It’s the Bulls Podcast #52 hosted by Marcus Couch and Wyse Black with guest Kenyatta Wright. We’ve got full Bulls vs Celtics Reaction, our State of the #Bulls, Trade Rumors and Game predictions for the coming week.
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.
And this week we pleased to present regular contributor Kenyatta Wright to the show.
We’ve got several topics for this episode. Including:
- Bulls vs Celtics Rundown
- Bulls Trade Rumors
- State of The Bulls
- Game predictions for the coming week
Bulls vs Celtics Post-Game
Tonight the Chicago Bulls took on the Boston Celtics in Boston and got blown out 1XX – XX.
The Bulls made it a game throughout most Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatom padded their lead the whole way through and the Bulls expectedly lost the game. In fact, 6 Celtics scored in double figures on our defense. We wouldn’t stop anyone tonight. And no wonder.. Lauri sat out most of the game.
Bulls Trade Rumors
Denzel Valentine
It may not be the move that propels this team in the right direction, but it’s clear that small forward Denzel Valentine needs to be traded before the deadline this season. It’s not entirely his fault, but both sides seem to want to move on.
Valentine played limited minutes this season despite the Bulls being thin at forward due to injuries. He was getting some playing time up until last week when Boylen reportedly told him he was out of the rotation.
It’s surely frustrating to get the news you won’t be playing regularly anymore, but Valentine clearly wanted more of an explanation than what he got from Boylen. He spoke to the media before Saturday’s game and said this about the situation [Via Chicago Sun-Times]:
“I’m definitely not happy about it. I’m a competitor. I want to play, I want to be productive, I want to help the team win. But that’s out of my control…[Boylen] kind of told me a couple of games ago that I was out of the rotation. He didn’t really say why.”
Valentine kind of trailed off after this and didn’t say more about Boylen’s conversation about his spot on the team. Even though Valentine didn’t go scorched Earth with the media on Saturday, it’s clear he’d rather play elsewhere.
The Bulls may not be able to get much in return for Valentine, but if they can get someone that would fit into the rotation it’d be an improvement. Even if it was just an end of the bench type of guy, it’d be a slightly better fit.
Acquire center Andre Drummond from Detroit
While Valentine may or may not be involved in this move, the Bulls could actually pull off a trade for center Andre Drummond. The center for the Detroit Pistons is a player who many were expecting more at this point in his career.
Despite Drummond playing in his eighth NBA season this year, he’s only 26 years old. He’s got a player option he could exercise for the 2020-2021 season, but he could be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
It would require a lot from the Bulls to acquire Drummond, but reports suggest that the Pistons are determined to trade him before the NBA trade deadline this season. The Bulls could make an offer as it appears several other teams have already.
It would be great if we could get Rose in the deal too…
Others on the Block: EVERYONE but Lauri, Zach and Coby.
State of the Bulls
At 14-27 there isn’t much to say about the Bulls except we need a new coach, a new lineup and a new Front Office. It’s a wonder this team has any fans left at all, but we’re still here, with hope in our hearts and prayers in our mind for the team to deliver us from mediocrity. Time will tell what this season turns out to be and what trades may happen in the next few months, but one thing is for sure.. This isn’t the Bulls team that they sold us at the beginning of the year. Improvements need to happen right now.
Record at the halfway point the last 5 years:
2015-16: 24-17 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2016.html (Finished 42-40)
2016-17: 20-21 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2017.html (Finished 41-41)
2017-18: 14-27 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2018.html (Finished 27-55)
2018-19: 10-31 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2019.html (Finished 22-60)
2019-20: 14-28 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2020.html (Will probably finish 25-57)
Let’s predict our next few games for the coming week
WEDNESDAY JAN 15 7:00PM CT
vs. Washington @ United Center
Marcus: W
Wyse: L
Kenyatta: W
FRIDAY JAN 17 6:00PM CT
@ Philadelphia 76ers – Wells Fargo Center
Marcus: L
Wyse: L
Kenyatta: L
SATURDAY JAN 18 7:00PM CT
vs. Cleveland @ United Center
Marcus: W
Wyse: W
Kenyatta: W
MONDAY JAN 20 4:00PM CT
@ Milwaukee Fiserv Forum
Marcus: L
Wyse: L
Kenyatta: L
Just to remind everyone, Episode #53 is going to feature the first HOFer on the Bulls Podcast. We interviewed Bulls #53, Artis Gilmore. We’re going to release that on Tuesday, January 21st. You MUST listen to this episode because Artis is a LEGEND. He’s arguably one of the greatest centers to ever play the game. Certainly the best Bulls center by far. He deserves to have his number retired. And Wyse and I are going to gather the troops, circle the wagons and start a campaign to get his number retired. It wouldn’t take much, and this would be the year to make that push as a fan. The owners would probably do it just to give the fans SOMETHING this year.
Wyse Social Links:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/radical_creator
Instagram: http://instagram.com/radical_creator
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6vBYCVNxRnzuxvdQVkWfgg
Marcus Social Links
Twitter: http://twitter.com/marcuscouch
Instagram: http://instagram.com/marcuscouch
Kenyatta Wright Links
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kennywright31
Bullseye Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/752878474736593/
Blue Line Sports Blog: https://kdubbluelinesports.blogspot.com/
Everything show related you can find @bullspodcast. Please make sure you are connected with us everywhere we are.
If you can’t remember any of these, you can check out our show notes for this show over at our website, which is BullsPodcast.com where we have all the links we mentioned in today’s show.
Until next time, Thank you for listening everyone, Go Bulls!