Has Matas Buzelis ARRIVED | Josh Giddey Defensive Growth & Bulls Young Core Showing Major Growth

Has Matas Buzelis ARRIVED | Josh Giddey Defensive Growth & Bulls Young Core Showing Major Growth

after leading the Chicago Bulls in scoring in their in their win over the Sacramento Kings. But today’s episode, I want to talk about the growth that we’ve seen from Modis Bisellas through four games so far to start off the season and why it feels very sustainable and intentional and Billy Donovan has really let Modis Bisellas off the leash. We’re also going to talk about Josh Gky’s extension and uh how do you feel about that extension now? We’re talk about that and Bulls who have put themselves in contention for awards early on and dive a little bit into the mailbag. All that and more right after this. [Music] What’s going on, Bulls fans? Welcome to another episode of Chicago Bulls Central, your number one spot for everything Chicago Bulls related. I’m the host, Hayes, but more importantly, you guys can follow the channel at Bull Central Pod on every social media platform we happen to be on. With that said, let’s go and get into this content today, y’all. And uh I want to start off talking about Modest Bzelis. like not only did he lead the Chicago Bulls in scoring last night, but when you dig into the numbers of Mus Bullis, you see clear ways and areas that he’s grown his game actually quite substantially substantially so far to start the season. Now, it’s very early on in the season, right? And I’ve and I want to make it clear here, one big game, one small game or whatever could drastically kind of change the averages. That’s why I’m going to talk about more than just the box score stats and we’re going to get into that. But through the first four games of the season, Modis Misellis is averaging 16.8 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, one and a half assist. Uh, and he’s doing that in really and he’s just killing it right now, right? And so when you also look at that, he’s he’s uh 51% uh shooting from the field and 33% shooting threes. Now, his first two games of this season, he didn’t hit a single three. So that three-point percentage is rising. But it’s not just about the numbers that Misellis is putting up. It’s how he’s putting up those numbers. Modis Bzelis has gone from 80% of his shots being assisted down almost 20% to 64% so far this season. What does that mean? That means that Modis has now gotten let let off the leash a little bit more. He’s doing more creation himself. He’s doing more, you know, using his own dribbles to create separation and get into the rim. And that’s really good thing. Right now, Modis is showing a a a a growth in understanding when to take players off the dribble, how to use his size, how to use his length, and and the and the jumping ability that he has to just get himself so much more open uh than what he’s been before, right? On top of the added strength that he has right now, Bzelis is shooting 51% of his shots at the rim. And with though, and with 20 less uh 20% less of his shots almost being assisted, 16% I’m rounding up. uh being unassisted like you’re talking about like Modis Bzelis is like he’s doing a lot of this himself, right? And then when you look at last season, right? Nearly all of Modis Buzzel’s shot attempts last year, 93% of them came either at the rim or on spot up jumpers, right? That adds into why uh 80% of his shots were assisted because he was either just getting to the rim, somebody was getting him the ball, or as soon as he got a pass, he was shooting a jump shot. This year, you’re seeing him do more pull-up jumpers. you’re seeing uh 1/5ifth of his shots now are coming off the dribble. He’s creating himself. Uh he’s also averaging one uh uh two and one uh pullups two and one pull up three per game which is really good, right? And then uh also he’s converting his off dribble looks at a much higher rate on catch and shoot attempts and he’s grown as a catch and shoot player. But it’s not just that either when you look at this, right? when you when you look at his field goal shooting percentage is increased, his three-point shooting percentage has increased. Um his free throw attempts have all increased as well, right? So, he’s not he’s getting to the free throw line a little bit more. It’s clear that now Modis Mousellis has the green light from Billy Donovan in a lot of ways as long as he’s playing well and he’s doing that. He’s attacking the rim a lot more often. When you look at it last season, right, he averaged only 2.7 drives per game and he was a he was doing more finishing than creating. Uh and it is what it is. He shot the ball 44% on drives as a rookie. Now you look at this season, it’s he’s up to 6.3 