Tim Legler’s National Perspective on the Chicago Bulls’ SCORCHING Start

Tim Legler’s National Perspective on the Chicago Bulls’ SCORCHING Start

All right, Bulls Nation, pack a big Dave here, CHO Bulls. Pleased to be joined by somebody you’ve already seen and heard on the call for some of ESPN on NBA on ESPN’s epic early season games. You can also catch him several times a week co-hosting All Cities AllNBA podcast with our guy Adam Mahrez, 10 times 10-year NBA vet, three-point champ, the one, the only Tim Leggler joining the show. What up, Tim? What’s going on, boys? How are you? Listen, I got a question, man. I think the question on everybody’s mind is this, you know, with you talking about me here calling games at the start of the year. Are the Bulls gonna flex into some games for me to call at some point? Because I only know my schedule through Christmas. The rest of it will be released to us pretty soon, I would imagine. Um, but I don’t have them yet. But I tell you what, the way they’re playing, they keep this up. At some point, something tells me second half of the year, I might have a Bulls game. Man, the the league loves it when the Bulls are relevant. big market too. Oh, they definitely coming into the year. I I believe my count was three. They got one on Prime, one on ESPN, uh, and one on Amazon or or whatever whatever the third one is now that I’m forgetting. But I mean, NBC NBC. There you Oh, right. That’s right. Of course, Round Ball Rock is back. Uh, bless the basketball gods. Legs, did you anticipate that you and Marz would be spending this much time out of the gate this season talking about the Chicago Bulls? And because they are out to as strong of a start as they are, not this much. But listen, I’ll say this. I’m going be honest about it. I mean, at the end of the year last year, finished 15 and five. They did not play well in the playin. We know that. They had a horrible offensive night and got eliminated. But basically over the summer, the shows that Adam and I did and certainly the preview shows when we started back up in September getting ready for the season, you know, we we went out up and down every team in the league. And I had the Bulls solidly like in that mix to be above the playin, which I think is would be even that would be like, wow. Okay, can you look at the year they had overall their record last year? They’re a playing team. I thought, hey, man, maybe top six is leg is realistic. the way they finished and what they found chemistry-wise and the way Giddy looked last year, I’m like, they have a shot. So, I was always optimistic, but no, how could anybody sit there and say they expected them to be six and one out of the gate, you know, winning that game the other night, coming back against Philly the way they did to get them to six and one? And the schedule has not been, you know, a bunch of bottom feeding teams. And if they’re six and one right now and they got, you know, two wins against Brooklyn, they got Washington in there, you know, Utah, if and who’s, by the way, playing better. But if it’s like that group of teams, you’re maybe you’re a little skeptical. This has been a solid schedule, a solid run of games. They’ve played great. The chemistry is off the charts. They’re they’re a high octane team offensively. Give them a pat on the back, man, and give them their flowers because they have been one of the best stories in the league. Tim, when is it that you’ll look at it and be able to say, and I guess I’m asking you to speak for Bulls fans here, to be able to say this team is serious and legit? Like Matt said, they got a back-to-back coming up. They got San Antonio. They’ve got Detroit. Like, they’ve got a gauntlet of games coming up, and they’ve had a gauntlet of games that they have played. But is there a particular game that you’re like, if they get this win, oh man, look out. The Bulls are super serious. I think what you look for in that situation, you’re right, they got some, you know, schedule coming up. Milwaukee, Cleveland, San Antonio, Detroit, the next four, like that’s those are tough games and you’re playing some of the top defenses in the league when you get to San Antonio and Detroit. So, you know that and they operate well against them, you know, win or lose necessarily. You don’t have to necessarily win the game against teams like that, particularly if you’re on the road. Uh, you play a great defensive team and, you know, you lose the game, but you operate the way you normally do offensively. Uh, that’s that’s the kind of stuff I’m looking for. The true test is going to be this and you’re not going to know this until like they got a road trip basically mid November November 12th November 19th game road trip not the toughest you got Utah and Portland in there um Denver Detroit though but the point is this you you start going on road trips threeame trip four game trip five game trip they’ll have at some point you start coming back from road trips more than 500 on that trip that’s when you start to really take notice like man They’re going on the road and they’re winning games. They’re beating the teams supposed to. They’re sneaking some of the the teams that you wouldn’t expect them to get road wins against. That’s when everybody starts to take notice. Like right