Zach Collins Injured

[Chi town]

We should be fine with Vuc/Smith and play Noa a bit there
Collins just isn't a starter-never has been

I want us to go for IHart next summer, assuming OKC has to let him go due to $. KP would fit too-but injury is always a risk with him.

I think that will be the plan. Hart and draft a C.

It's early still but this draft seems to be light at C. Bulls state they take the best player available too. Honestly, I would be quite upset if they held this plan.

(I don't think Hartenstein will be available, either.)

Draft is strong at C… Q, Cenac, and my guy Ngongba from Duke.

[Evil_Headband]

I think that will be the plan. Hart and draft a C.

It's early still but this draft seems to be light at C. Bulls state they take the best player available too. Honestly, I would be quite upset if they held this plan.

(I don't think Hartenstein will be available, either.)

Draft is strong at C… Q, Cenac, and my guy Ngongba from Duke.

Cenac is the only one who is consistently mocked in the lottery. But, again, it's early.

[Indomitable]

Read on Twitter

He was favoring it after he got scored on by Ant.

He fell back and landed on his left hand and arm.

[LateNight]

This sucks - Collins was my favorite center on our team

[DuckIII]

Story of Collins career whenever he looks like solid starter. Man needs a win

Yep. He's always been a decent player, but the style of play that makes him effective is more than his body can handle. Including the one year he missed due to injury, this is his ninth season. He's never been a reliable starter for anyone.

People will moan about how this means we'll get more Vuc, but people take for granted that Vuc has always been able to play big minute roles, something neither Smith nor Collins have ever been able to do.

I don’t think people take it for granted. I think they just don’t care anymore. If there is one thing most Bulls fans seem to agree on, it’s that we’re ready for a mobile center who can defend the interior.

It’s been time to move on from the older model for awhile and he’s the last ill-fitting part. Fans are done.

[DuckIII]

It's early still but this draft seems to be light at C. Bulls state they take the best player available too. Honestly, I would be quite upset if they held this plan.

(I don't think Hartenstein will be available, either.)

Draft is strong at C… Q, Cenac, and my guy Ngongba from Duke.

Cenac is the only one who is consistently mocked in the lottery. But, again, it's early.

Last year was the year to pick up a later first rounder and grab a center. It was an uncommon year for intriguing center prospects. Depth and variety.

It’s really the only issue I have with AK’s otherwise strong summer.

[Chi town]

Draft is strong at C… Q, Cenac, and my guy Ngongba from Duke.

Cenac is the only one who is consistently mocked in the lottery. But, again, it's early.

Last year was the year to pick up a later first rounder and grab a center. It was an uncommon year for intriguing center prospects. Depth and variety.

It’s really the only issue I have with AK’s otherwise strong summer.

You and I were both calling for it.

This year we will most likely have POR’s 1st as well.

I will be surprised if we don’t sign or trade for a C and draft a C.

I like Ngongba a lot. He’s like Capella on D with a Derik Queen type of feel and offense with passing and playmaking.

[DuckIII]

Cenac is the only one who is consistently mocked in the lottery. But, again, it's early.

Last year was the year to pick up a later first rounder and grab a center. It was an uncommon year for intriguing center prospects. Depth and variety.

It’s really the only issue I have with AK’s otherwise strong summer.

You and I were both calling for it.

This year we will most likely have POR’s 1st as well.

I will be surprised if we don’t sign or trade for a C and draft a C.

I like Ngongba a lot. He’s like Capella on D with a Derik Queen type of feel and offense with passing and playmaking.

I’ll check him out.

[MikeDC]

lol, nobody's gonna talk about how exactly this happened huh?

[rosenthall]

Story of Collins career whenever he looks like solid starter. Man needs a win

Yep. He's always been a decent player, but the style of play that makes him effective is more than his body can handle. Including the one year he missed due to injury, this is his ninth season. He's never been a reliable starter for anyone.

People will moan about how this means we'll get more Vuc, but people take for granted that Vuc has always been able to play big minute roles, something neither Smith nor Collins have ever been able to do.

I don’t think people take it for granted. I think they just don’t care anymore. If there is one thing most Bulls fans seem to agree on, it’s that we’re ready for a mobile center who can defend the interior.

It’s been time to move on from the older model for awhile and he’s the last ill-fitting part. Fans are done.

What I infer from his choices is that Billy prioritizes keeping the paint open above all else on offense, and strong point-of-attack perimeter containment above all else on defense. It explains a lot of his lineup choices over the years.

For the most part, Billy has never wanted much to do with non-shooting bigs who can't facilitate offense at the top of the wing. He seems to treat it as a keystone in his offensive schemes. I agree with the board about his faults, but he fits the way we want to play more than we'd like to think.

In any event, this effects Smith way more than Vuc, who'll hopefully get at least 15-20 mpg to start the season.

[Jvaughn]

We should be fine with Vuc/Smith and play Noa a bit there
Collins just isn't a starter-never has been

I want us to go for IHart next summer, assuming OKC has to let him go due to $. KP would fit too-but injury is always a risk with him.

I think that will be the plan. Hart and draft a C.

It's early still but this draft seems to be light at C. Bulls state they take the best player available too. Honestly, I would be quite upset if they held this plan.

(I don't think Hartenstein will be available, either.)

Yeah, ironically the last draft was the one full of 2nd round bigs with 1st round talent.

[Chi town]

Last year was the year to pick up a later first rounder and grab a center. It was an uncommon year for intriguing center prospects. Depth and variety.