drives per game, almost tripling his number of drives per game. He’s has the fourth most of those on the team. We talked about how important drives are to the Chicago Bulls offense. And when you look at it, he probably should be attacking more. He’s averaging 5.3 points per game off drives and also converting on 60% of those attempts. Modis Mousellis is turning into the complete package offensively. Now, the one area of his game that he’s not doing a lot on is mid-range. He’s only shooting about 8.2% of his shots in mid-range, but that’s even still up from last year. He was only shooting 3.1% of his shots in the mid-range last year. I think with Modus and the and the the separation he’s able to create, as well as the height that he has, that midi is going to be important for him. And he’s going to he’s going to grow that midi. That’s the next part of it. But as much as we can talk about the offense, and I get it, offense is easy to talk about. It’s the defensive explosion that Modis Mousellis has had that I really want to focus a lot on. Just this I just want to get into this, right? The Bulls are playing much better team defense. No doubt about that. Team defense is has improved, which then is going to make your individual numbers improve as well, right? But it’s about how Modis is owning his one-on-one matchups that is really standing out to me personally. What do I mean by that? Modus has a 108 defensive rating so far this season. That’s compared to 115 last season, right? And many people will know the the the lower number is the better number for defensive rating. It’s it’s weird that way. Um and so that’s a huge growth from year-over-year. On top of that, opposing teams are scoring uh 3.2 points worse per 100 possessions when Misellis is on the court. And get this, players that Mus Bzelis is guarding one-on-one are is shooting the the the the shooting the ball almost 2% worse than their averages when he’s not guarding them. I’m not saying that Mannis Mousellis is all of a sudden turning into some amazing defensive stopper. That’s not what I’m saying. But I am saying that he is that the growth that he’s had defensively is evident. You you see that you you can feel that it’s palpable that Misellis has grown as a defender this season. And that’s the amazing part to watch as well. You also look at Miles Mousellis in his passing. While he’s only uh averaging one and a half assists per game, he is averaging 2.3 turnovers per game, but only a half of those turnovers, 0.5, not half of them, 0.5 are rated as a bad pass. Meaning that some of his turnovers are coming off, you know, offball things, clear path foul, for example, that he had, those type of things. Like that that’s where it’s coming from. Um, but Modis is just growing in every shape, form, fashion when it comes to every marketable stat and statistic that you can look at. Modis Buzzellis has improved in. And that’s the growth that you want to see from from a player like Modis Buzzel. I mean, his his shot chart is is is everything spread out, right? And that’s a growth from him from last year. Uh, you know, this season so far, Miles Mellis, when you look at his shooting, 20%, if you add in above the break and corner threes, 36% of his shots are coming from from um from the three-point line. Not bad. 51% of his shots are coming from in uh from the restricted area. Another 4% are coming from in the paint and and eight that 8.2% is coming from the mid-range. As I talked about before, Modest is growing his and the the variety of shots. 31 uh 44.9% of his shots are jump shots. Uh 36% are layups. 12% are dunks, right? And and another 6% are floaters. You’re just seeing a much better and more varied shot chart from Mis Balis. Last year, when you look at it, 51% of his shots were jump shots and another almost 20% were were were dunks, right? Like so he didn’t have that variety in shots that you’re seeing now from Mis Balis. He’s showing more intention. He’s growing as a player and Mus saying that he wanted to come into this league and win most improved player of the year. I tell you what, he’s doing his best to put his best foot forward to make that a possibility for him. He’s he’s putting that forward. Modis is playing really really really well. And I love seeing this because not only I I’ve said it before, the thing that I love to do is I love to hold players accountable to what they said that they want for themselves. I can have some arbitrary uh you know market or or or barrier that I want the the the the the players to hit but when they say it themselves mod is coming into the season saying yeah I want to I want to win most improved player but he also said it’s all about the team success that he wants to do whatever the team needs