We All Bleed Red - A Chicago Bulls Dynasty

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Bleed Red Radio

Dan Scott: Welcome to Bleed Red Radio's first show. I'm your host, Dan Scott, here with me is my co-host, Paul Richards. For our first show, we will just be discussing our expectation and predictions for the Bulls this season as well as other NBA teams.

Paul Richards: Why don't we get underway then, shall we? Let's go ahead and discuss the situation in Chicago. We are obviously in rebuilding mode, expecting to get a top pick in this year's draft. I think the two issues that will be addressed is what to do with both Robin Lopez and Nikola Mirotic. Lopez could be used as trade bait for a mid-level team for some young players, as well as to dump off his 2-year $28.15 million deal. Mirotic, on the other hand, needs to be dealt with in order to give more playing time for Bobby Portis and rookie Lauri Markkanen. He would be excellent for a contending team in need of a stretch 4.

Dan: Right, I can't wait to see Lauri on the floor this year, he is my sleeper pick for rookie of the year actually.

Paul: Really?

Dan: Oh yes, Markkanen is a well-developed rookie. He looks to be the next Dirk. He was absolutely fantastic at Arizona as a freshman. He can play post and perimeter offensively and can also get at the boards.

Paul: Hm, I think Lonzo Ball for the Lakers will be this year's rookie of the year. He’s such an amazing passer and shooter. Seems like he was destined to be a Laker. Let’s go ahead and look at the schedule for the Bulls for the first week of October. We will be playing at Toronto and vs. San Antonio for our first two games. What do you think about the two matchups, Dan?

Dan: Definitely a tough opening week for us, after those two games we have to play Cleveland. We do not, though, have the backcourt to handle both DeRozen and Lowry, nor do we have the frontcourt to deal with LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol, not to mention Kawhi Leonard. We will most likely begin 0-2 to start the season. Definitely will be having a tough first month since we also do not have Zach LaVine, as he is expected to miss the first 2-4 weeks with a broken kneecap, nor will we have Cameron Payne for 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.

Paul: Oh that's right. We will be running with Kris Dunn as our starting point guard, unfortunately. Finally, we will end with the Bulls' depth chart and we will return after the first week of the NBA season, thank you, and don't forget, we all bleed red. This is Paul and Dan signing off.

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Bleed Red Radio

Oct. 15th-21st

Dan: Welcome back to Bleed Red Radio. I am your host, Dan Scott, and with me, of course, is my co-host, Paul Richards. Today we will recap the first week of the NBA season. We are currently 0-2, losing to the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs.







Paul: The Bulls were absolute trash this game. Somehow Jonas was able to grab 18 rebounds. Not to mention the whole Raptors team grabbed 18 offensive boards! Our bigs have to step up if we are ever going to improve. Nikola Mirotic, however, was a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable game for the Bulls. He will certainly be our number 1 scoring option going forward. Kris Dunn was also impressive with his start scoring only 10 points. Guard play must improve, especially our three-point shooting, which was terrible. I have no idea why Fred was letting his team keep chucking up threes when they couldn't make any to save their lives.



Dan: Agreed. We certainly fared better against the San Antonio Spurs, though, despite the same result. Losing 83-76 in a game that had absolutely no offense whatsoever.







Dan: Lauri Markkanen was able to play better this game, despite playing against a good power forward in Aldridge. He scored 14 points in 17 minutes. Not bad for only your second game on a team that doesn't know what offense means. Do you have any good takeaways from our first week, Paul?



Paul: Mirotic has most certainly increased his trade value with his scoring outputs.



Dan: HA! Let's go ahead and check around some of the other standout games in the NBA. Kyrie Irving played great against his former team in his first game as a Boston Celtic. He scored 22 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and got 6 dimes. LeBron and company were able to get the job done, however, winning 113-109 thanks to the game's leading scorer, Dwyane Wade, with 23 points on 9/21 shooting. The Rockets also won against the Warriors, 116-112 with the help of James Harden's double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds, not to mention his 7 assists. Steph Curry did, however, play phenomenal. He recorded 41 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. KD also added 25 points of his own.



Paul: The most surprising game of the week, however, was most certainly the Nets/Pacers game with the Nets destroying the Pacers 125-86, a 39 point victory. The Nets had 6 players score in the double-digits, with Crabbe and Mozgov both scoring 22 points.



Dan: Well that will be it today, folks, this has been our summary of the very first week in the NBA season, tune in next week for our analysis of next week as our Bulls play the Cavaliers, Hawks, and the Thunder. Oh boy. And remember... we all bleed red. See you next week.

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Bleed Red Radio
Oct. 22nd-28th

Dan Scott: Welcome back everybody to Bleed Red Radio. I am your host, Dan Scott, and with me is my co-host, Paul Richards. We have now completed the second week of the NBA season. Our Chicago Bulls are currently 1-5, losing to the Cavaliers, then beating the Hawks, but then lost again to the Thunder. And, actually, we have just received an update on Zach LaVine's health. According to head coach Fred Hoiberg, LaVine should be back to play again the Toronto Raptors on November 7th. This is fantastic news. We will finally get to officially see him play in a Bulls jersey. He will also give us another scoring threat besides Mirotić. We have also received notice that Dunn, after is poor start on the year will be benched in favor of Grant until LaVine returns. Dunn has been fine in most areas of his game so far, but he has been very turnover prone, average 3.8 turnovers a game. He actually had 7 and 4 turnovers in his last 2 starts, against the Hawks and Thunder, respectively. Grant should be able to play decent enough the next three games until LaVine comes back.







Paul: While our Bulls disappointed us this week again, let's look at the Thunder's big three. They are currently sitting at 5 and 1 after beating the Bulls. The big three of Westbrook, George, and Anthony look fantastic. All of them have been scoring over 20 points each game. They have meshed very well and very quickly. They look to be a top-3 team in the West and look to be another contender for the Western Conference Finals besides Golden State and Houston. The Thunder should bring a intriguing situation to the West.

Dan: Yes, yes. The Thunder will most definitely be playing the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals in my opinion, with them probably losing in 6 or maybe 7 games. They will certainly bring some competition with their offense, not to mention Steven Adams' fantastic play as a center. He is a terrific rebounder and defender. He helps put the team together. They would not be as good as a team if it weren't for Adams' consistency as their center. Now let's go back over to the Bulls, rookie Lauri Markkanen has played fantastic in his first 5 games, averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists a game while averaging 20 minutes a game. He will most certainly soon take the starting spot as the Bull's power forward before the All-Star break. He is just too skilled to be coming of the bench. The Bulls must trade Mirotić soon so Markkanen can play more minutes.

Paul: Woah! I just got word from media sources that the Bulls have just traded Robin Lopez and a 2021 2nd Round Pick for the Maverick's Dwight Powell and 2018 2nd Round Pick. This will most certainly open up our offense with Powell at center. He is much more athletic than Lopez, so with him and LaVine in our starting lineup we can be much more dangerous on the fast-break and in the pick-and-roll. The only negative about losing Lopez is his defense, although Powell isn't below-average in that area and should be competent. I am now guessing that Mirotić will be up next for trading. Hopefully soon.

Dan: That will be it for today folks, tune in next month as we will be analyzing November's games. This has been Dan and Paul for Bleed Red Radio, and remember, we all bleed red.