Matas Shines In Bulls Preseason Opener & Bulls Win

Matas Shines In Bulls Preseason Opener & Bulls Win

It wasn’t the prettiest, but the Bulls did get a win in their preseason opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Modus Buzzella stands out with 19 points, but he’s not the only one. We’re talk about it all and more in today’s Locked on Bulls. You are Locked on Bulls, your daily Chicago Bulls podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Thank you for tuning in. Lockdown Bulls, member of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where it’s your team every single day. That’s Pat the Designer, host and creator of the Windy City Breeze and host of the Chicago Bears podcast over at ESPN 1000. I’m Hayes, host creator of Chicago Bulls Central and Chicago Bear Central YouTube pages and podcasts. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. head to fanduel.com to get started. Pat, let’s get into it. Man, Bulls get a preseason win in this one. Dalen Terry making the game saving block in this game to seal the victory, but he wasn’t the only one. Javon Carter actually had some pretty big uh uh shots down the stretch of this game. But let’s start off with the guy who led the Bulls at least in points per game or points in this game. Modis 19 points in 18 minutes going seven of 11, eight rebounds, one assist, one block, two turnovers for Modis Bales. How do you feel about Bzelis’s game today? Listen, this is exactly what you wanted to see from the young man. I mean, he came out, he he attacked, he was aggressive, uh he was efficient. I thought he did a good job um picking his spots very early on. And I think that the couple of passes that Giddy threw to him, he knew exactly what to do with it and was able to finish around the rim. I I just I thought that, you know, Modest Game looked exactly like somebody who you would expect to be a big part of the offense coming into this season. I think that to start off, you know, as aggressive as he did, of course, we got to talk about both of them together and we’ll talk about the team as a whole, but I thought that you had the two guys who were locked in the gym basically all summer look like the two guys that were the most prepared on the basketball court, Nio Dumo and Modis Bzelis. And that’s exactly what you want to see if you’re the Chicago Bulls starting things off here. Yeah. I mean, listen, for it’s preseason, so take everything good and bad with a grain of salt. It’s preseason, right? Um, but for what it’s worth, judging off this game, Modis was a lot more aggressive. We saw him get opportunities to try to create off the dribble, and that was expected with Kobe White being out. Like, we knew that that somebody was going to have to take some of those opportunities to try to create for themselves. And for what it’s worth, in in a game where Josh Giddy was assisting five, and I you can tell me how you feel. Like, I even feel like Josh Giddy played some pretty good defense, his offense, shooting wise was trash today. He was one for four today, but he was active defensively. I think he had three steals on the day. And Modis was really that engine offensively. And then when I came off the bench as well, those guys were were engines for this team. So Modis in this first game, I got to give him credit. Like Modus, he looks like he’s ready to make that step up. Uh 19 points in uh in in 18 minutes is nothing to shake your head at. Seven of 11 from the field. Got to the free throw line some as well. I like that from Bzelis. Let me ask you this. Go ahead. Oh, go ahead. No, because I’m going to flip the subject. Oh, I was going to say, listen, you you want to see you know how I’m big on efficiency. That’s my thing. I love that Kobe White’s an efficient score when he’s hot. I I the fact that Modis Bisellis was able to do this in 18 minutes on 11 shots. Like that is an efficient day and that’s that’s an exciting thing to see from a secondyear player starting things off. Yeah, I mean that that’s what you want him to look like is is not only like you said like the best player on the court at times, but just a guy that’s ready to take a step up. And so he looked like that today. Um the question I was going to throw to you though, Pat, was we know that Kevin Hurder and Isaac Okoro are in the battle for the starting small forward. I’ll tell you what, today Isaac took that. It I don’t think it’s going to be decided just in one game, but today Isaac outplayed Kevin Herder by quite a large margin today. Well, yeah. Listen, I I I think we kind of knew Isaac Akuro was a better starter than Kevin Herder, right? Like the the thing with Isaac Akuro um that I think you have to look at his game is that he’s done this. He was replaced by