Bulls @ Bucks 6:30 CT

[DASMACKDOWN]

Should we start a #FreeMatas campaign?

I like the kid. But it would surely backfire.

Its Billy Donovan coach speak that will make you believe Matas somehow has to go through some rigorous channel of training to play 10 mins a game. Phew those "NBA Habits".

Strangely that somehow missed Matas but not for 24 other rookies. Shame on Matas.

Cause you know, the Bulls are going for the NBA's best record.

How could Billy possibly find minutes for Matas when he is behind Hall of Famers Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig.

Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Harp? PFffft Welcome to Windy City Bulls next year. Because you know..habits!

[Stratmaster]

Should we start a #FreeMatas campaign?

I like the kid. But it would surely backfire.

Its Billy Donovan coach speak that will make you believe Matas somehow has to go through some rigorous channel of training to play 10 mins a game. Phew those "NBA Habits".

Strangely that somehow missed Matas but not for 24 other rookies. Shame on Matas.

Cause you know, the Bulls are going for the NBA's best record.

How could Billy possibly find minutes for Matas when he is behind Hall of Famers Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig.

Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Harp? PFffft Welcome to Windy City Bulls next year. Because you know..habits!

Yeah. I'm not trying to make excuses. I agree he should get more playing time.

[sco]

I like the kid. But it would surely backfire.

Its Billy Donovan coach speak that will make you believe Matas somehow has to go through some rigorous channel of training to play 10 mins a game. Phew those "NBA Habits".

Strangely that somehow missed Matas but not for 24 other rookies. Shame on Matas.

Cause you know, the Bulls are going for the NBA's best record.

How could Billy possibly find minutes for Matas when he is behind Hall of Famers Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig.

Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Harp? PFffft Welcome to Windy City Bulls next year. Because you know..habits!

Yeah. I'm not trying to make excuses. I agree he should get more playing time.

I'm stuck trying to think about what about Matas has Billy going so hard on him. Is he lazy/entitled in practice? That's the only thing that I think could elicit such a response...and, look, if so, tough love may be what he needs. I mean his background growing up is no Jimmy Butler story, so maybe there's no fire there.

[samwana]

Should we start a #FreeMatas campaign?

I like the kid. But it would surely backfire.

Its Billy Donovan coach speak that will make you believe Matas somehow has to go through some rigorous channel of training to play 10 mins a game. Phew those "NBA Habits".

Strangely that somehow missed Matas but not for 24 other rookies. Shame on Matas.

Cause you know, the Bulls are going for the NBA's best record.

How could Billy possibly find minutes for Matas when he is behind Hall of Famers Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig.

Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Harp? PFffft Welcome to Windy City Bulls next year. Because you know..habits!

That's a pretty accurate statement!

[vxmike]

Doesn't even matter even if playing Craig got us a W, it's a crime to keep Buzelis out of games even when PWill is injured. Buzelis isn't going to magically become an NBA vet watching Craig watch from the bench. He's got to get in there, make a million mistakes, get better next season. Except now next season will be 2 seasons from now. Maybe 3 if he's benched next season as well.

Talent developing slowly in Chicago like Markkanen & Coby isn't a coincidence.

Well Markkanen did start here from day 1 and had a very strong rookie season. For some reason he just never really got better here after that. But that definitely still falls under our lack of any ability to develop any players. Like really since Jimmy Butler, none of our 1st round picks really ever amounted to anything. And if they did eventually find their nitche, it was after they left here (Markkanen and Portis). Maybe Coby, but that's still 1 guy since Butler, who was drafted here 13 years ago. And Coby still is probably more of a microwave off the bench for a contending team as opposed to a heavy.

Something changed after Butler where the team became unable to properly draft and develop guys. They previously did well with Asik and Taj Gibson too. Drafting and development has been a near zero since Jimmy.

[burlydee]

I think the reason Matas isn't playing mire is that he has the skills of a 4 (not an insult) and the body of Dalen Terry. I don't think Billy thinks he can hold up defensively.

Offensively he's going to be inefficient until his jumper improves. But I think more minutes would really help him here. He won't learn to play off other guys until he gets more time.

