Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It & Julia Poe talks Sky and Bulls (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

In the third hour, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment. After that, Tribune reporter Julia Poe joined the show to break down the Sky’s selection of UCLA wing Gabriela Jaquez with the No. 5 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday evening. She also discussed Bulls head coach Billy Donovan’s future with the organization.

This hour is being brought to you by Vasectomy Clinics of Chicago. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it. Number one. What hurt more from watching last night's Cubs in Philly's game?

Former Cub, Kyle Schwabre, going yard twice against Javier Assad, or Miguel O'Maya playing first base. It's a great question. You guys know that, I've always got a little bit of a side eye when it comes to Javier Assad. I get a little nervous watching him. But, but the answer is the Schwab, the Kyle Schwerber, the two home runs that just got things off to a crooked start

against Javier Sad and the Cubs, especially that first home run that he hit that Ian Hap even pointed it out where he was essentially off balance, Landon on his back leg, yet somehow he does Schwerber things, and that gets everybody emotional, including yours truly. And I feel like I've had a pretty level head about Kyle Schwerber through the years when he was non-tendered because things were not going well for him, nor were they going well for the Cubs offense at the time.

But I feel like I'm starting to lose that argument in my own head that the Cubs should have projected better than I was projecting at the time for Kyle Schwerber. So it is Schwerber for my answer. So to me, I understand why there are two options because you had to have something to put up against Kyle Schwerber, but nothing. Nothing was more painful than watching Kyle Schwerver get out here, and if you throw me a pitch and I swing at it, I'm going to drill it. The one time he didn't do that, he popped up on the left side of the infield. But other than that, it was like, I'm going to get on base.

And if it's by my own power, I'm going to take my time jogging around the bases. Remember, in one of his at-bats last night, he went up there and saw four straight balls, like nothing over the plate and took his walk. And another bat, he saw one pitch, and it hit him. I think the approach with Cal Schwerber should be this. Don't pitch to Cal Schwerber. It's very simple. Unless you have overpowering stuff and get him off balance,

once he's in a hitter's count, you're pitching around him. okay and I know Bryce Harper's right there behind him but come on man I believe that Kyle Schwerber there's a curse with Kyle Schwerber you just avoid him at all cost the Schwerber curse has been born

they didn't want him he went away he hit bombs for the next team and was an all-star so in our lifetime we're not sniffing another world series in our lifetime that's not what I'm saying again there's a curse

well I don't know what the curse means the curse means don't pitch to him avoid the curse with the end result. I told you about his over 900 OPS against the Cubs. Yeah. Career-wise. Can I throw a 1-A question to the first question?

Oh, sure. What you got? And that is, do you think that Charlie Barnes hit him on purpose when he came up in the sixth inning after two homers and a walk? Do you think that Charlie Barnes, who hadn't thrown a major league pitch for probably a year plus comes into the game, a recent call? But people are like, who's who? 30-year-old Charlie Barnes called up by the Cubs on April 12th.

Hit Swarber. I do not believe that Charlie Barnes is averse to hitting Kyle Schwerber. Because he was excused during the broadcast, and I kind of like went with it. But I don't know. Was he excused? By the broadcast. By the Phillies broadcast? No, I know about the Phillies broadcast.

Well, there you go. There you go. I think that would be a very different reaction. Because logically, then, it would not necessarily make for a guy like first time pitching. He just wants to come out there and be good and be effective and earn his way back into the bigs and all this stuff. And then he hits him. I got to believe he might have taken one for the team. Mr. Grota.

Grota. Am I saying that right? Grota. That's good. I got to say it with anger too. To growl. Yeah. I don't know why.

Grota. Grota. I can tell you about a time. Can we harken back to a time in which Major League Baseball had managers who went to the phone, called the bullpen. and gave very explicit instructions to what the reliever was supposed to come in and do. Yeah.

Yeah. You think that was part of it? I don't know to say it was. I'm just telling you, I remember times like that, and I don't think those times really went out of style. Yeah, well, and then Miguel Amaya got hit. No funny stuff.

Like, Schwerber was cool when he got hit, but it might have been on purpose. And Miguel Maya was cool when he got hit. Take your base. You know why? Because they needed bass runners because they needed runs. Yeah, we'll take that. Five on it

Number two Top whitesats Picking prospect Noah Schultz is set to make his highly anticipated MLB debut tonight against the race at Rayte Field. How many innings do you expect to see out of Schultz?

