m trying to make, which is that IO can fit in anywhere and still provide positive value. And I just wouldn’t be worried about him making $20 million a year next year and not being able to keep him. If it gets to that point, like, yeah, you got to make a deal. But I just I’m not worried about that with IO as much. I I would be more concerned with Kobe there, not because I don’t think he’s worth it, but because I think he can command more money. And if you’re not sold on paying him, then you definitely have to move him. I feel like is a role player. He’s really good at it and he’s probably going to get paid accordingly and those are the kind of players you want on your team as you’re building out a deep roster. Facts. Uh Niles Reed in the chat saying, “I looked healthy. That’s all I wanted to see to be honest.” And thinking back to Dave, not one, not two, not three, not four, but five shoulder separations before before the Bulls finally shut IO down last year. Yes, absolutely. He looked good tonight, but let’s all as Bulls fans take a huge tire of relief at Io Dumu looks freaking healthy and past that shoulder issue. Shout out to our guy Brisco who said in the chat, I do look like the best on the whole team. fine day saying Iowa’s got a start and he’s the soul of the Bulls. I agree. 100% agree with that. You agree? Yeah, man. He is. He’s He’s the heart and soul of that team, bro. Like, and he’s not a guy that’s vocal about it. But as Go said, there’s no there’s nothing else like that. You know what I’m saying? Of the team. Any any spot in that back court, he can feel like you want him at the one, you want him at the two, that’s IO. You want him at the three, cool, you could do that. You want to run a small ball, okay, great. You know what I mean? You want to run all defensive lineup, he’s out there. You need some somebody who can create their own shot and score, IO. Like, it’s what he is, man. He is that important to this team and to this community, bro. Like, I I love I sumu. Uh Cortez McGee saying you got to keep IO and Kobe in my opinion. Travis Mcnite saying Trey Jones and IO are our two best two-way players. Yeah, God is right. He he baldled like Trey Jones played so well today for this team is from the moment he walked on the floor right he settled things for the team and that’s why I love again point guard favorite position that’s why I love it so much he settled it all down and traditional point guards really know how to truly do that there are eccentric ones for sure like I consider Josh Giddy kind of more of an eccentric kind of point guard or even if you want to put a Russell Westbrook in there too like those are more kind of eccentric kind of point guards but like a tradition traditional straight up like, “Oh man, no, I can set this up. You’re supposed to be there. You’re supposed to be there. I’m going to take this right here. Set me this screen. Let me get in there.” He saw when nobody else was on on the floor that was could score, willing to score. He said, “All right, I’m going to score. I’m going to go to the bucket. I’m going to get blocked a bunch of times cuz I’m small, but I’m going to do this because this is what is being dictated to me on the defensive end.” You couldn’t even get past the half court line without him being on you. That’s how he ended up with the fourth steels, man. like his IQ. You just saw it working out there and it and it was really awesome. Uh, shout out to our pal Kimberly who said, “Hi all. Yay, IO.” Um, and uh, a lot of a lot of love for Trey Jones. Niles Reed, meanwhile, saying, “Okay, guys, legit question. What did we think of Dalon Terry today?” So, let’s use that as a jumping off point to talk about the the second five of Billy’s 10-man rotation before going to a 15-man rotation. But so after the starting five, it was Trey. Yeah. IO, Julian, Dalon, and Zack Collins. It was that was the second five. Yeah. Thoughts, Dave, on that second five? I had no problem with it. But what you saw was the transformation of a brand new character on the Bull’s bench. Because when that young man saw he wasn’t in that top 10, Patrick Williams turned into Lee Patrick. He became Lee Patrick tonight. Big Dave will be running a campaign all season long. That’s right. That Patrick Williams has in fact legally changed his name to leave Patrick. To leave Patrick. Did you? He played well. I I mean, did you not Did he not play well? I thought he played well, man. 11 points. I thought he was awesome. 