25% of the Stadium was filled….

It’s between Caleb & Yaxel for ROY. My $ is on Caleb.

North Carolina was 19-5 & 11th in the country when Caleb was healthy. They fell apart after his injury. I loved his game tape, but he’s improved in every aspect of his game since then. I do agree that he should have been shooting 3’s.

Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors Head Coach — December 21, 2024: “We don’t need contested 17-footers with 12 on the shot clock. Right? That’s a bad shot.” Well how about with 16 seconds? Kerr warned that repeatedly settling for those shots is how you become a “lousy NBA team.”

It’s become apparent from every video I’ve watched that Tiago Splitter wants the Bulls to aggressively crash the offensive glass. That philosophy comes with a trade-off. When you commit multiple players to attacking the offensive boards, you’re inevitably going to sacrifice some transition defense. I can live with that if we’re actually generating second-chance opportunities. What I cannot accept is a lack of physicality and effort on the offensive glass. Here are two examples from the 3rd quarter last night, both with Trae Young as the primary defender responsible for boxing out. In one example, a Bull fails to establish position or make a legitimate effort to attack the glass despite a massive size advantage. In the other, a Bull establishes good position for an offensive rebound, although the result is also a negative. In the end, it’s the process that matters and the results will eventually come our way. This happened all night. Far too often, we saw what amounted to a fake commitment to crashing the offensive boards. Players going through the motions without the physicality, positioning, or effort necessary to actually secure the rebound. If we’re going to sacrifice transition defense by sending multiple players to the offensive glass, then we absolutely MUST make a legitimate, physical commitment to getting those rebounds. You cannot have the worst of both worlds: sacrificing transition defense without seriously competing for offensive rebounds. We have to be more physical. We have to play with greater effort. And we have to stop pretending that simply running toward the basket constitutes crashing the glass.

Caleb Wilson leads the Bulls through 3 games in 6 categories: points, rebounds, steals, blocks, minutes played, and field goals made. This is Caleb Wilson’s team, and this season is about figuring out who can optimize his skills and team wins around him. Nothing else.

Trae Young is 6’1”, 164 pounds. Every team in the NBA knows you have attack him defensively. The Wizards (and the Hawks before them) try to hide him on the opposing team’s weakest offensive player for a reason. Yet we watched Trae voluntary match up against 6’9” Matas Buzelis for at least 5 consecutive possessions to end the 3rd & start the 4th without making DC pay. Matas needs to recognize it. His teammates need to recognize it. Thiago Splitter needs to recognize it. And the broadcast should be discussing it. That’s an EIGHT-INCH height advantage…40-50 pounds, and the Wizards chose that matchup. This wasn’t transition defense. These are possessions you absolutely HAVE to exploit. You cannot allow a defensive mismatch that obvious to go unpunished. The Bulls have to be smarter than this. Inexcusable.

Caleb Wilson put up a 30 point, 14 rebound, 3 assist performance tonight…w/ zero turnovers. Insane.

Wizards are now putting Young on Jones. Tiago has to put Giddey, to force Young back onto Matas, and Matas needs to destroy that matchup.

Trae Young will be back in this game shortly. When he returns, if the Wizards have the gall to hire him on Matas again, the Bulls have to go to Matas and he needs to attack that matchup.

Another offensive possession w/ 6 ft, 160 pound Trae Young on Matas. I am in awe that no one is trying to take advantage of this matchup, Matas included.

Are the Bulls aware….is Matas aware….that the Wizards have been guarding Matas with Trae Young for most of this quarter?

Wizards switch Young onto Buzelis here….That has to be punished every time. Some awful decision-making and defense so far from this starting unit to start the 2nd half

Caleb has hardly touched the ball so far this half. Get him the damn ball.

Matas has done a good job of limiting bad shots so far this season, but this is an awful, contested mid-range jumper w/ no Bull near the basket in position for an offensive rebound, with 16 seconds left on the shot clock. Tiago asking to push doesn’t mean taking a poor shot.

17 points, 7 rebounds, a team-leading +17 in the first half….7th title within 7 years due to this kid. It’s his team already.

Matas has delivered a number of nice passes so far this game. Great to see.