Bulls Notes: Dosunmu, Terry, Phillips, Craig
When Bulls coach Billy Donovan opened camp by placing an emphasis on offensive rebounding, Ayo Dosunmu volunteered to be one of his “go-guys,” writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Go-guys” are the ones who will hit the boards on missed shots, as Donovan pushes the team to improve after finishing 28th in the league in offensive rebounds last season.
“You either have the chance to be a ‘get-back’ guy, get back on the shot, or a ‘go-guy’ and crash offensive rebounds,’’ Dosunmu explained. “I just think that being a ‘go-guy’ will give us the chance to have more opportunities in offensive rebounds. I have a knack to go get the ball.’’
The third-year guard is looking for a way to carve out playing time in a crowded backcourt after re-signing with Chicago this summer. He pulled down three of the team’s 26 offensive boards in Thursday’s win against Denver.
“When the defense is set and you get caught playing in the mid-range, generally it’s man-on-man and it’s really hard to rebound from those spots, so I give Ayo a lot of credit,” Donovan said. “He took a lot of ownership in being a guy that wanted to go to the glass. We need guys to have that kind of mentality.’’
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- Donovan is encouraging recent draft picks Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips to remain patient as they wait for playing time, Cowley adds. Terry, a first-round pick in 2022, and Phillips, a second-rounder this year, don’t appear to have a path to the rotation, but Donovan said things can change quickly. “I don’t like necessarily passing judgment on what will happen when the season starts because a lot of people felt that Ayo wouldn’t have gotten a lot of playing time his rookie year,’’ Donovan said. “Then with the injuries to Alex (Caruso) and Lonzo (Ball) a huge hole opened up. I think it’s the responsibility of all of us to keep those guys working and keep them ready, help them get better.”
- Torrey Craig came to Chicago in free agency after spending last season with a Phoenix team that was expected to be a title contender. The Bulls aren’t viewed in that category after missing the playoffs, but Craig tells K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that there’s enough talent on hand to surprise the league. “We have defenders. We have scorers. We have shooters. We have a great coaching staff,” Craig said. “So if we put all that together, we can win every single night in this league. It just comes down to how consistent we’re going to be.”
- Donovan is also emphasizing three-point shooting, Johnson states in a separate story. After being the only team not to reach at least 30 long-range shots in any game last season, the Bulls have topped that mark in both of their preseason contests.
Bulls Notes: White, Williams, Caruso, Vucevic, Terry
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan has publicly stated that the starting point guard position is up for grabs between Coby White, Jevon Carter and Ayo Dosunmu. However, in the team’s preseason opener against Milwaukee on Sunday, White got the starting nod and played well, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
White finished with 14 points (on 6-of-10 shooting), six rebounds, six assists and two steals in 23 minutes, Johnson notes. The seventh pick of the 2019 draft, White re-signed with the Bulls this summer as a restricted free agent, inking a three-year, $36MM+ deal.
As Johnson writes in another story for NBC Sports Chicago, White once again focused on ball-handling and decision-making this summer as he transitions from being a score-first combo guard to a lead guard, and Donovan has taken note of the improvement.
“I noticed this summer when I went out in June to see him. He physically looked different. The ball looked to be a little bit more on a string for him,” Donovan said after the game. “I think his confidence with the ball has really grown.”
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- Forward Patrick Williams was the fifth starter alongside White, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, Johnson adds. Williams, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension until October 23, was aggressive in looking for his shot, finishing with 13 points in 22 minutes, including going 3-of-6 from deep. Being consistently assertive is something the Bulls want to see from Williams, as is improving his rebounding; he only finished with two in the game, Johnson notes.
- Donovan plans to be cautious with Alex Caruso in 2023/24, particularly in the preseason, due to his all-out playing style, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. The veteran swingman has been limited to 108 regular season games over his first two seasons with the Bulls. Caruso, who earned a first-team All-Defense nod in ’22/23, played just seven minutes against the Bucks.
- Despite having three offense-first All-Stars, the Bulls struggled to score last season, finishing 24th in offensive rating. One change they want to implement is running more actions through Vucevic to take advantage of his passing, according to Cowley. “The way our team is built, we need a change,” Vucevic said. “I think at times last year we got a little too predictable the way we were playing, and we became easy to guard. I think if we can throw different things at a defense, we’ll be tough to stop.”