11 point. Yeah. Thank you. 11 points with the two rebounds and the three assists. And he was active. He got that young man was free active. Six times what? He got to the free throw line. What? Six of them things. I don’t believe is what he did. You Why? Because you’re thinking Patrick Williams and not Lee Patrick. Lee Patrick was on the floor tonight, ladies and gentlemen. And he played well for the Chicago Bulls. Shout out to him. I want more of Lee. Give me more. Come on, Lee. Give me more. Shimone. Yeah. I’m not gonna sit here and say like, you know, the bar has been lowered for for Patrick Williams. Sure. Like it just has. But I felt like that was more activity than he’s shown in a single game like than all of last year. Agree. Um like he immediately came in and was like attacking the basket. Uh he had the back cut. He was just like way more physical. He uh drove from the corner. He caught like a kickout pass and attacked the basket. Got to the free throw line, hit a three. Um, just really good to see him in a place where, you know, he was making a little bit of like sharper, snappier decisions, whether it was getting to the basket, um, or just like deciding what to do with the ball. Like, I think we just didn’t really see a lot of that last year where he was decisive. And I think that’s something that Billy has talked so much about for Patrick’s like ability to get to a level where he’s being productive is obviously the availability and being healthy, but then just like making quick decisions within the flow of the offense and like reading the game quickly. and he just didn’t really do that last year. Uh but he looked a lot better at that tonight. There were obviously some, you know, bad plays in there, too. He gave up that one dunk to some dude I didn’t wasn’t familiar with. Uh yes, that came in off the bench. Um and he was like the 11th man, so it’s not like he’s got minutes guaranteed. And by the way, this was without Kobe. So, I don’t know if if Patrick’s going to be in the rotation, but if he plays like he did today, I think he’ll have more chances because this looked more like the like earlier career Patrick Williams that we had maybe some more optimism about than last year where it would just like it wasn’t working. Again, I’m not like sitting here saying that he’s back in the rotation or that he’s, you know, should be in competition for a starter or anything like that. I’m just saying he looked really good. He did based on, you know, relative to our expectations. Yes, man. Yes. I was proud of him. Relative to our expectations is the key phrase of everything you just said. Always relative. I didn’t see Patrick Williams dribble the ball off his foot tonight. Yeah, he brought the ball up there one time. That’s right. He brought the ball up, did he? Three assists, one turnover. He had one turnover. Right. One turnover. Only shot he missed with the free throws. When it comes to Pat and you pointing out that the Bulls were without Kobe tonight, so the top 10 was essentially the top 10 11. Yeah. Throwing Kobe in there. And this this is what I was saying most of the postseason or most of the offseason when you started finalizing this roster and taking a look at it and coming off the heels of what we saw last season like is Pat guaranteed of course guaranteed a starting spot gone. Yeah. Right. Last season was his last chance at having that coming into training camp. Agreed. He had to earn minutes as a bench player coming into this year and this training camp and I was going through the motions of all right this player this player this player in Billy’s rotation and I saw Pat outside the top 10 of Billy’s rotation. I still think that’s the case tonight. One preseason game it’s basketball. So we’re breaking it down. It’s the first basketball we’ve gotten to watch as Bulls fans in months. So whether it’s Pat or any other player grain of salt, right? But when it comes to Pat specifically, that contract and what we saw last season. Uh-uh. Well, like what what was the George W botched version of fool me once? You know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can’t fool me again. Fool me, but you can’t get fooled again. You can’t get fooled again. That’s right. That is my approach to Pat this season. It’s not that I’m not It’s not that I’m not rooting for him. Yeah. But buddy, foo, but you can’t get fooled again. a few decent minutes in a preseason game. It’s going to take a lot more than that to get this Bulls fan back on board. But to your point, like he wasn’t dribbling the ball off his foot. He didn’t like do the negative step out of bounds. Like he just he looked way more competent. And like again, I know what it’s been. I know like what the expect I’m not saying anything about anything other than today. What I saw today was a lot better than what we had gotten used to in the past. So, I think that last like spot or two in the rotation, whether it’s going to be 11 players, I mean, I just I have a hard time seeing. Part of me is like there’s no way Billy’s going to play 11 guys. Part of me is like he kind of has 12 guys to play. We didn’t even talk about Noah Essen yet, who I thought had a really solid performance. So, there’s a lot of bodies in here. Um, and I don’t know if you knew this is proud of the depth of this team. So maybe maybe he’s going to advise Billy or suggest to Billy that he goes 12 deep out of the gate this season. You’re basically looking for one person out of Dalen, Julian, Patrick, and Noah to get minutes. That’s one person out of those four to be the 10th man, assuming Kobe comes back and is like pushing somebody else down, right? Well, my question is like first of all, Patrick Williams, I actually saw him body somebody up in