Bulls REKAP Podcast 🏀 (S2 – EP11): The Chicago Bulls are in crisis mode

Bulls REKAP Podcast 🏀 (S2 – EP11): The Chicago Bulls are in crisis mode

Welcome to season 2, episode 11 of the Bulls Recap podcast. I’m Joe Collie of the Chicago Sun Times. You can obviously read me in the Chicago Sun Times sports section. Uh, it’s probably a Bulls story lately. It’s probably not a good Bulls story. Uh, you can follow me on Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it, Jayclly Hoops. Uh, we got a lot of great things going on with the Cap channel. Obviously, Cap’s got coffee in the morning. Um, I I love all the coffee stuff going on right now. So, Cap’s got the morning coffee. Love that. Uh, it’s kind of like a wake up with Cap. Uh, those that follow me on Twitter, we got Joe Beans up. I do coffee reviews on the road. I mean, you can never have enough caffeine in this job. So, uh, this is not an emergency podcast, but the Bulls are in crisis. So, some interesting things the last couple weeks. Our tourist carnos built this team and stayed uh on this team because of the 15 and five finish, because of number two in pace last year, because of the fact that he felt like that was the advantage. depth, pace, they were going to take the Pacers model, which has been discussed numerous times on this podcast. They are not the Pacers. Josh Giddy is not Tyrese Hallebertton. He’s just not. He’s very good. Stuffs the stat box kind of like Tyrese does. But here’s the difference. I’ve seen Tyrese Hallebertton in the playoffs and I’ve seen him in clutch moments. The last time I saw Josh Giddy in the playoffs, Oklahoma City was benching him. Is he a different guy now? 100%. But I will say this year the ball’s been in his hands in those clutch moments and he’s passed it and Vu has three of the game winners. So he is not the uh big onions pull them out put them on the table Tyresese Hallebertton. So let’s take that comparison off the table till proven otherwise. Just because you have the same kind of regular season stats does not mean you are that dude. We’ve discussed that numerous times. So, I thought it was funny that uh the Bulls are still kind of beating their chest in a in a ESPN article of Indiana is the model. Here’s why it’s flawed. And I talked to Josh Giddy about this in the last week and I’ve talked to Billy Donovan about this in the last week. Here’s the big flaw. Not to nerd out because I am not an analytics guy. I think that is nerd I I think a lot of it is just BS in baseball. Yes, I think there’s something to it. Not Moneyball. Moneyball is BS. But in NBA, when you just fall in love with the analytics, you miss some things. But I am going to get into some of the some of the simple math going on. Last year, the Bulls were number two in pace. Okay, this year they are number two in pace. We’re f and they’re slightly better than they were last year. Here’s the problem. The entire league is better than it was last year in pace. Okay? I think the best team in pace last year was 10 I want to say 104. So when we when you hear 104 in pace that means the average amount of possessions per 48 minutes of a game. So how many possessions you’re getting in a 48 minute game that’s pace. Okay. So, the Bulls were second in pace and I think last year their pace was like 103 something and right now they’re second and it might have been 102 and it’s up to 103. So, it’s slightly a little bit better than last year. Here’s the problem Billy Donovan’s team is running into and and he even admitted and Josh Giddy admitted. Miamiy’s played the Bulls once and blew their doors off. Miami last year was third from the bottom in pace. Miami this year is number one in pace. So they’ve done what the Bulls did last year. They’ve totally flipped their offense. There’s no more pick and rolls. There is no more there some ISO every so often. It is read and react, drive and kick. That is the new NBA. Okay, stay with me on this. So Miami now leads the league in amount of possessions. What’s Miami’s defensive efficiency? Their defense is third. So, they are running your ass down the floor and then when you’re trying to run against them or have to go on a half court set, they are third in defense. Okay. Orlando last year last in pace. Orlando this year who just beat the Bulls and both teams were under manned. No Pablo. Uh Bulls were without Kobe. That that that’s the NBA in early December. That’s life. They’re 13th in pace this year. So they went from last to 13th. And we’re talking about that 13 has jumped up in the last two to three weeks. So they’ve just decided, let’s run. We’re running. We’re running. We’re running. They’re seventh in defensive efficiency. So they’re running your ass, stopping your ass. The Bulls are 23rd in defense defense defensive efficiency. So the entire league is running more. The some of the teams that have given the Bulls issues in the last couple weeks, Miami, Orlando is a top seven defense. The Bulls are 23rd in defense. So what does that what does that really mean? That means