LaVine Comments on Recruiting, Team USA Plays Tonight(!), Sato’s FaceTime, and Other Bulls Bullets

If you need me, I’ll be shoving a delicious brunch down my piehole.

•   Players talk … and Zach LaVine is no exception. The Chicago Bulls All-Star spoke with the media for the first time as a member of Team USA on Friday afternoon, and he had no problem addressing the types of conversations that go on between superstars behind closed doors.

•   Team USA member Bradley Beal spoke in an even more blunt fashion at his media availability, telling reporters that he expected “a lot” of chatter about the creation of future superteams. And, hey, can we blame him? These are some of the best players in the world – let alone some of the most competitive – finally seeing what it’s like to play alongside one another in a truly competitive environment (as opposed to the here-is-a-bounce-pass-lob All-Star Game). Also, while LaVine calls it an afterthought, friendships and bonds will inevitably form over this gold medal chase.

•   All Bulls fans can really hope is that LaVine is the one doing the talking. Signs might point to LaVine sticking with Chicago long-term, but it’s simply a fact that he can still go wherever he wants next offseason. His star teammates know that, and they could start to plant seeds that make LaVine doubt his own organization’s current trajectory. LaVine’s job, of course, is to do the opposite. He has to try to talk about his new front office and new head coach. Hopefully, he also flaunts the progress of Team USA Select Team member Patrick Williams and hypes up the addition of Nikola Vucevic. Throw in the fact that Chicago is one of the most renowned franchises in the league, and it could be a pretty intriguing pitch to make. How good of a salesman is LaVine?

•   If a not-so Top Secret Team USA Tampering Mission is not enough for LaVine, I got another one in mind!

•   The San Antonio Spurs could make starting guards Derrick White and Dejounte Murray available this offseason, according to The Athletic. I’m sure both will raise ears around the league, but Murray is likely the one to garner more phone calls. The 24-year-old point guard is already an All-Defensive Second Team member, and he is also coming off a career season where he averaged 15.7 points, 5.4 assists, and 7.1 rebounds per game. Even better, he is pals with a certain Bulls All-Star who also comes from Seattle, Washington. The two are known to stay in touch, and perhaps LaVine could give Arturas Karnisovas the extra push to pick up the phone. After all, the more you can do to make him happy before those contract negotiations start … the better!

•   In other LaVine news, this is EXACTLY the kind of comment we want to see from him. He took strides as a winning player this season with Billy Donovan at the helm, but battling with guys like Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Gregg Popovich, and Steve Kerr in the mix could take his leadership and IQ to a whole new level.

•   We get our first look at Team USA tonight! The squad will battle Nigeria in their first of five exhibition games tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT!

•   Lol … sounds like Sato was celebrating the right way.

•   Reminder: LaVine and Satoransky will face off in Tokyo later this month!

•   I don’t know about you, but comparing Giannis’ playmaking skills to one of the greatest facilitators of all time might not be the fairest point to make. I understand where Jefferson is trying to come from, but any argument that implies the Bucks are not better when he is on the court is absurd to me. The lack of impact from the Middleton-Holiday combo (12-37 in Game 2!) is not his fault. If anything, the constant deferring to Giannis and lack of offensive creativity is Budenholzer’s fault, in my opinion.

•   Roy Rogers, a former Bulls assistant under Jim Boylen, finds a new gig.

•   The world’s best speller got game!

written by

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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