- Dalen Terry didn’t play much as a rookie, appearing in 38 games for an average of 5.6 minutes per night. That’s part of the reason why he was trying so hard and became frustrated with his poor Summer League showing, Cowley writes for The Sun-Times. While he might be on the outside looking in for minutes again entering year two, Terry says he’s going to trust his work ethic no matter what happens. “Last year, I was killing myself when it came down to [not getting playing time], but I didn’t trust my work,” he said. “If I have to be honest, I didn’t trust my work. When this season starts, and if I’m not in the rotation, OK, cool. Just keep going, keep working. It’s going to all turn out how you want it to turn out. That’s just how it’s gonna go.”
Bulls Notes: DeRozan, Starting Point Guard, Terry
Asked by Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about the belief in some corners of the Bulls fanbase that the team should embrace a rebuild, veteran forward DeMar DeRozan pushed back against the idea that such a reset is necessary.
“I think a lot of people who say that or suggest that really don’t understand basketball at all, in my opinion,” DeRozan said. “You can think that’s an answer or that’s a route. But there’s no telling how long that route is going to even last. That route doesn’t necessarily always work in a timely fashion that you may think it will take. With that, it’s hard to find and create talented players like the players that we already have assembled.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” DeRozan continued. “It’s not only on the players, but the coaching staff as well to be able to correct the mistakes that we have because we weren’t far off at all with the mistakes that we’ve had. If we correct those, give us back the 10 to 15 games that we should’ve had last season. That changes the whole dynamic of everything.
“It’s always easy when something goes bad just to say, ‘Scratch it.’ But you really don’t know where you’ll end up from there. So when I hear people say that, it lets me know and understand that they don’t understand basketball at all.”
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- In that same interview with Medina, DeRozan expressed interest in representing Team USA in the 2024 Olympics and said he’d be interested in signing a contract extension to remain in Chicago. “That’s a place I want to be and end my career,” the six-time All-Star said. “I want to be able to accomplish everything I’ve set out to accomplish. That’s all I can worry about and control. I have the utmost confidence in myself. I’ll let my agent and the organization deal with that side of things, to be honest, man. From their standpoint, they want me to be there long-term and vice versa. We’ll see what happens from there.”
- Appearing on The Score (WSCR-AM 670) in Chicago on Wednesday, Bulls president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas said the the team’s starting point guard job is expected to be up for grabs in training camp, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I think it’s going to be competition, fierce competition. It’s going to be a lot of good guards,” Karnisovas said. “That’s mentality we’re going into training camp (with.) I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be hard for Billy (Donovan).” The Bulls added Jevon Carter this offseason to join Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Alex Caruso in the mix at point guard.
- In a separate story for NBC Sports Chicago, Johnson explores how Milwaukee’s impending acquisition of Damian Lillard will impact the Bulls.
- After appearing in just 38 games and averaging only 5.6 minutes per night as a rookie, 2022 first-rounder Dalen Terry worked hard this summer in the hopes of getting the opportunity to earn a bigger role in his second NBA season, he tells Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “You know me, I’ve always got confidence,” Terry said. “That’s not something I ever lack. But I think confidence comes with work, and I know how hard I busted my ass this whole summer.”
Central Notes: Stewart, Thompson, Morris, Sasser, Terry, Bucks
Isaiah Stewart, Ausar Thompson and Monte Morris could make surprising contributions for the Pistons next season, James Edwards III of The Athletic opines. Edwards believes Stewart will develop into a solid outside shooter. He also sees Summer League standout Thompson becoming a fan favorite with his overall contributions, while Morris could be the team’s best backup point man in over a decade.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Marcus Sasser, the Pistons’ other first-round pick, overcame his offensive struggles in previous Summer League games with a 40-point, five-assist, zero-turnover performance on Sunday. Sasser will need to continue making shots to stand out in Detroit’s crowded backcourt, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press, but he also displayed good man-to-man defensive skills and could be a two-way factor.
- Bulls second-year guard Dalen Terry admits he had a “tough summer league” but he finished strong, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic points out. He had 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and added five rebounds and four assists in his last game. “Obviously, I haven’t had a great summer league. And, in this game, I just had to forget all about it and just keep going,” Terry said during an ESPN interview.
