Matas Buzelis, Noa Essengue BALL OUT in Chicago Bulls Summer League Win | CHGO Bulls Podcast

Matas Buzelis, Noa Essengue BALL OUT in Chicago Bulls Summer League Win | CHGO Bulls Podcast

Las Vegas CHCO Bulls covering the summer league Bulls action. Day four for us here in Vegas. We just watched game three which was a Bulls win over the Pacers. We’re going to break that down. Modis and Noah the Senate. Both looking good. Plus, we’re going to recap a little visit with Derrick Rose at his chess event yesterday. Plus, a little sneak peek at a one-on-one goat had with Modis after the game today. Plus, we talked to Javon Freeman Liberty earlier today. So much to get into. We’re breaking it all down next. What’s going on, Bull? Major welcome in to CHGO Bulls summer league live coming to you from Las Vegas. I’m pack bulls_pack. That is big day. B&W sports the man on the end. Will they go perfectly qu as always despite the Vegas heat will go. We got the queen of the controls Katie hanging on this high couch. We got the queen of the social medias Emma slaying in the background. Let’s go. Ah, hit that thumbs up if you’re hanging out with us on YouTube. Both nation. We appreciate you joining us now and always. Make sure you’re subscribed to that CHO Sports YouTube channel. Okay. Wow. Uh game three in the books. Bulls get their first W out here in summer league. Uh a 114 105 win over the Pacers. We’re going to break it all down. Uh Noah Asen looks strong after leaving game two with that minor leg injury. Modest falls out with 28 points. Uh gentlemen, we feel good. Yeah. Yeah. Feel great. Go. Feel great. It was a great game. It was nice to see them bounce back. I mean that first game they knew it like the players knew it, the coaching staff knew it. The front office talking to them they were upset with it. To bounce back from that obviously they lose that second game but look better more like how they want to look even without Modus. And then today uh you got Modest there who scored 28. You got Noah Sen scoring 21. Emanuel Miller comes back and they just looked a lot better as a team. So, I I know um organizationally they were a lot more happy with that one and it was great for all of us, for all the fans who are watching to see the two young guys that are really core pieces of this team put together some really solid games. So, before we uh dive deep into the game that we all just watched earlier this evening, goat, you were able to have a a little sitdown chat with Modis Buselis after the game today after his 28-point performance. The whole chat is gonna debut bright and early tomorrow morning on our CCO Sports YouTube channel. But we figured we’d give y’all just a little taste of it right now because we’re nice and we love you both nations. Katie, play that clip. I just want to impact winning. Um, you know, Chicago deserves more. It’s It’s not about just basketball. It’s I mean, it is actually all about basketball to me, but the people deserve more. We we need a win and uh we gota this is like this city means a lot to me Chicago. So we have to win games. We have to get an NBA championship soon. That’s that’s my goal. That is uh incoming secondyear bull Mahales who uh I think go you can confirm uh basically just put a bow on his summer league career uh with his second performance on this trip. confirmed that he will not play in any any of the remaining games four and if they are you know in a consolation bracket but uh cannot wait to listen to the rest of that chat but you have to as a Bulls fan respect and appreciate the the essence of what he’s saying there he understands how passionate this fan base is being somebody who has Chicago area roots himself and knowing that what Bulls fans expect if not championships is championship contention and he I think is aware that they are far from that right now I think he gets it on a level that’s beyond just like I’m an NBA player. I want to compete at the highest level and win and like I want the fans to get a chance to see that. Like he knows what it’s like being from the Chicago land area. He I mean we talked about like his friendship with IO and their connection over the city. We talked about his friendship with Caleb Williams uh and him being like a huge foundational piece in sports in Chicago sports um right now. And like unprompted he brought that up. He’s like, “The fans deserve better.” Like, “We have to deliver that to these fans.” So, I think it’s really cool when, you know, we we talk a lot about like the Bulls bringing in Javon Freeman Liberty and Javon Carter and, you know, all these guys from the Chicagoland area. There is something to be said for the fact that they know what this city has been through in terms of their sports fandom over the last however long, specifically with the Bulls over the last 25, 30 years here. Um, and I think Mattis in particular really takes pride in that and he he wants to do it for his hometown. Yeah. He’s not playing around. Um, that’s always great to hear. It’s one of the things I’ve always liked about him, uh, even as a rookie was just mentally he just Well, the confidence obviously was there, but he just seemed I don’t want to say more advanced, you know, or anything like that, but he just got it is the best way I could say it. Um, and he understood it. But to actually hear him articulate that when I haven’t really heard like any of the Bulls like articulate that and I’m not talking players, I’m talking about front office and those kind of things. Just articulate know the focus if we got to get this team a championship and the urgency that he actually spoke with and just watching him say it, it looked like it pained him a little bit like no bro, I really want to do this. So like it’s just it’s just a great look to see and just even better to hear. It just makes me excited to hear the the rest of this interview. And even just coming from him, like you talked about the confidence that he’s had even dating back to last year. Sure. It is a different level when he like right now he’s like making you feel that confidence. He’s not just putting it out there. Like I buy it from him right now. The way that his that he’s carrying himself, the confidence that he has uh in his leadership being like a second year player, being like the most experienced player in terms of NBA minutes on this roster. um the other players on the team can feel that. I felt that just talking with him. Um and just his poise and his confidence in like who he is right now. And he knows that there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of like I mean he said with Casey the other day that he wants to be the best player of all time. Like he knows that there’s a long way to go in order to get to that point. But you trust the confidence that he has, the work that he puts in um and how seriously he’s taken it. Like I really I think a lot of guys just like say what they think needs to be said and I think in some capacity like everybody is going to say that cuz that’s what they should say. But I really do feel like Modest believes it and based on his poise and his confidence and the way that he carries himself and communicates with other people like I buy that from. Yeah. And also big shout out to him for sitting down and doing the interview goat. You know what I mean? Not standing up being 6 trying to make me look a little bit better. I appreciate that full time. Somebody find the stand. Good looking out on that. Uh, shout out to Quinton Jackson in the chat who said, “Mis looked upset like he should have dropped 40.” Well, you know what? He did drop 28 in a pretty efficient night. He was eight of 14 from the field, knocked down two of his four from long range. And gentlemen, this, you know, we we saw it in his first game on Friday. We saw more of it tonight. aggressiveness, putting the ball on the floor and attacking, attacking, attacking. That led to 10 of 13 from the free throw line. Dave, you talk all the time about like the true great scorers in the NBA and how they need to be versatile. They need to score in every which way. They need to be able to space the floor. They need need to have a mid-range. We talked about that with Mus the other day. Uh, and of course the way to really supplement that is draw fouls with your strength, with your ball handling, with your juke moves to get your defender offkilter, force them to commit those fouls instead of letting you get to the rim and modest I mean 10 to 13 at the free throw line. We’re seeing his combination of I think gradually increasing strength Mhm. and his aggressiveness and as go you’ve been talking about in these summer league games at least if not more if if we don’t see more of it in the season to come being a secondary on ball creator and all of those things added up today and he was doing a lot of that. Exactly. I mean he was scoring out of it. Uh only one assist to four turnovers. So, you do want to see some more improvement there in terms of the playm, but it’s a hard thing to do. And he’s he’s he always shrugs it off whenever I ask him about like his what he’s working on to improve as a ball handler, what he needs to do in order to get to that next level as a playmaker. He always talks about like leaning on his experience playing point guard in high school. Um, and just like not being unfamiliar with that role. There