[drosestruts]

ok trying to steer this big to reality

We have certainly developed guys - Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Zach LaVine

Heck even guys like Terry and Phillips are looking better this year.


I also find it interesting that the board, no I haven't tracked individual user names, seems to be having parallel conversations about how Giddey's confidence is shot and how it's affecting his game and also thinking we need to throw Matas out there to start against Giannis.

I want more Matas minutes too.

I'd also like to get something of value for veteran players like Vuc, Craig, and Carter if possible.

I keep reminding myself that it's a long season. There's still, in theory, plenty of minutes for someone like Matas to play this year.

Someone like Giddey could struggle the entire first half of the season - let's not forgot his Olympic run ended on an injury.


Good things happened last night:

- Zach continues to play at an all-star level
- Craig put in a big performance showing he can still be a valuable piece for teams needing wing help
- and if you're a Cooper Flagg fan (or any of the other top guys) - we lost!

[MrSparkle]

Doesn't even matter even if playing Craig got us a W, it's a crime to keep Buzelis out of games even when PWill is injured. Buzelis isn't going to magically become an NBA vet watching Craig watch from the bench. He's got to get in there, make a million mistakes, get better next season. Except now next season will be 2 seasons from now. Maybe 3 if he's benched next season as well.

Talent developing slowly in Chicago like Markkanen & Coby isn't a coincidence.

Well Markkanen did start here from day 1 and had a very strong rookie season. For some reason he just never really got better here after that. But that definitely still falls under our lack of any ability to develop any players. Like really since Jimmy Butler, none of our 1st round picks really ever amounted to anything. And if they did eventually find their nitche, it was after they left here (Markkanen and Portis). Maybe Coby, but that's still 1 guy since Butler, who was drafted here 13 years ago. And Coby still is probably more of a microwave off the bench for a contending team as opposed to a heavy.

Something changed after Butler where the team became unable to properly draft and develop guys. They previously did well with Asik and Taj Gibson too. Drafting and development has been a near zero since Jimmy.

I think Ron Adams and Thibs knew what they're doing.

[Red8911]

Should we start a #FreeMatas campaign?

I like the kid. But it would surely backfire.

Its Billy Donovan coach speak that will make you believe Matas somehow has to go through some rigorous channel of training to play 10 mins a game. Phew those "NBA Habits".

Strangely that somehow missed Matas but not for 24 other rookies. Shame on Matas.

Cause you know, the Bulls are going for the NBA's best record.

How could Billy possibly find minutes for Matas when he is behind Hall of Famers Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig.

Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Harp? PFffft Welcome to Windy City Bulls next year. Because you know..habits!

Billy usually doesn’t have a problem playing rookies that’s why I’m surprised he’s not playing Matas. He’s actually good too when he gets decent minutes, makes his mistakes obviously but still good enough to come off the bench. Definitely deserves to be playing no matter what the plan is winning or tanking.

I do think that if the bulls end up tanking for real later in the season then Matas should get plenty of time and even become a starter. That’s if they continue to lose and decide to give up on the season in order to save the pick.

[Ice Man]

Guys, the Bulls have drafted only one true NBA starter since 2011. Everybody else was either a bust or role player, and every year this board rips whoever coaches the Bulls for not playing our new rookie more minutes. Since Jimmy Butler, the coaches have never been wrong and this board has never been right. That's a long losing streak.

[FriedRise]

I think much of the reason why Matas isn't playing much is because the Bulls need to figure out what they're gonna do with Terry and Philips. Both of those guys have had almost identical total minutes played, and it's not a coincidence considering neither barely played last year.

We also mostly go 4 bench players (Ayo, Terry, Philips, Smith) + a starter (usually Coby), so Matas is only getting spot minutes.

[Chi town]

Looking back at the game it was really AJ Green that won the game for the Bucks… and the Giannis Lillard flops.

Green had 18 on 7 shots and didn’t let Zach get any 3s off in the 2nd half.

Zach and every other Bull has to learn how to draw fouls. We are the worse in the league at it.