- The Bucks are operating over the second tax apron when unlikely incentives for Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and Khris Middleton are added in, plus A.J. Green‘s contract counts toward the apron as the two-year minimum of $2,019,763 rather the cap sheet hit of $1,901,769. The Athletic’s John Hollinger and Eric Nehm provide a full explanation of the Bucks’ tax apron situation, noting that the only limit placed on Milwaukee this season as a result of being over the second apron is not being able to use the taxpayer mid-level exception.
Central Notes: Beauchamp, Freeman-Liberty, Bulls, Haliburton
After spending much of his rookie season getting used to the NBA, the Bucks‘ MarJon Beauchamp appears ready to make a bigger impact, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Beauchamp reported to Summer League noticeably stronger than he was last season, and his teammates have seen a different approach to the game.
“His confidence and feeling comfortable out there, and kind of understanding what he does best and how he can do that and execute that and kind of just like putting his impact on the game, on both ends of the floor, getting to the rim, making plays defensively,” A.J. Green said. “He just looks so much more like ‘I’m here. I belong here’ comfortable out there.”
Beauchamp took a lead role in Milwaukee’s offense during Summer League, scoring 23 and 20 points in the first two games. He plans to spend part of the offseason working out in Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo and hopes to carry his newfound aggressiveness into the upcoming season.
“Going into camp, I just want to show my ability where I’ve grown and I read the game better,” Beauchamp said. “I’m here to take that leap. I am. It starts Day 1 of training camp so I can’t wait.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Javon Freeman-Liberty was impressive enough during Summer League to warrant an NBA contract, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago states in an overview of the Bulls‘ performance in Las Vegas. Freeman-Liberty averaged 21.2 PPG in five games while shooting 49.3% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc. Johnson suggests the Bulls might give him their last open two-way spot if he doesn’t get offered a standard deal by another team.
- The Bulls‘ front office hasn’t shown an ability to identify talent in recent drafts, contends Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Second-year guard Dalen Terry might be the latest disappointment after a lackluster Summer League showing in which he shot 33.8%. Cowley rates Chicago’s last four drafts, giving the team grades of C, C-minus, D and C-plus.
- Tyrese Haliburton believes the Pacers are ready to take another step forward after signing Bruce Brown and trading for Obi Toppin, per The Indianapolis Star. “I think we have a lot of guys that fit the right way and fit our style of basketball,” Haliburton said. “Bruce, Obi, on top of the guys that we already have there with the way we played last year, those are two guys who just add to that. That’s going to help us keep playing fast.”
Central Notes: Toppin, Fall, Terry, Dobner
Obi Toppin is happy that he can wipe the slate clean with another franchise, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes.
Toppin was traded by the Knicks to the Pacers after being limited to 15 starts in 201 games through three seasons. He only averaged 14.7 minutes per game after being the eighth overall pick of the 2020 draft.
“I didn’t get the minutes I wanted. But now it’s a fresh start. I’m here in Indy,” he said. “I got to work for everything I want. And I’m super excited to start.”
The Knicks received two future second-rounders in the deal.
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- Tacko Fall is on the Bucks’ Summer League roster, hoping to get another shot to play in the league during the regular season. The 7’6” Fall spent last seasons in China. “When you know what you’re capable of, you’ve just got to keep going until you hit it, and that’s pretty much what I’m doing right now,” he told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. Fall has appeared in a total of 37 NBA games with Boston and Cleveland.
- Dalen Terry, the No. 18 pick of the 2022 draft, blanketed Toronto rookie Gradey Dick during the Bulls’ Summer League opener on Friday. It’s exactly the type of growth Chicago’s staff wants to see from Terry, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “I love that type of energy and effort and accountability to want to be great defensively,” Summer League coach John Bryant said. “Let’s see how it continues. I think he’s a great defender. I think he has the ability to be a great, consistent defender.”
- Sidney Dobner confidently stated her case to new Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin and that helped her become the franchise’s first female assistant coach, according to Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She was Milwaukee’s first female video coordinator last season. “I reached out to Coach Griff and shot my shot a little bit,” she said. “The NBA moves fast and sometimes you just got to take hold of your opportunity. Just presented the idea to him and it sounded like he was really on board, and next thing you know I was being announced as an assistant coach.”