Hey Ray, what's the name of this segment again? Five on it. Give me the five. Give me the old school 1990s Arby's Marshall Harris order. Five for five. Wait, five for five was your RV's order? Oh, five.

Five or five? Rosby sandwiches for $5. And then I crushed them on my break when I was working at Win Dixie. I could see it too. You had the meats. I've watched you eat, man. There was an Arby's in the parking lot, and there was a Taco Bell in the parking lot. So every time I would make a choice, Arby's or Taco Bell.

And if it was Taco Bell, I'm doing the 69 cent soft tacos. And I'm doing 10 of those. And if not that, then I eat the five for five. Did you ever do a combo order? No, because that five for five, that's value right there. And then the tacos, same thing. Ten tacos, that price was legendary back then. But no, I expect Noah Schultz to fight his way through five innings.

Just want to remind you, he hadn't thrown more than 60 pitches in his first two minor league starts of the year. And then he maxed out with 73 pitches his last time, out 52 of them for strikes. He should be well rested. He should have the confidence. And we'll see how he does. but I expect him to go, if he doesn't go five innings, I feel like it was somewhat of a failure for Noah Shultz. I wouldn't say that because I was leaning towards four.

I mean, just be conservative for the sake of being conservative. I'm not saying that he's going to come out there and get hit up. As a matter of fact, I think right off the bat, he's going to be very successful. I mean, this guy, like, just from an appearance standpoint, 6'10 coming at you, right? Like, that's, this is, he touches 99 on the radar. He's got a crazy slider. I mean, think there's another guy who was 610.

I believe his number was in the 50s. His name was Randy Johnson. Is that what we're doing? Is that what we're doing? I'm not doing that. I'm just saying like just from a pure aesthetic, just from the, look at this guy. I think that there's, he's going to, I think he'll be a little ahead against, against these batters early on before the adjustment occurs. So you know what, Marshall Harris?

I'm going to give you five innings as well. I'm going five innings. for Noah Schultz. I was thinking four, but the more I think about it, I think Schultz has the edge, and even though the socks are going to be watching every little drip of his mechanics and emotion

and everything that is going on out there, I'm going to say five innings as well. What did the five fingers say to the face? Do you know the answer to that question? Are those? I don't know. Smack! You never watched Chappelle Show? I did. I did. I guess I don't remember that

or maybe I missed that episode. Come on, man. I'll catch up when I get home today. I'll play that for you. It's fine. Five on it. Number three. As you know, this is five on it.

I won't afford three the score with Marshall Harris and Mark Grody. Here's question number three. The Blazers take on the suns tonight in the NBA playing tournament. A thing Chicago Bulls fans know a lot about. If Portland beats Phoenix, the Bulls will get the Blazers first round pick in this year's NBA draft. How invested are you in this result? Oh, I'm very. very invested. I will probably

watch that game for at least an hour. I will probably watch it in real time and be really excited. But no, I mean, I'm sorry. First round picks never go out of style. So, like, and let's face it, like, it's the

NBA gods. I feel like the Bulls have something coming to them at this point. Yeah, they're going to rig the lottery for the Bulls and the Bulls are going to get top four pick. They're probably going to get the number one pick. Do you really believe in lottery rigging, don't you are... Do you not? Well, I don't know.

I'm sorry. Remind me. How did you get deer gross? Do you think that was all the setup? Just because 0.8 or whatever it was? LeBron James does. He said it. He said it on ESPN. He believes it. Back to Cleveland. But wouldn't the NBA be more desirous of LeBron James being at a big market or a bigger, more exciting place?

He was basically home. Yeah? So what? It's Cleveland. Do you think Cleveland's cool? Wow. Okay, Joe. Okay. No, I'll be very invested. It would be very cool if we are here talking about the Bulls having two first-round picks tomorrow. It would be much cooler if the Bulls win the draft lottery. But yes, I will take both of those picks. Look, I'll watch the game.

Sleepy, Sleepy, Marshall will not be watching. Yes, I'm going to text you. I'm still up, Grody. Here's what's going to happen. Really? You're going to fall off at halftime. Maybe. You're going to fall off at half time.

You're telling me you're going to be awake at 1030 tonight. Sleepy, sleepy, Marcel. That was another thing that was born at Cirker's organization. Casino in Las Vegas or on the way to Circa Resort Casino is this little Diddy by Grody. No Diddy. But that was this little song by Grody about Marshall falling asleep. I kept singing it to Ray when you were around. I'm like, where's Marshall?

