Bulls Hire Dan Craig To Coaching Staff | Derrick Jones Jr. Reminds Bulls Fans Of Team’s Failures

Bulls Hire Dan Craig To Coaching Staff | Derrick Jones Jr. Reminds Bulls Fans Of Team’s Failures

you found yourself on another episode of Locked on bulls the Chicago Bulls continue filling out Billy Donovan’s coaching staff H hiring Dan Craig another tenard veteran uh assistant coach and we’re going to talk a little bit about that today we’re also look at former Bulls in the playoffs and why kind of highlights how the Bulls roster construction over the last few years has really put the Bulls in the situation to not get the most out of certain players and then lastly we’re going to talk about should the Chicago Bulls trade up or trade back in the NBA draft we’re going to get into all that more right after this [Music] you are locked on bulls your daily Chicago Bulls podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to another episode of Locked on bulls member of the locked on podcast Network where it’s your team every single day I’m Hayes host and creator of Chicago Bull Central and Chicago Bears Central YouTube pages and podcast p designers out today nonetheless we’re going to hold it down without Pat it’s no big deal uh today’s episode is brought to you by prospects the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prospects.com lockon and use code all lowercase locked on NBA for first deposit match up to $100 that being said let’s go ahead and get into it man so uh listen the Chicago Bulls have continue now to fill out uh Billy Donovan’s coaching staff and you know they’re looking and they’re adding some really veteran coaches this time now hiring Dan Craig uh to the Chicago Bulls roster this is a guy who shares a lot of the same stories far as AIC pooser coming from the Heat organization he worked himself up through their video Department team uh going all the way up to eventually being one of the leads of Player Development down there he also was the head coach of their g-league uh team down there for for a while and this is just adds on like the Bulls who already hired West unel Jr as the assist lead assistant coach both these guys are now going to be operating as lead assistant for the Chicago Bulls and this is a step in the right direction do I think like this is this crazy thing that’s going to do a whole hell of a lot for the Bulls you know that remains to be seen but I do think you know changing the the voices in that locker room right getting a new set of eyes when you look at both of the guys that the Bulls have hired H Dan Craig is a three-time NBA champion as an assistant coach so he’s been with an organization that has kind of known uh how to operate right and so yeah he moved on that to different teams and things like that he worked with the Clippers also under Tyron Lou so depending on how you view Tyron Lou again another solid coach that he’s worked underneath and some coaches are just better as assistants right so some something I look at as Wes unel Jr his tenure with the divver Nuggets I just look at what’s unsell as somebody who’s probably better at that uh at that assistant role and den Craig could be that as well or I do have a conspiracy theory on that uh you know we’ll talk about that here in a second but I like what the Bulls are doing here as far as adding veterans right me and Pat have talked a lot about you know wanting to have coaches on the back end of the bench with Billy Donovan that have better situational awareness right that have strengths in some of the things that he lacks in I love the fact that both these veteran coaches that we’ve brought in also have been heads of Player Development right and so you know that’s something that the Bulls have been really shoty on lately is Player Development over the last few years we know that last season we added a whole Player Development staff but to have some assistant coaches that are there to guy that are traveling with the team day in and day out I don’t think that the Player Development Department is traveling with the team every single game but your assistant coaches will be so having you know that staff fleshed out with these veteran uh you know long tenur assistants I think is going to be uh good for the Chicago Bulls and you know reportedly the Bulls also interviewed uh Dwayne Casey uh David fizell as well former head coaches as well and it seems like that was the focus of the Bulls in this in this assistant coaching uh stretch is to find people that had prior head coaching experience um and so you know that shout out to the Bulls for doing that man so you know I know a lot of kind of the more pessimistic B Bulls fans are asking well how much does this change Billy Donovan is still the head coach um you know is he going to trust these veterans and you know per what me and Pat talked about on the last episode after the West unsal hiring is that I I think these feel like AK moves right and not to say that Billy Donovan didn’t have a place in them as well I I think he was definitely had had a place in the decisions also this wasn’t AK just saying oh no these are your assistants but I do think that AK wanted a specific type of person to fit this role to be on the back end of the bench to help out Billy Donovan and when arturis had his season ending press conference and he talked about change and we know that the roster still needs change these moves do not negate the fact of the roster needing change for