you can’t give two offensive rebounds in the last four or five minutes on key possessions. That means you can’t turn the ball over in the fourth quarter. That means you can’t slow the game down by putting the other team on the free throw line. That mean your margins for winning games against the likes of Orlando and Miami are very small. You have to make your shots. And when you look at the box score from the Orlando game, it’s pretty even. They didn’t get it isn’t like they got their doors blown off in the rebound department. And the offensive rebounds weren’t any different. The free throws weren’t any different. It came down to when those offensive rebounds happen and key stops when stops needed to be made. So, what’s the solution? That’s what I talked to Giddy about. That’s what I talked to Billy Donovan about and both of them came to same same conclusion, different ways of getting there. Um, first of all, the Bulls have to get healthy because the the difference is going to be is their second unit better than your second unit in a whole in a in a vacuum in a complete yes, everyone is healthy. The argument can be made the Bull’s bench is is probably top three in the East. I mean, that’s just the way it is. It is a deep bench. Arurus has not messed that up. It’s a it’s a deep bench. The the other thing is you have to get better in the half court because if your defense is 23rd, you’re allowing baskets. That means you are not getting out in transition like you want to. You are getting the ball out from the basket and then you have to inbound. Team can go down, set up their defense. You are now in a half court set. So they got to get better in the half court set. That’s what Giddy said. Absolutely. Half court defense. When things aren’t going right, we have to get better. So, um, that’s really the only way out of this with this roster as is. We’ll address the other elephant in the room here in a second. So, the Pacers, let’s get back to the Pacers thing. Here’s the thing that irks me about the Pacers thing. Last year, the Pacers were 14th in def defensive efficiency. Okay, they weren’t the greatest regular season defense, but everyone’s like, well, they turned it up in the postseason. They did. They were eighth in the out of all the playoff teams, they were eighth, so they were kind of in the middle, and that’s kind of what they were in the regular season. Kind of middle. Fourth quarter is when they got key stops. Okay. So, this idea that Indiana flipped a switch, they did in the fourth quarter of games. where they got you was their three-point shooting, their clutch shooting, clutch moments. That’s where they buried teams. They buried Cleveland like that. They buried the Knicks like that. The Bulls have been horrible on the clutch this year. That’s just the way it is. So, there’s a lot of things mathematically, statistically working against them. What fixes this is being whole, having Kobe, Giddy, Auro, Modis, and Vu, your starting five. And then your bench is Trey Jones, IO, um, Zack Collins, who could be back, this is the week of December 1st, could be back late this week, early next week. That would be huge. Um, I don’t even know if I’ll have to be on a minute restriction. If his left wrist, left wrist surgery checks out through this full contact he’s going through with the Windy City Bulls, he’s good to go. Go ahead and and and pencil him in there. So, there’s uh all kind of things like that that have to be dealt with um from a health standpoint. And when they do get back, all of a sudden, you’re talking about a second team that can run that style of basketball. Maybe the pace gets a little better and can stop, can play with physicality, maybe the defensive efficiency goes gets better. So, all those things have to happen. That’s the only way out of this. You’re you’re not it’s not like um you’re going to play faster. You’re second in the league in pace. you you can’t play much faster. It’s not like you all of a sudden are going to be a great rim protecting team. They’re not built that way. Even Zack Collins, Zack Collins is not a great rim protector. He’s a physical guy down in the paint, so that changes some things, but he’s not a rim protector. Um, so your only way out of it is is relying on the bench and and it’s been bad. I mean, this was the point of the schedule where they were supposed to just kind of run, you know, they run with it. They had they had the great start, five- one. They hit a little rut. They lost to teams who had better dudes than them in the last couple minutes of games. Not inexcusable at all. You got beat by Giannis. You got beat by um Donovan Mitchell. I mean, you got beat by some dudes. Losing in Utah, losing in New Orleans, losing to Charlotte, losing to Indiana. I mean, you go on and on, and that’s just embarrassment after embarrassment. I don’t care who’s there, who’s not there. Uh, I will say this, and I’ve brought this trade up numerous times, and bear with me on this. If, and I don’t think they’re going to make a swing. I