the post and actually put his chest into somebody, which I found, let’s just say, refreshing. Um, when you talk about the end of the rotation though, like let’s be real about it. Like what is it going to take for him to crack that top 10 rotation? Is it a guy who we saw tonight who’s a little bit more active, guy who’s rolling around in the paint a little bit more, or is it the guy who’s sitting in the corner trying to be that stretch three guy in the corner? Like, and that’s the question that Patrick Williams has to ask himself. What is he willing to do that this team needs to crack the rotation and then he’ll play more minutes? I mean, it’s a it’s a great question and I think ultimately it’s just like beat out the other guys. You can do that through quick decisions, defense, uh, making the right play, not having the wrong play. Like, I think there’s a gap between those two. That’s pretty big. Yeah. Um, but I think, yeah, I mean, Dalen looked really good. He had an awesome defensive sequence there at the end. Gamesaving block up for Dalen. But I but I also thought like he had a couple of drives that looked really good. He had three assists. Paul cutter, too. Uh, he just he looked pretty decisive out there. He looks a lot bigger. Um, and his defense is like I think the best out of those guys for sure. Um, Julian I didn’t think really popped very much. Um, just like didn’t really and like he’s been kind of that’s been the story of his career is like he’ll have games where he’s like, “Oh, that guy can really like carve out a place and sometimes where he just doesn’t really block and that was like the one time I noticed Julian night.” Yeah. Oh yeah, that block was mean too. And then Noah like Noah came in, he had a layup on his first possession. He had a three. He had a block. He had four free throw attempts. He rebounded the ball. Well, like he’s gonna at at a certain point, I do think he’s gonna put his name in the ring here. Yeah. To to get that spot. And maybe not at the start of the season, but like hopefully by the end of it, he’s getting some real minutes. So, there’s just a lot of guys and like I think that’s good for Patrick. I think he’s got to be challenged in that way. I think all those guys really need to be challenged in that way. And you know, Dalen’s in a situation where he’s playing for his next contract. Julian’s got one more year before he’s in that boat. Um, Noah is trying to, you know, prove that he’s worth a lottery pick and Patrick’s like coming back from last year, like all these guys have something to prove. All these guys have something to play for and it’s like the 10th or 11th man, right, on the Chicago Bulls, who I don’t think any of us are thinking is like, you know, a top four seed in the East or championship contender by any means. So, they’ve got a lot of work to do, but I think they all uh I guess with the exception of Julian, who again I I think we’ll have better games than this, like I’m not going to make any determinations about anything based on one preseason game. Uh but I thought all three of those guys, Dalen, Noah, and Patrick all had really good moments that were pretty encouraging. And yeah, Noah checking in and making it his presence felt on the court right away. And look, Dave, by the time Noah got into that game, was he not playing the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Land Cleave Avocers? Like, yeah, the Avaliers. But even like, dude, put the ball on the floor confidently, went down the lane. Yeah. Uh, you know, had some strong work on the glass. Like, that was that was a better, more confident and poised version of Noah. Yeah. Than our introduction to him in summer league, but like by a lot. Yeah. And and I mean people talk about first impressions, you know what I mean? How important they are. I think it’s different in in sports. So sometimes your first impression does not tell who you really are. And we saw it in the second game immediately that it wasn’t who he was in that first bounce back game, too. Incredible bounce back, man. So I I liked what I saw from him in summerly. Just how he moved on the floor. I’m not even talking about all the scoring and things he did. Just how he moved on the floor, his IQ on the floor. I thought I saw it again today uh in this game, man. He knew where he needed to be. He knew what the team needed. He understood, “Oh, okay. They need me inside on this one because I got to get these tipins and I got to keep the ball alive. Oh, they’re going to need me to step out to this baseline cuz I need to keep the floor spread so I can keep the lane open for guys, you know, to get there.” Like, you’re watching him think on the floor. And as a rookie, for me, that puts you ahead of a lot of things when you already got it up here, man. Because some of those guys have got to get it to get to that level. and him walking in with it. That’s a really awesome thing for a young guy to have. But yeah, eight points and and five boards in 13 minutes is nothing to sneeze at for that young fella. And taking two threes within that time, hitting one, but taking two of