somebody who can score more than he can, not who could go out there and get the job done as much as he can as far as a defensive player and being able to finish around the rim. He looked confident. He l he looked like, you know, he was excited to play his former team and to be able to go at some of those guys that he was traded away from. Again, like you said earlier, right, it’s preseason. You can’t take anything massive from it, especially the first preseason game. But I do think that you can be excited about the fact that Isaac Curl just looked like, “Hey, I’m about my business. I’mma handle my job on the defensive end, on the offensive end. You throw it to me down in the paint, I’m going to be able to finish it.” And again, I I think you mentioned it with Giddy. It was another one with a curo that I thought, you know, it was kind of just like run to the spot, I will find you. Yeah. And that’s what we saw kind of I mean I uh um Giddy only gets credited for five assists in this game, but I thought that there was plenty of passes that set up guys for the opportunity to to be able to finish around the rim. And I thought that Isaac Curl was somebody who benefited more from that. and Kevin Herder on the flip side of that, like not to say that it’s done, but he’s a shooter. Shooters got to get in rhythm. His skill is shooting. That’s it. This is the first preseason game. We could be by, you know, the end of this preseason, and Kevin Herder could have three to four games where he’s shooting six for seven from the field and two for three from the three-point line. I think that the question about who’s going to be the starting small forward is more what do you want? Do you feel like you’re going to need more offense in this starting lineup or do you feel like you’re going to be okay going out there with a defensive player that has the ability to shoot the three ball a little bit um and to be able to finish around the rim at at a high clip like Isaac Curo is? Do you do you essentially want uh Pee Will that actually is going to go out there and be aggressive? I mean, I think it’s even more than that. It’s not just even about the the more aggressive side of it cuz I think I mean yes it that’s the main part of what separates them. But I also think like they’re different types of defenders. They’re both really solid defenders. Auror was more of a disruptive defender. Like PeeWee is more of the defender that I’m about to put my body on you. You can’t get past me and now you’re frustrated. Whereas Isaac was like I’m about to swipe. I’m going to hit I’m going to hit your wrist. I’m probably not going to get called for a foul. I’m going to do that type of stuff. And you need that. Like you need some of that on this team. So yeah, it’s good to see Isaac Kuru with 11 points as well. Him step up in this time as well because you you needed that. That was important as well. Um let’s get before we end this segment, right? I do want to talk to you about another player in this one. And we got to we got to bring him up. Pee Will. 16 minutes, 11 points, three or three from the field, three assists, two rebounds, only one turnover from Pee Will. How’ you feel about the game that Pee Will had? Because I have a perspective on it, but I want to hear yours. I I I’ll say this. Um, I know this is crazy to say as as big of a fan as I was, but I got to go off what I’ve seen this season. Good job putting up the Justin Fields number. It’s easy to do that when you’re playing in the fourth quarter and the game truly doesn’t matter for you anyway. Like, I mean, like, you’re not out there versus the guys that we’re expecting you to be putting up this production against. Um, I thought that there were plenty of Pew Will moments that you could still look at and go, “Okay, that was a that was a a moment that happened there.” Um and he just it felt very much the same. And again I I looked at that fourth quarter um third and fourth quarter kind of because Pee Will was was in there. I mean what was he? He he was he the eighth person no off the bench tonight. P Will was the 11th person? 