{"id":157115,"date":"2025-07-09T01:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157115\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T01:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:13:13","slug":"bulls-2nd-round-pick-adjusting-to-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157115\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls 2nd-round pick adjusting to Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second-round draft pick Lachlan Olbrich has been getting acquainted with Chicago before the Bulls summer league team<\/a> heads to Las Vegas for Friday\u2019s opener against the Toronto Raptors<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe weather\u2019s beautiful and being out by the lake has been pretty cool. Italian beef is cool (but) I can\u2019t eat it too much; otherwise, I\u2019ll bulk up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Olbrich arrived in the summer. Time will tell if the weather statement holds.<\/p>\n

The Bulls selected the Australian forward\/center<\/a>\u00a0with the No. 55 pick in last month\u2019s draft after a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers. He\u2019s one of eight international players on the 14-man summer league roster<\/a>, which has been practicing this week at the Advocate Center.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide native began his professional career at 17 in his home country\u2019s National Basketball League. He played one college season at UC Riverside in 2022-23, averaging 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds and earning Big West Freshman of the Year honors, before returning to Australia. He spent the last two years with the NBL\u2019s Illawarra Hawks and averaged 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds this past season.<\/p>\n

Now 21, Olbrich is ready for his next stint of American basketball \u2014 in which the competition in Las Vegas will include fellow 2025 draftees such as Cooper Flagg<\/a>\u00a0and Dylan Harper<\/a>. He compared basketball overseas with his time in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The transition) has honestly been quite easy,\u201d Olbrich said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of a difference, but I feel like I can slide into any role I\u2019m asked to. (Here) it\u2019s up-tempo with a lot of freak athletes. The three-second rule I\u2019ve had to adjust a little bit too.\u201d<\/p>\n

He credited the \u201cimproving\u201d Australian basketball programs for developing players to be ready for the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in your junior clubs, different states are developing decent talent,\u201d Olbrich said. \u201cEverywhere in Australia is improving and it\u2019s good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he adjusts to Chicago, the Bulls have welcomed Olbrich with open arms. They already have a nickname for him \u2014 so common that Windy City Bulls and summer league coach Billy Donovan III \u201ctook a pause for a second\u201d when hearing Olbrich\u2019s full first name.<\/p>\n

\"BullsBulls forward Lachlan Olbrich shoots during practice at the Advocate Center on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes by Lachie,\u201d Donovan said with a smile. \u201cHe\u2019s going to hurt someone with how hard he plays, but he\u2019s been a joy to coach. If you tell him to run through a wall, he\u2019ll try to run through two of them. He plays with a chip on his shoulder but in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Olbrich: \u201cI say my name is Lachie \u2014 that\u2019s the abbreviated name for Lachlan \u2014 but the Americans kind of hear it as Lachie (pronounced LOCK-ee). That\u2019s been my nickname for the past two years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s Australian contingent includes Most Improved Player winner Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks and Bulls guard Josh Giddey, currently a restricted free agent. The 22-year-old Giddey also had a breakout season in 2024-25, averaging 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my boy; we\u2019re under the same agent.\u201d Olbrich said of Giddey. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some tournaments (in Australia) where I\u2019ve played against him. We\u2019ve touched base in the last year quite a few times, and hopefully we get (him) back here to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s NBA is loaded with overseas talent, including superstars such as Nikola Joki\u0107 (Serbia), Luka Don\u010di\u0107 (Slovenia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) \u2014 Olbrich\u2019s favorite player. <\/p>\n

\u201cComing in as the No. 55 pick, I\u2019m really grateful for everything, but (it\u2019s) baby steps for now,\u201d Olbrich said. \u201cI\u2019m here for my team, to make everyone better and keep grinding on the court. That\u2019s all I can do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second-round draft pick Lachlan Olbrich has been getting acquainted with Chicago before the Bulls summer league team heads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,27988,920,29743,919,329,3824,29744,5940,6,12,3494],"class_list":{"0":"post-157115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-billy-donovan-iii","10":"tag-bulls","11":"tag-bulls-summer-league","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-chicago-bulls","14":"tag-chicagobulls","15":"tag-lachie-olbrich","16":"tag-lachlan-olbrich","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-draft","19":"tag-nba-summer-league"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114820625844120417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}