are areas where he needs to improve and and he knows that and and we talked a little bit about it in that interview. Um, but I do think that a big piece of it is his scoring. He’s not a guy who’s going to be a 10 assist guy. Yeah. But like you don’t necessarily need to be that level of a passer to be a good facilitator. What you need is to be able to be a really good scorer so that forces help to collapse on you to where you can make the right read. And so I think establishing yourself as a good scorer is the first step towards becoming a great passer because that’s how you’re changing how the defense responds to you. And there were times when they sent doubles and he didn’t get off of it and he turned it over. Those are the areas with reps, with opportunity that he’s going to get much better at that. And so, um, yeah, it’s not great to see one assist to four turnovers, but I do think that, you know, the points there, the free throw drawing there is a really good sign for him to eventually take that ne next step. That’s like the the second level of being a good creator. You have the shot creation, and then you have the creation for others. And I think he’s I mean, 28 points, uh, 13 free throw attempts. That was an awesome awesome game for him on top of the fact that he had a couple of highlight dunks. I think that’s an excellent point about him becoming a great passer because you I’m when you were saying that I was sitting here thinking like wow that’s true. I don’t know too many great scorers who aren’t good at least passing. Yeah. It’s like the Jason Tatum like can you score 25 but also give you five assists. Exactly. Off of what you’re doing in terms of scoring the ball because it has you have to give the defense something else to worry about because like you said when that double team comes and they shut you down if they know they can get you to turn the ball over well guess what they’re going to do every single time u attack you. And yeah, Modis, he he played with some fire. Uh I quickly spoke to uh his strength and conditioning coach. Shout out to Demetri. He was on the show and I was like, “Man, how how’s Mus doing?” He was like, “He’s good. He’s angry.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” And that’s why you kind of saw it, you know what I mean? While he was playing and warming up, like he looked different, you know what I mean? He looked upset and he played in that kind of way. Uh while he was out there on the floor, man, just attacking, attacking, attacking. You talked about the strength. I think the biggest thing about that is him getting hit but still staying on his feet. Um, not hitting the floor every single time somebody hits him and getting to the line and still having the strength to make those free throws. I think that’s where you see that strength and conditioning kind of coming into play for him. And it again, this just adds more levels to his game and that’s why you can end up with 28 points when you hit 10 free throws. That’s how it works. And yeah, man. He he continued. I think he’s learned that and he’s that move he does where he’s takes the ball and it windmill like that. Maybe learn that from Zack when they were teammates briefly. He’s learned he’s he does it so well because he’s learned how to draw a foul by doing that. So when he’s going to the bucket and he just puts it up there, an instant reaction for a defender is to put their hands up and try to get that. And as soon as you do that, you’re touching him and boop, there’s a foul and he can switch it and finish with the left. like it’s really smart just watching him play. So, I like the aggression. I like um just how he’s playing and watching him learn. He’s he’s going to be better. I mean, the aggressiveness go you mentioned he had a couple of highlight reel dunks. The one that was almost a oh dear god highlight reel dunk. I think it was fourth quarter late in the game for sure. I think it was Enrique Freeman who also Noah Asen was a victim on the day. uh didn’t quite pull that one off, but the move he had before that to clear out the space to then lift off maybe got away with a little bit of an elbow. He gave him one. He gave him one. Hey, I mean, let’s see if Modis can get away with that at the NBA level as well. But it’s the it’s the strength and the aggressiveness. And then on top of that, the like the fiery competitiveness of Modis even for summer league games, not that one, but the one he did convert when Johnny Fury was in the area and Fury had already had his posterizing moment. Yeah. Immediately, Dave, you and I both saw it as it happened. Modest jerked a little something right at Johnny Fury on the baseline after finishing that other dunk. It’s like that’s what Bulls fans want to see, man. Fired. You know, whether or not this team has it all together yet, just show us players that are out there caring because they want to freaking win. Yeah. And I knew it was real what was happening with the Bulls on the floor. when I was watching Matt Pek and he was actually fired up in the game and clapping and yelling and it wasn’t sarcasm or hate. He was yelling out on the floor like taking it summer league like he was but he was like watching him actually be a fan is not something I’ve seen in these past few years, you know? So when I see it come out, I know it’s real and he meant it, you know what I mean? like he was in it and he’s yelling and he’s screaming even when the game was over and Modis is, you know, signing autographs. He’s yelling at him on the court like Modis like like that’s when you know it’s real. You know what I mean? When it’s going down when you’re bringing that fire out of fans, you know, who have that fire in them, giving them something to cheer about. And I, you know, I was like, “Oh my god, game three, day four in Vegas. I like I showed up to Thomas and Mac exhausted and rolling my eyes.” But then we we heard Ma is going to play, Noah’s going to play. I’m like, “All right, they’re 0 and2. Let’s Let’s leave. We know they got another game or two still ahead, but let’s I wanted to see a good effort and a W from this squad regardless of if if nobody else that we’ve watched for the past three games other than Modis and Noah is a part of this team’s long-term plans. I didn’t care. I just wanted to see a team out there give a good team effort and some entertaining possessions, some entertaining basketball and a W. Yeah. And they gave us that. That one fast break possession after the steel, Yuki was leading the break. He had that little hesy step down the down the lane over the shoulder pass to JFL who then just quick drop off to Modis who cut baseline for a jam like like that got me up out of my seat it did early game and I’m tired and exhausted and hot. My back hurts but I’m like bull. See this can be all season if you do it right and and you have to that has to mean even more to you hearing what Ma said after the game about like delivering that to you guys to the fans. So it means something. Um, yeah. I I I love that Modis is so in tune with what is expected of him. He knows the assignment and he’s working on it. He’s working on it. We’re going to work on some ads to share with you wonderful people out there. Bulls nation. Lots more to get to when we come back. We’re going to talk about what we saw from the Brook No S on the other side, plus our chat with Don Freeman Liberty. Plus little little D Rose talk. All next. Hit the like for all of that for crying out loud. Furf. Today’s show brought to you by Sunnyside Cannabis Dispensory. Man, I need some Sunnyside right now. Sunnyside is your home for judgment free cannabis shopping. A place where all kinds of visitors are welcome to explore, discover, and purchase a wide array of high quality products. 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For more information, visit Ray CBDJR today on Route 12 in Fox Lake or online at ray cdjr. Rolling along. Seio Bulls summer league live here in Las Vegas breaking down the Bulls win over the Pacers. Their first win of this stretch of summer league games. Shout out to Malachi hanging out in the chat who said Noah got yammed on, but once his game is refined and that shooting touch stays, he will be very dangerous. Thanks for hanging out with us, Malachi. Um, I put the photo of his Oh, yeah. meme. Do you want to look at it? Let’s Let’s look at it. I’m sorry, Noah. I’m sorry. Poor Noah. We’re It’s gonna be tonight and then we’re done. Take Noah’s phone. Then we’re done. We’re not going to look at it again, but I just I couldn’t not put it in the show. There there’s Oh, a to be that close. It like It’s the combination of facial expressions that look like Okay, real quick though, look at the furator though on the Look at the fator. Are you more hyped about that dunk or any of Modis’? Oh, you want to be honest? Oh, definitely that one. I mean, that was that’s dunk of the That’s dunk of the summer league right now. ESPN app and a push notification that said dunk of the summer. They already have eight different angles of this dunk right now on ESPN, man. No, it was filthy. And we had the best view of it to watch it. And I was out of my seat immediately shouting the gospel of young Johnny Fury. I was telling Matt, you I’m telling Matt, you can tell he’s been working out because he’s trying to get Kelly away from Zack and AC