Central Notes: Terry, LaVine, Giannis, Wiseman
Bulls rookie Dalen Terry, a first-round pick in 2022, is determined to crack Chicago’s rotation in 2023/24, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Cowley notes that Terry intends to play with the Bulls’ Summer League team this summer. Chicago drafted the 6’7″ swingman out of Arizona with the No. 18 pick last year. In just 5.3 MPG, the 20-year-old is averaging 1.8 PPG on .453/.300/.533 shooting splits across 34 games.
‘‘I just know I ain’t going through this again,’’ Terry said of his limited role as a rookie. ‘‘So just the part of my development, what does everybody want to see from me, as well as the expectations I have in myself? I know I want to come back a different player.’’
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Maximum-salaried Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine just broke his own franchise record for total three-pointers made in a single season, set initially during his All-Star 2020/21 season, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. LaVine has made 201 triples this year, one more than he did in 2020/21. There are four games left in the 38-40 club’s season, with which he can build a bit more distance between his previous record and his new one.
- Bucks All-NBA forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has been putting up superlative numbers on the team with the best record in the league, but seems to rank a distant third in the current 2023 MVP conversation behind Sixers All-NBA center Joel Embiid and Nuggets All-NBA center Nikola Jokic. Antetokounmpo’s teammates and coach believe he deserves a little more credit, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “We certainly feel like Giannis is the MVP,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Best player, best record, what he does on both ends of the court, the rebounding, the blocked shots, the defense, guarding on the perimeter. He does everything: play-makes, attacks, gets to the free throw line. We feel like he’s in the conversation and he should be the guy.” All-Star Milwaukee point guard Jrue Holiday agrees: “He’s [on] the No. 1 team, not just in the East, but in the league.”
- Pistons center James Wiseman is enjoying his opportunity to grow with his new team. The seven-footer recently reflected on his development in Detroit and his future with the club, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN. “This is apparently like my rookie year, I can say, because just the amount of games I’ve played,” Wiseman, who has appeared in 80 total games across his three pro seasons, told Friedell. “So, I just got to take it one day at a time. I can’t be so hard on myself about anything, about trying to be good right now, all the instant gratification stuff. Sometimes it comes into my mind, but I got to just look at it for what it is and be real with myself. It’s going to take time.”
Bulls Notes: Inconsistency, LaVine, Westbrook, Terry, Caruso
The Bulls will have some time to reflect on what has gone wrong so far this season during the next week, as they enter the All-Star break on a six-game losing streak that dropped their record on the season to 26-33.
Making the playoffs is still the goal for the team, according to Zach LaVine, who said after Thursday’s loss to Milwaukee that the Bulls “have to stop beating ourselves” and need to establish some consistency the rest of the way, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
“Something isn’t working, obviously,” LaVine said. “Some games we’re really good. Some games we’re bad. Once again, it’s that consistency factor of figuring out what our identity is and what we’re going to be each game.
“Even if guys are in and out of the lineup, you see some teams that have consistency with what they do. They have an identity. That’s something we’re still trying to figure out in these last couple years. We changed our offense a little bit this year from last year. But it’s no excuse with the type of talent that we have on the team.”
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- LaVine hasn’t gone out of his way to recruit Russell Westbrook – like Clippers forward Paul George did – but when he was asked this week about Westbrook joining the Bulls, LaVine said he’d welcome the opportunity to team up with the former MVP, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “Russ is a future Hall of Famer, man,” LaVine said. “I think you can only respect what he’s done in this league. If he so happens to come on the team, we welcome him with open arms. If he’s not, you compete against him. He’s a fierce competitor. You can do nothing but respect that.”
- With five players, including star forward DeMar DeRozan, out due to injuries this week, rookie wing Dalen Terry logged 15 minutes on Wednesday and 27 minutes on Thursday — those were the first two times this season that he has played more than 10 minutes in a game. However, it’s unclear whether Terry will stick in Chicago’s rotation once DeRozan and others are back. “I’ve got to see what we look like health-wise,” Donovan said, according to K.C. Johnson. “With our roster, somebody is going to have to sit. I’m not saying that Dalen is the one who is going to be sitting. But somebody is going to have to.”
- Although team success is Alex Caruso‘s top priority, he admitted to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that it would be “really cool” to earn an All-Defensive nod. “I was a big fan of Kevin Garnett, the Pistons teams with Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace, and guys like Tony Allen, and other guys that people don’t maybe remember as well like Bruce Bowen and Raja Bell,” Caruso said. “Watching a bunch of people play over the years, I could tell there was an impact to be had on that side of the ball and something that came naturally to me.”