It’s really the only issue I have with AK’s otherwise strong summer.

You and I were both calling for it.

This year we will most likely have POR’s 1st as well.

I will be surprised if we don’t sign or trade for a C and draft a C.

I like Ngongba a lot. He’s like Capella on D with a Derik Queen type of feel and offense with passing and playmaking.

I’ll check him out.

https://youtu.be/x8-Mzq8WAew?si=06wdEwEvqis02eeI

[ShouldaPaidBG]

Just split the C minutes 24/24

What I would really want is some stretches of a Pat-Matas-Noah front court

[Muzbar]

Should've picked up Ulrich Chomche on the 2-way.

[WesPeace]

I'm wondering what Billy would do if Vuc or Jalen went down or were in foul trouble. I recall Pat playing center a few times. That poor rebounding though! Julian Phillips has the length but he's so skinny (Derrick Jones says hi). I doubt he'd throw in Lachy or make Essengue play out of position so soon.

Billy mentioned last presser about Pat at the 5 before Collins went down. I think we will see Pat get 6-10 mins at the 5 as it opens up more mins for the glut of guards. Noa will def get a look too.

Reevaluated in 4 weeks means playing in probably 6-7 weeks. That’s a lot of games missed.

Holy crap, I hope not..I dont want Pat at 5 experiment lol! Rather see Noa there or that aussie rookie for 6-8min..

[dougthonus]

lol, nobody's gonna talk about how exactly this happened huh?

As someone who got into a large argument on charges on two different podcasts and said training to take charges is a ridiculously stupid strategy because most charge/block calls are blocks (mathematically a bad play), the play is dangerous (high risk), and in a no call situation, it means you didn't play any defense (ie, there is no positive value for intent, like if you try to block a shot and fail you usually still have a contest that alters the shot and still lowers FG%), I am happy to discuss how this injury happened.

[MikeDC]

lol, nobody's gonna talk about how exactly this happened huh?

As someone who got into a large argument on charges on two different podcasts and said training to take charges is a ridiculously stupid strategy because most charge/block calls are blocks (mathematically a bad play), the play is dangerous (high risk), and in a no call situation, it means you didn't play any defense (ie, there is no positive value for intent, like if you try to block a shot and fail you usually still have a contest that alters the shot and still lowers FG%), I am happy to discuss how this injury happened.

Hah, I know it's not what you mean, actually training to take charges (like, learning Ukemi) would probably have prevented Collins' injury.

That's the point I've tried to make. Learning break falls and stuff would be smart. Going out and trying to take charges in the pre-season? Not smart. I blew it off when Stratmaster was saying they were making it a big point of emphasis because.... everyone says stuff like this in the pre-season. But wtf

[MrSparkle]

lol, nobody's gonna talk about how exactly this happened huh?

As someone who got into a large argument on charges on two different podcasts and said training to take charges is a ridiculously stupid strategy because most charge/block calls are blocks (mathematically a bad play), the play is dangerous (high risk), and in a no call situation, it means you didn't play any defense (ie, there is no positive value for intent, like if you try to block a shot and fail you usually still have a contest that alters the shot and still lowers FG%), I am happy to discuss how this injury happened.

I have no words for what this FO will come up with next.

I was pretty horrified hearing Billy and the Bulls commentators talking about drawing charges as a point of emphasis. Tre, Pat, Giddey, Ayo and Coby are already injury prone (along with Zach and Jalen). Seriously concerned about Matas, as he’s very competitive… and tall, and important to this team.

[kodo]

lol, nobody's gonna talk about how exactly this happened huh?

As someone who got into a large argument on charges on two different podcasts and said training to take charges is a ridiculously stupid strategy because most charge/block calls are blocks (mathematically a bad play), the play is dangerous (high risk), and in a no call situation, it means you didn't play any defense (ie, there is no positive value for intent, like if you try to block a shot and fail you usually still have a contest that alters the shot and still lowers FG%), I am happy to discuss how this injury happened.

I have no words for what this FO will come up with next.

I was pretty horrified hearing Billy and the Bulls commentators talking about drawing charges as a point of emphasis. Tre, Pat, Giddey, Ayo and Coby are already injury prone (along with Zach and Jalen). Seriously concerned about Matas, as he’s very competitive… and tall, and important to this team.

It's the FO's way of trying to defend the paint knowing they don't have a center who can protect the paint or rim. Just like how we decided to not defend the 3P line so guards can collapse in the paint to defend that since our center is useless there. Much of our defensive identity (or lack thereof) is based around finding ways to accommodate Vucevic as a center. Teams with high drawn charges other than OKC are Lakers, Warriors, Blazers, Knicks. These teams don't have a shotblocker or play them sparingly.

Even if the Bulls do draw more charges without injuring ourselves (already failed there), 25 teams draw 0.5 charges or less per game. So every other game we'll force 1 TO. It will be irrelevant. Even if we get to top 5, we're drawing 0.6 charges per game.

As Doug said, it's incredibly rare for a charge call to go the defender's way. That's why when it happens the defender celebrates like they won the lottery.

[SirKaiser]

It sucks but it could be a blessing in disguise. As much as we all hate Vuc, we need to give him minutes to showcase his trade value (or lack thereof). But then we have Smith and we can experiment with Noa.

Before you know it, he'll be a rebounding machine, blocking shots left and right, and doing some obnoxious dances... but for real the minutes and experience will be good for him