the Chicago Bulls it still does we still got to figure out a better balance there which is what we’ll talk about here in the second segment um but outside of just that change that you need on the roster you also need a change of voice you need a a new set of eyes on things and I think a lot of times new sets of eyes really do help kind of add New Perspectives and especially when they’re guys that are really respected like a Dan Craig um like a West unseld I think that’s going in the right direction now I said earlier you know you guys are familiar with this theory that me and Pat working Theory me and Pat have had I do think that the Bulls are preparing for a succession plan in case right and by that I mean if Mark everle if and win I think it’s more of a win than an if uh Mark everley does move on I do really think that Billy Donovan is going to get consideration to move into the front office and there are a lot of bulls fans that aren’t going to like that and I understand it uh right I think some of Billy Donovan’s skills and things that he thrived at in college actually are could be things that work for him in a GM role being head of player scouting right um things like that being you know as entrenched in the college game stuff like that recruiting right is something that he also did in college so you know a college coach does act more like a GM than just a coach so you know but I I feel like the reasons why I think that is just simply Billy Donovan is entrenched with this ownership group and we know as long as you don’t badmouth ownership as long as you don’t go against ownership they tend to keep you around in some shape form or fashion John Paxton is still getting a check from the Chicago Bulls he still is listed on the Bulls directory is having a role with the bulls um uh uh Doug Collins still on the Chicago Bulls payroll as well right these are guys like Joe Kim Noah is still there as a as a Ambassador and things like that so I do think that there is a path and enough reason to think that if if and when Mark everle does move on Billy Donovan is going to have a chance to move into the front office now I’ve heard nothing about that Billy Donovan’s never talked to my knowledge about you know any type of front office duties or anything like that but just knowing this franchise and knowing uh uh you know what we’ve seen from this franchise over years I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case not saying that that Dan Craig or Wes unsel are immediately gonna be thrust into the head coaching position but I do do think they’ll get a chance to interview and I do think that they’ll you know after being here in this organization being familiar with the players that they’ll get that opportunity to take a look and see if that’s something that they that the Bulls feel comfortable in them doing so you know that’s where the coaching staff sits right now we still have one remaining spot on this roster so when you look at it now on the coaching staff you got Billy Donovan as the head coach uh Dan Craig and Wes unel Jr are going to be operating as the lead assistants you got John Bryant on the back end of that bench and we have one more spot left there and I for one hope that you know while they’ve gone veterans with their lead assistance I do hope they find another young promising coach to kind of fill in the last spot on that on that coaching staff personally that’s just my personal thought an opinion on it doesn’t mean necessarily it’s going to happen they could go Veterans as well but I think if you’ve already interviewed uh David fizdale as well as Dwayne Casey I personally think that that probably means that maybe you’re going to go a different route if you didn’t offer them another another position those guys probably wouldn’t have taken a back into the coaching position either they probably would have only taken a lead uh assistant role uh there so the Bulls still got another decision to make with the coaching staff um and you know overall I think this is a step in the right direction to show that change is at the Forefront of the of the uh front office’s mind how successful this change is that remains to be seen does not negate as I said earlier the other changes that need to happen with this roster but for right now adding to veteran assistants that have really thrived at that role I think this is a good step for the Chicago Bulls I really do you know you never really know just how much assistants really have a say right it really comes down to the coach we always go back to kind of Tom Tibido and how he was basically the defensive coordinator for that Championship Boston Celtics team uh uh Doc Rivers didn’t coach the defense that was a time Tipo thing he was calling the plays he was calling the adjustments the players were going to him for defensive assignments and I’m not saying that Billy Donovan is going to be willing to turn over the Reigns that much but hopefully in having two guys one that’s very familiar with AK their voices are used and and maximized a lot so where they can have a say have a different perspective on things come in during this draft process as well as Chicago Bulls are still trying to decide on who they want to draft and bring into this roster all those things I think are pointing to you know a solid Direction I’m not saying it’s great I’m not saying it’s perfect I’m not saying we’re done right I’m not even saying that this is necessarily enough we don’t