Slater know he be working out Bayside and everything. He got to be right. Johnny Fury, bro, he played well. Go ahead. I’m sorry. No, it’s okay. You know, sometimes you’re watching Pano, but sometimes you watch summer league and it’s like everything is in shambles. They’re turning the ball over every single time down. It doesn’t look like NBA basketball. It looks like high school basketball. And then you see a play like that. It’s like, oh yeah, these guys are still NBA athletes, still NBA players, and only those kinds of human beings, of which there are very few, can put a dunk down like that. That was incredible. It was vicious. It was It was nasty, man. And it was like, wow. It was amazing. But a sing like I think I mean that’s going to happen to shot blockers, you know what I mean? When guys are going up trying to block shots, those things are going to happen. Like you can get that from any great shot blocker. I’m talking great shot blockers. They’ve been dunked on. They’ve been yammed on. Alonzo Morning got yammed on by Vince Carter. He could have g He could have gone the LeBron James route, made an executive decision, got right over to the back. Um Alonzo in the tunnel actually mentioned that. Yeah, cuz he’s part of the Heat. Yeah. So I saw him walking Alonzo morning. Oh wow, that’s cool. Walking up the stairs as walking down to do post game. But I absolutely agree with you. I mean Noah like is challenging guys at the rim on both sides. He’s going for dunks and he’s going for shot blocks. And that’s what they need to do. We’ve talked so much about how Vu’s limitations as a rim protector Mhm. put the Bulls in a bad spot. When you have two switchable long rim protecting wings next to him, that offsets so much of that. And so I think the Bulls are thinking about, we talked about like the the profile of the players that Archerus is trying to draft. Those guys are super valuable. And I think if if you can develop some of that other stuff, obviously they’re long, they’re they’re very slender, you know, thin frames. It’s going to be hard to put weight on those guys. It’s going to be hard to bulk them up. But the skill set is there, the touch is there. That was something that really impressed me with Noah. And then the willingness to draw contact on both sides, whether it’s trying to go for a dunk, trying to draw fouls, trying to block shots. Both him and Modis today. Uh, and really all of summer league have been really impressive in that way, especially for guys that are so skinny. Yeah. Yeah. I like this this very measured and simplistic take from Karan in the chat who said, “Noah, Sen looks decent.” That’s good. No, you look decent, bro. What I will take away from watching him uh up close and personal these three games is that he looked progressively better. It looked like the game slowed down for him a little bit game by game. Uh and I think he showed a lot of different things positively while also being aware that he’s got some stuff to work on. Katie, do you want to throw up that stat of what we saw from Noah game by game here in Vegas over the past few days? Because we we all remember, we don’t need to rehash just how rough a first outing it was. just five points on 207 shooting. Uh he had seven turnovers. Um big yikes there. Game two. And he did leave that game early with what do they call it? A quad contusion goat. Um after uh getting near double double in the first half. He finished the first half with 10 and nine. Then did manage to get that double double of 12 and 10 before leaving with that injury. And then today game three scoring starts to pour for Noah. seven of 14 from the field, including knocking down three of his eight from beyond the ark. One of them was uh scraping the bottom of the netting airball, which we also saw off Friday or Saturday. That’s okay. Dave, what did you say the other day about Noah and his three-point shooting? Look, it’s it’s so bad that I’m not worried about it. And and this exactly what I meant like, but maybe he hurt you and today he’s like so bad. Oh, what about three for eight? But that this is what I meant. Like so on the ground like I’m just not concerned. I’m like, and I’m and looking at his shot and his form and how he’s shooting. I was like, “Okay, I’m not gonna worry about this right now. Like, he’s gonna work into that. He’s gonna get it. I’m not concerned about this shot.” And those threes that he hit, I mean, one was the the one first I believe somebody was right in his face. And he did not like three or four feet behind the line. Yeah. And it looked like the right shot. Yeah. And looked normal like everything about him says, “Hey, I can be a shooter.” And I think that’s what I mean when I don’t worry about it. I’m like, “Oh, okay. Well, because nobody’s not going to be this bad, you know what I’m saying, for his career.” So, I’m not concerned with it. The form is good. His confidence is great. I told you already um when uh Julia was here, like he has that shooters mentality like as soon as he misses it or hits it, it’s out of his mind and he’s not thinking about it. He’s looking towards the next shot. So, I was really impressed. I watched him a lot more than anybody today was uh Noah. And I was just I’m really impressed, man, by how he moves and he you can’t speed him up. And I like that about him. Like that’s a mentality thing. Like of course like he’s moving off athleticism as you were pointing out. Like he moves off athleticism. He’s just figuring out he he still doesn’t know the rules. Like he was blocking shots that were off the real. Yeah. He’s still getting those things acclimated, but it didn’t throw him off his square. Like the air balls don’t throw him off his square. You don’t see him rattled, you know, like he’s moving. And I and I respect stuff like that. It’s being that kind of person who like, “No, bro. I’m standing on my square. Nothing around me is going to get me off my square. I’m going to move how I want to move.” And I like how he’s doing that. To have that so young, you know what I’m saying? At his age to be like, “No, this is the pace I want. This is how I want to do it.” And watching his IQ work like he’s doing the things, the little tiny things you would expect a vet to know. And I wish I could articulate it better, you know what I’m saying, for you guys out there. But I’m sitting there watching it and I’m calling it out in my head like, “Oh, he knows that. Oh, okay. He knows that. Oh, he knows how to cross right here and to set that brush screen right there for the point guard cuz he sees he’s going that way.” Like, it’s that mental gymnastics that’s going on that he’s doing that’s really really impressing me. And then he knows when he’s dead tired. Oh, I’m going go ahead of this corner. You know what I’m saying? I’m just going to bring my man over here. We going to camp out. Let me get a rest around here. Like that’s just cool stuff to know that he knows already and it just excites me about him. It really does. Want to get to a few more comments here from uh Bulls Nation in the chat and then we’ll pitch to you. Goat Gus said no mechanics look decent. I’m not too worried. Rob saying the two jumpers were sneaky smooth near the paint. And Karan saying he liked how he attacked that close out from the Yuki pass. Um, I I also did notice that there were a couple of those like, you know, uh, midi situations where he had a good step, got his defender, created some space from his defender, confident rise and fire, and knocked one down from 12 feet, knocked one down from 16 feet. Uh, you know, we talk about that with Modis. It would be how we want to see him develop a mid-range game. We’re worried about Noah and whether or not he can be a floor spacer as he grows in his NBA career. In the meantime, you know, hey, he knocked down three of eight from behind the arc tonight. That’s great. But also, I liked what he did offensively in that mid-range area. Go. Absolutely. And that’s like we talked about this so much with Patrick where it’s like you want to you have to like pull it out of him in order to like get him to put his impact on the game to get him to go grab a rebound to get him to take a shot. And with Noah, it’s like it’s all there. He’s willing to do it all. And now it’s about like refining it. And I think that’s a much better position to be in with a young player is this guy’s eager to learn, eager to play. Uh Billy Donovan the third after the game was say like all the questions he asks are about defense. How can I position myself better? how can I, you know, attack this uh close out a little bit better? I think having a player like that who is coachable, is super even keeled, wants to learn and get better and is willing to make mistakes and by mistakes I mean miss shots, uh get dunked on, you know, take tough contested jump shots even if it may not be like the best situation or the smartest, you know, shot analytically, but a guy who’s willing to take those shots and show that he has that, I think is a really valuable thing. Um, and that’s why again, like I think shooting the ball is more than half the battle. A willingness to do it. Stepping into that deep three-pointer was great. Uh, attacking off the bounce, uh, just making plays. They’ll be able to like say, “Okay, in this situation, this is what you’re going to do instead. Let’s not catch the