The Fastbreak: K.C.’s Bulls 2025-26 Season Preview | Expectations, storylines and more

The Fastbreak: K.C.’s Bulls 2025-26 Season Preview | Expectations, storylines and more

All right, here with the season beginning on Wednesday at the United Center, we’ve got a season preview for you. And man, there are so many storylines to be checking out this season. And there going to be some unexpected ones that it just develop as the season progresses. But at the outset of the regular season, here’s where my attention is going to be focused. Can the Bulls improve their defense while maintaining that entertaining style of offensive play that we saw uh last season? Obviously, the Bulls transformed their offensive philosophy last season to play faster, take more three-pointers. What have you heard all preseason this season? You’ve heard a commitment to a new defensive identity where they are more physical, taking more charges, um getting into screens earlier. Uh they obviously need to improve that team defense. That team defense finished 19th last season. And look, the way they played offensively last season, if they improve at the defensive side of the ball, they can be a good basketball team. But as I mentioned before, can they do it at both ends? because the way they’re playing offensively takes a lot of energy. The Bulls were second in pace last season. Um, and they were third in both three-point makes and attempts. If you notice, they try to push the ball uh whether the other team makes or misses. They are always on the go offensively. That takes energy. So defensively, can they turn around and also play more physical, play more intensely, take more charges, finish the defense with rebounding, etc., etc. I’m curious, and I’m also a little skeptical. This is going to be a tough uh slog defensively, especially because the team is not loaded with star individual defenders. I think they’ve got some responsible team defenders. But from a coaching perspective, this is where Billy Donovan has talked about not only using a 10-man rotation consistently, but sometimes stretching that to 11 players and also um having shorter stints because they’re going to be asking them to do so much at both ends. Maybe a guy plays four to six minutes and you bring in a new guy. I mean, this is where the Bulls really have to utilize their depth. But I want to emphasize this all sounds good in theory. In practice, sometimes this can get a little clunky because sometimes players don’t know their roles or how many minutes they’re going to play. Most teams, at least those with championship aspirations, have players locked into pretty regular roles. So, this is going to be a season in flux from that end, but I think you lean into the depth and you know, you look at just the forward spot. For instance, obviously Modis Buselis, and as Isaac Aore will project to be the starters there, but you’ve got people as diverse as Patrick Williams, Dalon Terry, Julian Phillips, Kevin Herder can obviously slide down and play wing. I mean, maybe you throw a guy out there one night who when you need shooting and Kevin Herder, maybe you throw a guy out there, you know, Julian Phillips and Patrick Williams can sometimes be interchangeable. Maybe one night that guy’s got the hot hand, you ride him, maybe the next night you bring back the other guy. This is the these are the kind of coaching decisions that the staff is going to be faced with and it all lends itself to the commitment to playing better defensively. I think offensively this team’s going to be pretty good and pretty entertaining again this season, but defensively my eyes and ears are going to be open. All right. Second, uh these are huge seasons for Kobe White and Modis Bisellis. Obviously, a little bit of a speed bump for Kobe White at the onset of a contract year. Obviously, you hope that calf strain clears up so he can get back to full health and make the impact that both he and the Bulls envision he can make. Um, he’s out there publicly. This is atypical for Kobe White. He has said he wants to be a 40% three-point shooter for the first time in his career. His season high is 38.5% in the 2122 season. He attempted a career-high 7.9 three-point attempts per game last season. Shot 37% from that range. The staff wants to see that number go up over eight and sometimes approach double digits. I mean, this is the commitment to the three-point shot and his scoring pro prowess that the Bulls want Kobe White to take. And Kobe’s out there saying he wants to be a 40% three-point shooter. You shoot 40% or higher from three-point range on eight or more attempts per game. That’s a good thing not only for you but for the team. And again, Kobe White is in a contract year. So, this is a big year for him and the Bulls. And you obviously hope for that health situation to clear up pretty quickly. As for Modis Buselis, he also is out there publicly. By now, it’s old hat. You’ve heard him talk about wanting to be most improved player, coach like an alldefensive team, blah blah blah. But look, Kobe White finished second to Tyrese Maxi in the most improved voting in 23-24. Can Modus Buzzelis make a similar jump? It’s a big ask for a guy who was a part-time starter last season. We have to go back to last season and talk about how this guy wasn’t even a full-time starter until the second half of the season. He’s well documented as saying he appreciated the way Billy Donovan and the staff brought him along with tough coaching. He accepts tough coaching. He actually asks for touch tough coaching. He likes coaching that’s direct and in your face. And this bodess well for him and the Bulls for this season. But you know, if a guy wants to be most improved player, you’ve got to do it at both ends. And there’s going to be a lot more defensive responsibility on Modis Bazel’s shoulders this year as a full-time starter guarding some high-profile fours. He is slotted to play the four with Isaac Deuro at the small four. There are some people, including my