understand that the Anthony Davis is the elephant in the room that I said I’ll address. I I I just don’t I don’t think this front office they’re not under they’re not on on a on a oven. They’re not there’s not a lot of accountability. There’s not urgency. They’ve all got their secret contract extensions. It’s not like oh we have to make something happen and put our fingerprint on it and say look what we did. We we we we did this. I think they are when when our tourist Connor Sovis comes out and says we are not skipping steps. I don’t think he’s lying. I just think they are gonna slow play this build within see what Josh Giddy becomes. See what Modish becomes as year two goes on. Um they drafted a and we’ve talked about this on this podcast. They drafted a kid who they knew would not be ready this year. That tells me they’re not urgent. That tells me that hey we’re in this for the long haul. We’re in this, you know, Noah Sen is a twoyear, one year for sure project, possibly two. I talked to some people that have watched him in the G-League. He’s he’s he’s not physically strong. I mean, he needs a lot of weight room time. And so what they have to do with that is commit to it. if that if that’s why you drafted that kid. You’re committed to this and just continue along this avenue. Um there’s three ways out. One, they do take a big swing. I don’t think it should be Anthony Davis. I’ll get into who I think it should be in a second. Two, we’re in slow play mode. We don’t skip steps. We are what we are. We are the Bulls front office. We stay the course, which is probably going to happen. three, which they should have done two years ago. You have six for sure tradable assets. You throw in Julian Phillips, Dalen Terry, that’s seven, eight. You have eight possible expiring contracts after this season because they have to make rookie contract decisions on on Phillips and and Dalen Terry. Um, so you have eight guys that they don’t have their foot out the door, but they can be shoved out the door. Kobe White, we talked about it. Kobe White, Javon Carter, uh, Vu, uh, shoot, uh, not Patrick Williams, um, Kevin Herder, Zack Collins. I mean, you just go right down the list. Um, IO. So, you have these movable pieces. Do you just start moving them? Try to get as many assets as you can. you won’t get probably uh 26 high picks for this vaunted 26 draft class that’s coming together which again if you follow this watch this podcast I warned you about what 26 was going to be last year at this time I told you 25 and 26 those are the two years like the Wizards get it the dumb front office dumbass Wizards actually get it tank get the best pick you can in 25 that was Trey Johnson tank try and get the best pick you can in 26. If the lottery doesn’t smile upon you, you just get the best talent you can get and then you go from there. And that’s what they’re trying to do. So that’s the third option is the the long dark winter and you make the trades, you move guys, you take your ass whooping, you continue to develop modest. Maybe that gives some playing. You’re going to take some bad contracts in hopefully expiring contracts, but you’re looking for draft assets. and you’ll have your pick for 26 and then you hope that that you get something for 27 28 and who knows what that as of right now the 27 class is not 25 26 doesn’t mean it’s going to be a bad class it’s just not there yet we’ll see what it turns into but everyone knew 26 was coming everyone knew 25 Cooper flag um I was a big coniple guy and and again if you followed the podcast followed me on Twitter really wanted to see the bulls trade up for Khan Canipple, but wasn’t wasn’t in the cards cuz that’s a big boy move and it’s not a big boy front office. So, here’s the trade I think that will remedy some of that. And people are going to hate it. I don’t care. And I’m going based on what Josh Giddy told me that they have to be better in the half court. New Orleans is in big trouble. Big big big trouble. Zion Williamson, Patrick Williams, Kobe White, Jaylen Smith, and the Portland. Maybe it’s cash this year, maybe it’s cash next year, first round pick that’s protected. You give that to New Orleans. You let them deal with Portland and where that pick exactly falls. And New Orleans, who traded their first round pick unprotected, to Atlanta for Derek Queen, who I think is been great. Um, surprisingly great. Now, New Orleans doesn’t run with pace. They They’re a slow team. Would he be doing the same thing with the Bulls and Pace? I don’t know. But he’s a high IQ guy. I did see that. So, I think he’d figure it out. So, I was kind of wrong on him. I figured he would not fit with the Bulls. He looks like a dude that could fit anywhere. You give them So, Patrick Williams, Kobe White, Jaylen Smith, you give him that pick. And I hate giving a draft asset, but that one is so kind of wanky. Um, it’s protected and Portland wants to cash it out just to get it off the books. When we were in Portland, both the writers we talked to, uh, Hiken, who’s been on