know if this is enough yet we don’t know the level of impact that this is going to have for sure yet but I am saying that I do hope that this is this ends up being decisions that we look back on and that we say are the right decisions but you know next up we’re going to be talking about former Bulls in the playoffs mainly just Derrick Jones Jr and how kind of him being used more to his strengths has really helped him thrive in the playoffs with the Dallas Mavericks but before we get into that I got to talk to you guys about one of our sponsors and that is Yahoo finance this is a new sponsor here uh over uh with locked on uh and so we appreciate them guy those guys for coming over uh when you get let’s get straight to the point you want to grow your portfolio to deal with the rising cost of inflation to pay off your debt or your mortgage pretty much anything standing in the way of you and Financial Freedom right well Yahoo finance you can get access to the news data and tools that you need in order to help reach that Financial Freedom for more than 25 years Yahoo finance has been the brand behind every great investor whether you’re a 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would have ever gotten the contract that he’s on right now for the Chicago Bulls the thing is the Bulls would have had I think one or two more years of of uh of him uh being under a cost controlled uh contract but you know it is what it is there but one of the players that have stood out the most to me when you look at it is Derek Jones junor he’s been such a Immaculate role player for the Dallas Mavericks team especially in that last playoff series and you got to give it credit now while he’s always showed flashes here right I don’t think anybody would say like drick Jones J is one of those players that just always showed something he always found a way to impact the game of basketball all the time right and while the stats last season aren’t going to blow you out the water at 8.6 points per game but he shot the ball 48% uh from the field and he shot the ball 34% from three taking three and a half three-pointers per game highest marks in his NBA career and then when you look on on top of it when you look at it last season with the Chicago Bulls uh Derrick Jones Jr played 85% of his minutes at the four however this season with Dallas he’s played 48% of his minutes at the three and 50% of his minutes at the four what that means is that putting him out on the perimeter more consistently has gotten the best out of Derrick Jones Jr and that is the thing and been the struggle with the roster when we talk about things like this roster needs change that is part of the reason why we say things like that it’s simply because of player use and you know we had to use Derrick Jones Jr at a four as a four and back up five at times because we were just lacking on this roster Derrick Jones Jr played started 66 games out of the 76 games he played for Dallas last season averaging 23 and a half minutes per game in that time um and so when you look at it as well under Billy Donovan 14 minutes per game in 2022 23 that that’s it’s crazy when you look at those numbers right the way that you use players are almost as important as the players that you have on your roster and the thing with the bulls is and where our roster has been and where we struggled at so much as a team we’ve had to consistently use players in positions that aren’t best suited for them now one could say that well hey he’s still playing about half his minutes at the four yeah but it’s also how they use him at the four the number of three-point attempts that he’s getting is is considerably different than how they’ve been having to use him um so it it’s when you watch the games like I said his numbers aren’t going to wow you or anything like that but when we talk about the change that’s needed to this roster for the Chicago Bulls that is a big thing of what we’re talking about is making a roster that makes more sense so you can use players better to their strength that’s always been my biggest knock on Billy Donovan outside of you know the inbound calls and things like that is that player player utilization we don’t use players to their strength we know that Zack LaVine on off catch and shoots is damn near Elite we don’t we don’t get a chance to run very many catch and shoot opportunities for him we just don’t you got demard d r rozan and Nicola who both start their offense off basically from the same areas they finish in different places but that’s Clogg the Lane right then you have because of between injury and our thinness at the big man position at the four and the five we’ve had to use players like Alex guso Javonte green right out of position and that is one thing that I really hope that whatever however we change this roster this year that we can use Javon for example if we retain him more on the wing because I do think that that’s where he would Thrive at majorly for the Chicago Bulls right and so hopefully this is also a wakeup call when we talk about the change and the new eyes and the things that a new coaching staff would bring I really hope that player utilization and and finding out different ways to use some of the players you already have because what we know right while some Bulls fans are calling for it that a full rebuild is not coming a full tear down of this roster isn’t coming I would not be surprised if about 90% ofers back next year and that’s just