ball, freeze, not not be sure what to do, let the defense recover, and now you’re playing against a set defense again.” He’s willing to like take risks. I think for an 18-year-old who has some professional experience, that is how especially with the kind of tools that he has like to me the last couple weeks I’ve been thinking like okay he’s a raw project he’s got upside like what does that what does that upside look like if it does get fully realized what kind of a player does he look like and some of the things that he was doing today were like I did not think that that was there I did not think he was going to be attacking you know taking a a bump off of somebody and like uh sidest stepping into an elbow jumper Yes. Yeah, that’s right. Like his first point was willing to do that. Yeah. No, it was so imp like even at the end of the quarter with 3 seconds left, he knew, yo, give me the ball. I’m taking this joint up court and I’m going to take this shot. Like nobody told him. He just knew to do this. And you saw him, he probably only dribbled the ball up twice. Yeah. And that was one time and then there was another time. Like he’s understanding his limitations. And that’s man, that is so awesome for a young dude to know this stuff uh this early. Of course, again, he’s raw. He’s got a lot to work on. He’s got a lot he’s got to do. But those little things, y’all, I’m telling you, those little things that you don’t have to teach him that he already knows, man, once he gets those big things together and he puts that with that, you got yourself a steal. And we’re already seeing progress from game one to two to three as we saw in the stats. Um the fact that he is like it wasn’t just that his turnovers went down. It was that he wasn’t doing the things that put him in a situation where he was going to turn the ball over, right? and like that kind of learning that quickly. Again, this is summer league. It’s not going to be like that, you know, linear growth every day for the rest of his life into the NBA season and beyond. But like these are good positive signs and I don’t know how much you take away from summer league in general. I don’t think there’s a right answer to that. But I do think you have to be encouraged by the positive growth that we’ve seen just through three games. I think that’s what you take away. Uh real quick uh before we head to break, Stephen Hookers and Noan Modis have the potential to be great together. Really excited for their future. I believe that’s the Steven who we were chatting with him and his son earlier on our trip him up, you know, these poor people with the, you know, their Bulls fan kids. It’s like, you don’t have a choice, kid. So, let’s run into this like, let’s hope the future is brighter. For all these young kids we saw where Bulls jersey, did you give your nieces a choice? No. There it is. I mean, like newbornsized bulls once these arrive before they got home from the hospital. There it is. They had no choice. Uh, shout out to everybody hanging out with us. We got 250 some Bulls fans hanging out, which late on a Monday night for those of you in Chicago, wherever you are on the around the world in Bulls Nation, we appreciate you being here. Hit the like. Make sure you’re subscribed. And hey, because the Bulls won today, maybe you’re feeling fun, generous, kind. Throw us a super chat if you feel like it. We’re going to knock out a couple more ads. We come right back and we’re going to listen to an interview we had with Bulls frontman Javon Freeman at Liberty earlier today. You know what? I like Chicago because of the seasons. Mhm. Summer, fall, winter, spring. Thought there were two. Uh, well, it’s, you know, it’s winter and construction/summer in Chicago. Whatever season this is in Vegas can get bent, but I am thankful for functioning air conditioning get bent. Whether it be here in our lovely Airbnb abode or all of the many cars that we’ve traveled in to and from the arena, hanging out at the strip for dinner on the evenings, you need good AC in the summertime. You need Four Seasons Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electric, which has been serving Chicago land for over 50 years. Now is the time to get your AC checked out. And Four Seasons experts are ready to help you with AC installation, maintenance, and repair. Four Seasons expert technicians ensure you always receive reliable service. And Four Seasons doesn’t charge more for service during nights, weekends, or holidays, which lots of people do, but not Four Seasons. They are your trusted local experts. Four Seasons Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electric. Visit them. Four Seasons Heatingcooling.com for all their special offers and money-saving coupons. That’s four seasonasonshing.com. Because Dave, for all the right reasons, call 8664. Oo. It kept going. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It didn’t end. Then end. Man, you know, making money moves should be just like Johnny Fury. Should be solid and should be very, very smooth. What? What’ I do? I’m not lying. No, I’m telling no lie. The dunks are vicious. I’m saying the what? His dunks are vicious. The dunks are vicious. This is true. But he is solid and very very smooth. Yeah. And just like Cash App. And that’s why it exists, ladies and gentlemen. No, no extra hoops to jump through unless you’re getting dunked on by Johnny Fury. No extra stress, no woozies, and for the love of the qua, no wies at all. And for a limited time only, new Cash App users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash for reals. No catch. Just download Cash App and sign up. Use that exclusive code cho Bulls in your profiles. Send $5 to a friend and within 14 days, you’ll get $10 dropped right into your account like Kirk Plunk. It’s term supply. Term supply. That’s money. That’s cash out. Rolling along. CO Bulls summer league live out here in Vegas. Bulls winners over the Pacers earlier tonight. Uh well-earned victory. Modest and Noah playing well. But you know who has been out there in all three of these games, the first two L’s and the win tonight. Floor general, veteran, leader of this team and has been both with the Windy City Bulls and the Summer League Bulls for the past few years. Javon Freeman Liberty. Yeah. Another Chicago guy, Whitney Young. Um, I mean, just the like one of the people I’ve been rooting for the hardest in the last few years once we got our my chance to chat with him at Summer League a few years back. Um, had a quick stint with the Raptors in 2324. Um, and back with Windy City this past season, back with Summer League. Uh, a great floor general, a great veteran leader, and the dude can ball. He gets buckets. He’s been getting buckets in all three of their first games. She had 18, eight, five, and two steals today. Just getting it done all kinds of ways all over the floor. Vicious dunk as well. I mean, my goodness. Yeah, that that was the exclamation point. Yeah. And uh earlier today, uh JFL was kind enough to give us some of his time after their morning walkthrough and we chatted to him, uh about a lot of different stuff. This year’s summer league, what he’s been going through, what’s next for him and his NBA journey. So, we’re going to give you that interview right now, Katy, if you will. Right now at CSO Bulls, we are pleased to be joined by Chicago native, Windy City Bulls veteran, summer league Bulls veteran, also spent some time with the Toronto Raptors in the 23-24 NBA season. Now back for another go round with summer league Bulls, Javon Freeman Liberty joining us. Javon, thanks for the time. Welcome to the show. How are you? Happy to be here. Appreciate Appreciate the time. So Javon, I’m curious as somebody who has become a veteran and a leader for not only the Windy City Bulls, but the Summer League Bulls, any new challenges that you faced this time around, whether it be, you know, adjusting to some new younger faces on the team compared to previous years or your style of play, the competition you’re facing, what’s been new and different for you this year? Um, like you said, adjusting to the new faces. Um, it’s a lot of new guys out here, a lot of first year guys or guys who have never played summer league coming out here. And I just feel like me being that leader and out here to have my voice to use my voice a lot more since I guess you could say I’m that vet in summer league now. So yeah. Yon like every player we’ve spoken to that’s from the crib that’s you know whether it’s the Windy City Bulls or the Chicago Bulls have talking have spoken about that pride that they have when they put that jersey on. Do you have that same feeling you know as somebody from the crib when you put that Bulls jersey on? Uh yes for sure. Um, I feel like you should want to play for your home city team. Um, and then by me being from Chicago, you know, born and raised. Um, I feel like I got a chip on my shoulder around the world. Uh, just not the city, but around the world like like you said, it’s a pride thing to like be able to um, put on that uniform also. BL, like it’s a blessing to be able to put on a uniform and be able to play for your home city team. And and with that, I mean, last year, uh, looked like, you know, you played some of your best basketball in summer league, uh, and you had the opportunity with the Toronto Raptors to go leave