those threes is nothing to sneeze at. I don’t care who’s out there playing and three offensive rebounds. Again, we talked about the possession battle. Like that’s a big thing there. So, I don’t know. Like Noah, can he become like a five long term? That could be like an interesting look if he’s able to like I mean years I think like three three four five years down the road where he’s able to like really work on his body and by the way he’ll be like 21 or 22 at that time. Uh like I think that that would ultimately be like a great thing for the Bulls to have that kind of versatility. Right now I think he’s a wing, but that kind of offensive rebounding, that kind of foul drawing, like those are that is the possession battle. That’s it. And I think he’s he’s done pretty well so far to uh one make those stats really pop out as a prospect, but I mean first game and yeah, we showed it we we saw it in summer league as well. And you you talk about is there a universe down the road where Noah finds a way to playing some minutes at the five in his NBA career. Keep in mind, as much as I like to throw shade, even AK would be thinking about pieces that fit well around Modest Buselis and also maybe Josh Giddy, maybe Kobe White, but Modest Boozelis when they were on deck to pick with the 12th selection of the 2025 NBA draft. So, however they envision Modis and Noah playing together on the floor, Yeah. They envision those two playing together on the floor. Yes, one would hope. Positionless basketball, etc., etc. But yes, one would hope, goat, that they have some kind of plan that involves Modis and Noah being in their starting lineup together in the foreseeable future. Well, I think just I mean I like I was kind of being facitious, but like also we we’re also pro best player available regardless of position. So I think that I mean that’s sure it’s not like that outlandish but uh ideally yeah they’re playing together and I think Modus has some of the ball skills and ideally gets to a point where he’s shooting well enough where he can play some three and maybe Noah’s doing the same and you just have these like two big 610 wings that are long and athletic can handle the ball and can shoot like that’s I think the ideal situation whether it’s at the 34 or the 45 I don’t know exactly what that looks like. I think we’re a ways away. Yeah. But I but I’m just trying to think to to your point, Matt, about like how can these two fit together because it is they are they do overlap in some ways. For sure. Absolutely. But the the mind boggles when you contemplate a more matured version of Noah’s game and body and a more matured version of Modis’s game and body. The shoulders were boggling. The shoulders wiggle. The shoulders are jiggling. [ __ ] work. But can we get in Yuki for a second? I just bring it with you. We’re coming down on the end of our hour. Come on. Dick’s got to get diet ride right now. We need a branded Yuki segment. Real real quick though, I want to send a shout out to Trick Daddy Dex. Can you put his comment up? Cuz I wanted to give him the love I think he wanted and deserved when he said, “Hey guys, what’s up fam? Had a date.” So missed the game. So glad to see it went well. Shout out cuz he wanted to get that flex on real quick. Just wanted to give you that love right there, my man. That’s a Tuesday night date, too. That guy’s preseason. My man got a Tuesday night date. You better know it’s real. Hey, Dex, I’ll tell you this one for next time. Why not both? You can do some Noah Asen Garbage. It’s my lady. My lady. Shall we dance with Dale and Terry? Yo, Yuki. All right. Did you see it? I saw it. Did you see it? Did you see it? I saw it. I saw what Yuki was out there doing on the floor and what he was doing was plain oldfashioned balling. All those all those assist. I was going crazy. Listen, how many times did we get about our seat? I’m sure he got up from my once, right? But I know the other time cuz you were standing up. You ain’t had to get out your seat. But the Joey got up out of his when it happened. That pass that he dipped right on off that he gave that duck like a cow, sir. It was amazing. And I loved watching it so much. I wanted him to hit that three at the end of the game because it I would have lost it. I would have been on this show losing it. I don’t give out going to the nights on preeason, man. But I would have made an exception if he hit that three. I promise you that an exception would have been made. I like what I saw from Yuki out there. That’s all I’m saying. He looked that pure point guardsmanship was on full display. That way he was guarding guys up the floor. Did you see how he created that almost turnover that happened when he was guarding one-on-one and he had to get the ball out of his hands and almost threw it in the back court. You know why? Because Yuki was in his ass going his jersey guarding that dude like that. Oh, he’s smart. He can’t play defense, but he can annoy and he’s smart. You just watch his IQ work. Did you see the foul that he got when that defense player was trying to get to the bucket and they were going