Anthony Davis Rumors to Chicago? Why the Bulls Aren’t Ready… Yet 👀🐂 | Bulls Defense Falling Apart

Anthony Davis Rumors to Chicago? Why the Bulls Aren’t Ready… Yet 👀🐂 | Bulls Defense Falling Apart

Today we got to talk about it. The Anthony Davis of Chicago rumors are floating around again after John Wall’s comments and the Bulls fans are already photoshopping jerseys and coming up with with trade machine ideas. I’m going to keep it real about why as much sense as AD makes on paper for the Chicago Bulls, the Bulls are not in a position to make that type of move for him or any other player with a super max contract. We’re also going to be breaking down the the Chicago Bulls defensive slide uh from being a top defense over to one of the bottom defenses in the league currently. And we’re gonna dive a little bit into the mailback. We’re gonna talk about all that plus 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 for today, y’all. And uh okay so Anthony Davis rumors that that’s really been the thing surrounding the Bulls news cycle and you know it comes at a time where the Bulls have also been losing basketball games. We’re in a four-ame losing streak. So it’s already going to you know help wet that appetite of Bulls fans that want to see this Bulls team drastically improve their roster right like and and and you know like the thing that’s been stood out is that the Bulls have given up some big games to star level players but then when you look at the Detroit game we’ve given up some big games to not star level players. Shout out to Paul Reid who’s great, but like like that stat sheet he put up was crazy. Um, and you know, while I get that and on paper, I want to be clear, Anthony Davis as a two-way big that makes sense for the Chicago Bulls on paper and stylistically makes sense for the Chicago Bulls, just isn’t the type of target that the Bulls need to be focused on right now. Despite him being from Chicago, that matters not in a case like this. Right now, this all kind of started because Nico Harrison got fired. reportedly he was one of the biggest voices in in that Dallas Mavericks organization that wanted to keep Anthony Davis there. And now with reportedly Mark Cuban being back, you know, he was a minority owner but has been kind of kept away from basketball decisions. Reportedly that was maybe in in due a little bit with Nico Harrison is that now, you know, they are looking at all options including blowing up that Dallas Mavericks roster. So that’s going to naturally lead to them wanting to be in a spot where they want to uh stack assets and things like that. to see a team that they have their own draft pick this year, which could actually bode well for them considering what their record is right now and adding some young talent with with Cooper Flag, but they don’t have control over their own first round pick outright again to 2031. And so between pick swaps and outright trading first round picks, uh, you know, to get players like Daniel Gaffford and PJ Washington in the building to build that championship caliber roster around Luca than trading Luca away, they’re going to be looking to recoup a lot of assets. And that’s where things uh just initially start not making sense for the Chicago Bulls. Let’s just look at the contract, right? Anthony Davidson on average is going to be making about $60 million uh per year um you know over the next three years. And this is a Bulls team that just cleared bad salary in Zack Lavine’s contract of $45 million being one of the reasons why they wanted to move that off so they can have more flexibility to build a full roster. And the one of the problems is that you’re paying Anthony Davis $1 million per game because he only averages playing 60 games uh per season. And we’ll talk about that here in a second as well, which is one of the concerns. But with the Bulls just clearing their roster of overpaid, bloated contracts while getting all their draft capital back, does it make sense for less than a year after that to turn around and trade most of those things because you’re going to have to trade draft capital because that’s what the Dallas Mavericks are looking for. You’re also going to have now another bloated contract on a player that’s even more injured than what Zack Lavine has been on average. That just doesn’t make sense for the Chicago Bulls. And I get it, Bulls fans. I understand the the way the player that Anthony Davis is when he’s on the court is great, right? And with the Bulls having around $90 million in expiring salary, it’s naturally going to lead people also to look at and say, “Hey, let’s lo use that money because it’s expiring anyway to go out and get and get a guy like Anthony Davis.” But the problem then becomes about you now have traded so much of your depth, right, to acquire one piece that is often injured and even if they fit on your roster, it just doesn’t really make sense, right? It doesn’t make sense for the Bulls take up so much of their cap space to eat for Anthony Davis. And for the people that say, “Well, uh, Hayes, rather than pay uh, Kobe White 30 million, I’d rather play Anthony Davis 60 million. This dude