He's sleepy, sleepy is where he is right now. Hey, man. I need rest. Hey, man. People ask me all the time. Like, how do you stay so fresh looking? Yeah. Young looking.

Right. And I'm just like, well, you know, I drink my water and I get plenty of rest. Yeah, you do look good. talking about like I'm sorry guys sleepy sleepy Ray'll tell you we took an Uber to the airport Ray did I go to sleep in that Uber? You fell asleep and then I also fell asleep and then we got

to the airport and I think you asked me as like oh are you able to sleep on play I was like Grotie you don't understand I'm gonna stay awake long enough for them to ask me about am I willing and able to help because you know exit row and as soon as that happens I'm out bro yeah he was it's over and there he was oh sleepy sleepy with his little pillow

yes he was I didn't have a pillow I'm a real man I raw dog that flight. I was leaning on the window. I'm good. I'll be honest with you. It's really just as one who struggles to sleep. I'm just a little envious. But I also like the song, though.

It's fun. Like your shirt, green with envy. Wait, are you Marshall Harris? Are you also saying you don't listen to anything? Raw dog in the flight is means you got nothing. You're just listening to flight sounds.

On the way there, I went to sleep. I'm not listening to anything. Straight to bed, yo. I was so antsy. The entire trip, like, I couldn't, I don't know. I don't know. I just, I needed, I was like, I think I went through

Instagram reels for like an hour straight. Like, it just like, my algorithm was just filling me up with goodness. I couldn't, yeah, it was a weird trip. I was much more calm on the ride home for some reason. Anyway. Five on it. Number four. How curious are you about the new look, Chicago Sky?

After they selected Guard slash Forward, Gabriella Lajquez, with the number five overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft. I am as curious about the sky as I have been since I moved to Chicago, and that includes a Sky Championship run, because I figured that team looked like a championship team. I don't know what to make of this Sky team. Now, they should, on paper, on paper, they should be a better team than they were last year.

That's not saying a lot because they didn't make the playoffs last year. and over half of the league makes the playoffs. But I got to tell you, at first when they took Hotkes, I was like, is this recency bias? Because she came out here, balling out against Don Staley in North Carolina, or excuse me, South Carolina, with 21 points a game high, 10 boards, five dimes in the championship game on a UCLA team that went 37 and 1.

She was one of five UCLA players taken in the first round. That's, if you don't know, doing the math at home. Five out of the 15 picks in the first round were from UCLA. I was a little shocked that she was the second UCLA player taken. Laura Betts, of course, was taken with the fourth overall pick, as expected, to the Mystics. But I started thinking about it. I was like, one thing I know about Gabriella Hikaz is she is a glue girl, like the original,

she could do everything. High basketball IQ. She will fight for the board. She will share. She's a floor spacer shooting 39% her season. year at UCLA. And when you look at what they have on the roster, Skyler Diggins scores.

You've got Rakea Jackson, still coming to her own. You've got Dijanae Carrington. You've got pieces here. And if the point guard, if the all-time leader and assists in the WMBA is healthy, I think this guy might have something in it. So I am very, very curious to see how good they are

relative to the other teams that are supposed to be. good in the W this year? Well, I like what they did mainly because of what they had done earlier that pissed off the WNBA world, including you and Layla, who are very high aptitude sky talkers

with the Angel Reese thing. The sky, like we were just talking about with the Chicago Bulls, needing a win. And I think that by drafting Gabriella Jockquez, that is a win for them. I don't know if it's so much a win with the

And we'll talk to Julia Poe coming up in just a little bit, as a matter of fact, about some of these other players, Letitia Latimore out of Ole Miss, Joni Morgan, the Guard out of Kentucky as well. I don't know what sort of what they will add immediately. But anything, anything to get this franchise, which apparently has been a joke, in the right direction, is good to me. Number five. And just a quick note on Gabriella Hockes and her brother,

Jaime Hakez, that plays for the heat. That's the first Mexican-American brother and sister duo to play in the NBA and WNBA. So shout out to them. Let's go. Hell yeah. It's 5 on it at 104.3, the score. Here's our final question. Have you ever had a medical issue that made you feel like Pacer's star Tyrese Halliburton sounded

talking about his bout with shingles? I've lost part of my eyebrow. My eyes always like swollen from itching it. I have good days and bad days, but for the most part it's bad days. So it has not been any fun. I'm still honestly dealing with it. I've been taking, you know, unbelievable amounts of medication to try to get rid of it.

