Pacers Come to Town, Three Point Things, Windy City Opens Training Camp, and Other Bulls Bullets

Good morning, Bulls fans! Eli has the day off today, so I’ll be handling today’s bullets and game coverage. After a day to bask in their victory over the Boston Celtics that included a Tony Bradley three-point contest win at the Advocate Center, the Bulls will welcome the Indiana Pacers into the United Center tonight.

  • Indiana comes to town sporting a 1-3 record, and if the Bulls’ social graphic this morning means anything, Billy Donovan will have Zach LaVine in the lineup for tonight’s game.
  • LaVine played 32 minutes in Monday night’s victory and logged 19 points, two rebounds, and two assists. LaVine shot just 5-of-15 from the floor but an impressive 3-for-5 from three-point range, a much-needed boost for a team struggling from the perimeter this season.
  • As Eli wrote on Monday afternoon, the Bulls are not shooting many threes, and when they do, they’re not falling. As of Monday, the Bulls were second-to-last in 3-point field goal percentage behind only the Lakers, which isn’t a huge issue if they’re making them at a healthy clip, but they’re not.
  • The good news is Monday night was a step in the right direction in that department. The Bulls shot 47.6 percent on 21 attempts as a team, putting them one miss from an even 50 percent for the night. LaVine hit 3-of-5, and Ayo Dosunmu (4-4), Javonte Green (2-2), and Alex Caruso (1-1) were perfect.
  • The Pacers 118 DEF RTG is in the bottom five in the NBA, so scoring shouldn’t be an issue for the Bulls tonight. This will also be an excellent night for the Bulls to let it rip from deep as the Pacers own a league-worst 40.1 percent opponent percent of points from three-pointers (according to Team Rankings). Conversely, the same goes for Indiana since the Bulls rank just in front of the Pacers in that category, with opposing teams scoring 38.2 percent of their points from the perimeter.
  • If sports betting is your cup of tea, you might be interested in the alternate ‘Betcast’ broadcast on NBC Sports Chicago Plus.
  • Also, if sports betting is your thing, and you like seeing the Bulls shoot threes, Draft Kings Sportsbook has Zach LaVine’s three-point makes at 2.5 (+125), and I’m all over that tonight.
  • Happy Birthday to Malcolm Hill who turns 27 today!
  • https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1585239834549002240?s=20&t=I1IANV4Enbp_JL5FIUqlvA

  • No birthday day off for Hill, though. Training camp for the Windy City Bulls kicked off on Tuesday in Hoffman Estates:
  • Bulls radio play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky wrote a book which dropped today. If you’re interested in reading about Swirsky’s decades of experience as an NBA broadcaster, he has a link in his tweet this morning where you can get your hands on a copy of his new book ‘Always a Pleasure.’
  • Woj reported this morning that the New York Knicks have picked up the fourth-year option on Obi Toppin.
  • Toppin was taken four picks behind Patrick Williams in the 2020 NBA Draft and averaged nine points, four rebounds, and an assist while shooting 53 percent from the floor coming off the bench for the Knicks in his sophomore campaign last year. Toppin’s numbers and role are the same in the early days of this season.
  • Jaylen Brown becomes the most prominent NBA player to terminate his relationship with Donda Sports in the wake of Kanye West’s bizarre and insensitive antisemitic Twitter rants.
  • Bench Mob 2.0?
  • The Chicago Blackhawks just keep winning!
  • And they made a minor trade this morning:
  • Cairo Santos was named the NFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week:
  • See you in the game thread and on Twitter for tonight’s game!
  • written by

    Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

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