{"id":602545,"date":"2026-02-14T10:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602545\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T10:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:17:10","slug":"bulls-notes-ivey-dillingham-mcclung-guards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602545\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls Notes: Ivey, Dillingham, McClung, Guards"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bulls have positioned themselves as the league\u2019s preeminent second-draft team, Fred Katz writes for The Athletic<\/a>, referencing recent moves for young players in need of scenery change.<\/p>\n

One such player is the newly-acquired Jaden Ivey<\/a>, who came to Chicago in a trade<\/a> for Kevin Huerter<\/a> and a 2026 pick swap. Similar to the Bulls\u2019 move for Josh Giddey<\/a> last season, Ivey is approaching restricted free agency in the summer and had previously lost clarity in his role with the highly-successful team that drafted him, though in Ivey\u2019s case, that was due in large part to the broken leg that sidelined him for much of last season.<\/p>\n

Ivey is not in a position where he\u2019ll be handed control of the Bulls\u2019 offense, Katz writes, especially with the number of guards on the roster, but that doesn\u2019t mean he won\u2019t be in a position to excel.<\/p>\n

Katz notes that Ivey has shot the three exceptionally well since the start of last season, and the Bulls, who traded two free agent-to-be point guards at the deadline, will have ample cap space this summer. If Ivey can return to his physical form while continuing to be a high-level shooter, there could be a spot for him next to Josh Giddey in the backcourt.<\/p>\n

We have more from the Bulls:<\/p>\n

Another new addition to the Bulls\u2019 backcourt is second-year guard Rob Dillingham<\/a>. Head coach Billy Donovan has been impressed by Dillingham\u2019s speed and ability to penetrate the defense, but Donovan wants much more from him as a processor of the game. \u201cThe decision-making, the shots that he\u2019s taking, are not sustainable. And I told him that,\u201d Donovan said, per The Athletic\u2019s Joel Lorenzi (Twitter link<\/a>). \u201cHis job and responsibility is to generate shots for guys when he gets there\u2026 it\u2019s not like I\u2019m giving him free rein. We need him downhill, but he also can\u2019t be jumping off of two feet, getting caught in the air, shooting over guys, trying to throw passes that aren\u2019t there. He\u2019s gotta clean that up, and we\u2019ve gotta help him do it.\u201d\u00a0Donovan added that he wants Dillingham to keep his level of aggression and that he believes the young guard will find that balance with time.
\nChicago also added<\/a> three-time Dunk Contest champion Mac McClung<\/a> to a two-way deal, the latest step towards McClung reaching his dream of carving out a role for himself in the NBA. The 27-year-old guard turned down highly lucrative offers overseas to play in the G League and stay ready for his call-up, Anthony Olivieri writes for ESPN<\/a>. \u201cThis [NBA quest] is where my heart\u2019s at,\u201d McClung said. \u201c\u2026 You can\u2019t keep telling me no forever.\u201d
\nThe Bulls players know that the team they\u2019re on is strangely constructed and not built for longevity, Lorenzi writes<\/a>, but that just makes the challenge for players like Anfernee Simons<\/a> more interesting. \u201cThis not a normal situation,\u201d Simons said, shaking his head. \u201cSeven new guys, six of them are playing heavy minutes and we have to just learn on the fly like that. It\u2019s just gonna take tons of communication. Experience. Just going through it together with mistakes and everything\u2026 Obviously, we want to win. That\u2019s the end goal. Right now is the time that we learn each other and learn from our mistakes and just try to build something from there.\u201d Between Simons\u2019 scoring, Collin Sexton<\/a>\u2018s eternal maniac competitiveness, and Jaden Ivey looking to get back on track, the team is loaded with guards who have a reason to play with an edge. The team will likely lose many games, but it won\u2019t be for lack of trying on the part of the players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bulls have positioned themselves as the league\u2019s preeminent second-draft team, Fred Katz writes for The Athletic, referencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[4329,7,3363,1018,9934,977],"class_list":{"0":"post-602545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-anfernee-simons","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-billy-donovan","11":"tag-jaden-ivey","12":"tag-mac-mcclung","13":"tag-rob-dillingham"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116068472820210255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602545","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=602545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}