him to do and you’re seeing that he’s grown defensively he’s grown offensively he’s grown as a ball handler he’s grown at at creating his own shot we’re talking about a player that from year one to year two is doing all of this you are typically looking at play at players at year three to put that all together. Now, I want to be clear here. There could be a rough patch at some point coming this season for Mannis Mousellis. That’s fine. It’s going to happen. I He’s He’s ahead of schedule in one way or another. But for Mis to already be showing this stuff, right? And you got to keep in mind one of those games he only played 12 minutes because he got in foul trouble. What would that game have looked like for him and done for his numbers? Again, one game really does change a lot for your numbers at this part of the season where we are. The growth of Modis is is real. It’s not just a thing for question. Let’s see how consistent he can stay in it. The three-point shooting percentage is going up every game. Like I said, he started off the season going 0 for five over the first two games. He’s been much better since then. Four for six last night. So, you know, maybe that’s the game where he really starts putting all this stuff together. And we’ll see. It’s been a really, really good season for Musellis and a amazing start for the Bulls overall and you got to love to see it. But let’s move on from that to the other player that I love to talk about mainly because he triggers so many people, right? And that’s Josh Giddy. So much was made this off season about Josh Giddy and his value and if he live up to it and what should the contract be. You have people saying ridiculous things like, “Oh, well the Bulls should just force him to basically take the qualifying offer or oh the Bulls should press him for for more money.” Josh Giddy has already shown that contract to be a steal. Now, it’s up to him to continue playing that way to show up being uh to being a steal. But here’s the thing. Mod I mean, not modest. Josh Giddy has literally picked up right where he left off last season. The last end of the season run where people were saying, “Hey, you know, it’s good, but is he going to be able to keep it up?” Josh Giddy is averaging 19.5 points per game, eight eight and a half rebounds per game, almost eight assists per game. And keep in mind, he is truly sharing the ball handling duties with Trey Jones um in in more of a way than he even did with Kobe White last season as far as uh uh Trey doing more creation offensively. And you look at his shooting, he’s shooting the ball 41% right now from the field. I’m sorry, not 41, 44% right now from the field, which is a solid mark overall. He’s had two games of shooting the ball over 50%. He’s shooting the ball 40 uh 42.9% from three-point range, taking three and a half three-pointers per game. So, it’s not like he’s not taking the the threes. He’s still taking the threes. Uh, you know, last year he averaged four or three-pointers per game and hit that at a 37.8% clip. 3 and a half at at 42 43% is really good. And the growth in the place that I looked forward from Josh Giddy this season, he has gone up from last year his career high being 3.2 free throws per game to up to seven free throws per game. And he’s hitting that at a 71% clip. I actually want to see that number, that percentage be a little bit higher, but that’s perfect for him as far as the number of free throws that he’s getting per game. Josh Giddy is filling up the stat sheet. He’s doing that while sharing the point guard and creation duties with Trey Jones, adding to the unselfishness of this team. But the growth of Josh Giddy, the biggest growth that he’s made, and I know this is going to sound crazy for people who only listen to narratives and don’t really actually look at the game of basketball, Josh Giddy is turning into a really good defender. Again, I say that as much as the offensive explosion, as much as the creation has been great for Josh Giddy, it’s where Josh Giddy, he’s having a career year right now defensively. to say that he’s giving up 5.5 points less per 100 possessions, which is really good. Players that Josh Giddy is guarding, I just talked about Musellis in his one-on-one matchups, players shooting almost 3% worse than their averages. When Josh Giddy’s guarding players now, they’re shooting 6.1% worse when he’s guarding them than when anybody else. Now, I’m not saying that to mean that Josh Giddy’s all of a sudden turning into some defensive stopper, but it does show the growth that Josh Giddy has made defensively coming into the season. And that’s a major part if if you’re looking at Josh Giddy, especially because of the size advantage that he has. Now, he’s not always