the podcast, said they they really want to kind of get this thing done, but on their terms. They don’t want to give away a good pick. Um, so, and you get Zion Williamson. I would love to see Zion Williamson in a I mean obviously his minutes would have to be watched because of the injury concerns, the hamstring concerns that always kind of creep up with him, but I’d love to see him play in pace and you could kind of keep him to that 26 to 28 minutes in pace. But when things bog down, his physicality and his ability in the half court game, he is so unique and he’s a good passer. He’s smart and I don’t think he goes out of his way to bulldoze people and and to be this physical presence. He just is. He just his body just is. And that’s the one thing I think he only had one or two rebounds against the Bulls, so I didn’t love that. I mean, he obviously rebounds better than that. He had a couple blocks. I mean, nice ones. He’s not like a pure rim protector, but just his physicality in the halfcourt game in a have to have it basket. They don’t have that. they just don’t have that. So, I would still do that trade. I would love to see him and and Modis next to each other in the front court. Um and and you know, Vu can play out. I I just that’s the trade. So, again, it’s a gamble. It might blow up in their face because he pops a hamstring or pops a calf and he’s out for the entire year. Um, you’re still on the on the on the books with him for a couple years, but it would get Patrick Williams and his contract out of the way. Uh, co look, Kobe’s I love Kobe. When Kobe plays though, not all the time, but I’ve noticed Modis shrinks a little bit. I don’t love that. I’m not saying it’s a Zack Lavine, Larry Markin thing. That was in your face when Zack played Larry shrunk because Zach would ignore him. Kobe’s not doing that with Modis. But I think Modis internally just says, “Oh we got Josh. Now we got Kobe Vu. I’m fourth in the pecking order.” The other night in Orlando, Kobe didn’t play and Modis’s attitude was, “I’m number one in the pecking order.” I think 16 shots. I think that’s the second most he’s put up this year. So I love seeing that from him. Go get yours, kid. I mean, that’s how you develop. That’s how you get good. So if Kobe’s gone and when Kobe their record with Kobe, I think he’s 500. So it isn’t like he’s been a big game changer and that’s not his fault. It just hasn’t really move the needle. Um they were playing their best basketball out of the gate without Kobe White. Do I think that makes them a better team? No. But if you’re going to give me Zion Williamson and I’m going to send you Patrick Williams, Jaylen Smith because Zack Collins is back and Kobe White and then that wanky pick that’s jumping all around from this year next year. Protected, not protected, could become a second rounder if it doesn’t work out right. Take it, New Orleans. Take it. You mess with it. And we’re giving you a pickback that you screwed around and gave away. So to me, that’s the only deal out there that that makes me get up in the morning. Everything else is just other people’s other people’s headaches. Don’t want it. Dookie on it. So that’s the fix. Otherwise, you got to pray that this bench when this group is whole can dig this team out of it because this has been horrible, embarrassing, bad basketball. And it is not a it is not a Josh fault, Vu fault, Mod’s fault, Billy Donovan fault. This is a roster construction problem. They did not take into account that the rest of the league might say, “hm, we’re having trouble against teams that were running at high pace. So, we’re going to do that. We’re going to play this division three offensive style that that of just read, react, drive and kick, pick and roll out the door. But the difference is some of these little cute finesse teams that are running all around, they don’t d you up and they don’t play physical. We’re going to do that on the other end. That’s what Orlando’s doing. That’s why Miami, I think, is playing so well and they didn’t and they did most of it without Tyler Herro. They got him back. I mean, they’ve suddenly become a dangerous team. So that’s it. That’s your way out of this. If not, enjoy ninth, 10th, maybe a play in and hope to get the right match up in that play in to try getting in the playoffs and then it’s murder she wrote. So um all right, let’s go to Kie Island. Oh, I love ranting about this team. The New York Knicks. Well, well, well. What do we have here? Tibs’ offense was prehistoric. Let’s get rid of them. We’re gonna run. We’re gonna be high octane. We’re going to do what the other teams are doing. Tibs’ offense was prehistoric. It was a top five in offensive efficiency, but okay. So, you’ve played the record’s fine. They lost to the Celtics last night. I think it was a road game, but you’ve played a ton of home games. You played an easy schedule that’s now about to get rough. And here’s the thing that’s the funniest part of all this. In the last couple weeks, multiple coaches that have played the