11th person off of the bench tonight. So I think that tells you what Billy Donovan thinks of Patrick Williams right now. But it it truly is just it it felt like a situation of I know I’m the odd man out and I’m accepting my fate. Very Nate Davis like very very like nah maybe not Nate Davis very uh Karan Magaji like if you will. Well here’s the thing though Pat like people didn’t necessarily put up all his points in the fourth quarter. He didn’t score at all in the fourth quarter I don’t think honestly it was he did that work most his work in in the second and third quarters but I I do think his defense against Evan Mobley on some possessions was really good. I like to see that from him and that’s all I’m looking for P will from at this point. Solid defense hit hit your open shots. Um he had a time where he attacked to close out the dad damn near lost my mind because it was like it was aggressive move from P will and shout out to that but then it wasn’t very much aggressive after that. But I think the way that I I’m viewing P will this season because I don’t expect him to be heavily in the rotation is that I forget the fourth overall pick. That’s gone. That’s done. He’s not going to live up to that. The contract is going to be overpaid. That’s done. is probably not going going to live up to that. But PeeWee can still be a solid contributor off the bench. I think his defense and his minutes this this tonight were solid. And that’s probably about the level of competition he’s going to face off against now because it does seem like at best he’s going to be the I guess. Yeah. If you if you play the last 10 minutes of a or the last four minutes of a game in a blowout, like you might uh you might get that opportunity to play that competition. Uh, listen, here’s my thing with with the the the end all be all of Pee Will. Um, I just I I think Billy Donovan sent you the message tonight. He’s not a part of my rotation. That’s really I I would assume you’re going 10 deep in the rotation this season. Got to say in the rotation on that. That was almost crazy. Yeah. Um, and if he’s the 11th man off the bench, that means he’s probably not a part of your rotation. like he’s him and Javon Carter about to be doing a lot of high fives this offseason or this uh season. I mean we shall see, right? Like I mean you know we’ll see what happens over the preseason. He was the 11th man to get into this game. We’ll see if that continues throughout this whole preseason for all those people that like well they got to play P will because they’re paying him. I kept telling people that I don’t know if that’s true. I’m not saying it’s wrong either but I don’t know if it if that if that’s ultimately what’s going to get him in the game. So, we shall see what happens there because it seems like as of right now, uh Pete Will is very much in a you got to go out there and do something. So, we’ll see. Uh with that said though, we’re going to get into the next topic where we’re going to be talking about uh do the Bulls have actually strong bench unit because a lot of the players coming off the bench actually had some pretty good nights tonight. Um but first, we got to get to message from Monarch Money. Oh, Pat was ready. Look, I’m not ready. I was like, “Hey, what’s packing with you?” Uh, most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even their their worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there is Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you put off organizing your f finances, Monarch is there for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. The thing I love most about Monarch Money is that you can track both shared and personal accounts and set goals between those accounts so you have a complete outlook of your finances. Don’t let this financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NBA. More locked on Bulls coming up next. All right, Pat. So, with that said, the Bulls bench unit today, let’s just go over the players that we know are are for a fact going to be coming off the bench. Right now, Kevin Hurder was in the starting line. We already talked about he didn’t necessarily have the best day. Zack Collins, 14 minutes, 16 points, three rebound, three assists, two rebounds. Then you got uh Trey Jones led the team in plus minus at plus 16 with 10 points. He went four or five from the field. Four steals, two assists, one rebound from him. I Dumu 12 points in 19 minutes with three rebounds. No turnovers from him either at all in that. Those are three of the guys that I think your nine 10 man rotation, those guys are going to definitely be into it along with Kevin Herder. And even Jaylen Smith gave some solid rim protection to some defense today. Didn’t shoot the ball well at all. But Pat, I’m going to ask you this question. Is it that the Bulls can actually have a more solid bench unit than what we were expecting? No, I think it’s exactly what we were expecting. I mean, like, if we’re being honest, how many What did we say this morning? What did I say this morning? You know, I think that this team has been built to plop a superstar into and you’ve got a lot of really good solid pieces that can get you through. I thought Zack Collins 110% solidified uh his role on this team and his opportunity. Um Jaylen Smith can’t shoot. Like I she GG’s. I don’t. He’s bro at some point and some of the looks were really good, bro. Some of the