going to have I mean, he’s going to be at a disadvantage speedwise, but one thing that we noticed with Josh Giddy towards the end of last season when he was playing in that great rhythm is that he was giving more effort defensively and understanding, hey, I’m bigger and stronger than most these guards. I’m guarding. So, let me use that to my advantage. Josh Giddy’s also using that to his advantage so far this year. And also, as much as Josh Giddy’s turnovers are a problem, I want to be clear here. That’s one of the biggest things on Josh Giddy’s, the turnovers. Josh Giddy’s for forcing 3.6% turnovers when he’s guarding a player. Now, some of that isn’t guarding one-on-one. Some of that’s him jumping into the passing lanes, which we saw a little bit last night. It’s just showing an increased recognition of how to get those turnovers. And Josh Giddy’s doing a really good job at that. And also when you look at it, team uh opposing teams are are the player that he’s guarding is getting only uh is getting negative 3.5% worse offensive rebounds. Now the Bulls have been a good re defensive rebounding team all year round, but like a lot of these things are playing into Josh Giddy. And this the reason why I wanted to talk about Modest and and Josh Giddy on this episode. Not only just because of the performances that they’ve had, but because you’re getting all this from your 23 and your 23-year-old point guard and your 21-year-old forward. That’s what you’re getting from from the Chicago Bulls team. These are the part of the guys that are leading the way for the Chicago Bulls right now. When you talk about a youth movement like and and especially with how unselfish that the Bulls are so far this season and the fact that you’re still seeing tremendous growth from these young guys that are stepping up, this is major and you love to see this for the Chicago Bulls because this is what makes the future brighter for this team. This is what makes those things. As it stands right now, the Bulls still have six players averaging in double figures, which is really good with uh Patrick Williams averaging his 9.3 points per game. Keep in mind, Kobe White still isn’t here yet. This team is really rocking and rolling. And I listen, if you still want to be on the opposite side of the hate, that’s on you. It is what it is. But the Bulls are having fun. Now, the last thing that I want to end this on before we get into the mailbag, I feel like there are three Chicago Bulls right now who have put themselves in uh way too early award consideration. I want to keep in mind, it’s way too early for award consideration, but you do have to start doing those things early. One, IO Dumu is legitimately a sixman of the year candidate. One of the things I talked about with IO is that if he wanted to be the sixman of the year this year, the Bulls had to win. Now, he can get votes. He can be high up there, but typically the winner of that award goes to a a team with a winning record. Now, we’ll see if that ends up happening, but this season is his best season by far. 14 basically 15 points per game, 52% shooting from the field, taking 10 and a half shots, the most shots he’s ever taken in his career. and he’s doing that coming off the bench in 25 minutes. He’s also hitting 50% of his threes, uh taking four and a half threepointers per game. He’s averaging uh 2.8 rebounds, which is right around his career average. Uh two assists per game. He’s not doing as much on ball creation as he has before. And I Dumu is just balling right now. But outside of just the counting stats, when I comes into the game, the energy changes. And even when he’s not scoring, he didn’t score a lot in yesterday’s game. He just didn’t. But even when he’s not scoring, his presence is being felt because he’s a two-way player that’s giving defensive effort as well for the Chicago Bulls. Io is having a great season. And there are a lot of people this summer saying that I was the odd man out. This is why again B fans and the knee-jerk stuff in the offseason. It just got to stop. Just learn to evaluate, man. IO’s having great season so far. And I do think he’s putting himself in that consideration. And then the next two, Trey Jones and Misellis are both in consideration for most improved player of the year. I just talked a lot about Modis and his numbers, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about Modis’ numbers because we just talked about that. But Trey Jones, when you look at what Trey Jones is doing offensively and defensively for the Chicago Bulls this year, he is helping set the tone in both of those areas. Trey Jones’s defense is something that I’ve seen this year and I’ve looked at and I’ve just been like, hey, and his rebounding, too. Like, he’s