It hasn't worked. It's obviously caused me to, like, gain weight and look a little bigger. And so that's been a topic of conversation through social media and stuff, but what can you do? But, yeah, no, it's not been fun, and hopefully it goes away here pretty soon, you know?

Just the, it's hard to really tell, like nerve pain. I've been having nerve pain now for two months and in the world of nerve pain for people who've had that before it's not very long so I hope it's hope it goes away soon but there's no way to really know Paisers star Tyrese Halliburton talking about his bout with shingles has you guys ever experienced anything to the level of that in terms of medical issues well I'm really glad

that I finally let my doctor talk me to getting that shingles shots which I'd do like every else I don't need that I'm glad that I got because anybody you ever hear who is had shingles just says it's like the greatest nightmare ever. The answer is no. When I was a young child, poor little Mark, poor little boy, Mark, had something called rheumatic fever, like a heart murmur. And for like a couple of weeks, I couldn't walk.

Yeah, it was like really weird that I had this. How old were? I was probably like, I was like fourth grade, something like that. And I, yeah, it was weird. And I should probably be more alarmed about it. but I couldn't walk and it was very sad and very scary, but I'm okay. I'm here now. Clearly.

I'm here. But that's the only thing that I could think of that was comparable to some of the pain and the weird stuff that I was going through when poor little Mark Rode, he had to deal with that. Okay, so when you're talking about losing part of your eyebrow because of the swelling in your eye and, you know, shingles can lead to vision loss. I got a hair guy for him. I know you do. Yeah.

Dan's hair. But the fact that he's had to get Botox to try to fix what's going on with his eye, and this has been going on for two months. Like he, in theory, is trying to recover from an Achilles injury. We know how serious those can be, especially in the sport of basketball, stop and start. But I started to think about, have I ever been in this kind of a cringe situation? Two words for you. Dry socket.

And anyone who's ever had a dry socket will tell you they understand my pain. Dry socket. So I had a wisdom, teeth out, all my wisdom. some teeth out. And basically the nerve, if it doesn't say stitch sutt while it heals, it's open to air. And everything touches that nerve. And it's so painful. Okay. It is beyond painful. That's why I tell you, don't use straws. Don't laugh too hard. Don't do anything crazy. After you get a teeth, a wisdom tooth pulled. Okay. Because it's leaving like this impacted area where there was a tooth. And now it's just empty. It's got to heal over. And so, yeah, the dry socket was bad. It

It sounds like what Tyrese Halliburton might be going through, but it's actually the Halliburton shingles thing is worse. And I guess I need to get some kind of shingles shot too. What about that gout? Does that cause? Gout's painful, but it's manageable. The difference is gout, if I just stay in one place and don't move, I'm cool. The dry socket?

Yeah. You breathe and you can feel it. Dry socket. What was he talking about on the plane earlier that he was doing? Dry something or other? What was it? Oh, I'm sorry. Rod doggie.

Raw doggie. You never heard that? Dry socket raw dog over here. You go for a run raw do dogging, no music, no listening to anything. I can't do that. I can't do that. You can't raw dog? No, I got to have some adrenaline flowing.

Always some protection with groaning. No raw dog. I got to protect that raw dog. That's exactly right. That's not how that, okay, you know what? This is jump to shark, perverververfully speaking. Is that it? Is that it?

That's it? We must end it now. For the FCC's sake Before they start calling this phone Yet to the break Coming up next We will talk Chicago Bulls We will talk Chicago Sky

With our friend Julia Poe From the Chicago Tribune It's next On Rahimi Harrison Grody On the score Rahimi Harry Harrison Grody I'm not a fan of any team

I'm just a fan of being right Middays 10 to 2 On 104 3 the score With the fifth pick in the 26 WMBA draft, the Chicago Sky select Gabriella Hawkez, UCLA. Hey, everyone. I am super excited to be a part of the Chicago Sky. This is a dream come true. Can't wait to be there in Chicago and meet all you guys.

Very cool. There is a new number one in Chicago with the Chicago Skies. You just heard, Gabriella Hawkezz has the number. the number five overall pick. Yeah, you got it. Out of UCLA. I know Marshall Harris, so you are very pleased with the pick.