on the 2-way contract. Was that kind of bittersweet for you? Obviously, great to be able to get that 2-way contract, but also leaving home. Um, what was that just trip to Toronto like for you and and then coming back to the Bulls and kind of rejoining things last year? It was very different. Um, especially me just being away from home. um the drive or the flight was not that bad, but still just being away from home, like learning new culture out there. I mean, it was a fun and great experience for me, but at the same time, um nothing’s like home. So, uh Javon, curious your first impressions of your youngest teammate this summer, uh the Bull’s 12th overall pick, Noah Asen, as as a guard, as a setup man, a floor general. Obviously, Bulls fans are all wondering and hoping what the ceiling is for this young man. Still just 18 years old, but we’ve already seen some glimpses of the athleticism, some of the chase down blocks he’s had in these first couple of games. What What have you enjoyed about playing with him in your brief time so far? Um, like you said, he’s young, he got so much time um ahead of him, and I just feel like for with his size, his defensive attend um his defensive um active activity, defensive activity has been great. like you said, the chase down blocks, the long arms, like he’s 610. Um, I feel like he got all that down pack, but I I’m like, you know, he’s a young player. You know, young players are like anxious, a little anxious to just be out there, but I feel like once he have the time and just be calm, he’s gonna be a hell of a player. Devon, obviously your uncle, man, is a absolute legend. Marcus Liberty, one of my top three favorite high school players ever. I almost went to King, honestly. Love you, bro. Um, talk about growing up under him. Did you feel like pressure? Did you feel like you were under a shadow growing up under him? And also, how did that fuel like your work ethic and your preparation? How did he help with that? Uh, I would say a shadow. Well, I could say I embraced it. You know, I embraced the name for sure. Um, you know, everyone calls me little Li or Liberty. So, I could just embrace the name. Um, by him always by my side, always talking to me, having me push through any and everything. you know, it’s it’s it’s a good feeling to just have someone who was basically in the same position you are in. So, and Joan, before we let you go, obviously you guys have a little bit more action here in Vegas before summer league wraps up. Wondering what’s next for you. You know, we talked to you a couple years ago here in Vegas about your grind, your, you know, your goals as a NBA player. You got a taste of that with the Raptors last season. Back with Windy City this past season. What are you doing frame of mindwise, prepwise? What are you looking for in the chapter that comes after summer league? Um, I just can say my mindset don’t change really. Um, it’s still the same, you know, trying to get to the the big leagues and stay there and establish myself there. But, um, the grind don’t stop. I’m going keep working until I get to reach my goal. Hey, real quick, I want to put something on you, man. I talked to Modest. He doesn’t think Chicago pizza is the best. He thinks New York’s the best about that for us, please, man. You mean you probably need to try a tiny fiesta. You probably haven’t tried a tiny fiesta yet. Busy schedule out here. Uh and best of luck with your remaining games here in Vegas and the the chapters that follow. We appreciate it. I appreciate you. Thanks for having me. No, sir. Take care. All right, that was our chat from earlier today with Bulls summer league guard Javon Freeman Liberty. I you know every time I watch that dude ball, every time I get the opportunity to chat with him, uh I I am just rooting so hard for him. You don’t see too many people his age playing summer league ball. You see plenty of guys in their mid20s trying to fight their way to a two-way or a minimum contract in the GLeague, but he is still here summer league bulls playing that veteran leadership role on a team with a lot of young guys. I mean Noah Asen is what, like six, seven, eight years younger than him. like and he is still here with the right frame of mind and hoping like I I really do hope I don’t know if it will be with the Bulls. Um you know they they do have a bevy of guards even still after the Lonzo trade but I really am rooting hard for Javon because I love his game and I love his mindset. Yeah man. And I mean just Chicago guy like kind of through and through. Boring there. Went to Whitney Young as you mentioned also went to Depal as you mentioned where he was doing his thing for sure. Um and then you know just being on the Bulls immediately you know after that. So leaving and going to Toronto like you said was a whole different experience for him like for somebody who’s never really left you know what I mean like that. So you want the best for you know those guys. And yeah, man. Like I just remember him in college so much. Like cuz my my brother’s a season ticket holder. So I would watch him, you know what I mean? A lot. Like the dude could ball like he would score buckets in bunches, man. And that really hasn’t changed that style of game that he has. Hasn’t really changed, but you just want the best for him. Like I I still remember when before he went to Toronto, we were debating Matt like should the Bulls even let him go like cuz he was playing so well open. It was uh Adamogo and maybe somebody else. I can’t remember at the moment. But yeah, they let him go. And I was kind of curious to hear whether that was a hard thing for him or, you know, if he was excited about leaving or right just happy to get the opportunity to have a contract. Um for whatever reason, obviously came back and played, I believe it was 11 games with the Windy City Bulls towards the end of last season. I saw him around the United Center from time to time. Um but yeah, just such a nice guy. like such a honest like genuine dude um who really can play basketball and yeah I don’t know if it’ll work out for him in terms of getting that NBA contract with the Bulls obviously their roster not to say he can’t make it just the roster is already full um assuming they bring back Giddy um and so that’ll be tough but whether it’s a two-way it’s just like his impact is really felt um on in these games in summer league um and I do think as we said with modest like there’s value in having these guys around who really represent the city that they play for and who want to do that who want to step as he said. So, um yeah, I really enjoy watching him and he’s just a bucket. Like he just he can really score. He can really score the ball and I thought at times like you know he was a little trigger happy for lack of a better term like he’s willing he’s just trying to get shots up. Um but he had some really nice playmaking uh you know good passes had that one to modest that you mentioned for the dunk in fast break. like he’s I’m he’s really impressing me the way that he is stepping into a leadership role with this team and just rounding out his game. Uh shout out to DJ Screwbox in the chat who said, “Freedom’s a beast Raptors fan here. Wish he had made the squad. He’s very talented.” Yeah. Uh so there you go. I mean, somebody who saw JFL playing at the NBA level Yeah. for the 20some games that he was a Raptor down the stretch of that 23 24 season, including I think he had like eight or nine starts. Yeah. Um, so he’s shown that he can play at the NBA level. Uh, but, you know, as as we’ve discussed, ad nauseium, the Bulls rotation, you know, Kobe very much here, Josh Giddy very much here, IO here. Um, and uh, you know, even with the Lonzo trade, where are the minute? Javon Carter still on this roster. But speaking of that that carousel in the back court, I I think I think our viewers would be apoplelectic if we did not address the Yuki in the building. The Yuki elephant in the room. Their Bullhead kids are talking themselves into Bulls backup point guard for Realies. Oh no, they’re in they’re in uh and look, he had highlight reel dimes um in their games on on Friday and Saturday. some turnover issues. Um but and then more highlight reel dimes today. He also not afraid to rise and fire. He didn’t shoot well in their first game, but uh today one of three behind the arc. The one-3 he hit was a big moment. I think you know it’s summerly, but whatever. There’s Stakes Bulls trying to get their first win. The Pacers kept kind of cutting into that lead in the fourth quarter. It got it down to four, got it down to five. He hit a big three late in the shot clock to push the Bulls lead back up to eight late in that game. And of course, the crowd goes nuts at Patilia because everybody loves Yuki, but also like he may be small, but he’s mighty. He draws fouls. He went six to seven at the free throw line and he had a double double with 15 and 10 dimes. And the dimes are oh so beautiful. He didn’t run through a tall person’s legs today, which I will that was the one thing I was crossing my fingers that we’d see after some of those insane passes he had on Saturday. But I mean, I saw somebody else in the chat say like rooting for Yuki. He’s really fun. He’s really awesome. But like, you know, he he would he would get crushed in the NBA. I don’t know if you heard