the he’s the smallest guy on the court many times, but he makes some of he makes the biggest impact. That’s real, right? to be the smallest guy on the court, but to make the impact, he’s he’s towards the top of the league in assist percentage. He he leads the Bulls in every onoff number just about. He’s really stepping into that Lonzo type role that we talked about. We talked about how even last year with Lonzo not being there much, how much him when he was there, he was leading the Chicago Bulls in a lot of areas. Trey Jones has stepped into that role admirably and he deserves some acknowledgement for what he’s been doing so far and how he’s made an impact for this team. You look at Trey and this is a guy that, you know, in his previous stops around the NBA, yeah, he’s had some opportunity. Make no mistake about it. Uh, you know, he’s had some starts, but, you know, at the end of the day, like what he’s doing right now, 12 and a half points per game, which is is a number that he’s hit before as a starter, but he’s doing it at three and a half rebounds, seven and a half assists, the highest number of his career as well. He’s averaging three steals per game. Trey Jones is definitely putting himself and being only 25 as well. I think people forget because he’s been in the league for a while. Trey is still a very young player and how he’s impacting this team has been great to see, man. Um, but yeah, I think those are the three Bulls that have put themselves in consideration for postseason’s awards. But you guys can let me know how you feel down below. With that said, we’re 4 and0. So, I got to dive a little bit into the mailbag, man. We got two voicemails to get into today. This first one, this one’s from K. Hey, what’s the good word, King Drip? It’s your brother K, man. Let’s get right the [ __ ] into it. Hey, we are four and [ __ ] O. Who would ever thought that we will be four and O? They had us being 0 and6, right? That’s that’s that’s the [ __ ] they was talking about when it come to us, right? And I’m f to enjoy this. I’m just to love this [ __ ] and and just um appreciate this moment right now because we ain’t as Bulls fans, we don’t we ain’t had this in a long [ __ ] time. But let me give thanks to two guys. the guys that get criticized, the guys that get scrutinized the most, the guys that want them to get traded the most, the guy they want to give him removed as the head coach, and that is Billy Donovan and Nicholovich. Hey man, Billy is coaching his ass off, right? I I there’s no complaints. He is making adjustments finally. He is making adjustments, man. and he’s he’s he’s doing a wonderful do job at the rotations and like he’s just he’s understanding how to use this. This is his vision and it was it was good and it was fitting to see the vision of his offense against guys Rosen and Zack Lavine. Um, Hayes already talked about that a minute ago, but hey man, shout out to Billy B, man. Hell of a job coaching and Nick Colola. I’ve been silenced when it comes to Nola because everybody been sitting up there talking and all that. You see, I ain’t said one word about V. I ain’t said trade him or none of that. I just sat back at silence and watching Silus and say, “Let his game speak for himself.” So, how his game been so far, y’all? That’s all I got to say to y’all. How his game been so far? The ones that wanted to trade him for a bag of chips? How How has this game been? Hey man, shout out to V, man. Um, keep on doing you, man. Hey, I’m loving it, man. He He look rejuvenated. He’s playing defense, man. Hey, man. We 4 and 0. We 4 and 0. And y’all know what I’m dealing with on the other side of the fence. So, just I’m just enjoying my sports moment right now, man. And um Hey, man, let’s keep this [ __ ] going, man. Let’s stay undefeated, man, for the month of October. Peace and blessings. You already know. You already know, my brother. T Red, let’s go. Billy Donovan is coaching well. He’s coaching amazingly right now. Everything that Billy Donovan is doing as far as managing the rotations, understanding when to leave players in, when to take players out, calling times out. Like, this is some of the best coaching that I have ever seen Billy Donovan do as being a coach of the Chicago Bulls. He’s just doing a great job. And if people still want to hate on it, let him hate and watch the wind stack up is all I can say on that one because Billy Donovan is killing it right now. As far as Vu, absolutely, bro. And we we’ll probably focus a little bit more on Vu because Vu is having one of the best and most efficient seasons of his career. We’re talking about a 15-year vet here that seems reinvigorated and and is absolutely killing it. And for people that are like, “Oh, I don’t