I know what you’re thinking, “Eli, bro, what happened between you and Kemba? Did you completely own him in a one-on-one game and break his ankles? That’s gotta be it, right?”
Shockingly, no, that isn’t the situation here. Instead, last night when I sat back to relax and play some NBA 2k, Kemba put up an absolute stinker. He started the game hot, sinking some mid-range jumpers, then BOOM, next thing you know, he bought a plane ticket to brink city.
It’s going to take some time to repair this relationship. I need to get my mind of things, let’s do some bullets.
We’re starting with some news! The Chicago Bulls made the Luke Kornet signing officially official. Prior to yesterday, Kornet was hanging out in the waiting room. As the Bulls made their moves with Tomas Satoransky and Thaddeus Young, the verdict was still out on the logistics of Kornet’s contract. The team was reaching the top of their available cap space, and with the possible movement of Kris Dunn on the agenda (which would clear about $5 million), the Bulls were most likely waiting to further figure out their available funds. When the news first broke about the Bulls reaching a verbal agreement with Kornet, we talked plenty about what he can bring to the table, so make sure to check that out here.
Sources: Luke Kornet's deal with Chicago: Fully guaranteed two years for $4.5M. https://t.co/XFGuoK0jGS
In short, Kornet’s a solid signing on a rather low-stakes deal. Remember, the guy is only entering his third season in the NBA, and he has plenty he can still improve on. However, even if Kornet stays where he’s at, he’s proven that he deserves a roster spot somewhere. Obviously, his towering size at seven-foot-one will keep giving him an opportunity in this league, but he is also a really solid three-point shooter. For a player his size, he can work decently well off the ball and behind the arc. The Bulls clearly need front-court depth behind the young Wendell Carter Jr., this ain’t a half-bad option (or so we think).
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
In other news, the Bulls went ahead and re-signed Shaquille Harrison. A fan favorite toward the end of the last season, Harrison is a defensive-minded guard who brings plenty of hard-nosed grit, so obviously, Boylen was going to invite him back.
In another edition of the Bulls Talk podcast, Mark Schanowski and his crew discuss the new Bulls’ roster and what it means for new head coach Jim Boylen. The new coaching staff has plenty of versatility to work with, but that can now become the team’s biggest challenge. Figuring out the right rotations and pairing on the court will not be easy. At least for us, we will be able to see pretty early-on how this coaching staff works together and whether or not they can adjust accordingly as the season goes on. I’m still high on, specifically, the addition of lead assistant coach Chirs Fleming for this offense, but the endless questions surrounding Boylen are all fair game.
Boylen has appeared to lead the way on a lot of what the Bulls have been doing throughout this offseason, but now it’s time for him to prove he can make something of it. The Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson wrote an article about Boylen’s relationship with this front office, pointing out that the communication between the two parties has been very strong. In fact, Paxson even mentioned earlier this offseason that his relationship with Boylen has been more cohesive than with all other head coaches during his executive reign. How much you want to actually buy into that is up to you. In some ways the team has a decent offseason to show for it, but, in others, of course, the FO is going to say such things when they’re in “optimistic-rebuild-mode.”
More praise for the Bulls. More playoff talk for the Bulls.
The Bulls did a lot of small things well this summer, I think. Some rotation questions to answer, and it's all got to coalesce, but I don't see a whole lot of reasons they couldn't be in the fight for a seventh and eighth seed. https://t.co/rwrMjokeoU
Is anyone else surprised by the friendship between Bobby Portis and several of the Bulls’ current players? I know they were teammates and all, but it still feels weird with the whole punching Nikola Mirotic in the face thing. Just me?
Yeah, I went ahead and looked through the last 20 seasons for all 30 NBA teams for this post, so it would be much appreciated if you gave it a read. I actually think the talking point is quite interesting. The Bulls probably need to jump +19 in the win column make the playoffs this upcoming season. While it’s been done numerous times before, it looks to be getting harder and harder to make such a vast improvement without the addition of superstar talent. I guess we’ll see.
In case you didn’t know, Lu over at BN Bears does a Bulls podcast with some of his buddies. Since he so kindly provoked two shameless BN Bulls plugs, we are now returning the favor. Give it a listen!
NEW POD: @TalkinToros Ep. 22: Parity reigns again in the NBA, @Mphelps11@lcm1986 and I talk the #Bulls backcourt rotation minutes distribution between LaVine, Sato, Archie and Coby plus we try to ID the playoff locks in each conference as it stands today. https://t.co/2XGIrPoURF
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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