crushed. Yeah. But you know where he can ball out and look like one of the more impactful players positively on the floor cuz it’s for sure as hell summer league basketball without a doubt. Like everything got smoother, you know, when he came in. It’s why he finished the game, you know what I mean? Like it’s why he was out there. Everything got smoother. Um, great point guards remove thinking, man. And I was screaming at you for one pass that he because you know I love point guards, man. And he threw one pass go and I can’t remember who it was who he threw it to, but he threw him a pass to where literally your only reaction is to shoot the ball. Like that’s where he placed it. It was like, “No, dude. No dribbling, right? No dribbling, no thinking, no swing pass. Shoot.” You know what I And the ball went in and I was screaming like, “Dude, did y’all see that pass?” Like where he placed it like that is not the easy thing to do. And he did it several times. You know what I’m saying? For guys out there, you saw him thinking ahead on a ton of plays and some of those player, you know, cuz their G-League weren’t ready for that. You know what I mean? So, it would lead to a turnover. But, he was just truly impressive. I think, you know, when you’re putting together the all grit team like like he might he might be on that for the Bulls because the Bulls definitely have that. But, yeah, man. You can’t deny how well he played and I think his point guardsmanship was really truly on full display out there on the floor. Not just the scoring because he’s a crappy scorer and and that’s great because he definitely crossed someone over and hit it and hit that three which was nasty but man just him as a point guard out there you know being a general on the floor and even Matt when he was uh on the other side uh playing defense you were up screaming and yelling like how he was bodying up on guys and how he’s getting through those screens and he wasn’t letting that stop you stop him and he wasn’t letting the other guard think you know he was just in He also had that one. He he sprang a trap on a guy at the corner and that forced over a bank violation on the floor. Sure did, man. Bulls fans like these things. They love these things. They love them a lot. Absolutely. And I that’s kind of where I wanted to go with it was like we’ve seen some of the crafty passing. And I think if you’re 5’7 trying to make the NBA, you have to just be not only like an incredible passer in terms of vision, but just in terms of like willingness to try making really hard passes. Like you’ll see these like wide wrapound passes. He had one right in front of us uh sitting baseline like behind the head pass to Lachland uh who missed a layup and it’s just like wow is this guy’s like trying really creative things and I think just being that much smaller you have to be able to because those those angles that a 69 point guard like Josh Giddy has won’t be there for a 57 guard like Yuki. Um but his presence out there is just so impressive. I thought it was probably, you know, I I felt him second on this team behind Modest today and really these last couple games where it’s just like he has been coming in off the bench. He’s calming the team. He’s getting them into uh their sets and just organized, which is a really valuable thing in summer league when you don’t really have a lot of highlevel table setter type point guards who can like help guys like Madison Noah who are raw and need help creating shots to get them those shots. Uh, but the defense and just like the willingness to mix it up on that other end is so cool to me because he is fighting against 6ix9ine Johnny Fury in the post trying to get position. He is like, you know, sliding in late to help in the lane on drives and just ripping the ball away from guys, diving on the floor over and back. Um, it’s just it’s cool to see him not be afraid of any of that. And I think it’s really tough for smaller guards to make it in this league. And when I say smaller guards, I’m talking about like 63, 62, 61. He’s 5’7. And so it’s going to be an uphill battle for him, but like you cannot deny his presence on the floor is like worthy of a two-way contract, you know, like he’s just he made an impact on both ends. He was probably targeted at times, but like he makes plays on both sides. Yeah, he did. And Matt, you you hit it on the head. Like GLeague King, you understand? It’s what I see for him. But honestly, I don’t want to remove the idea of him putting on a Bulls jersey and playing in the NBA because if you can play, you can play. Like that’s all I’ve learned out all my life. I don’t care your size. Mugsy Bose already took that away from anybody. Speedy Claxton is another one. Like I mean Avery Johnson, like if you’re small, as long as you’re good, like it’s whatever. You know what I mean? Shout out. As long as you’re good, it’s whatever. But yeah, man. I’m I’m rooting for him now. Like I I’m with it now. Like before I was just like, oh man. I just want to see another grit guy getting out there. But no, he has skill with that, man. And and you can’t deny that. And it kind of reminds me of like Caruso in a certain sense. Not obviously he’s not like that caliber of player, but like when Bulls first signed Caruso, I think there was a lot of people, a lot of the fan base was just like, “Wow, they signed this like white dude who was bald and like was nicknamed the bald mamba and was like on the Lakers team and was famous.” And then he like got there and it was like, “Oh my god, this guy’s like a generational defensive player and like soant and genius.” Um, and with Yuki, it’s like he has this incredible fan base. Every single time he touches the ball, the entire stadium is like losing their minds for him. They have signs. They had signs. They’re just like getting ready to cheer anytime he’s near the play. I mean, the the crossover step back he had behind the three-point line on top of the key and he didn’t knock three down, but he dropped somebody and there was a just wave through the arena. But that’s what I’m saying. Like he’s not just like short guy who’s like trying to make it in the NBA. It’s like he actually is good. He’s a really good player. He makes an impact. Um and so yeah, I would love to see him on a two-way spot and and maybe getting some minutes with the Bulls this year. Guys in the chat saying he’s an unbelievable passer. Such a joy to watch. shame the NBA can’t find a spot for players like that. He’s not like I’m seeing comments about D. Augustine and Nate Robinson and Jeremy Lynn, like he’s not explosive like that as a scorer, but like the willingness to mix it up and the passing and like the calming nature that he has. I do think those are really valuable. Yeah. Quinton Jackson saying, “Didn’t he lead the G- League in assists?” Uh this past season, he was sixth in the G- League in assists per game at 7.8 for the Memphis Hustle. uh and did uh I think somebody else mentioned that like you know he did get a little taste of the actual you know big boy NBA um and so you know 22 games I believe yeah just like Javon Freeman Liberty some of these guys you see in summer league it’s their second third goound trying to get that first real contract to stick with the team and I mean again kind of the same way we were just talking um about what Mais said after the game Bulls fans love hustle they love guys who care they love guys who are out there putting their bodies on the line cuz they want to in and whether it was Yuki diving on the floor for that loose ball or getting hyped up, you know, hyping up the crowd like, you know, is he going to be on the Bulls 15 man squad? Probably not. Is he going to maybe be somebody who sticks around if the Bulls, you know, keep him with Windy City? Perhaps it’s the way that he plays, much like the way that Modis is out there talking trash and obviously that that draws people in. Yeah, that’s like it is effort and not relying on physical gifted ability. Yeah. Yeah, and Bulls fans love that stuff. Eat it up. Eat it up. Eat it up. Side couch Katy says, “Kirk Hinduk, how do you do?” Not the most physically gifted person in Bulls, but a legend cuz you know in Kansas. Yes. Because he tackled Rajan Rojo and he tackled LeBron. Yeah. And LeBron James. That’s right. Flip side in the chat saying heart over height. Famous words by Nate Robinson. I mean, Bulls legend Nate Robinson played one season with the Bulls and looked upon by most of the fan base as like you take a straw poll like fan favorites who weren’t like star players. Nate Robbins one of the first names out of everybody’s mouth. Yeah, it comes out of yours and we talk about it when you talk about that game for against Brooklyn. Are you kidding me? That lives in my head free. Yeah. Anytime I’m sad, I just replay the fourth quarter in overtime. So that game you can play. You can play, man. when he hit when he was in that jump ball and he just didn’t go for it and instead just like stole the tip like that that’s the kind of thing that Yuki would do like he’s not going to make that play but he’ll find a way to make that play. And speaking of earlier on in the chat I saw somebody say like if Jose Alvarado can get a spot on an NBA team like Alvarado’s like 6’2 he’s a little bit taller than Yuki is like really really small like and and it’s just like an