understand why Nicolus is still on the scene.” If you’re watching this team play and you don’t understand why Nicolus is still on this team as things stand right now, I don’t know what to tell. You just don’t know basketball is what it comes down to. And that’s not to say that a different type of center, especially with the Bulls and how they’re giving up points in the paint, would help this team tremendously. A shot blocking threat would absolutely help him. But V and what he does is is helping this team win basketball games. And at some point, the haters just got to shut up. All right, let’s get into this next voicemail, man. This last one, this one’s from Todd. Yo, what’s good? Hey, this is Todd, man. I’m giving you a shout out after the um Bulls go 4 and 0. And I wanted to get this thought out before I forget about it. But um man, let’s talk about Acme. Nine and ten good players. That [ __ ] might be the future, bro. And I think that for all that we’ve gone through and let me let me caveat all that I’m about to say with I still despise them for not getting a pick with Kus I mean from Caruso, but all good. I think I know why. because nine or 10 good players with a well-managed are they playing 3D chess when the rest of the league is playing checkers in the sense that they have a well some of the best books in the league they have manageable current and future contracts they have two potential box off uh stars box office stars in SN modest and a Hall of Fame coach that thrives with nine or 10 good players go back and look at the second championship that Jimmy won in Florida, they all averaged uh six players averaged double digits. No stars on that team. Joe Kim becomes one, but no more. Not Cory Brewer. So, the point is they gave Billy what he wanted, which is a college team. This is crazy, man. I’m really starting to see their plan. So, I wanted to hear what you had to say about it. All right, see you Red. Peace. Balance is the key for the Bulls. Balance is the key. Balance, sharing the ball, getting everybody involved. That has been the key for this Bulls team so far this season. Four four games, four different leading scorers in each one of those games. Everybody is involved in the game when the Chicago Bulls take the court, right? And for all the people that have talked about Billy Donovan being a college coach, he is bringing a lot of the college philosophies to this team and and you’re going deep into your rotation and bench, giving everybody an opportunity in a row. Like it’s not about like who a certain player needing to be the scorer. Everybody’s getting an opportunity. And if you’re scoring well, you’re staying in the game. If you’re defending well, you’re staying in the game. And so, you really love to see that. Now, because of that, guys like Dalon Terry have basically fallen out of the rotation. Julian Phillips only played what, singledigit minutes yesterday. Um, and it kind of is what it is. But as long as the Bulls are winning, you know, that’s the most important thing. And Billy Donovan, Wes Unell Jr., Dan Craig, John Bryant, they all deserve their flowers for the coaching job that they’re doing with this team because they are doing a really good job despite what some of the haters and doubters will tell you. But that’s my time for today guys. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Make sure you guys are following us at bull central pod. Please send us any feedback, questions, comments, concerns. Bull [email protected]. And lastly, if you want to leave a text message and our voicemail for the mailbag, the number to do so 773-270-2799. We are the number one spot for everything Chicago Bulls related. But that is thanks to you lovely and beautiful people. And like I like to end every episode on, go Bulls. Love you guys. See you right if you can y’all. Peace. This has been a presentation of the Break Media. [Music]

The Chicago Bulls are starting to look like a team on the rise — and Matas Buzelis is leading the charge. Through 4 games, Buzelis is averaging 16.8 PPG on 51% shooting, but it’s how he’s scoring that’s got Bulls fans buzzing. His confidence, off-the-dribble creation, and defensive presence are all taking major steps forward.

Haize breaks down:

🏀 How Buzelis’ improved shot creation & rim attacks are changing the Bulls’ offense

💪 Josh Giddey’s best defensive stretch of his career — and why his new role matters

🔥 Ayo Dosunmu’s 6th Man of the Year campaign

🎯 Tre Jones & Matas Buzelis’ cases for Most Improved Player

🧠 Why Billy Donovan’s coaching adjustments are unlocking the team’s balance

With 4 different leading scorers in 4 games, this Bulls team is playing true team basketball.

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