looks wide open, bro. It was one wide open and I swear like he hit the front and the heel of the rim. I didn’t know how you were able to do that. It was impressive. Um, and unfortunately that’s very much what we saw from Jaylen Smith last season. I think the thing with Zack Collins, listen, while it was I’m I’m not going to sit here and say it was versus the best competition uh of the night, right? like it wasn’t versus the Jared Allens or or whatever of the night, but he’s going to be a backup guy for you off of your bench. He was six for seven from the field. I thought he rebounded the basketball really well. I thought he was incredibly aggressive. And that’s exactly what we said about Zack Collins last season before he dealt with a little bit of injury and then kind of fell out of the rotation for us. I think he’s making a name for himself there. As far as IO Dumu, like I said with with Bis Boozelis, like those are the guys to me that you expected to really come out and show you something here early on in this in this uh preeason uh uh matchup because they were the guys that we saw all season locked in the lab and they look like their game has grown quite a bit from that. And I thought IO showed an incredible amount of confidence. And I thought the the again Trey Jones, IO, Zack Collins, what do they all have in common? They just do their jobs well. Trey Jones looked like I the description is almost the same for all three. You know what he did tonight? His job really, really well. And that’s what I expect to see from these guys. Now, IO of course did it. He was pretty much sixman off of the bench. So, he did it versus better competition. But like I think that’s what we saw from Zack Collins versus what was the what was the big game he had? Was that verse Jokic last year? I don’t remember. I’m not even He had one versus a a a top center and you were just kind of like, “Oh, he’s just being tough and finishing around the rim.” That’s what you want to see from your backup. And that and that’s the thing like the the the bench unit. The reason why I think this bench can thrive this season and I don’t know how they’re going to rank amongst other benches in the NBA. We’ll see. Well, the reason why I am confident is because you’re not asking anybody to do anything other than what kind of comes natural to them. Trey Jones, you need him to facilitate, push the pace, and hit open shots. He can do that. IO, you need him to be a two-way player. That’s where he thrives at, especially when he gets downhill and gets out in transition. We’re going to be a fast running team. To your point, Zack Collins has got to be tough. It got to be tough. There going to be some games where Zack Collins scores 10, 12 points. There going to be some where he scores six, but it’s that toughness that he needs to bring. Uh, it’s about performance, not necessarily stats. And I think you’re going to have a bench that really buys into what they need to do because the roles are there. They’re clear-cut for them and they can thrive in. It’s not like we’re asking somebody to somebody to do stuff that we haven’t already seen these guys to do. We just need them to do what their strengths have been basically over their NBA careers. And even when Kevin Herder, you know, goes back to the bench that we need him to shoot and he’s gonna have guys he can play off of and that can set screens and things like that. So, I think this is going to be a strong bench unit, man. I I I really do. So, I think that’s going to be one of the positives for this team this year. Um, and it we’ll see how that helps elevate this team some cuz it can. Well, and what it does, dog, is like versus the backups, you get the opportunity to go out there and sometimes make up some ground, sometimes play some of your best basketball. Um, I I think that those are all things that are going to be important because there’s going to be times with this starting lineup, especially early on, where you’re giving Modest the ball and maybe it’s not falling for. you need those guys that can come off of the bench and make up some of the slack from this starting unit. And I think when you talk about bench rankings, um I wouldn’t say that there’s more depth on many other teams than there is on the Chicago Bulls right now as far as guys that just do their jobs really well. Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you wholeheartedly. So, we got to see how how those guys are going to play off. Billy Donovan’s going to have to figure out the right es and flows. Pat, we know that they were trying to find the 10th man in the rotation, right? nine first nine guys, Kevin Hurder, Trey Jones, Iodumu, uh, Zack Collins. Did anybody stand out to you as far as that 10th guy in the rotation from just this game? Listen, I kind of hate to say it, but it’s Javon Carter. No, bro. I kind of hate to say it. Now you just you just killed P will because of fourth quarter and Javon literally played his all came in when there was GLeague. Well, but but here’s here’s the reason that I say the 10th guy has to come from that fourth quarter. So it’s either going to be P will it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be P Will and then I’m so surprised because P Will played against more starters and more actual rotation NBA guys than Javon Carter ever did in this game. But it’s like you’re down on P Will but higher on Javon Carter where P will played better than Javon Carter on both sides of the ball today. I I would say that to me when when I look at guys who are going to be rotational guys, it’s about what you need. And yes, you want P will to be something, but it doesn’t feel your need also has to play into the politics of the game. P Will being 11th is not just not by choice or not by chance. Sure. For sure. It’s it’s not that like Billy Donovan is done with Pee Will. That’s the thing for me with Pill. That’s the message that was sent for me with Pill. So, it’s not that I’m down on Pee Will. It’s that the head coach at the Bulls is down on P. But here’s the thing though, Pat. How can you say that that’s not also true for Javon Carter? He got in there after Pee Will and played against worse competition. No, 100%. But I would say that if you’re talking about somebody who made an impact in their time on the court, I don’t think people made more of an impact than Javon Carter. I think when it came down to your minutes on the court and you being aggressive, Javon Carter was 100% the aggressive. Now again, this is one game. This is not the long term. Pee Will can wake up very much like I said with Kevin Herder. Pee Will could wake up and be ready to go. Don Terry had a game- saving block. He really didn’t do much else. Like who’s the other? Is it P Will for you? Um I mean P Will. It depends on what you need. Is that or is Yuki? Well, it’s not Yuki’s two way. He’s definitely not going to be the last man in the rotation. And And say what you will about Yuki. Yuki got cooked defensively. He going to get cooked defensively. Seven Hayes. And And here’s the thing, too. I don’t think we need any more guards. I think the guard rotation is down. Also, I think when you look at it positionally, we it it’s you’re going to need another kind of swing guy that can play multiple positions. That’s not Javon Carter. It’s definitely not Yuki Kar. So, you know, I I do think you’re looking at the Pee Wills. I do think you’re looking at Jaylen Smith’s. I I don’t think anybody separated themselves all the way yet. I do think P will I think PE will play better than you’re giving him credit for. Uh most of his time did not come in the fourth quarter. Uh and and he played some solid defense against actual NBA starters. And I think that’s what we’re looking for more than Javon Carter’s, you know, high volume shooting that just not going to be there for him as a high volume shooter. So that’s my personal opinion. I think P will did more in this game than Javon Carter did, but um you know, we I guess we’ll see. It’s not going to be I I would say the third quarter is probably where he got most of his minutes and he put up a shot and was out there. Like I again it it was a very pew game to me. There wasn’t this impact. There wasn’t P a Pill game as a as the 10th guy is a lot more impactful than a Pill game as your starting power forward. Sure. But I I think the thing is right now like again I go back to the Billy Donovan doesn’t believe he’s the 10th guy. That’s how this game felt to me. So if you’re asking me like if we’re just picking who was 10 off the bench was it Trey? Uh Trey was second. Trey was first off the bench. Trey got actually in the game before I was Trey, IO, and Zack. And then got Jaylen got off him before P will too. Was it Noah? No, Noah didn’t get into the fourth quarter. Noah didn’t get in at all to the fourth quarter. Julian Julian got in before Julian who basically didn’t play basketball. I mean, he did. He got 11 minutes in there. But like it it just I think our sit our perception of P will whatever we think P will be whatever we’re expecting I don’t think Billy Donovan has that and so I can’t even include him in my real assessment with this right now. I I get that. I don’t doubt that. My my thought process though is that you’re giving more to Javon Carter who was even further down than PE. That that’s my only thing. I agree with you there. But I just think if you’re lobbying that towards P will that same thing applies to Javon Carter based off the rotation that was But we do got