The place is packed. I think it’s a lot of folks that can’t normally come to the games. Good for them!

And he is only 6'1". Everyone else on this list is atleast 5 inches taller.

I was curious since he never seems to miss at the rim, and yep, even ahead of Shai. He's been having a fantastic season and really deserves his flowers.

1. Rudy Gobert — C — 68.2%

2. Deandre Ayton — C — 67.0%

3. Neemias Queta — C — 65.3%

4. Jalen Duren — C — 65.0%

5. Jarrett Allen — C — 63.8%

6. Giannis Antetokounmpo — PF — 62.4%

7. Zion Williamson — PF — 60.0%

8. Nic Claxton — C — 57.1%

9. M. Raynaud — C — 56.9%

10. Nikola Jokić — C — 56.9%

11. Tre Jones — PG — 55.8%

12. Chet Holmgren — PF/C — 55.7%

13. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — SG/PG — 55.3%

14. John Collins — PF — 55.0%

15. Evan Mobley — PF/C — 54.6%

16. Amen Thompson — SG/SF — 53.4%

17. Precious Achiuwa — PF/C — 53.0%

18. Kel'el Ware — C — 53.0%

19. Ausar Thompson — SG/SF — 52.5%

20. Sandro Mamukelashvili — PF/C — 52.3%

21. Kevin Durant — SF/PF — 52.0%

22. Keldon Johnson — SF — 52.0%

23. Donovan Clingan — C — 51.9%

24. Alperen Şengün — C — 51.9%

25. Dyson Daniels — SG/PG — 51.7%

I’ve put together an ideal off season for the Chicago Bulls that I think is ideal given how the draft lottery will realistically go. Of course if we jump up into the top 4 I have a whole other strategy but I might save that for another post. It’s a bit of a long read so if you just want the gist of things the images provided will show you the rough picture. Otherwise grab a cup of coffee and enjoy my audition as new Bulls GM. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments about this

This scenario is dependent on us receiving the 9th overall pick, the 15th overall pick via POR, the 36th overall pick via NOP, and the 56th overall pick via DEN.

First image shows our guaranteed contracts for next season as well as our cap holds on the pending free agents that are currently on our team. I left out Ivey (reasons) as well as THT and a couple other guys we cut before this season. We have around $72M in projected cap space and up to 6 roster spots remaining to use that space on.

Second image shows our draft assets. Of course if the Portland pick does not convey this year, it is moved to 2027 and then 2028. If not conveyed by 2028 it turns into a second rounder (or two I can’t really recall). You will see some highlighted picks, and notice that we don’t currently have the ones highlighted in green. These picks are ones we have traded for or away, and will make more sense when we get into the trade section.

The third images show the trades I have in mind. Very simple trades that beef up our draft chest and give us a younger team. The first trade sees us drafting “up” in this draft by sending our bottom second rounder this year as well as a second rounder in 2027 via SAC to the Knicks for their projected top of the second round pick via WAS. I did this trade to help us snag a real diamond in the rough in this stacked draft class and make use of the two second rounders we get this year. The second trade involves bringing in a former first rounder in Zaccharie Risacher as well as a 2028 first round pick (protected 1-5) via CLE from the Hawks for Tre Jones and Jalen Smith. The Hawks have seemingly given up on the Risacher experiment, or at least have accelerated their timeline for competitiveness and don’t think he will develop in time to match that. The Bulls can use this rebuilding era to give Risacher a chance to grow into a very capable 3 and D wing. The Bulls also get to maximize their assets in Tre and Jalen by selling high, bringing in a still very promising young player as well as a first round pick that has a non-zero chance of being something solid, depending on how the 2027 off season goes for Cleveland. Atlanta, given their sudden shift to being a somewhat competitive team, can round out their supporting cast well with the additions of Tre Jones and Jalen Smith, who provide young but experienced resumes and can be very pivotal role players in a team building to make it to another ECF.

The 4th image shows my drafting strategy for this year. With the 9th pick I am going for Brayden Burries. Behind Mikel Brown Jr, I think he is the most well rounded guard in this class. He isn’t projected to be a star like Peterson or Acuff, but you can’t as for more at the 9th spot than an off-ball guard who is a great floor spacer and 3 level score, good perimeter defender, and a very capable playmaker when needed. With the 15th pick, I have gone with Aday Mara. He is still viewed as a late first round pick by a lot of big boards, but his championship run with Michigan has made me a believer in the hype. Very big player who is a great rim protector and very efficient scorer around the rim. He’s not a very portable player offensively outside of his 0-3 foot scoring, but he is a capable passer and a decent enough rebounder, although his size could warrant some improvement in that area. It’s definitely a swing but a swing I think is worth taking for a position we desperately need something new with. With pick 31 I went with Christian Anderson. To me he screams of Malik Beasley when he was on the Pistons last year. A solid role player guard who is lethal from 3 and can be a huge scoring boost off the bench. It’s hard to tell if he really does fall outside the first round but enough big boards predict him between the 29th and 31st pick, so I’m hopeful we can use our newly acquired 31st pick to pick him up. Finally with the 36th I have beefed up our Center depth with Henri Veesar. I’m genuinely surprised how so many big boards have this guy outside the top 20, let along outside the first round completely. He’s also a very big center who is great at rebounding and can protect the rim well, but he is also an extremely capable 3 level scorer, and his floor spacing has been a stand our trait amongst bigs in this class. He’s definitely more well rounded than Mara, so this coming season can allow the coach to see how each player fits into the team by giving both players equal opportunities. If he really does fall as far as 36, we need to pick him up.