and it looked like a fast break? He said, “Nope, let me grab your jersey. Nope. Let me shut this down real quick.” That is point guardsmanship, man. The passes were crisp. He just got to hit a couple of those threes cuz he came in the game off the first thing he did. Attempted a three-point shot. The first thing he did, man, I love what I saw. I want to see more. Give me more Yuki. And you know, we we’ve talked about it not just in those summer league minutes where we were like, “Yo, Yuki, it’s not just like a like a phenomenon of like, oh, the internet loves Yuki Kamura. Had some fun moments with the Memphis Hustle last, but like no, like he can play. He can play. He is short for a professional basketball player, but he can play and like go like I don’t care how tall you are. If you successfully put pressure on NBA defenses and get them on their heels and then pick the weak spots of those def defenses apart with your eyes in the back of the head playmaking and passing ability. Like he’s he’s a two-way contract player, but my god, Bulls fades will be clamoring for more Yuki minutes than they’re getting. regardless of how many minutes Yuki is getting. That’s true. Facts. Yeah, I got some Yuki takes, but do we need to take this to overtime before? We should. Let’s take this to overtime. We’re going to uh for those of you watching on our various streaming services and Comcast, Exfinity, Roku, uh Samsung, all them jazzes. If you want the bonus coverage, head to CHO as we roll a little bit into overtime. Go. You can takes. Love that preparation from Joey. Um, yeah. I mean, I thought he just like, we talked about this a little bit with Giddy where it’s like the the paint pressure, the rim pressure at times, it’s just like not quite there. And I think Yuki can struggle from that a little bit too, just because of his size. But I do think that the sort of speed that and like tempo that he plays with allows him to get a little bit more pressure when he does have the ball. Um, and then there was that one play on the pass. I’m forgetting who it ended up going to. Uh, I think it was Collins for that. Zack the the trailer Zack Collins cut through the paint. So he kind of like cut through and then pulled back and kept his dribble alive. It was like a little Steve Nash thing where he just like put pressure on, you pull back, keep a dribble alive, and you can like get into something. And I and I think that’s like kind of the way he’s going to have to do it. Um he does need to hit more threes. Like I just I think at a certain point he’s going to need to be like an elite shooter to really like earn minutes if he’s going to do it at an NBA level because he is getting picked on. Like he the the Cavs are going after him on a lot of possessions, but he works. He gets over screens. He picks guys up full court. Like I do appreciate the pressure that he plays with. I don’t know that he’s like ready to play real NBA minutes right now, but I do think that he like he’s one of those guys where I mean we talked about with Julian where it was like the one play where you really felt him out there. Like you feel Yuki out there every single possession and I really appreciate that. I think that’s like what he needs to do to try to make an impact. Um I think like having a little bit more of a reliable jumper will allow him to play off the ball a little bit more. being willing to kind of throw his body around and pick up full court and really pressure and hassle guys and get over screens. Like that stuff’s really gonna matter because at the end of the day, the margins are just so slim at the NBA level and he’s playing now with I mean like Trey Jones is 6’1. He’s like a very small player. Yuki’s 5 inches shorter. Like it’s just so difficult. I mean, he’s the shortest player in the league by far. um is so difficult to be able to compete and to succeed at that level, but he’s certainly got like some real pop and some real shine um and can make some plays. I mean, five assists in this game, like I do think he can help the Bulls, whether it’s just in these kind of moments where he’s like helping facilitate and uh get easy shots to some of these younger players or if he can carve out more of a role and get to be able to do it uh in more meaningful minutes. Like, I’m not opposed to that at all. I think he’s just got uh more work to do, especially with the shooting to be able to expand his role in that way. I agree. I I didn’t listen to anything you just said at the end because it sounded like hate from the man you shout shout out to our guy flip side in the chat who said, “You already got my tickets for Wendy’s Bulls versus the Grand Rapids Gold.” Oh, that’s a bar. Uh yeah. Um we’re almost saying, “Watch Yuki’s last NBA game with the Grizz. It was impressive.” So again, two-way contract guy. We’ll see. Like he’s going to run in Windy City. Yeah, he’s going to run that team. Yeah. Uh and looking forward to that. Maybe he and Noah Asen will develop a little bit of uh camaraderie and chemistry on the floor. Camaraderie. Um as we wrap up here and shout out to Justin who’s telling y’all 15 