Knicks have come out and said, “Yeah, they’re not they’re not doing that high pacing that they tried at the beginning of the year. They’re back to running ISO pick and roll Tibs’ offense. They’re running Tibs’ freaking offense. Pace, they’re 26 last year under Tibs, who was a dinosaur. pace this year 26 under the legendary Mike Brown and his new offense that had media guys just reaching in their pants in the preseason and going, “Look at it. They’re going to be so dangerous.” No, they’re offensively the roster construction is what it is. Are they playing their bench a little bit more? Yes, because they built they gave Mike Brown a better bench. So, not much better, but better. So, I just think the whole thing is hilarious of uh multiple coaches coming out and saying, “Yeah, this looks like Tit’s offense.” Probably because some of the coaches that they kept are saying, “Hey, Mike, your offense doesn’t work with these guys.” Uh Rick Brunson. So, let’s get back to the offense that made my son look really good. ISO pick and roll. We can’t run fast with this team. We just got to kind of just beat you up in the half court. So 26th in pace last year under Tibs the dinosaur under new Mike Brown and his fresh ideas offensively. 26th in pace. There we go. Uh let’s go to the list. There’s already teams looking to dump some dudes. And we’re talking bigname dudes. Uh I’m going to give you one through five or you know what? We’re going to go six. We’re going to go six. Um, these are the guys that are being talked about in trades and these are the guys I would absolutely not touch. Not touch. Uh, six because I would think about this guy just because I understand what he would do when he does play and but I think it would be a small window because he’s 35 years old. Anthony Davis. Um, when he plays, he’s an elite defender. That would help their rim protection. I want to see what you have to send out the door, but he’s he’s okay. If they did it, I’d be like, I don’t love the money next year. And his player option, I think, goes up to 60 million the year after that. And then he’s 37, 38 years old. Don’t love that. If you were if you had 12 wins right now or 14 wins right now and you were sitting in third or fourth and you saw the problems, then I’d say, “Okay, that’s a bigger swing to take.” But you’re sitting below 500 and you’re in that 910 spot. Why? What? Why? Uh number five, Demar D Rozan. He’s out there. Love Dear. Love his leadership. No longer fits in what the Bulls are doing. Sacramento is a tire fire. They are a dumpster fire. Which brings us to number four. Zack Lavine is a trade rate. They are desperately trying to dump Zack Lavine. Um I hate to say I told you so with that money, but I told you so. Uh what are we at? Number three. John Moran don’t want you. John Morant three years ago. Great. This John Morant, I don’t know, bro. Something’s going on. You, your pops, I just something something is not right there. Uh, when you play, you aren’t that dude anymore. And I I’m I’m good. Number two in the Ah, no thank you. Trey Young. Atlanta’s playing great basketball right now. Trey Young is not on the court. Hm. I love some of the pieces Atlanta has. I think when Trey Young is there, that team changes and it becomes a very 500 mediocre team. I think he is an unserious basketball player. Not as unserious as number one. Don’t want them. Don’t care how much uh of the salary you would eat, what you would give. Don’t want anything to do with them. We had one ball here and I loved him. Don’t want the younger brother LaMelo Ball. Lonzo loved him. Serious basketball player. LaMelo Ball. Not a serious basketball player. A highlight. Uh an and one mixtape. Uh fun to see on on you know ESPN. Not a winning basketball player, not a serious basketball player. If I was Charlotte, I mean they’re stuck with him because of that contract. But if I was Charlotte, I would start thinking, how can we build around Khan Canipple? That is an adult. That is an adult professional basketball player that makes winning plays. That’s the guy we want to build around. LaMelo is just a necessary evil that they have to deal with right now. So, um, that’s the uh that’s the order right there. Six players of no thank you. Anthony Davis, who is I mean that’s been the rumor for a while. doesn’t like this week changes things. Was it discussed? Yes, everything is discussed but doesn’t change things. Um, so that’s it. Uh, until next week. I got next.

After the #chicagobulls fooled everyone with a 5-0 start, they’ve since been in a tailspin. They’re 4-11 in the 15 games since and now everyone, including Joe Cowley, says they’re officially in crisis mode. Instead of talking about a playoff team, it’s more realistic the Bulls could deal from the 8 expiring contracts they have on their roster come the deadline. As for trading for #anthonydavis? Cowley says forget about it. So now what? Joe answers these questions and more on this edition of the Bulls REKAP Podcast.

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