Bulls Podcast #39

July 11, 2019 admin Podcast Comments Off on Bulls Podcast #39

It’s the Chicago Bulls Podcast 39 hosted by Marcus Couch and Wyse Black. Westbrook to the Bulls – What would you offer? Jabari jabs at Boylen, Coaches Challenge Flag Impact and NBA Summer League Reactions.

Welcome to the Bulls Podcast, coming to you from BullsPodcast.com. This is where we bring you the latest news, reviews, rants, rumors and opinions on the players, coaches and front office of the Chicago Bulls.

We’ve got several topics for this episode. Including:

  • Bulls Summer League Reactions
  • NBA introduces the Coaches Challenge Flag
  • Westbrook to the Bulls? What Would you offer?
  • Jabari Parker rips Boylen and the Bulls.

Bulls Summer League

The Bulls have entered Summer League in Las Vegas with mixed results thus far. The first game vs the Lakers Summer League team went well with great performances by rookies Coby White and Daniel Gafford. The Bulls won the game tonight vs Charlotte, bringing them to 2-2.

Coby White

Coby White has impressed a lot of people during summer league. He has a lot of improvement needed in a few areas, but overall seems like he will be a great point guard option for the Bulls down the road. He’s not starter material just yet, but he has that capability within him.

Coby had a well balanced 11 points, 5 assists and 7 rebound game vs Charlotte tonight.  Coby White has averaged 19 PPG with 40% FG% and 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals in 26.7 minutes per game. 

Daniel Gafford

Daniel Gafford has impressed so far and will be a fan favorite this year with those hustle plays and high flying dunks. He reminds me a lot of rookie Taj Gibson. I’m glad we didn’t sign Taj actually. We already have his younger clone right now. In tonight’s SL game vs Charlotte, he got 20 pts and 10 rebounds and some real nice effort and hustle, closing out the game with some key free throws for the win.

Gafford has averaged 11.7 PPG with 68% FG% and 8.7 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game. 

Chandler Hutchison

Hutch is on the SL team and has had mixed performances so far. Hutch has averaged 11.5 PPG with 29% FG% and 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.5 steals in 21.5 minutes per game.

Justin Simon

I’ve also been impressed with Justin Simon, a 6’5”, 205 lb guard from St. Johns. Simon has averaged 8.3 PPG with 50% FG% and 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 24 minutes per game.

Other Summer League Stuff Worth Noting:

Cameron Payne is the Summer League GOAT

Cam Payne is on fire for the Mavs. He hit 7 threes in a summer league game to close out with 36 points. A player high for Summer league so far. Guy’s been in the league like 5 years and still in Summer League? This is like playing against grade school kids on an 8 foot rim. Cam has averaged 20 PPG in 29 minutes per game and is all over ESPN as some sort of resurged hero to replace Doncic. Little do they all know..

Jaxson Hayes for Nola is pretty good. The 6’11” F/C is going to be one to watch in the NBA. He’s averaging 28 PPG on just 21 minutes per game.

Dylan Windler is the shooting beast we all thought he was. He’s putting up 15PPG for the Cavs.

Kevin Hervey for OKC is averaging a double double. It looks like this Texas G League standout may have a future on the OKC roster.

NBA Challenge Flag

Summer League is also the birthplace of the “Coaches Challenge Flag” to challenge referee calls. During the Bulls vs Hornets game, we saw this put into play and it actually overturned a called foul. This will be interesting to watch during the course of the regular season and could have a monumental impact on how pivotal games end.

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Russell Westbrook on the Trading Floor

With the departure of Paul George from OKC, the franchise is ready to blow everything up and initiate their rebuild of the franchise. Lots of rumors have been flying around that the Bulls would be interested in the services of Russell Westbrook.

While there are mixed reactions to this. You cannot deny that a guy that averages a Triple Double last season would change the Bulls franchise overnight. It would either end in all the rest of the Bulls players around him elevating their own game and improving, or it could also end with Westbrook destroying the chemistry of the team, revolting against jim Boylen and setting us back another 5 years.

The first and most obvious reason why the Bulls should go after Westbrook is pretty simple. He brings the city of Chicago something they have been lacking since the prime days of Derrick Rose. Westbrook is a star.

In my opinion, I would be thrilled to have Westbrook join the Bulls. If we could come up with a great trade package for OKC, it would work. But we would have to give up some of the pieces of the core in exchange for this opportunity.

The most likely scenario would involve the Bulls trading Otto Porter Jr and Felicio to OKC straight up for Westbrook.