more likes to get us to 200 for the show. Let’s get to that 200 likes, baby. Anybody want to throw us last super chat, you can do that, too. Super chat. But so as we uh look ahead, I saw somebody in the chat just ask like when’s their uh you know next game up against the Cavs again, this time back home on our turf on Thursday. Yes. Uh we’ll have another show for y’all tomorrow sandwiched in between there. But Dave ingesting tonight’s game. Yeah. Going into game two. Same opponent. We’ll see if the Cavs uh mess with, you know, who’s playing, who’s sitting, who’s resting, whatever. But from the Bull side of things, what do you want to see differently or what do you want to see that you didn’t see tonight? I’d like to see more command uh from Josh Giddy of the offense. Okay. Um in in the first, you know, however many minutes he plays, but I would like to see more command of that. Um I would like to get a fur a bigger picture or a better knowledge of who plays better with him. Like because I and I’m looking at it this way because again, he’s the one, he’s the offense, like he’s the engine. So it has to be kind of what is around him, what helps him, what surrounds him better. So I already know it’s Musealis. We already got that down. We already saw Vu. Even though Voo is very quiet, I just chalk that up to him chilling. You know what I’m saying? The man is 35 coming off a Euro basket. Leave him alone. He’s chilling, dog. So I’m not tripping on Voo. All right. I’m just cool. So people in the chat earlier be like, V is garbage. I was like, relax. It’s preseason. Like it’s preseason, man. He chilling. So but I I already know he has chemistry with V. I already know he has it with with Modest. And I know I I talked about how he had it with uh Herder. The numbers prove that last year. Can he does he have some with Isaac Auroro? You know, who off the bench might he have, you know, some of that chemistry with? We know Trey Jones and and he’ll play well together as well. So, I would like to see him though get a more firm command uh of it. And they already showed you a blueprint of how they want to play you. How do you come come back from that when you get another opportunity to go against this team? cuz it usually don’t happen like that this early in the preseason, but he has an opportunity to to do that. So, I want to see that. Of course, I want to see more Yuki all day long for sure. Um, mania all day. Let’s go. It’s not a fluky for my man Yuki. Yuki monster. I want to see more Yuki out there. Descending under Chicago Thursday night knocking down buildings left and right. That cloud forming over you, sir. And I want to see play a little bit more also, too. I I like what I saw and I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I’m particularly intrigued about seeing more of Noah after tonight. Yeah, I’m intrigued. I I was sort of already preparing myself for like have fun in the G-League and and not like to be mean or not be dismissive rookie, right? Like you know for for all the second youngest player in the league, right? He is the second youngest player in the league behind Cooper Flag. And for all the jokes I make about AK talking and bragging about the depth of this team because it’s not depth that’s going to go anywhere in the playoffs, uh Noah fighting his way through the depth that they do have this season, I thought would be a great challenge for a rookie as raw as he is. Absolutely. We’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see where where and when Noah might be able to fight his way into that. But I think the one thing Bulls fans can look forward to is the sample size of what we think about Noah and what we believe is possible for Noah in these next four preseason games. Yeah, we’re going to get a lot of Noah in these four preseason games. And and also I want to see if it’s the return of Lee Patrick or the return of Patrick Williams. I want to see which one comes out and plays. Jackie kick it. Yeah, for me I mean modest like you gota you got to want to see more of the same from him and obviously like not every game is going to be a seven for 11 shooting night but like are there ways he’s impacting the game if he’s missing some of his shots or if he’s not able to get you know the one or two or three run out layups that he was able to get tonight sort of pad those numbers. So for me uh and really like this season it’s just what level can Modis get to? Like he’s just such an important part of the present and the future that really I’m going to be watching him every game uh in that way because he’s he’s just so important. Yeah. And also shout out to Vince who we also ran into at the watch party. Shout out to Vince and shout out to my man Patrick who was there also man uh at the watch party, bro. No, not Lee. No, no, no. Not Lee. He didn’t make an appearance. He was getting ready for the game. Shout out to Jimmy, too. Yeah, shout out my boy Jimmy who came with me, bro. Shout out. Also, shout out to Niles Reed who said, “All sickos are welcome here. This is a safe space for basketball addicts, specifically Bulls fans.” That is