impediment. not going to be easy for him to make the league. But um he like and his English is like not great. He’s like he’s willing to to speak in English and like do postgame interviews. And the large Japanese media contingent that is there here covering him is so kind and like they always are like no no English media gets to go first. Like we’ll we’ll ask him questions second. Um but every time we talk to him it’s like uh yeah it was fun but like I need to be better. Our team needs to be better. Um I can do more. I’m just trying to prove I belong. I’m just trying to prove that, you know, height doesn’t matter, that I can make an impact. Like his attitude is just so refreshing because he gets it. He’s heard it all. He’s like, that’s every every story about him is about his height and he’s like, I don’t want that to be the story. I just want to be a basketball player making an impact in the NBA and this is just how I have to do it. Yeah, that’s exactly right. Exactly right. Uh so I mean overall just a great response from the Bulls uh to get that uh first W under their belt today. Big game from Modis. You love that. Call it a summer league career. He’s done here at this. Oh yeah, we’re finished. No, big 21 points. Shooting confidently from inside getting to the free throw line. Shout out to him. Shout out to Yuki. Shout out to the whole squad. Billy Don the third for getting that win today. Uh I guess your team that has players on it. They have some guys. Yeah. So, uh with that, as we continue on here, CSU Bulls summer league live. Shout out to everybody still hanging out with us as it’s getting later over there in those further east time zones and darker over here on our set. Right. But you know what? when the sun goes down. Still hot. Still hot. What the hell, Vegas? Still a little warm. Uh, so the other thing we did, you know, so last year you guys had a really fun sort of like away from Thomas and Mac event which was a Call of Duty thing with a bunch of NBA players. Modest was there, Paul George and some others. You guys got a chance to chat with Modis then. My close personal friend SteveOki, shout out. That’s right. Shout out whoever that is. And uh, just kidding. That was so he was there though. I remember being there and Joey like we sat in that room to, you know, chill and Joey was like, “Dude, can’t believe we’re here. Why are we here?” I was like, “Because we’re supposed to be here, Joey.” We were sitting in like a small movie theater. It was like nine seats and me, Dave, and Joey were in three of them in the back row and like there was some Paul George and his like podcast group was there. Grant Williams. Grant Williams was there. And there was somebody else in the second row. Yeah. And I just remember like not knowing who it was. There was like long black hair right in front of me and Joey just like taps me on the shoulder and like shows me his phone underneath the table and it’s just a picture of Steveoki with like his Google pulled up and I was like, “Oh, oh, he got took some pictures and everything.” My close personal friend. Yes. So, the the trip highlight this year that had nothing to do well nothing to do with summer league basketball or hanging out and debauchery on the strip was speaking of Grant Williams, he was there playing a chess event that Derek Rose has helped spearhead uh Chesville. He did it uh alongside Magnus Carlson Carlson who goat said the other day is the greatest chess player of all time. I don’t know about all time, but Fisher would have He’s definitely the greatest in the world right now. That’s okay. He’s up there all time. The current greatest chess player, chess master, if you will. I think they use that word. Uh, did this event and more and more NBA players are getting into chess recently. So, we went to this really cool event. Shout out to uh all the people who helped us uh find our way into that building. It took place at the win here uh in Vegas and bunch of NBA players there. We saw Rajan Rondo play chess against Derrick Rose. How cool was that? Yeah. I mean, hearkening back to 2009 Bulls playoff series. Like my goodness. Yeah. Um, you know, a bunch of a We chatted with Mike. We chatted with Michael Red just sitting there in the action. Daryl Mory was playing chess with some NBA players. Uh, Quinton Post. Quinton Post. He won. He won the tournament. Warriors Warriors legend. Um, but so before all of them sat down to participate in this chess tournament, goat found himself a little chat with the Rose and shout out to Katie and Emma who were like hurting cats around this gigantic sprawling part of win to find Derek Rose and the people that let us talk to him for a little bit. So, we did drop this earlier today. You can go find it. Katie just put the full interview link on our SHO Sports YouTube channel right there in the chat of this episode. So when we’re done, pull that one up or pull it up now and new tab press pause. But here’s a little taste of it from his chat with D Rose yesterday. You were obsessed with basketball and that you kind of needed to take a step back in order to find out who you are. Was chess at all a part of that or like what kind of just in those years recovering from injury kind of losing that sense of like the ascent of how good you guys were at such a young age? What was what kind of was your process like going through all of that? I feel like chess probably was uh a small part of it. Not like the majority, but it was a small part of just how I cleared my mind. like being able to focus on what I need to focus on like rehab, making sure that uh a routine. I feel like chess helped me with like forming my routine. The older I the the more I played and understood where I was at in my career. Chess always helped. There’s a little snippet of Goat’s chat with Derrick Rose from yesterday. Again, you can watch their whole conversation with that link that Katie just put in the YouTube chat of this episode right here. Very cool to hear him talk about, you know, chess and other things to sort of reset his mind or step away from the game of basketball when it was, you know, an obsession that controlled his life in so many ways from his childhood all the way through a year, you know, Simeon and then a year at Memphis and then, you know, a meteoric rise, rookie of the year by drafted by his hometown team, number one overall, second year all-star, third year MVP, youngest in the league and and then the injury happens and then another injury happens and You can tell just by listening to him have a conversation with you yesterday, Goat, how like at peace he is, how mentally healthy and happy he seems to be these days. And that basketball is not everything. At one point in time, it kind of was everything for Derek, but he’s finding other ways to expand his mind, expand his life, and and find peace and happiness. Yeah. And so really cool to hear uh just what he was all about with this chess tournament. um and what why it’s important to him, what chess means to him. Um but also just like the way that things ended, his time in Chicago, getting traded, the injuries, not being able to come back, not being able to deliver on the such a promising start to and um the expectations that were a part of that. uh you know, being shipped away, having the injuries, all this stuff, and like him now being reintegrated into the Chicago Bulls family of having the retirement ceremony last year, having the jersey retirement upcoming this year, which he talked a little bit about. Um it’s just cool to see him kind of reemerging as a piece of the Bulls organization because that’s kind of where it feels like he needs to be. Yeah. No, agreed. and and go that was what the second or third time you’ve had a chance to chat with Derek over your years on the grind covering the NBA and uh you know you still say it you know one of your favorite people if not your favorite person to talk to. Yeah. He’s just always so like kind and open with his time like the um it wasn’t like we were breaking down any like groundbreaking things about like his life or you know he’s just talking about like his love of chess which I think is really interesting. Um, but trying to get his son into it, too. Yeah. Yeah. Like just what talking about his family, talking about like what he’s up to these days. Um, and he’s just so like eager to talk about it and willing to talk about it. I mean, we talked with him as a group afterwards. Um, and he was just like down to chat and like showed so much appreciation for us being there and wanting to talk with him. Like it’s crazy that that was the same guy who was MVP of the league in 2011. Like I, you know, I’m I’m always looking at other stuff, you know what I mean, differently. And I watched him just in that festival tournament just how he was moving. And you hit it on the head that like he is at true peace. Like it was just a a vibe of like love and peace from him through everything like just how he was even moving through it and the joy on his face and the joy he had just seeing people had come out to support him, man. And you know, even Tony Snail, shout out Tony Snell, he he was there as well. Um CJ Watson, CJ Watson was in the building. So But just seeing that and him just like kind of, for lack of a better term, in his happy place. You know what I’m saying? With um this tournament, it was just