Welcome to the Bulls Podcast, coming to you from BullsPodcast.com. This is where we’ll be bringing you the latest news, reviews, rants, rumors and opinions on the players, coaches and front office of the Chicago Bulls.
Before we get started, I want to confirm what you just heard in the new show intro. That’s a voice that is in Chicago Bulls history forever, it’s the voice of legendary 6-Time world champion stadium announcer RAY CLAY! We’re happy to weave him into the fabric of the Bulls Podcast and can’t thank him enough for helping us out and providing that to us.
We wanted to start featuring and highlighting others within the Chicago Bulls fanbase that are doing great work out there, and today we’re happy to have K-Dub from the Bullseye group on Facebook. He’s the founder and admin of the group that contains 2,000 rabid Bulls Fans in it. K-Dub, welcome to the show!
And we talked about him last week in our favorite bloggers segment of the show as one of the best Bulls Bloggers out there, from Da Windy City blog, we’re happy to welcome Patrick Sheldon to the show!
We’ve got a lot in store for you this episode. Including:
- Jimmy wants OUT of MINNESOTA! And he’s not coming to Chicago.
- State of The Bulls Fan – Part 2
- Listener Questions
- More trades to think about with the ESPN Trade Machine
The Story of the day: Jimmy Butler apparently wants out of Minnesota, immediately elevating Gar Forman and John Paxson to Genius Level Status!
Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Jimmy Butler has reportedly requested a trade ahead of the 2018-19 NBA season.
On Wednesday, Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported Butler has provided the T-Wolves with a list of the “one to three teams” with whom he’d be willing to sign a contract extension.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Butler’s three preferred trade destinations are the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks.
In July, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Butler was “frustrated with the nonchalant attitudes of younger teammates—specifically Karl-Anthony Towns—[and] does not intend to sign an extension with the Timberwolves.”
Per Cowley, the four-time All-Star selection is also keen on linking up with Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving next offseason—both players can decline player options in their contract to become free agents in 2019—to create a potential superteam in the Eastern Conference.
Krawczynski noted Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau was “initially resistant” to the idea of a trade, but Butler remains hopeful of moving to a new team as the new season approaches.
Krawczynski also reported the request has “very little” to do with the reported issues with Towns and Andrew Wiggins and is more related to contract concerns.
Butler is scheduled to receive a $18.7 million base salary for the 2018-19 season, which ranks 12th among shooting guards, seven spots behind Wiggins, per Spotrac.
It’s unclear whether there’s enough time to complete a major trade before the campaign gets underway in less than a month. The Wolves are set to open the preseason against the Golden State Warriors on Sept. 29, and their regular season begins Oct. 17 when they take on the San Antonio Spurs.
State of the Bulls Fan, Part 2
There’s something going on within the Bulls fan base this offseason. It’s a cloud of negativity that festers like an open wound. Some of you may have even seen the brief Twitter flame war I had with Jordan Maly of Locked On Bulls this week. It’s the fact that Bulls fans think our defense will be the absolute worst in the league and we will never make the playoffs and not win 40 games this year.
It wasn’t too long ago that we had a group of complete scrubs for a Bulls lineup, featuring Nate Robinson, Carlos Boozer and a cast of nobodies. That team was made up of a bunch of fighters though. We stopped the Cleveland win streak, made the playoffs and showed the character of what Bulls Basketball is all about.
Yet this year it seems like a lot of the fans have lost faith in the team, even when there is so much to be excited about. I’m not one of them. I think this team has the personnel to reach the playoffs and shock the league with just how good we are. Players like Wendell Carter Jr and Jabari Parker have an opportunity to thrive. Bobby Portis and Lauri Markkanen have stepped it up in the offseason and are determined that this is a breakout year for them. Zach Lavine is also of the mindset that he can take things to the next level and play like an All-Star.
So why is the Bulls fan base growing so bitter when we haven’t even played a single game yet? Training camp hasn’t even started, yet so many Bulls fans have cursed the season as just above tanking level.
What gives? Why the negativity? What is it going to take for these Bulls fans to see the light and come back around to the positive side of our beloved Bulls?
New Bulls Fan Hotline from the Bulls Podcast!
We have a new phone number that I want you to put into your phone contacts right now.. That’s 312-626-5401.