can be an MVP caliber player.” Okay, let’s let’s address that, right? A Kobe White’s 30 million. Even if he does get that, still adds so much flexibility to build out your bench. So many people just talked about and realized that one of the reasons the Bulls did not have a lot of mobility and one of the reasons we were stuck into that roster that nobody liked is because a huge contracts strap you in. And that’s not where the Bulls are ready. If the Bulls were already this team that had went on huge playoff runs and was, you know, like for example, the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that’s been in, you know, in the conference finals the last couple of years, if you were that team, you’re more apt to make a big move, right, to to get in a type of player like that because that may get you over the top. One of the biggest things that this front office did that was bad for the building of the team is they went too far in on players and big contracts just to become a playoff team. And so for those that were that have been saying, “Oh my god, Kobe White’s contract is going to completely uh ruin us. You now want Anthony Davis contract who is less healthy than Kobe White.” Come on, man. What are we What are we talking about? What are we What are we being real about here? Stop being so thirsty for the names that you ignore how you build teams. If Anthony Davis was a player that alone with his presence turned you into a championship team, guess what? The Dallas Mavericks would not be looking to move him. They wouldn’t be. Guess what? the Lakers would not have moved him. Well, they may still moved him for Luca. That’s a different case. But Anthony Davis is good. He’s great when he’s on the court. He’s just too often injured to bet on his production on the court. It just is. He’s now stylistically the type of two-way big. If you can find a two-way big like Anthony Davis or even just a defensive presence like Anthony Davis can be uh in the paint as far as blocking and during shots and being on ball defense, great. Right. But then, like I said, we get into this area too. He’s played over 60 games once since the 201920 season. And in that one season that he did, he played 76, which is inflating his numbers, but he’s still only averaging 60 games played since since the 201920 season. That’s just not good numbers, right? So, Anthony Davis is the right type of player, but at the wrong time, at the wrong money, and at the wrong level of acquisition. Now, if you’re talking about Anthony Davis was a free agent this off seasonason, I’d be all in for the Bulls using some of their cap space to go after a player like Anthony Davis because guess what? Even if he doesn’t work out, we have depth, right? We still are able to get that. But trading for a player in the midst of a $60 million contract that then for three more years, then that is your team. And don’t get me wrong, like I said, I I think Anthony Davis and Josh, like Anthony Davis catching lobs from Josh Giddy would be great to see. It’d be fun to see and it would be effective, but you still got to factor in all the you cannot miss the forest for the trees. And that’s what this move would be for the Chicago Bulls. And same to go for like a John Mar. Now John’s contract isn’t nearly as big as like Anthony Davis. But the John Mar thing doesn’t make sense because the position point guard is already filled. We’ve already seen for back when you don’t want to move Josh Giddy to being off ball. like, yeah, he’s grown as an offball player with Trey Jones, but that’s partly because Trey Jones isn’t an offensive minded player. He’s defense first that will make some shots for you. So, the same thing kind of goes for for for John Morant as well. I I get it that the Bulls with their expiring contracts. And I do think this, and I’ve said this multiple times, the Bulls should be looking to explore any player that they feel is not going to be part of their future, they should be looking to explore moves for those players between here and the trade deadline, whether they’re expiring or anything else. if you know they’re not part of your future plans, look to move those guys, see what you can get back, whether it’s flexibility, whether it’s stacking a couple of draft assets, whatever it is. And I don’t even know if AK is going to do that because if the Bulls are winning, which now they’re back to ninth in the Eastern Conference, but if they do turn it around, start winning again at a higher level, that AK is not going to want to give up those players. It’s just the fact of the matter, right? And so I I think right now we got to p practice patience. And I go back to some of the words that AK said at the start of the season at at media day. We will not be skipping steps. They skipped steps last time and then that led you locked into a roster that you know while on paper was built if Lonzo was healthy was going to be built perfectly fine and probably be one of the top six, seven teams in the Eastern Conference. You cannot lose sight of where you are right now in your direction to just strap yourself back in to long-term bad money. The Bulls are not in that