really cool to see somebody like that, bro. Like when you see somebody who do you know is at peace and just absolutely calm and everything. It’s just really great to watch and witness as as that person is navigating. Especially when you’ve seen them not be at peace through some of those things. Yeah. And all of us, you know, we watched Derek’s career from, you know, beginning and to now see him, you know, retired for many years, uh, and finding other ways to spend his time and work on his business, spend time with his family. Yeah. Um, do what brings him joy. Like the way you were talking Dave just now about the way that he moved through that space in this chess event. Like I thought back to young Derek rookie year, second year as his star ascended, hometown kid drafted to a major market team that hadn’t been really like good good in a while. And because of how great he was individually and the pieces around him, that team started to be good. And the city of Chicago and Bulls Nation, which is global, just like some maybe were kind of paying half attention and and you know, like, oh, baby Bulls, that’s kind of fun. like, oh boy, those, you know, those those, you know, like Tim pointers, whoop, you know, Phil Cartwright, Scott, Scott, like, wherever you were at the Bulls fan in those years, there is no question that Derek and his teammates on that team, wherever you were far away removed from being a diehard, every minute, everyday Bulls fan, he and they brought everyone back. Yeah. Every single Bulls fan on the planet came became again an insane like insatiable Bulls fan. Yeah. Myself included. That is why I’m sitt here doing this podcast with y’all because right around the time Derek was in his early 20s becoming the most, you know, incredibly talented and best player in the NBA. I was a young 20some living in Chicago who became obsessed with the Bulls again because of him. Yeah. And I got to say that to him yesterday, which is freaking crazy. He held it together. Freaking crazy. I mean, like, this dude means so much to the city of Chicago and Bulls fans everywhere. And I think when he was younger and a player, he didn’t want any of the noise. He didn’t want any of the attention. And he deflected a lot of it. And in in some cases, he got flack for that. Yeah. But like, you know, and you know, his BFF, his ride brother Joe has said, like none of that was fake. Yeah. It wasn’t like, oh yeah, I I just want to win. I don’t want the attention. Like no, Dererick truly meant that. Yeah. But the way that he was just he wasn’t controlling the space yesterday. Yeah. He was just floating through it. Exactly. Comfortably and confidently. Yeah. And as somebody who watched Eric from young to now, I just I really appreciated and loved seeing that version of him. No, you you hit that on the head perfectly. Like and even like just to let y’all behind the curve, like a Chicago, but especially a a black Chicagoin is very guarded. You know what I mean? Like we’re always guarded. always a fist up, you know what I mean? Just, you know what I’m saying? Protective. And Derek Rose was no different from that when his first onset. That’s why his interviews when he would get on the mic were very short, you know what I’m saying? And just wouldn’t say a lot or he didn’t speak to a lot of people. You know what I mean? Like cuz it’s just how we kind of brought up and what we’ve been through. It trust is not a thing. It’s something that has to be earned. Which is why Joe Kim knowing him was so tight. But to see him at this level, that’s growth. You know what I mean? That means he’s growth and things have happened that have changed him in a positive light, in a positive way. And now he’s more embracing and more, you know what I’m saying, showing that love, man. And much more, you know what I’m saying, talkative, you know what I mean? It’s great to sit and listen to him speak and talk and tell these stories about his feelings and how it felt and how it went. It’s just really great to see, you know, the growth of this young man from where he was to where he is, bro. Like, I’m I’m really proud of him. So again, uh, go check out the whole conversation that Goat had with Derrick Rose yesterday. Um, that’s a cool sentence. It’s something you can find on CHO Sports YouTube channel under that CHO Bulls playlist. Wow, what what an incredible cherry on top of what was already, even without that, an incredible trip out here in Vegas. Year four CHGO Bulls just about in the books here. Um, it has been an incredibly fun time as always. We appreciate everybody tuning in. Uh, there’s still more to come. Again, we’re going to drop the whole conversation the modest and goat had after today’s game bright and early tomorrow morning on the YouTube channel. There are also, you mentioned a couple of other NBA names we saw at that chess event yesterday. Did you chatted with Drew Gooden? You chatted with Tony Allen, another Chicago hoops legend, Derek Rose teammate, assist to tie his dunk on Wayne, the one and only CJ Watson. Talk to him. All of that stuff still ahead on our various socials and cho Bulls in the coming days. Um, wow, what a what a great trip, guys. Yeah, really cool trip. And shout out again to Katie and Emma. I mean, my goodness, there was so much going on for the past four days and they have been not only on top of it, but like thinking of problems that I didn’t even think could exist and solving them before they arose. And I I you know, confirm or deny, this has been the most organized summer league Las Vegas trip of the four that we’ve done. And also probably like the most that we’ve done, correct? Like there’s just been so much. And like obviously so many other people had to like help us get to these things. Like Bulls PR has been amazing working with us. Shout out to Josh and Beth and Andre who have been here helping us. Thank you. Um but yeah, I mean Emma and Katie have just crushed it. We’ve had so much to juggle and I feel like we’ve done a lot of really cool stuff. We’ve got the Derek interview out. We’ve got the modest interview coming uh the behind the scenes thing with the interviews Matt mentioned uh with Big Dave. So, a lot of really fun stuff and you guys have just been crushing it. So, thank you guys so much and hope everybody likes it and continues to turn in. That’s right. Become a die hard if you aren’t already. Um Rob asking uh in the chat, Wednesday postgame 2. Yes. So, tomorrow is our travel day home. Um but we’ll still have an episode for you guys. It is CSO rank week going on back home. The topic this year is the biggest whatifs for each team and the top 10 total whatifs in Chicago sports history. We did our own Chicago Bulls specific whatif top 10. And it will drop for y’all at 7 p.m. Central time tomorrow. And there’s an article with that about Derrick Rose and about what would have happened if he never got hurt. So that’s boom. So there it is. We will have a fresh episode for y’all tomorrow night while we are 35,000 ft up flying home. And then Wednesday when we’re back home in Chicago and the Bulls play that fourth summer league game, we will push back our usual 4 PM live central time and do a delayed show probably around Katie 700 p.m. 7:30. I think we said seven seven. Okay. Uh which should be right on the heels of that fourth bowl summer league game. So still plenty more ahead as we survive and head home. Um follow go_gotly. Read his stuff.com. become a diehard so you can read that great stuff including that Dererick Rose what if column that’s about to drop follow Big D BWL sports oh the longest pause I’m bull_p bulls queen of the controls Katy Duffy queen of the socials Emma queen of the snort hey I am ready for a quick one last Vegas dinner and then sleep Maybe some gambling before sleep. I was ready to gamble. We love you, Bull Nation, so much. We appreciate you every single time you tune in. Hit the like on your way out if you haven’t done it yet. And we will show y’all some more content tomorrow. See you. Be good. Love y’all, man. Peace.

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The CHGO Bulls crew are LIVE from Las Vegas breaking down the Chicago Bulls 114-105 win over the Indiana Pacers in NBA Summer League action! Matas Buzelis capped his second Summer League with a 28-point game, featuring a 10-13 mark at the free throw line. 12th overall pick Noa Essengue also played well, finishing with 21 points after leaving Saturday’s game with a minor leg injury. Peck, Big Dave and Will Gottlieb discuss the team’s improved play, and what Matas and Noa can take from this moving forward. Javon Freeman-Liberty joins the show to talk about being back with the Bulls after his time in Toronto. Plus, a teaser of Goat’s one-on-one chat with Matas and our fun day of chess with Derrick Rose!

0:00 Welcome to the show
1:50 Recapping the first 3 games of Bulls Summer League
3:05 Short teaser of our exclusive interview with Matas Buzelis
3:35 Matas shines in final Summer League game
18:25 Noa Essengue got POSTERIZED tonight
20:30 How Noa has improved over 3 games
33:55 Javon Freeman-Liberty joins the show
39:00 Freeman-Liberty’s performance at Summer League
43:10 Yuki Kawamura remains a fan favorite
56:00 WE INTERVIEWED DERRICK ROSE
1:06:00 Wrapping up our time to 2025 NBA Summer League

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