Central Notes: Green, Terry, Middleton, Haliburton
Bulls forward Javonte Green underwent a right knee scope on Wednesday, and Chicago reportedly expects him to return in around a month. After that news broke, head coach Billy Donovan explained why the team and Green opted for surgery, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
“He obviously had that bone bruise, which was causing him some problems,’’ Donovan said. “He did swell from it. Medical guys thought that this was something that could be managed if we backed off of him. They had a bunch of different therapies that they could try to do. They did that, and there really wasn’t much progress after a week.
“Given Javonte’s options with where we’re at in the season … obviously it was Javonte’s decision to do it, but I didn’t think from what I got from medical, and even what I got from Javonte, that there was a lot of progress with the interaction of just resting him,” Donovan continued.
Green is on the second year of a two-season, $3.5MM contract he signed with the Bulls, and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 6’5″ vet has emerged as a tenacious, if undersized, defender, mostly playing small forward and power forward.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Rookie Bulls wing Dalen Terry is not currently in the rotation, even with the team missing key swingmen like DeMar DeRozan and Green. He is hoping to carve out rotation minutes at some point this season, Cowley writes in a separate piece. “I’m definitely anxious to get playing time,’’ Terry said. “With the position I’m in right now, it’s just like you’ve gotta embrace it, but you can’t ever get comfortable. I can’t get comfortable with learning every day and not playing. I just have to find that balance.’’
- Bucks All-Star small forward Khris Middleton practiced with Milwaukee on Tuesday and was involved in the club’s subsequent shootaround Wednesday, but will require more practice reps before he can make his return to the floor, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He continues to try to progress from the knee soreness that has kept him shelved since December 15. “It’s the next ramp-up step in returning to playing,” Middleton said. “It went well. Really, no swelling that came back yesterday, feel pretty good today. I know people get frustrated, but it’s like a day-by-day thing where I have to put myself through these various steps and have to sustain it for a lot of time in order to be back playing without pain or swelling.”
- Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered a left elbow sprain and left knee bone contusion, and is set to miss at least the next two weeks before he is reassessed. Bob Kravitz of The Athletic writes that the team seems to have found a long-term keeper in Haliburton, a player who might actually love Indiana back for once, much like Hall of Fame shooting guard Reggie Miller, who spent all of his 18 NBA seasons trying to bring a title to the Pacers.
Central Notes: Cunningham, Caruso, Green, Terry, Hield, Haliburton
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver said that Cade Cunningham was resistant to having season-ending surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left shin, according to Mike Curtis of the Detroit News (subscription required). Cunningham hoped that a few weeks of rest would allow him to get back on the court, but he ultimately chose to undergo the procedure this week.
“No player wants to sit out,” the Pistons GM said. “He’s a highly-competitive young player and he wants to play and he wants to be a part of the group. Of course, this is a tough deal for him to have to sit down and get this taken care of.”
The Pistons’ rebuilding timeline won’t be affected by Cunningham’s injury, Weaver insists: “Injuries are a part of it, but it doesn’t change anything. It changes for Cade, but not for what we are trying to accomplish. We’re trying to continue to grow the program and compete every night. … We’re still going full blast ahead.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Alex Caruso and Javonte Green were inserted into the Bulls‘ starting lineup in place of Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams a couple of weeks ago. That lineup only lasted one game before minor injuries to Caruso and Green led to more adjustments. Caruso and Green could be back in the lineup again when the Bulls host the Knicks on Wednesday, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Bulls rookie Dalen Terry isn’t ready to be a rotation piece, coach Billy Donovan told Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Terry has spent a majority of the last two months with the G League Windy City Bulls. “If you’re throwing him in the rotation you’re having to sit somebody else,” Donovan said of the 18th overall pick. “And right now, clearly, I don’t think he’s at the level of some of our guys. “
- Pacers guards Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield have formed a strong bond and are constantly putting each other down in joking fashion. Their relationship has helped bring the entire team closer, Oshae Brissett told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “All the time,” Brissett said. “Practice, on the plane, lunch, dinner, they’re always like that. But it’s all love. Brotherly love. If those two are like that, it brings the team together and everyone else has to follow.”