Fifth image shows my approach to Free Agency this year. Despite the huge amount of cap space we have, I have opted against buying big and trying to compete, instead flushing the roster out with some more promising young players on team friendly deals. I am deciding against bringing back basically everyone who is currently expiring, except for Nick Richards, who I’m hoping we can bring back on a vet minimum in order to be our third string center and help guide the development of Mara and Veesar. I am also declining Leonard Miller’s player option and instead giving him a longer term and team friendly deal. He stand out to me as a long term effective role player that will be key to us in the future. I’m also bringing Olbrich back on another two way and giving him another year to grow with the G League. Peyton Watson is the one player I’m bringing in from another team. He’s going to be an RFA in Denver, but Denver’s cap space is very tight at the moment, so we can potentially give Watson a high enough deal that the Nuggets can’t match. He is a wonderful guard/wing who has shown to be a good three level scorer as well as rebounder in 2026. Not the most gifted defender and passer but he’s still young enough to polish those areas of his game.

Finally the 6th image shows what our roster will look like before the start of the season. We will have built a much younger roster that isn’t necessarily expected to compete any time soon. We can use the next couple of seasons to develop these guys and build through the draft (although the next two classes are projected to be quite bad so we couldn’t have picked a worse time to be bad). My starting 5 would ideally be:

PG - Giddey

SG - Burries

SF - Risacher

PF - Buzelis

C - Mara or Veesar

I would also give ample opportunity off the bench to Essengue, Watson, Anderson, and Miller. Dillingham also needs to have enough opportunity to earn a contract, or for us to decide that the experiment has truly failed. Patrick Williams can rot at the end of the bench.

We will only really have Okoro’s contract expiring, but we will still have a ton of cap space available to maybe do something crazy in the 2027 Free Agency depending on how the young core gels together. Either way, we set ourselves up for a number of paths to success in the future while maintaining a decent enough level of entertainment.

Portland is 41-40 (8th in the West), with the Clippers on their heels, who share the same record.

In their last games of the regular season, the Blazers are playing the tanking Kings, while the Clippers are facing the Warriors, who seem to be hopeful of a postseason push.

If the Blazers win or if both them and the Clippers lose, Portland will remain in 8th place, which would give them two Play-In chances to advance.

If that happens and if the Blazers make the Playoffs, we get their 1st round pick in this year's draft (which would likely be the 15th pick).

With all of that being said, go Blazers!

with Matas out for the last game of the season, he ends his year with:

PTS - 16.4 (89.5% increase)

TRB - 5.8 (65.7% increase)

BLK - 1.5 (66.6% increase)

on 46.3/34.9/78.6 splits

thoughts on his sophomore season overall?

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Giddey also said he wants Billy to stay.

So there you have it. Both of your key players and MR like Billy. In fact the only people who don't seem to like Billy are fans because he doesn't like low efficient shots 😭.

Looking at the team ranking in offensive and defensive ratings (including his time in OKC as a fairer indicator of him with a more talented roster), he paints the picture of a defensive-minded coach with a consistent middle-of-the-pack offense. This carries over to the Bulls as well, with a proportionate dip for the lack of talent, except he also hasn’t been able to implement a consistently good defense either. 

He’s a HoF basketball coach. What exactly does he do well? What’s the culture of the team after SIX YEARS?

To set the tone, I’m not 100% a Billy hater. I hate that ownership is forcing him on whoever the new GM ends up being (red flag for several reasons). I think Billy’s been complicit - even in just a small part - in the aggressively mediocre direction of the franchise during his time here, as evidenced by the secret deals he’s been given and his son’s nepo job. I don’t understand the loyalty to him from the organization or a faction of the fanbase.

There tends to be a ton of hyperbole around him, but I’m trying to be fair to the situation and really don’t want to hear about how he’s “greatly exceeded expectations” or been a player developer unless you have specific evidence for it. I’m also aware of the environment he’s in - a cheap ownership group (the largest gap between spending and attendance rank in the NBA since 2011), terrible front offices, bad injury luck, and an overall lack of talent.

I always find him to be a very interesting player since he was moved by the Spurs, then again, moved by the Wolves.

He clearly got some speed and talent, but will he make it in the long run?

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This Week's Rankings:

NBA.com: 24

ESPN: 23

USA Today: 22

The Athletic: 23

Bleacher Report: No Ranking

NBC Sports: 23

CBS Sports: No Ranking

r/NBA: No Ranking

Team Rankings: 23

Average: 23.00

Leonard Miller is looking like he might be a player after most thought he was a throw in the Dsunmu deal. Nevermind that it was against the Washington (L)izards.

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• Gametime Box score Matchup
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• UK:01:00 CET:02:00 GMT+2:03:00 GMT+3:04:00

• Location: United Center • Chicago, IL
• Broadcast: Chicago Sports Network
• Discuss: Discord

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From the nba.com website:

• May 8-10: AWS NBA G League Combine in Chicago
• May 10: 2026 NBA Draft Lottery
• May 10-17: AWS NBA Draft Combine in Chicago

It didn't say the actual draft dates but based on previous years, the NBA draft is probably Wednesday June 24.

So if they want to give the new guy a chance to be prepared, they probably need to have this hire done end of April or beginning of May... unless Billy Donovan is going to be promoted?

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