is what it is right and so with whatever changes you make I just hope that we start using players better I’m tired of seeing players leave the Chicago Bulls and go and be better and while you have a lot of bulls fans that that call for this full rebuild that say you know trade everyone you don’t need to trade everyone some of these players are going to be we’re going to get more out of and get a completely different view of them just by using them correctly when you have young players like Dal Terry a Julian Phillips right uh these guys that are young unproven right talented that hopefully you start figuring out the best way to use them for their skill set rather than trying to fit them in a specific role right same thing could be said with Patrick Williams I’m not a guy who looks at Patrick Williams and says he needs to be a three a lot of bulls fans do I have my I have issues with Patrick Williams at the three in my opinion but um you know if that’s if even if that’s how you view it right if that ends up being the the right decision to make with Patrick Williams you got to be willing and have a a perspective to be able to make those changes and put these players in the right situations and so let’s hope that that ends up being the case man um it’s just like I said I I hate to drum up trauma and things like that but it really does come down to that I am tired of seeing Bulls players go and Thrive somewhere else and Derrick Jones Jr has been so important it hasn’t just been him like I said Daniel Gafford Derek Lively right the role players that for the Dallas Mavericks really stepped up in that last series to help get them to to a Western Conference Finals right so um but and that’s another thing role players matter role players matter and that is why I I I fight against right Bulls fans that act like just because somebody’s a role player doesn’t mean that they can’t be hugely impactful and effective you just got to use them right they have to also have the right mindset right they got to have be able to to understand their strengths as well and play to those strengths but you got to create a situation in an environment where you’re able to play players to their strengths and right now the Bulls have just been holding on for everything that they can for dear life right we haven’t been able to focus on using players to what their best because we just got to fill in bodies where we can because between injuries between uh you know all that other stuff we just haven’t been able to do that that’s what I really hope comes out of this next phase for the Chicago Bulls more than anything is Clarity on player utilization a roster that makes more sense from top to bottom right and it may take some time to get there it may not get there Allin one off season and I know a lot of bulls fans are holding out that hope but there’s going to be a big chance there G A couple of realities that we eventually need to talk about that are going to happen this offseason for the Bulls one we’re probably going to be hugely disappointed by the Zack LaVine trade return that’s just going to happen it’s going to happen be be be worri of it two the Bulls are probably going to go best player available in this draft despite the centers that are available in this draft I just would not be surprised if they go best player available and some could say hey that that may be what needs to happen right because we need the talent and and and three like some of the things that we hope and wish for that are Pie in the Sky ideas just aren’t coming Billy Donovan isn’t being fired right demard de R Roan may very well be back here in the Chicago Bulls uniform the Bulls may not hold on to their 2025 first round pick uh because they’re going to try to make it go for it this year there’s a lot of things this offseason that you know the clarity isn’t coming on but some of it is and I think and I hope that we can start getting on the path to where we can see more of that Clarity and even though we’re still going to have questions on all right how do we bring it all home but at least we could start seeing that full picture a little bit more the Chicago Bulls but you guys can let me know what you guys think on all that as always down below um but with that said uh we’re going to next up finish the show and talking about the Bulls in the draft should they trade down in the NBA draft uh before we get into that though I do got to talk to you guys about another one of our sponsors and that is fan duel it’s win or take all time in the NBA and NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks uh to bet on spreads money lines player props and more visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count again guys playoffs are fun it’s been a very kind of unpredictable playoffs in a lot of ways I know that the the Boston Celtics versus the Indiana Pacers seem like it’s just going to go away I wouldn’t be surprised if the Boston Celtics sweep but the Western Conference Finals is going to be very exciting with Minnesota with Dallas if you guys want to bet on that again visit fanduel.com lockon make every every playoff shot count FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook visit fanduel.com to look at the odds at any time as well guys all right y’all with that said let’s get into the last topic that we have today on the docket and that is talking about the Bulls potential to trade up or down now the reason why I wanted to talk about this