space. They’re not in that position to do so. And it would be so damaging to the direction that we started to build with this team to do that. And again, I want to make sure that everybody’s clear on this. This is not about not trading Kobe White if you if you get an amazing deal or you have a target of a player. This isn’t about not making trades or not even trading your first round picks. All that stuff is fine if you do it with insense, right? And something that still makes sense towards what you’re building to. And depending on how the season ends for the Bulls, maybe their appetite in the off season is more apt for trading for a player like that. And at that point, they’d have cap space. They can absorb it and just send draft picks back and then still maintain some bird rights on some other players. There’s a lot of different avenues and routes and and things to get there. But this right now at this trade deadline, Anthony Davis, that ain’t it. It’s just not it. And so, you know, we’ll see what the future does hold for the Chicago Bulls in that area. Let me know what you guys think on that down below. With that said, let’s get back into the basketball court, right, which is always where I’m I love talking about things at, right? Um, the Chicago Bulls defensive regression is something that’s definitely concerning. Now, we’ll see how it is when everybody’s back on the court, but when you look at it from the Chicago Bulls over this four game stretch, have are are terrible. Like, their defensive rating, which we were number one in a lot, well, number one or top five in a lot of defensive areas. Over the last four games, we’re 24th in defensive rating, 26th ino points allowed, 27th in opponent field goal percentage, and 29th in points allowed in the paint. Now, while we were always a team that gave up a lot of points in the paint, the thing is is that the Bulls were competing and and closing out on three-point and perimeter shots enough that we still forced teams in inefficient shooting out on the perimeter, but we were giving up points in the paint. Now, when you look at that, the Bulls have that that we’ve still given up huge number of points in the paint. We were we’re 26 in points allowed in the paint even when we went on a 5-0 run, right? um we were holding teams to the ninth lowest field goal percentage and seventh lowest threepoint percentage in basketball. Right? So getting getting killed at the rim was just a byproduct of making sure that we were playing good perimeter defense. But now our perimeter defense is also completely in the toilet as well as as also with with the rim. We right now are giving up 66 points in the paint. We gave up 66 points in the paint to to Detroit which is crazy, right? And 40 points outside the arc. That’s 106 points right there on efficient shooting, right? So yeah, you look at nights where like Giannis had 40, uh, you know, uh, Donovan Mitchell had 29, Victor Wimama had 38, right? Even when those players like when we did that, you were actually containing better players, right? Like let’s look at the start of the season where Kade Cunningham, Paulo Ben Carro, and Trey Young all failed to even get 25 points against the Chicago Bulls in those matchups. The Bulls have to lock back in in a lot of areas, but defensively is the one area that the Bulls cannot afford to completely slide in. And I get it on paper, we’ve never looked or thought to be this most amazing defensive team, but the things that we’re losing at now come down to effort. And that’s where we were winning a lot of the a lot of these matchups at was effort before. And so now that we’re failing at the effort part of this of this game, you just look at that and say, “What what the hell are the Bulls doing?” So yeah, you know, offensively, I think we we’re going to get better offensively. Defensively, we have to rediscover what we were trying to be before defensively with being a team that uh everybody’s competing, everybody’s eating, everybody’s doing these type of things to get out there and and defend and and we have to be better at that. Until we we lock back in defensively, this team is going to be a team that struggles. This team is going to be a team that so many games come down to the fourth quarter because we aren’t locking in and playing sound defense. We are not good enough as a defensive team for anybody to slack off defensively. And at the start of the season, it seemed like this team really understood that. And thus, you were getting complete effort on everybody on closing out everything out on the perimeter. Yeah, our paint defense sucked, but we were we were we were guarding well out on the perimeter. And then that also factored in to us getting easy shots on the offensive side of ball, getting out in transition and this team having fun together. We got to rediscover that and that has to be done through defense. Defense is the next level of unlocking our offense. I said that I had a whole episode on that before the season even started. And then at the start, it seemed like they understood that and they were playing within that. We got to get back to that and we got to get back