to get into your ARY. Oh, we do got to get into the ARY. Yes, I gotta find the AR. There it is. Uh before we get into this final topic talking about Noas and Gay who uh what he look like? We’ll talk about that coming up next. We got to tell you guys all about 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 $5, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Here’s the thing about FanDuel. It 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 fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. That’s fuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. More P will I mean more lockdown bulls coming up next. That is hilarious. That was funny. How did that get back up there? There we go. All right. Anyway, all right, Pat. So, no SNK. Uh, got in in nothing but garbage time. Do want to put that qualifier out there. It was completely garbage time when no SK did get in the game, but looked active out there. Uh, was did even the shots that he didn’t block. He did alter a lot of shots with, you know, just trying to get chase down blocks, those type of things. Scored at decently at times. It took some open three-pointers. How’d you feel about Noah SN’s game today? Um, it was either first game jitters, which could happen, or the mindset isn’t there yet for the NBA. He feels like a very finesse player, I’ll say that. Um, and sometimes with finesse players, they aren’t very aggressive. And that’s kind of what I felt from No Day. Again, I want to see I I maybe I’m spoiled by what we saw from Modis last year, but remember Modis was just like, “You put the ball in my hand, I’m going to try and kill somebody.” Like, that’s my goal here. And that’s kind of the mindset that I think guys who are coming into this league and want to go out there and dominate have. Now, with that being said, Mod has played in GLeague Ignite. Was that the G- League team he played for? G-League Ignite. He had NBA experience, NBA experience already. He had uh um you know, I know that I’m going to go out here and go up against some of these tougher guys and and Noah just doesn’t have that. He’s he’s a raw prospect uh that you got to see develop. Um but to me, I just I I want to see that I want to see that fire that at times we saw from him in France. And I want to see him take the easy buckets that I thought he had. I felt like he was just a little bit too passive there. Again, that’s stuff that, you know, it also depends on your role. Also depends on, you know, what Billy Donovan is asking him to do. Um, but there was a couple of times where guys, you know, where he got the ball and guys closed out insanely too hard and I was just like, okay, just take him off the dribble like you did in France. And those were the moments where he passed out of it a couple of times. But um overall I thought listen for a first game plus uh 12 plus minus eight points overall five rebound or five uh yeah five rebounds on the day like it’s not a bad start. It’s just continue to build on that continue to add to your game and continue to as you get more comfortable hopefully he’s able to find some of that aggress aggression and see I think that he was he was more aggressive than you give him credit for. you get to the free throw line four times and you get you get five rebounds, you you’re you’re at least not not being passive, right? And that’s a good sign for somebody who’s 18 years old playing against grown three offensive too. Yeah. So, three offensive so so getting that and being, you know, being as young as he is is a good sign, right? I think that that and that’s what what I want to see from No. Um, you know, did play professionally, I think for two years. So, basically since he was 16 years old, he’s been playing against grown men. Um, and I’ll say this, the league that he played in is probably right up there with G-League competition. So, you know, there’s that part of it, but I do think Noah’s going to be it’s going to take some time for Noah and it’s probably going to be a longer path. If Noah does get minutes by the end of the season, let’s just say by the end of the season, Noah SN is getting 10, 12 minutes, whatever. I do think it’s going to be a longer path to get there than what Modis Busell took to get there, right? I think if while Ma has played what one or two games in the G-League, you may see five for no and gay like but I do think that the things that he did well rebound you uh uh try changing shots. Rim protection isn’t just about the shots you block, it’s about the shots you alter as well. I think he altered some shots there getting to the free throw line. He got to the free throw line at an amazing rate overseas. So I’m glad to see that at least in this one game that transfers over a little bit. Those are all