just a little bit right and we’ll continue having player profiles and and getting into the weeds of specific players and things like that I’ve been doing a deep dive over on Chicago Bulls Central if you guys want to check that out I think we’re about 30 Prospect deep at this point sounds about right sounds about right probably about probably about 2830 prospects deep um but there’s a lot of if the Bulls are going to go position of need is center right and there are a lot of centers in this draft that you can get late right and it depends really on who takes what where right because you could have a player like Kyle filipos who I really like that in some MOX is going in the in the in the top 12 and others he’s going in the bottom 20 right khil wear another guy that I’m super high on um uh EV Missy uh is another ev’s Missy Evie Missy Missy another one that I that I’ve recently started doing my deep dive on his tape I like him a lot as well these guys could be gotten very much lower in the draft and the reason why I say that right is that with the bulls being as cast strapped as they are depending on what moves that they can make if you can move down in this draft and pick up a second round pick right and I get it I know some people are already getting ready to type but Hayes this is a weak draft the players suck in this draft it’s a weak draft as far as Star level Talent there’s still some players that can that can be starters that can be role players that can be average role players in above average role players in this league in this and so if the Bulls were to pick up another low first round pick for example or trade down get somebody’s pick and get a second round pick they could have the potential to go position of need and maybe more upside and I hope that the Bulls are willing to listen to All offers in this because they just they have to and if they do end up moving a player like a LaVine or moving a player like Alice Caruso not necessarily saying I want them to move Alice Caruso if they can obtain another pick in this draft and do that I think you may have to explore those options we’ll see if it ends up happening right I think more the the the best case scenario or the most likely case scenario is that the Bulls just stay at number 11 they take whoever the best on their board is could that end up being a reach could be but if you get the player that you need and you have number one on your board are you really worried about reaching if you truly have them at number one on your board um of course course you know I would like to see more of a Ryan poles type attack uh to this the the the the GM of the Chicago Bears um I would love to see that kind of more of her approach only because you know Ryan PA is somebody who if he can get his guy in get some more assets he will right um and take advantage but it really comes the draft is so fluid and this is a draft where you literally can get somebody who can go number eight or they can go number 18 and that happens all up and down this draft and so you know with that validity that volatility uh of it is that you may want to just hold on to your own pick you know maybe maybe try to player or something like that if you do want to get into the second round the Bulls have bought second round picks before right we know that they’re not uh against doing that maybe you look to do that uh to to get another player in this draft if you even see fit the Bulls may be waiting and holding on to assets to get additional picks in the 2025 draft which a a pick in the 20s and next year’s draft in 25 is like a top 10 pick this year so that could be the option the Bulls do as well but do hope that they’re open for business on draft day at least listening uh to deals to see if they what they can do to maneuver to really improve this team um that’s the the overall takeaway that I want to have from this is that whether the Bulls trade up trade down whether they stay the same whatever I do hope the Bulls are active in seeing at least what’s out there for the team and the reason why is because we do need talent we are right up against that luxury tax we are going to have a difficulty fledging out a full roster if we keep Demar if we keep Patrick Williams we keep both those guys we’re going to have difficulty doing that and staying under the luxury text while improving the team at all so I think that the Bulls need to be open to listen to everything in cases like that will they listen AK sees the world very differently than a lot of humans so you can’t necessarily bet on that but I guess we’ll see what ends up coming of that but guys thank you so much for tuning in make sure you guys are following the show at lockon Bulls you can follow Pat over at Pat the designer you can follow me at CEO hey the CEO h a i Ze I appreciate you guys so much for tuning in lockon Bulls is free and available on every podcasting app and platform of your choice as well as YouTube and the Odyssey app also Fire TV you can check us out over there as well uh but that’s our time for today for PA designer this has been locked on bulls y’all peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music]

Haize talks about the continued changes to the Bulls coaching staff and what impact they could have. He then talks about former Bulls currently having success in the playoffs and why it should remind fans of where the Bulls front office went wrong.

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