YOUNG BULLS
We’d like to start a monthly “Young Bulls” segment on the show and have 2 teens join us on the podcast to talk about the BULLS. Any parents interested in featuring your youngsters? Just go to BullsPodcast.com/youngbulls and fill out the contact form.
New Bulls Podcast Network Site! BULLS.FM
We’re happy to be a part of BULLS.FM, which will be alive streaming audio channel that you can tune into 24/7. The streaming server will start once the season starts, but if you want to get to know who will be on it, check out BULLS.FM. it features The Bulls Podcast, Bulls Gold, Bulls HQ, Chicago Bullseye, BAWL! On Bulls, The Bulls Beat and The Big Red Bus. All shows are automatically updated, so the site will always be 100% current.
Question from Derek Kaufusi
Why is Omer Asik in the 4th spot at Center?….. The dude can play!!!…. Plus is a decent rim protector. Ever since we got him back from new orleans, hes been mia.
Marcus: He may be used this year. He got sick with a Chrons disease and had some bad infections to boot, losing about 40 lbs in the process. He’s fighting to get back into shape and hopefully he’ll be there for WCJ and Felicio to guide them and make them better.
Question from “WhiteMambaJuice”
I’ve seen alot of different comparisons to Wendell Carter, but one I haven’t seen that I feel like we need to evaluate is Anthony Davis. They are both very dominant players on the defensive end. I know some people will say that Anthony Davis is a way better offensive player, and you might be right, but Davis wasn’t always a dominant offensive force.
Here are Wendell’s Summer League stats: 14.6ppg, 2.6 blk, 1.6 ast, 9.4 reb
Here are Anthony Davis’ rookie year stats (due to Anthony Davis not playing in Summer League due to playing with Team USA): 13.5 ppg, 1.8 blk, 1.0 ast, 8.2 reb
I know summer league is not the same as the NBA, but it is always fun to be optimistic! Let me know what you guys think!
Question from Dave
What do you think the trade value is of Bobby Portis?
Crazy eyes is a great stretch four, alright NBA 5, but I don’t think he will want to be Lauri and Wendell’s back ups forever. Parker might take minutes at the four as well.
Its Bobby’s contract year and I can’t help but wonder if anyone thinks he could bring us a key missing piece in a trade? Like maybe wing defense or 3pt shooting. Maybe Pistons would take him to spread the floor for Drummond at the expense of a pick and Stanley Johnson or Luke Kennard?
I just don’t see us keeping him for under 10 mill a year or him being satisfied as a role player, but I could be wrong. Just curious what you guys think?
Remember, we are a new show and we do need your support in social media. We’ve made it really easy to find us with some special redirect links.
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POTENTIAL CHICAGO BULLS TRADES 2018-2019 SEASON
Using http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine
Marcus Proposed Trade:
Bulls trade Denzel Valentine to Brooklyn Nets for Spencer Dinwiddie
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y7vsser4
We all talk about David Nwaba as “The One That Got Away” but I’d like to asset that the REAL missing asset that we let walk was Spencer Dinwiddie. Now we have the chance to get him back. Spencer originally came to the Bulls 2 years ago via waivers from Detroit. He did pretty good for us, though had limited playing time. Now, we could really use him again. He narrowly beat out Lauri Markkanen in the NBA skill contest at the All-Star break, showing that he truly does have NBA level skills. This could be the backup point guard that we need at this time.
Wyse Proposed Trade:
Bulls Trade Wendell Carter Jr, Bobby Portis and Chandler Hutchinson for Karl Anthony Towns
Thanks again to K-Dub and Patrick Sheldon. You can find K-Dub in the BULLSEYE Facebook Group, and we have a link to that in our shownotes.
Remember to subscribe to our show. Visit Bullspodcast.com/subscribe to get all the links to where we are. We are on iTunes/Apple Podcasts now, so we do want you to subscribe to us there and also give us a 5 star review and your feedback on the show as well. Just like in today’s show, we’ll read them out as we get them, so get yours in now to be on the next show!
Next week we’re going to have Edward Schuler on the show, he’s the host of the BULLS GOLD podcast. Hopefully Edward’s co-host Salim Suterwalla is able to join us as well. It’s going to be a great show as we hit episode #10.
Until then, Thanks for listening everyone, Go Bulls!