Javonte Green’s Journey, Lakers-Pacers Trade Falls Apart, Candace Parker is Awesome, and Other Bulls Bullets

Did you wake up this morning thinking, ‘gosh, why is there no hour-long video of Benny the Bull doing his typical shenanigans? I would watch the heck out of that!”

Well, your very specific desire has been met! Benny the Bull posted more than an hour of highlights on YouTube yesterday. So sit back, grab some popcorn, spill that popcorn, and enjoy!

  • Happy birthday to the Bulls’ breakout role player!
  • Considering Green has only been in the NBA for three seasons – the best of which is the most recent – I’m not necessarily surprised that a handful of folks have consistently miscast him as a youngster. But, as today reminds us, Green is actually one of the older players on the Bulls’ roster.
  • To be clear, yes, he’s still relatively new to the NBA, but he played plenty of basketball before getting his first chance in the best league in the world at 26 years old. The athletic wing spent four seasons at Radford University before he played overseas from 2015-2019. He played in Spanish, Italian, and German basketball leagues before receiving an invite to the Boston Celtics’ Summer League camp. His defensive tenacity and transition talent impressed the Celtics enough to earn him one of the team’s final roster spots, and he went on to appear in 48 games during his rookie campaign.
  • Green then played another 25 games for Boston in the 2020-21 season before the Bulls acquired him as part of a three-team deal near the deadline. Initially feeling like a throw-in player to make the money work, Arturas Karnisovas and Co. showed they had real plans for Green in Chicago by handing him a two-year deal in the offseason. Green quickly proved them right by carving out a consistent rotational role and playing 65 games this season with a career-high in points (7.2) and rebounds (4.2). Owed just $1.8 million this year, Green feels like a borderline steal. He fit in effortlessly as a dirty-work talent alongside the Bulls All-Stars this past season, and I suspect him to do the same this year (even with more competition on the roster).
  • Oh, and let’s not forget he is also one of the most underrated in-game dunkers in the league:
  • Back in April, J.J. Redick held nothing back on First Take when speaking about NBA legend Bob Cousy. The recently retired sharpshooter discredited some of Cousy’s accomplishments by saying he played against “plumbers and firemen.” The comment left some old NBA folks upset, including Jerry West, who most recently shared his thoughts on Redick’s take with SiriusXM:
  • Look, Redick isn’t wrong. Not only is today’s game completely different than what we saw back in the 1960s, but the resources athletes have to hone their craft are far more advanced. So, yeah, it’s not ridiculous to say a time-traveling Cousy would pale in comparison to someone like Chris Paul. With that said, relative to his era, Cousy was one of the best to ever man the point guard position. And we simply have to look at things that way when having these historical debates (which are also super stupid most of the time).
  • According to Bob Kravitz of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers were discussing a huge deal that would have sent Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to LA in return for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick. However, that deal has reportedly fallen through after the Lakers refused to include an additional first-rounder.
  • Shoutout to the tanking Pacers for not helping the Lakers out. Could they take on Westbrook and workout a buyout? Sure! But why would they do that if the pot isn’t as sweet as can be, especially if they are also including Turner and Hield in the deal? Those are two starting-caliber players who could be pretty significant improvements to that Laker roster. You’re telling me the Lakers think giving up one first-rounder is enough for both players AND the benefit of dumping Westbrook? What are they smoking?
  • I’ve actually always wondered this, so it’s kind of cool KD answered.
  • The disrespect to Marko Simonovic …
  • Smart move.
  • Candace Parker continues to rise up the WNBA and Chicago legend ranks:
  • Next up is top-5 in blocks …
  • I know I’ve said this a handful of times already, but you should seriously consider following the Sky if you don’t already. They are one of the most fun teams to watch in Chicago right now, and you will immediately fall in love with their unselfish brand of basketball. Sitting at 21-6, Parker and Co. are making a seriously convincing run at a two-peat.
  • Fine … we’ll take Tatis.
  • 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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