accurate. Fact, brother. Appreciate you being here with that sentiment. Also, shout out to our friend Kimberly who threw us a super chat at the buzzer. Much love to you always, Kimberly. Yes, this is a safe space for Bulls fan sickos. It is, man. Uh, if you were just joining us tonight for the first time cuz you saw, hey, Bulls preseason. Hey, I found a postgame show on YouTube. Welcome, CHO Bulls. Uh we are live for every postgame, all 82 and all of the four upcoming preseason games. We also do five shows a week throughout the very long offseason that just mercifully ended. We are here for you all the time, Bulls Nation. Uh and we’ll be for you tomorrow with a live episode, 4:30 Central time to talk about more things we saw from tonight and what to expect in their rematch against the Cavs in preseason action on Thursday. Mhm. In the meantime, really quick guys, uh I just want to thank you guys so much for letting me uh do your guys postgame produce with you guys. It’s going to be a great bowl season and you know, man, I just want to talk about something really quick. Just I want to give a shout out to something near and dear to my heart. It’s kind of it’s kind of sensitive season baseball. No, no, no. It’s near and dear to my heart. It’s something super sensitive and I just want to be honest and vulnerable with you guys. I want to shout out Hennessy right now and just tell you, you know what I mean? I’m just I’m just I’m just telling you, man. I’m I’m taking my talents to the CHO Bulls podcast show all season long and just shout out Hennessy. I love you Hennessy. Near and dear to your heart. You’re the best. I love you. Us doing like an around the association look tonight. Uh you know, we talk about the Giannis and Nicks like reporting that came down. Talk about the stupid LeBron thing of I tried to tell y’all. I tried. Well, who would listen? I shouldn’t say y’all, but tried to tell people would listen. Did anybody actually get duped by that? A couple like really is I’m like it’s clearly an ad. Some people did because Lakers last regular season home game finale. Take a Price is sore to the Utah like you know what screw you you LeBron for that nonsense. Still might be his last game as a Laker. Oh look at go his last game before drinking some Hennessy. We’re going back to Cleveland. Going back to Cleveland. Uh taking my talents back to Cleveland. Yeah screw LeBron always. Uh but the decision part three will be Joey and the CO crew. Are you guys doing another live watch along for game three tomorrow? Live watch along 4:00 CT right here in the CHO sports channel. You can also check out CHO Cubs YouTube channel too as well. Uh watch along for every painful or hopefully joyous moment and then postgame right after that. Go for joyous baby. Let’s hope. Let’s hope so. Shout out to our CHO Cubs crew. They’ve been doing a great job postseason run. Started the rally cakes. Yeah. Old fun last night. It was. Even Even old grumpy myself and Dave were there. Yeah, old and grumpy. Just labeling me, not you. You were also there. They know me. But old crow is for young folks. Yeah, man. I had a great time. Uh before tomorrow, catch up on all of Goat’s latest writing covering Paul’s training camp practices. Uh read that awesome feature he has about Noah Asen the rug talking to his former pro coach in Germany. Allow.com is where you can read that stuff. Uh become a diehard so you can read all of it and the very best of it. We also do have our quick game note re uh game reaction piece available and free to everybody. Uh so go read that too. Allow.com. Goat is on Twitter at will_glly big day bow bwl sports. I’m Bulls Peek. We are CU_Bulls. We appreciate you Bulls Nation. We back. We We watched a basketball game tonight. It was fun. We back, baby. We’ll see you tomorrow live 4:30 Central with another live episode. Shout out to Joey Rockingham Controls, our guy. Shout out to all of you in Bulls Nation. Love and appreciate you always. Talk to you tomorrow. See you. Be good. Peace. Love.

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The CHGO Bulls crew break down the Chicago Bulls __ the Cleveland Cavaliers in their preseason opener on Tuesday night. The Bulls recovered from a sloppy start (9 first quarter turnovers) to make it a fun, competitive game. Peck, Big Dave and Will Gottlieb discuss what they saw from the starting lineup, which featured both Kevin Huerter AND Isaac Okoro with Coby White resting his sore calf. Matas Buzelis looked confident in his first action of a sophomore season with lofty goals and expectations. Ayo Dosunmu also looked fully healed and strong as ever. The guys also dissect what they saw from Billy Donovan’s rotation, and the late-game minutes from rookie Noa Essengue and fan favorite Yuki Kawamura.

0:00 START
1:00 Bulls win preseason opener 118-117
4:01 Big Dave Reaction
7:15 Will Gottlieb Reaction
8:10 Matas Buzelis Breakdown
17:32 Josh Giddey Check-in
24:39 Okoro + huerter impressions
32:35 Ayo Dosunmu returns
44:15 Bench review
53:30 Noa Essengue Debut
57:31 Yuki-Mania

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