Chicago Sports Stuff Mailbag: Guard This!
How will the Chicago Bulls deal with their 316-man backcourt?
ODDLY ENOUGH, I’m feeling optimistic about the Chicago Bulls.
Or, more accurately, semi-optimistic.
Slender rookie Matas Buzelis looks like he could be everything that Patrick Williams isn’t. Coach Billy Donovan’s claim that he’ll be rolling out an up-tempo offense is intriguing. (I don’t necessarily believe him, but whatever.) And I have high hopes for newly-signed center, Jalen Smith.
But there’s one major area of concern. Major. Take it away, mailbag…
The Chicago Bulls’ roster is a mishy-moshy mess, especially in the backcourt. You’ve got Josh Giddey who has to get major minutes, you’ve got Coby White who has earned major minutes, you’ve got Lonzo Ball, who might or might not be able to handle major minutes, you’ve got Zach Lavine, who’ll be a two-guard disguised as a small forward, and you’ve got a bunch of other guys who might or might not deserve minutes, but probably won’t get many because of the guard logjam. How do you see this all playing out?
-Davis, Chicago
The backcourt is one area in which I’m far from optimistic. There are nine, count ‘em, nine guards on Chicago’s depth chart — and that’s including Lavine, a shooting guard who plays a small forward in the movies. Most problematically, Billy Donovan, regardless of where he’s coaching, hasn’t demonstrated a knack for delivering quality rotations, a problem that’s compounded when handed a flawed roster.
That said, Chicago does have some emerging talent, but the Bulls’ Head Coach also hasn’t consistently demonstrated that he has the wherewithal to get the best out of his professional squads. (The man was a helluva college coach, though.) During Donovan’s up-and-down (mostly down) five-year tenure in Chicago, White is the only Bull who’s made a notable leap…but did coaching play a significant role in Coby’s growth from an average guard to a Most Improved Player candidate? I vote no. White’s an obsessive gym rat, and he likely did most of the heavy lifting on his own.
In any event, here’s what we might see out of the Bulls’ plethora of guards between October 23, 2024 and April 13, 2025:
Lonzo Ball
Role: If healthy, sixth- or seventh-man. If hobbled, middle-to-low end of the depth chart
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: If healthy, 20.5. If hobbled, 12.1.
The Skinny: Listen, the entire NBA family — and that family includes you, dear reader — wants Ball back on the court. Zo thinks it’s a done deal, telling Chicago’s Media Day throng that he all but has a new knee and plans to play on opening night.
We probably won’t see the Lonzo of old for a good long while, possibly not even until next season, possibly not ever. But his mere presence will be an inspiration, so much so that neither his teammates nor his fans will be concerned about said presence messing up an already-messy rotation situation.
So go Zo, go!
Onuralp Bitim
Role: Off-the-bench three-point gunner and perky defensive irritant.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: Hopefully more than ten, but that’s kinda doubtful.
The Skinny: A friend and I were at a Bulls game near the end of last season — don’t ask me which one, they all run together — in which Chicago was getting stomped. My buddy said, “Why don’t they put in that Turkish kid?,” at which point he and I started chanting, “Bi-TIM, Bi-TIM, Bi-TIM.”
Our chant didn’t work.
But when Donovan finally threw Bitim into the rotation, the 25-year-old had moments of near-brilliance, unafraid to chuck up treys from any spot on the hardwood. He’s a streaky shooter, admittedly, but given consistent playing time and responsibility, we might be looking at a European Sam Hauser. And the Bulls could sure use a Sam Hauser, Euro or otherwise.
Ayo Dosumnu
Role: Energy dude.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: Somewhere right around his career average of 27.6.
The Skinny: What with his hard-nosed approach, palpable enthusiasm, and awesomely floppy coif, the Chicago native is a justifiable fan favorite. He’d be even more of a fan favorite if he upped his level of consistency, but he’s nonetheless a key component of the Bulls’ engine.
There’s only so much impact Ayo will be able to have as the third or fourth guard off the bench, but don’t be surprised if he wins the Bulls two or three games all by his lonesome.