into that consistently if we want to be a team that can actually win basketball games at a higher level. I trust that we can do it. Will we do it? That’s a different question and we’ll see what that comes down to. But for us to do that, which leads us to our next topic, the young players, everybody has to be involved in that. Iodum, Mus Buzzelis, and Josh Giddy sat down as a group um to to have a interview with Tommy Alter uh you know talking about uh on a podcast and they talked about the bond that this team has but more importantly a clip that that everybody has kind of gone viral at this point is Modus Busell is talking about Billy Donovan. He said this we do a lot of numbers and analytics. One time I remember uh driving baseline and I bumped like a like Shay shoulder and then separated and I was close to the rim. He backed off because I hit uh pretty hard in a solid mid-range. The next day it’s on film and Billy was like, “Modis, take that and throw it out in the trash.” I’m like, “Damn, what? That’s my shot. Everyone is in here. You your heart drops. Oh, dang. I’m not going to shoot that again.” That’s the thing. That’s the thing with Billy. He’s going to be straight up with you. You have to respect it. Now, we’ve seen and talked about Billy Donovan allowing starting to fall back into allowing his veterans to kind of run the roost, right? do do things that are outside the game or not sit those guys when we matter the most. But one thing that we can’t ignore is that Billy Donovan has the respect of these young guys, the guys that we hope are the future of this roster. He absolutely has the respect of those guys. And that’s something that, you know, has always been in question about Billy, even though when it shouldn’t have been for me, people like, you know, Whitten and other people legitimately. Um, but now I think what you’re seeing from Billy Donovan is a player is a coach that having a young roster goes back into his college sensibilities where he is a Hall of Fame level coach, but we need Billy to coach everybody the same. Everybody needs to be held to the same standard. And even your even your your aging vets, right? And so while IO and Modest and Josh Giddy and these guys have this have this close bond that you can see and feel on the court, we saw it in the offseason with them doing podcasts and the streams together and all those type of things. It it’s it’s good to have young players that also self-reflect and that’s what Modis Buzzales has. That’s what I Dumu has. Kobe White has that as well. And that does provide this edge to this team that we’ve seen over the last few years that we’re hoping is going to continue to grow together and that’s a promising thing. But we got to continue to grow and we cannot allow ourselves to fall into this trap that we are good enough to do anything yet. So, building off this bond, and this is again why I say the things that I said about not not skipping steps and making a trade for like an Anthony Davis, because that that that’s not what this team needs right now. Do we need that eventually? Yes. To win a title, do you need a superstar? Yes. All those things are absolutely true. But also, what’s true is that you cannot skip steps. You cannot avoid the process because trying to skip that is basically what gets you in in basketball hell in purgatory where we were the last 5 years before the season, right? So, we’ll see how that goes. We’ll see how that develops, man. But with that said, last thing. We got one voicemail we’re going to play. This one, this one’s from K. What’s the good word, King Drip? It’s your brother porn, man. Let’s get right into this man. Hey, man. Bulls T- Red Nation. Ain’t this a fun season, man? Ain’t this fun, y’all? I get it. We just lost this trade, right? But you know, your brother is very optimistic about this team. And I’m sitting back and I’m watching and I’m just like just a little nooks and crannies that we need to fix. Yes. Yes. Yes. We having a problem closing right now, right, Billy? And I’m not the one to defend, but you know what? I’m the one that’s gonna sit back and not say, “Oh, this all is just to fall off.” Hey man, in a great word of my favorite rapper next to DJ Quick, cuz you know y’all brother Coin is a Cali right? It’s a marathon, y’all. It’s a marathon. Great word to NY hustle. God bless him. So, it is a marathon, man. And the marathon continues, y’all. The marathon continues, man. Hey, man. We gonna be all right, man. You know, um, and I’m looking forward to us finally getting in full strength and seeing how the team actually look when we get in the full strength. Give it time. It’s okay. Yes, I understand that we lost three straight. I understand that we gave up two fourth quarter and we blew a 20point game. I understand how we feeling right now, but at the end of the day, man, I’m loving how we moving forward, man. It’s it it is what it is. We going to lose these type of games, man. Like, we won this game against We going to going to have tough games and and it is what it is when it comes to that, man. I’m just going to enjoy this moment in love and and engulf in this because I know what we