now, you got to be like one of these dudes that’s like deep into this every night like me. If you don’t live out uh in Chicago, you’re outside Chicago, you got to be a guy like me that’s watching every night to kind of know what they have going is cooking right now. But to get national awareness, it’s going to take that. Go on the road on a fivegame road trip, go three and two, four and one on the road. Beat a couple of good teams. Now everybody’s going to be talking about you. As it is, they’ve got a lot of attention, but I don’t know how real anybody thinks anything is at the start of the year necessarily. Speaking about trying to find out if things are real or not, Tim, you mentioned the the hot streak the Bulls were on at the end of last season and this six and one start to this season. Josh Giddy has been at the center of all of that. Uh, and his increased quality of play and production. I’m curious as somebody who is a former sharpshooter in the NBA of your era, there are a lot of questions that people had about Giddy, but I think chief among them was, can he be a floor spacer when he’s playing off the ball? Is the three-point shot real? It’s mostly been unguarded up to now, but he shot above 40% after the All-Star break last year. He’s shooting above 40% to start this season. How big of a sample size as a sharpshooter yourself do you want to see before you start buying into a guy turning that into a legitimate part of his offense? Especially a guy like Giddy whose shot form is so unorthodox. I’ve seen enough already to know and here’s here’s why. You’re right. The mechanics are not going to be something I’m going to go with him and make a shooting instructional video for the young players. Right. I feel you on that. It’s not picture perfect. But what’s happened is his confidence level in the shot and his all-around game and the impact he’s having as an offensive player are given is given him a little bit more space and he’s a little bit more selective the ones he takes. But most importantly, he’s expecting it to go in at a better rate. Now, you think about this, Josh Giddy basically shot himself off the floor in Oklahoma City. I mean, that’s that’s what happened to him there. they they were loading up um and just leaving them in the corners and he couldn’t make one. Didn’t really want to take it. He goes to Chicago last year very respectable 37%. If he shoot if he shot 37% the rest of his career I think everybody in Chicago would take it. But now here you look at him he’s up over 40. Will he end up over 40? Remains to be seen. not enough of a sample size to to know that because that’s when you start to get into like like the top upper crush shooters in the league. You get a north of 40. Um, I don’t know if it’ll stay above 40, but if that thing stays above 38% and he’s and he’s taken a volume, four, five, six of those in a game, um, that’s going to tell me that this is how it’s going to be for the rest of his career now because he’s broken through something mentally. And more importantly, he’s doing so many things on the floor offensively that are making you guard him differently that he can be more selective when he gets those. We don’t pay, we’re not scrutinizing every miss anymore the way that they did in Oklahoma City when he first got to Chicago. That’s all you wanted to see, man. Man, can this guy shoot? Like, I don’t know if he can shoot. Well, whatever happened in Chicago to put that stuff behind him has happened. And now I think he’s pretty much good to go probably for the rest of his career in the upper 30s and maybe that occasional season where he gets to 40%. Tim, I’m staying right there because you had a quote on the AllNBA uh podcast when you said, “Since his three-point shooting has been better, it has made him a better passer.” Yeah. Yeah. Can you expound on that right there? Yeah. Because you think about when when when you’re a great passer, which he is, he’s a great ball mover. He’s got incredible anticipation for where the ball’s supposed to go next. The most thing I love about him the most as a passer, incredibly decisive. If that ball, you know, comes to him and and the next guy’s open one more pass, it’s practically a touch pass to that spot. There’s no wasted motion. But when he’s handling the ball and seeing the floor or handling in transition, the fact that he can now shoot the ball like that in half court means he has to be guarded closer. When you’re guarded closer, the windows for you to make passes are actually larger because it’s easy to throw the ball up and over around ball pressure. As an NBA player, it’s a lot harder if that defender is five, six feet off of you and he’s halfway, you know, blocking the passing lane of where you saw a window. that makes it difficult. And then a lot of times you don’t even throw the pass because it’s just not there. It’s going to get tipped. The the angle for it isn’t good enough. When when you got guys closing out at you harder, it’s going to make passing windows better. It’s also going to allow you to beat guys off the dribble a little bit easier, which then clearly is going to make your passing options more open and available. And so I that’s why I think for any player, you become a better passer when you have to be guarded differently on