This means the Bulls would keep Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen, along with Wendell Carter Jr. Westbrook would totally transform the outlook for the Bulls if added to this core. They would be a no-doubt playoff team with the chance to compete for Eastern Conference supremacy against the likes of Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

Would I expect the Bulls to pull the trigger on this scenario? I really doubt it. I don’t think we have the pieces that OKC would bite on. That, plus Westbrook playing for the Bulls front office and for Boylen is very very doubtful. 

On the contrary, the absolute biggest reason for the Bulls to hit the brakes on a Westbrook deal is due to the nature of his contract. Westbrook is not a free agent until the summer of 2023 and is amidst a 5-year, $206 million contract he signed last year. He would be 34 years old making $47 Million a year before his contract ended with the Bulls.

Then there is scenario #2. In this case, Westbrook does not join the Bulls, but we become an asset partner in the trade that would send Westbrook to the Miami Heat.

To me, this is well worth it and I believe it provides the most assets across the 3 teams. 

  • Heat send Winslow and James Johnson to Thunder (Winslow is who they want). 
  • Bulls get Dragic and send Dunn and Hutchison to OKC, Send Felicio to Miami.
  • OKC gets 3 young guys and saves $2.5 mil

Jabari Parker Interview

Jabari Parker no doubt had high hopes for his time with the Chicago Bulls. It seemed like such a natural fit. The Chicago-born kid comes to his hometown team with a chance to finally get his NBA career off the ground. It was such an easy story to write. Sadly it didn’t pan out as hoped. Parker played just 39 games for the Bulls before being thrown in a trade along with Bobby Portis to get Otto Porter Jr. from Washington.

He averaged 26.7 minutes played per game, scoring 14.3 points with 6.2 rebounds. Pretty much the same level of production he’d been posting in Milwaukee. It’s hard to determine why the team soured on him so quickly. In the end, it may just not have been a good fit. However, Parker himself offered a few hints about what the problem may have been.

In an interview with Khobi Price of the Chicago Sun-Times, he opened up about the breakup and why he’s so much happier in Washington. While he didn’t come right out and point fingers, there were plenty of hints as to who he blames for his eventual exit.

Jabari Parker clearly had no love for Bulls coaches or brass

Parker admitted that he had high hopes when he arrived in Chicago. It didn’t take him long to realize the entire hometown kid deal had been played out. The organization was likely using his name to sell tickets rather than actively trying to help him get better.

“WITH DERRICK [ROSE], HIS SITUATION ENDED PRETTY BITTER. WITH [DWYANE WADE], HIS SITUATION ENDED PRETTY BITTER. FOR MYSELF, IT WASN’T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.”

He soon began to reveal that his primary issue lay with the Bulls coaching staff. Specifically Jim Boylen, who was promoted to the job midseason after Fred Hoiberg was fired. Shortly after that happened, Parker was benched.

“MAN, MY TIME IN WASHINGTON WAS EVERYTHING AND MORE. IT WAS LIKE BEING IN JAIL FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS, AND THEN WHEN YOU’RE FREE, YOU JUST WANT TO BE YOURSELF AGAIN AND CATCH UP ON LOST TIMES. THOSE GUYS IN WASHINGTON ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE ON THE TOP OF MY LIST AS FAR AS MY LOYALTY GOES…

… I JUST WASN’T THINKING. I WAS JUST OUT THERE. I DIDN’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH INCONSISTENCIES. I DIDN’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH MIND GAMES. I HAD COACHES THERE THAT WERE VERY MATURE — THEY WERE PLAYERS’ COACHES. THAT’S ONE THING I REALLY LOVED ABOUT THEM.”

Boylen is not known for being a players coach.

He’s more of the strict disciplinary type. He wants good soldiers who are in shape and do as they’re told. Obviously, Parker didn’t live up to his standard and was soon traded. Such situations can often be a regular occurrence in the NBA. Parker is far from the first victim the Bulls have done this to. Odds are he won’t be the last either.

Loose Ends from the same string

Before we go, there are 2 loose ends to tie up, and they end up being from the same string. We wondered where Dino Radoncic went in the draft, and it turns out he didn’t want to get drafted. He was in the US to sign a deal with Nike and will stay in Europe for at least 2 more years…

And the other loose end to this is that we were wondering about Nikola Mirotic leaving the NBA for Europe. As it turns out, he got a 4 year deal at 6 million a year and will actually be playing with… Dino Radoncic. It will be interesting to see if they win it all in the Spanish league, which is where Paul Gasol may also be heading if no one picks him up after his foot surgery. There is word here in Southern California that he may actually return to the Lakers as a sentimental goodbye to the fans and ceremoniously pass the torch from the Champion Lakers to the new Lebron Lakers. Time will tell.

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Until next time, Thank you for listening everyone, Go Bulls!