are, man. I have so much faith in us, man. I I I’m I’m being so 100 with y’all. I have so much faith in this team. It is what it is. Y’all can say whatever. I’m just going to be sitting back and enjoying the ride. whatever it is because I know this team is on the up and up regardless of the fact. So, hey man, I’mma say something that the Bulls fans plus myself don’t like to say. Be patient y’all. Be patient cuz greatness will come. Hey man, peace drip. Steve Red, blessings. The Bulls are definitely having problems closing out games. I think even the most optimistic Bulls fan will tell you that, yeah, we’re having problem closing out games. We’re a young team. We’re still learning how to win consistently and what has to go into winning close games. Last year, we were 17 and 17 in clutch games. We’re not going to we’re not going to be that this year. And part of that is going to be that, you know, you’re trying to do things at a different level. You’re trying to do things where you’re you’re doing it as a team more than one thing. But there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about this Bulls team. I get it. There are a lot of pesamix people when it comes down to it. And they’ve earned that. Bulls have earned that with how we’ve done our franchise over the last 10 years. But I think just ultimately when you look at this team, the one thing is is that this team is competing. And you know, when I said that this team was fighting with the heart of Chicago, I still mean that. Now, we got to get back to that, right? We need to get back to playing with that edge. That edge, that connectivity, those type of things, sacrificing for each other. That’s what can get you to win games when you when it’s the sum of the parts greater than or the sum of the parts greater than the individual pieces. And let’s hope that this team can rediscover that. If they can, this season’s going to continue to be fun. We’re in we’re in a we’re in hell right now, right? The four game losing streak, it sucks. This doesn’t feel good. But I think we’ll be fine coming out the other side of it. This Bulls team is going to be okay. We’re we’re going to discover our edge back. And once we do, the Eastern Conference better watch out because this ain’t your mama’s Bulls team. And we’ll get back to that sooner rather than later. But thank you for leaving that voicemail, K. I appreciate that more than you know. But here’s what I’ll say, man. The name the name Anthony Davis sounds like it moves the needle. He’s the exact type of two-way big that will change a lot for this team when he’s on the court. But timing matters, contracts matter, health matters. The Chicago Bulls finally have a flexibil flexible young core that’s worth believing in. You can’t throw that away just to say that you have a superstar. The bigger concern right now is getting that defensive edge back for the Bulls, fixing the paint issues and learning how to close games. The good news, the chemistry between Josh Giddy, Iumu, Kobe White, Misellis, and the rest of this group, Trey Jones, it’s real, right? and they’re clearly buying into the the culture that we’re trying to build here in Chicago. But let me know how you guys feel down below on everything. Would you still trade for the Anthony Davis contract with his health history and all that to add to this bull’s core? Drop your thoughts down below. You guys can follow us at bull centralpod. You 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 uh be safe out there, see red, and always go Bulls. Love you guys. Peace y’all. This has been a presentation of the breaking. [Music]

Anthony Davis rumors are back — this time with John Wall hinting that the Chicago Bulls could be a potential landing spot if the superstar big wants out of Dallas. On today’s episode of Chicago Bulls Central, Haize breaks down why the idea of Anthony Davis is tempting… but the timing and price don’t make sense for where the Bulls are right now.

With Davis owed around $60 million per year and a history of missing significant time, gutting $90 million in expiring depth and draft capital to chase a fragile star could derail the long-term vision Artūras Karnišovas has finally built toward. Chicago just escaped the era of bloated, bad contracts — they can’t sprint right back into one.

Haize also dives into the Bulls’ concerning defensive regression during their four-game skid. After starting 6–1 with strong perimeter defense, Chicago has fallen near the bottom of the league in defensive rating, opponent field-goal percentage, and points in the paint allowed. From Giannis Antetokounmpo and Donovan Mitchell to Victor Wembanyama and a shorthanded Pistons team, opposing teams have been feasting at the rim.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey, and Matas Buzelis sat down together and gave real insight into this team’s chemistry, accountability, and growth. The young core’s bond and willingness to accept tough coaching from Billy Donovan is a big reason there’s still optimism in Chicago — even as they try to rediscover their edge and learn how to close games again.

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