things that I can see him using to get into the in uh in into the minutes and Billy Don’s rotation. It’s just gonna be a long path to get there, I think, for Yeah. What I don’t want to see him do and what I what I felt like at times he did when he was aggressive and and able to get to the rim, he was fine. You know what I mean? But what I don’t want to see him do is get lost in the sauce. That’s the thing with Pete Will that that irritates us the most is when Pete Will goes to the bucket and he’s strong. It’s like, yeah, you’re freaking stronger than everybody out here. you’re able to move anybody that’s in front of you. Oh my god, people moved out your way and you finish the layup and then we’ll see like five plays in a row where we go, is he still on the floor? Don’t get lost in the sauce. Make an impact. Don’t be will be be don’t be will it. Be the screener. You know what I mean? Even in some of the offball screens again, we don’t know exactly what Billy Donovan is asking him to do this early. He probably doesn’t know exactly what Billy Donovan is asking. He said it after the you you were out last week. So he was interviewed after the second uh practice and he they were asked like what Billy Donovan asked you to do and he said play defense and be active on both sides of the ball. You know what I mean? And but I think that’s remember when Modish started right we were just like yo I don’t even know if this kid can play but he’s aggressive as heck. Like he is just making himself known. And the the thing that we continued to talk about when the Javvante Greens would come in, the DJs would get opportunities, right, on those missed shots, those are yours. There’s nothing being schemed for you. There’s nothing being run for you. Unfortunately, right now, you are not that guy. You have to be the guy. And I think we saw that a little bit tonight. Three offensive boards for him in in uh uh what do you play? 14 14 minutes today. 13 minutes today. 1334. Um you you saw him being aggressive on the boards at times and he was already down there. You saw him defensively getting in front of guys like you said changing shots like those are the moments where you go okay I can see the skill set now can we bring the talent out and I think that’s going to be the biggest thing with Noah. That’s that’s a great point. Great point. Anything left Pat before we get up out of here? Nah man it’s preseason game one. Uh, none of this matters in the grand scheme of things, but it’s exciting that basketball is back if we honest. It is good to be able to talk about preseason. Javon Carter went four for seven and he may not get seven shots in the first two weeks of the season. The first two months of the season, maybe not. Um, but yeah, it was it was a good good to talk basketball. We got Pat, we got games Thursday, we got games Sunday. So, hey, we got we’re right back into the thick of things, man. So, I’m back, Jake. I’m back. We’re back. I’m go ahead Pat. Close this up. Follow us on Locktob Bulls. Uh, locked on Bulls. Follow me on everything. Pat the Designer. Appreciate you guys for tuning in and showing love. Hit that like button. Subscribe to the page. Lead a fivestar view. Y’all know what to do. Larry N starting to look like his dad by the way a lot. Like the age is it’s terrifying. Bro, I I know every that you’ve had that moment. Sure. I’ve had that moment where like you just in the mirror and you’re like, “Damn, I look like my dad.” Bro, yes. It’s happening right now as we speak with two kids. Larry Nance look like there’s some cocaine on the plane. You guys can follow me at CEO Haze. 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, Roku TV, Fubo TV. Basically, anywhere you want us, you can get it. We’ll see you guys bright and early. Not tomorrow because this is tomorrow’s episode. We’ll see you guys on Thursday. Peace y’all. Peace. We going to be done with the week on Thursday. Y [Music]

Bulls stun Cavs in preseason opener. Is Matas Buzelis the X-factor Chicago needs?

Buzelis leads the charge with 19 points as the Bulls secure a thrilling victory. Haize & Pat break down his aggressive play, Patrick Williams’ performance, and the battle for the starting small forward spot between Isaac Okoro and Kevin Huerter. Chicago’s bench unit shines, with Zach Collins, Trey Jones, and Ayo Dosunmu making strong cases for increased roles. Rookie Noa Essengue’s debut raises questions about his NBA readiness and development path.

Will Buzelis’ preseason success translate to regular-season impact? Can the Bulls’ revamped bench unit elevate the team’s playoff chances? Tune in for expert analysis on Chicago’s evolving roster and strategy heading into the new season.

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