the perimeter. It just more more windows are open for you to make plays that you couldn’t have normally. Tim, you were also somebody who was given Kobe White his flowers down the stretch of last season for for his, you know, dominance, even getting Eastern Conference player of the month in March. Do you find it surprising the Bulls are are doing this with this equal opportunity offense without their highest, you know, points per game score from last season? We just heard from Kobe after yesterday’s practice. They’re hoping he’ll be back on the floor sometime uh on that West Coast trip coming up in in 10 days or so. But h how do you expect Kobe will integrate himself into this? And and do you feel like it doesn’t say anything about whether or not this team needs Kobe White that they’re six and one without him? No. Listen, you would use the word um is it surprising to me? That’s the understatement of the century. If you if you told me going into the season Bulls are gonna not have Kobe White for the first seven games of the year, and by the way, this is their schedule. This is who they’re playing. I’m looking at that going at best at best three and four, probably a two and five start. And not and and at the same time, not like, oh, you know, Bull season is is is going to be um trash. No, I’d be like, well, then Kobe White’s not there when he comes back. Let’s see. The fact that they’re six and one without Kobe White, like I don’t think Kobe White is a guy that’s going to come back and like disrupt everything that’s going on for them. Now, what it does do from a player’s perspective, if you’re a guy that’s a high volume shot taker and and can be an explosive scorer, which Kobe can, you’re sitting there watching this, it does change your approach a little bit when you start to play. and and that might actually cause some speed bumps for this team because you know is he going to be overly differential like I don’t want to be the guy that’s screwing up the flow um to where now and but they’re expecting him to be Kobe White his teammates but he’s not quite there mentally because man you guys are playing so well and I wasn’t playing like there’s going to be some of that going on if they were two and five Kobe White hits the floor game one he looks like the guy lat from last year because he’s like they need this when you’re six and one, his approach might be a little different. Now, he’ll eventually, I think, look exactly the same and and hopefully it’s just a blended thing where they’re still winning games. Don’t be surprised if in the beginning it’s a little bit difficult to incorporate a guy like that back because of his own thought process, not wanting to be the one responsible for now something disrupting this offensive flow that they have. I’m very curious to see what that’s going to look like. Wow. legs. One of the guys who has absolutely uh been instrumental in what we’re seeing from the Bulls is Billy Donovan, and we know you to be a brilliant X’s and O’s guys. Can you talk about the coaching job that he’s doing out there on the floor? Because the substitutions have been crisp and consistent from him, the constant movement and rhythm that they have on the floor, the basic idea that there is no true star on this team. We know what Giddy is, but there is no real one guy on this team. Everybody touches the ball and everybody kind of eats. Can you talk about Billy and what he’s been doing? Well, first I think Billy’s one of the smartest guys in the league. I think I could talk basketball X’s and O’s with him for for days on end. We I had incredible time doing the coaches corner um breakdown that I did with all the coaches in the league where we did some film work and talked about the team. Um and it was just awesome and insightful. Now, here’s the thing. I go back and look at him at Oklahoma City. I think that roster was difficult for any coach to try to like close games sometimes because you had two of the strongest willed players you could ever be around, right? In Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant and they wanted to do things their way to a certain extent and they always say they want to be coached but the truth is they want to do their thing and that’s a hard thing for a coach, you know, to to handle. And I didn’t know necessarily that I saw the best of Billy Donovan there because I didn’t know that I was seeing his imprint like his fingerprints all over what they were doing offensively throughout the game and then particularly late. Now you go to Chicago. He had that veteran group and it wasn’t the talent level of OKC, but at the same time it was like needed a team that was had mostly younger core pieces that do want to be coached that he can exercise a little bit more authoritative power over in using his mind to dictate to them. These are some of the things we need to clean up from a detail standpoint that’s going to make our offense hum. You got a group of guys now, I think, much more receptive to that than anything he had in Oklahoma City and anything he had in his first version of the Bulls when he got there. This is a team I think tailor made for a guy like Billy Donovan to coach because they want to listen to him. And here’s the best part. If young players are shown away, they’re going to