Chris Duarte
Role: Impossible to tell, but we won’t spend much time thinking about it, as Duarte might not be on the Opening Night roster.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: See above.
The Skinny: Duarte was a throw-in as part of the DeMar DeRozan deal, but if he finds his rookie form (13.1 points, 36.9 from beyond the arc, 80.4% from the stripe), he could be a steal. If he remains who he was last season (3.9 points, 38.1% from the field), he could be unemployed by Halloween.
Jevon Carter
Role: End-of-the-bench garbage-timer.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: Six or less.
The Skinny: The AKME regime has made its fair share of crappy personnel calls (i.e., drafting Patrick Williams over Tyrese Haliburton); the Carter signing was certainly among the crappiest.
The front office inked the ex-Milwaukee Buck to a three-year, $19,500,000 deal, and in year one of said contract, Carter repaid them with nightly averages of 5.0 points, 1.3 assists, and 0.5 steals. And before you say, “He’s not getting minutes,” Carter’s per-36 averages were 12.8 points and 3.4 assists, not a great ROI.
Carter’s most effective role this season would be that of a piece to help facilitate a Nikola Vucevic trade.
Josh Giddey
Role: Starting point guard and fan favorite.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: The Aussie’s going to get a heavy workload — Chicago needs to decide whether to give him a pricey extension, plus they have to justify trading him for Alex Caruso — so 40-plus feels about right.
The Skinny: Giddey will aim to find his sophomore year studliness, when he averaged 16.6 points, 7.9 boards, and 6.2 assists. (Some quick math tells us that’s within spitting distance of a triple-double, which, if maintained, certainly wouldn’t suck.)
Donovan will give the 21-year-old a ton of rope, so we should know by December whether said rope will strangle him.
Zach Lavine
![[GOTTLIEB] Can Zach LaVine reacquaint, reinvent himself with Chicago Bulls in 2024?](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F536680a5-5096-428d-a86b-1c608a5ae363_1920x1080.jpeg "[GOTTLIEB] Can Zach LaVine reacquaint, reinvent himself with Chicago Bulls in 2024?")
Role: All-Star wannabe
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: If it’s up to Lavine, 47.5. If it’s up to Donovan, 37.5.
The Skinny: After a summer of rehabbing and reading shit-tons of trade rumors, Lavine claims he’s fully healthy, in a positive head space, and ready to contribute. Lavine is nothing if not forthcoming, so I believe him.
I dig Zach as both a player and a person — I think we all do — and if it weren’t for his albatross-y contract, nobody would be asking that he be traded. He’s bringing in $43,031,940 this season, $45,999,660 in 2025-26, and $48,967,380 in 2026-27, if/when he picks up his player option, huge bucks for a player who’s never truly impacted winning.
I sure hope he rediscovers his All-Starry-ness. But if he doesn’t, let the trade deadline speculation begin.
Dalen Terry
Role: A bust-to-be looking to salvage his career.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: Not so much.
The Skinny: Terry is a high-motor kid, a great teammate, and an impressive off-the-court figure. Thing is, he’s not particularly good at NBA basketball.
The bottom end of Terry’s draft year (2022) was solid, so Bulls watchers wince whenever they think about which useful role players AKME passed up: Andrew Nembhard, Walker Kessler, Vince Williams, Jake LaRavia, Christian Braun, and so on.
This season, Terry will be playing for his professional life.
Coby White
Role: Go-to guy and borderline All-Star.
Guesstimated Minutes Per Game: Coby’s a perpetual motion machine, so 40-and-change. Easily. And justifiably.
The Skinny: Lavine is the Bulls’ biggest name, but White is the Bulls’ best player — and knowing how he operates during his summers, one can expect him to roll into the season with a couple of new offensive moves and a pile of added defensive prowess.
Even though he’s ceding point guard duties to Giddey, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to run the offense, something he digs, and something at which he’s pretty darn good.
The only untouchable player on the entire roster, the North Carolina product could end the season as a top-15 guard.