broadcast partner, Stacy King, who thinks that Modis Buzzel is naturally is going to be a three in this league at some point. We all know it’s kind of a positionless era of the NBA. But regardless, Modis is going to be matching up against fours. I think your position is who you guard, and he’s going to be matching up against fours. You saw that in the preseason where he’s matched up against Giannis. And so, um, there’s going to be a lot of defensive responsibility on his plate. his block shots um are a focal point. He was very very adept in that department in his rookie season and he’s going to be asked to do even more this season. So, man, he’s out there with some public goals. Let’s see if he can reach them. All right, here’s a big one. What’s going to happen at the February trade deadline? And this to me uh dovetales into the broader organizational philosophy facing the team this season. Any capologist can project out the Bulls could be a major player in the salary cap game next off season. Yes, we’re already talking about next off seasonason, 2026. But the way the organization is approaching this season is in a total wait and see mode. They’ve got quite a bit of young talent that they like. A lot of those people are on expiring contracts, so they’re going to wait and see how this season progresses. If they get closer to the February trade deadline and the team is not doing as well as they envision imagined, could they then move into sell mode? That remains to be seen. If they’re exceeding expectations or doing about as well as the management envisions them doing, my guess is they’ll be in hold mode and push those decisions until the off season. The big caveat in all this is Kobe White. Obviously, he is headed to unrestricted free agency. If that’s a guy you want to try to resign, you’re going to have a capold on your books that’s going to be significant and then you will not be as much of a major player in free agency. I personally think the way the Bulls are going to play this is they’re going to retain more of their free agents than not. This has never been a huge free agent destination. So, in terms of having all this salary cap space next summer, I’ll believe it when I see it. I think I’ve predicted before in this very segment uh that I think Kobe White resigns here, but those are all uh you know storylines for down the road. But they are on my focal point in terms of season preview because it’s going to be really interesting to see how this plays out because the Bulls want to compete while also developing young players and but they also have a lot of players on expiring contracts. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how those two things progress. All right, another big one. Huge year for Josh Giddy. Um, you know, he’s obviously in a comfort zone here now, locked in for four years with that hund00 million dollars coming his way. Um, you know, I’ve said many times before, I always felt like a deal was going to get done here, a long-term deal, because very few teams will utilize Josh Giddy in the way that the Bulls are going to utilize him. He is going to be the most high usage player on the roster. Billy Donovan entrusts him to, you know, push the style of play offensively, push the pace offensively. And, you know, Josh Giddy has talked about how last year was a huge adjustment for him coming to the Bulls in that Alice Caruso trade because he was coming to a new situation where he was a little bit more differential than he had been in the past. The best Josh Giddy is an aggressive Josh Giddy. That’s what we saw post Allstar break where he obviously almost averaged a triple double in those last 20 games. And now that he’s locked in four years, $100 million, what can he do for an encore? This is a guy who just turned 23 years old in October, so his best basketball could still be in front of him. I know for a fact that when the Oklahoma City Thunder traded him to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference for that Alice Caruso trade, they not only knew it was a win for them with getting Alex Caruso, who helped them win a championship, but they projected some all-star appearances in Josh Giddy’s future. That’s how much that organization believed in Josh Giddy. um he just obviously was kind of a duplicate with Shay Gilligus Alexander’s emergence in Oklahoma City as the most valuable player in in the Western Conference, but there is a lot of belief in Oklahoma City that Josh Giddy can be a star in this league, particularly in the Eastern Conference. Now, it’s time for Josh Giddy to show it. I asked Josh Giddy uh this week if he ever sets individual statistical goals for himself. He said he has never been one to do that. He learned early in his career that when you do that, it usually sets yourself up for trouble because then you’re playing a predetermined style of play and trying to reach certain statistical thresholds. He’s all about trying to make the right basketball play in front of him that helps his teammates and helps impact winning. He said he had that conversation early in his NBA career with Thunder coach Mark Dagnol and obviously that’s a pretty accomplished coach and he’s just focused on winning. you can tell he’s in a comfort zone with that new contract and being in a situation where he’s going to be entrusted to do a lot offensively. So, I personally am expecting big things from Josh Giddy. I thought he had a very solid preseason and we’ll see where he takes it from here in the regular season. So, that begins on Wednesday. 82 games in front of us. That’s our season preview and we certainly appreciate you checking us out on the fast break this week. We’ll be back with more content next week. Take care.

K.C. Johnson gets you prepared for Bulls season with the top four things he’ll be keeping his eye on throughout the 2025-26 season!

Stay tuned for weekly episodes of the Fastbreak on either Monday or Tuesday throughout the season.

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