buy in for the most part. It better lead to some success. Now you really have those guys bought in right because I do think young players want to give you the benefit of the doubt. Tell us how to do it. Now you know you come out there and you know you win 24 games or you start off the year one and six. Even young players now you get murmuring and mumbling and guys rolling their eyes and like all that. When you win and it’s like the coach’s system, his style, it’s amazing. You can get guys to run through a wall for you. Tim, you mentioned at the beginning that you said this offseason, hey, the Bulls with the East as open as it looks could actually be a real playoff team and not a pretend playoff team. I know it’s a hard answer um when we’re not even 10 games into an 82 game season, but which East teams do you still see as a lock for one of those top six? Is it, you know, Cleveland, New York, if you’re buying Philly, it’s just those three. Are you including the Bulls in teams that you now see as top six locks or do you think that the East still has a lot of unanswered questions? I would definitely right off the bat say Cleveland, New York, Detroit for sure. Those three for sure and and probably Milwaukee. I think that they’re going to probably get in there. Philadelphia, I mean Philadelphia’s five and three. Philadelphia could be 18 and three. And I’d be like, I don’t know, man, because I don’t know when is the other shoe going to drop. and like guys go out. Now, the good news for them this year is when when guys have been out, they’ve excelled because Maxi’s been unbelievable and Edgecomb is ready uh faster than you thought and and even Quinton Grimes has played great and they they’ve been so fun to watch. So, maybe it won’t matter as much this year. Maybe maybe Philly’s in that category, but I’m not ready to go there with them yet. So, now talk about the other teams outside of Chicago. That would leave um a team like Atlanta. I don’t know yet. I don’t know yet. They got a lot of hype in the offseason. Okay. Right now they’re in seventh place. I’m I’m not exactly sure what that’s going to look like. They need more time together for me to figure that out. Um the biggest disappointment clearly to this part of the year has been Orlando because I expected Orlando to be top four. Um maybe even fight for the third spot. Desmond Bane has not had the impact that I expected. Something’s going on in Orlando like just with their chemistry, their offensively their chemistry. Um their defense has been not nearly as good as last year. I think eventually though they get on a roll and I might include Orlando in that mix. So that’s like four or five teams. So now that’s when that next group is going to be fighting out for that last spot to avoid to play in. And I think Chicago’s absolutely going to be in that mix with maybe it’s Philly, maybe it’s Atlanta. Um I don’t necessarily think Washington, Indiana, Brooklyn or Charlotte. They’re the last four teams. I don’t think they’re in that mix. Yeah, Toronto’s been surprising to me. Are they legit? I’m not sure yet. Is Brandon Ingram going to stay healthy? I don’t know. Does Boston have, you know, a better quality in them than what they’ve shown to this part of the year. So, there’s some question marks. Three, four teams, absolute locks, and then that group of teams before you get to the question marks. You say, man, maybe. And I think Chicago is definitely one of those teams like I they’re absolutely in the mix to avoid the play alltogether. Well, Tim, keep uh keep throwing those bull those positive Bulls vibes around your various huge audiences talking because easy to do, too, because they’re fun. And listen, my night here’s here’s how my night goes. I watch games every night, but I don’t have I don’t have time to watch every damn game. So, I see the schedule. I’m gonna watch who I want to watch and they are fun to watch. So, that for me is two and a half hours of entertainment more than work. So, for now, yeah, they’re in. I’ll be watching a lot of them, man. So, you’ll probably they’ll probably getting a lot of love for me if they continue to win. Love it. Bulls are ready to be done with the playing tournament. Uh, Bulls Nation, make sure you’re following our guy, Tim Leggler, at less ESPN. Catch him on all those great uh, NBA on ESPN calls throughout the season. I have loved them. Lakers Spurs the other night was great, man. I I love Coach’s Corner. Everything you’re doing is awesome. And of course, if you want leaguewide perspective, check it out right here at the All City Network. AllNBA podcast with Legs and our guy Adam Mezz. Legs, we appreciate the time. Looking forward to the next one, man. Thanks, guys. You got it.

ESPN Analyst Tim Legler re-joins the CHGO Bulls Podcast to talk about the Chicago Bulls’ 6-2 start that has them just .5 games back of 1st place in the NBA Eastern Conference. Is the hot start sustainable, or did the Bulls get their first reality check against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night? Plus, Josh Giddey gets national attention for his heroics so far this year. Can he maintain his 40+% 3-point shooting to begin the season? And how important would it be for the Bulls if he does?

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