[Dominator83]

Well Markkanen did start here from day 1 and had a very strong rookie season. For some reason he just never really got better here after that. But that definitely still falls under our lack of any ability to develop any players. Like really since Jimmy Butler, none of our 1st round picks really ever amounted to anything. And if they did eventually find their nitche, it was after they left here (Markkanen and Portis). Maybe Coby, but that's still 1 guy since Butler, who was drafted here 13 years ago. And Coby still is probably more of a microwave off the bench for a contending team as opposed to a heavy.

Something changed after Butler where the team became unable to properly draft and develop guys. They previously did well with Asik and Taj Gibson too. Drafting and development has been a near zero since Jimmy.

I think Ron Adams and Thibs knew what they're doing.

Thibs got more out of less, especially from guards. Nate Robinson, DJ Augustin, Lucas 3. In New york the latest Thibs bump guys have been Josh Hart and DDV. Low and behold, DDV hasn't been the same since leaving Thibs. Kinda like a Spolestra effect

[sco]

Well Markkanen did start here from day 1 and had a very strong rookie season. For some reason he just never really got better here after that. But that definitely still falls under our lack of any ability to develop any players. Like really since Jimmy Butler, none of our 1st round picks really ever amounted to anything. And if they did eventually find their nitche, it was after they left here (Markkanen and Portis). Maybe Coby, but that's still 1 guy since Butler, who was drafted here 13 years ago. And Coby still is probably more of a microwave off the bench for a contending team as opposed to a heavy.

Something changed after Butler where the team became unable to properly draft and develop guys. They previously did well with Asik and Taj Gibson too. Drafting and development has been a near zero since Jimmy.

I think Ron Adams and Thibs knew what they're doing.

I look at the guys that Thibs drafts for the Knicks and it he keeps finding late draft gems.

[Michael Jackson]

Looking back at the game it was really AJ Green that won the game for the Bucks… and the Giannis Lillard flops.

Green had 18 on 7 shots and didn’t let Zach get any 3s off in the 2nd half.

Zach and every other Bull has to learn how to draw fouls. We are the worse in the league at it.

Does AJ Green have a vow of celibacy like AC Green did?

[Chi town]

Don’t look now but DT has made his last 3 3s.

6-16 for 37% from 3 this season.

His D has been pretty good.

[sco]

Don’t look now but DT has made his last 3 3s.

6-16 for 37% from 3 this season.

His D has been pretty good.

Huh. Didn't see that coming. Obviously nothing statistically meaningfull, but I'm rooting for him. He seems like a hard worker.

[Stratmaster]

Don’t look now but DT has made his last 3 3s.

6-16 for 37% from 3 this season.

His D has been pretty good.

I have been a little perplexed at the hate DT gets. He has been playing with a lot of energy and relatively effectively.

[Chi town]

Don’t look now but DT has made his last 3 3s.

6-16 for 37% from 3 this season.

His D has been pretty good.

I have been a little perplexed at the hate DT gets. He has been playing with a lot of energy and relatively effectively.

He’s nearing end of rotation actual nba player status if he keeps hitting open 3s. Same for JP. Neither make a big enough impact on either end and I don’t see where they have shown any baseline talent or athleticism to expand their games enough to be more than end of bench talent.

Our guy Buz though… he will just sit and watch for now as he oozes way more talent on both sides of the court.

[Stratmaster]

Don’t look now but DT has made his last 3 3s.

6-16 for 37% from 3 this season.

His D has been pretty good.

I have been a little perplexed at the hate DT gets. He has been playing with a lot of energy and relatively effectively.

He’s nearing end of rotation actual nba player status if he keeps hitting open 3s. Same for JP. Neither make a big enough impact on either end and I don’t see where they have shown any baseline talent or athleticism to expand their games enough to be more than end of bench talent.

Our guy Buz though… he will just sit and watch for now as he oozes way more talent on both sides of the court.

Terry plays defense. He is averaging 2 steals and a block per 36. Something that the team lacks. If he hits his 3's at a reasonable rate that makes him a rotation player, not end of bench; at least on this team. I want to see Buz more too. That's on Billy. Not Terry. With Williams out there is certainly minutes for both of them.