And let's find out from somebody who covers the Chicago Sky. She also covers the Chicago Bulls. So we have a dual-purpose guest here. It is our friend Julia Poe. Again, Bowles and Sky Beat Writer for the Chicago Tribune. She is on X all the time. at by Julia Poe, P-O-E. Julia, how are you?

Thanks for being on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Hey guys, thanks for having me on. So what do you think? What did you think about this guy's first round pick? Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, this was maybe one of the first kind of surprises of this draft. Hawkes was always kind of, you know, predicted to go a little bit lower out of this UCLA group that ended up leaguing potentially six players last night, which is a very impressive feat as a USC grad.

even I can acknowledge that one. Painful as it is. But, you know, when you look at what the sky are trying to construct with this roster, kind of the timeline to scope that they have, Hawkes makes a lot of sense. She fits the bill of kind of this front offices type for a player in terms of length,

in terms of two-way play, her shooting, and also something that you're going to hear about a lot for characters. This is a leader. This is a winning player. This is a player that meant a lot to that UCLA program. And so I think with the culture that this team is trying to build all of that kind of makes sense in terms of the complete package. Okay, so you probably feel the same way I feel, Julia, about this being the biggest surprise,

or at least the earliest surprise in the draft and the W, because as you mentioned, six players taken from UCLA five in the first round, and she was the second one off the board. I thought Kiki Rice might have a higher WMBA ceiling than Hockes because of what are the top five pick? You're looking for someone who can be a star. and I don't know that I viewed her as that even though she was coming off that big performance in the national championship game. Yeah, definitely. I think that you know, you can look at it a couple of ways.

Rice would have made sense, I think, from the perspective that the sky don't have a future at the point guard position right now. They have two older veterans, Skyler Diggins and Courtney Vandersute filling that position. So Rice would have made a lot of sense if you're looking at, okay, let's kind of make sure that we have a young developing player behind those bets. But that's not what the sky were looking for. They were looking for what they consider to be a winning player. And Hawkes, what she can fill on the wings, makes sense for a team that is trying to make the playoffs this season, that wants to make a playoff run this season,

and kind of has very lofty goals for what they can do in year one of this rebuild. So I don't think, I think that you're right, if you were surprised by it. I was surprised by it. I wasn't necessarily even sure about the pick at first when it came through. But I think that when you kind of look at the logic of how this guy have been doing this build, it does at least make sense for what they're thinking. Now it's up to Hawkes to show that her defense can make it over into the WMBA and also that her shooting can just be as consistent as possible.

Those are going to be kind of the big factors for her to be able to make an impact right away. Yeah, she's considered a three-level score, shot 39% from three-point range in her senior season and recently led UCLA to his first NCAA championship with 21 points, 10 rebounds in the title game. Julia Poe, there were a couple other draft picks, obviously, by the Chicago. Chicago Sky taking Latasha Latimore out of Ole Miss the forward and Tony Morgan the guard out of Kentucky

are they contributors for the Chicago Sky? They're going to have a big challenge coming into the training camp something that folks who maybe aren't as familiar with the WMBA don't maybe realize is how few roster spots there are. There are 12 spots.

Right now the sky have one open and Hawkes is going to try to do her best to make sure that she holds onto that as obviously the front runner for that position. So I think what we're going to see is some training camp battles. I think that the two other players drafted that you mentioned, they can come in and put some pressure on the last year's draft picks, Maddie Westfeld and Haley Van Liff. They both play similar positions.

And so they're going to come in and really compete for that. But, you know, second and third round WMBA draft picks are typically really just doing their best to fight for either, again, that 12th position, training camp contracts, or maybe some of these new player development contracts that we've seen at. it in. So that's going to be kind of the focus for those too. Julia, of course, we know how popular Angel Reese is in the country, but was as a Sky member, I mean, you could see ticket prices and everything else. And I'm curious as to if you think this kind of shift away from her in making that trade with the mystics and then the pieces

they brought in, how good can this Sky team be now in this new addition? Yeah, I think, you know, when you talk about the popularity, something that's interesting to me. And this is from an outside perspective. I did not grow up in Chicago, but I've been here for about five years now. The thing that I really feel like I've learned about Chicago is that Chicago does love stars. Anyone would love, you know, a dynamic player like an Angel Reese coming in and joining their program. But they also care a lot about winning. And I think that that was something that we have seen with the sky is that this team has always done its best with the fan base with popularity in the city when it can pair any level of star power, whether that, you know, is a Candace Parker or going back to

players in the past before that, you have to pair that startup with winning and this team was not winning. So I think that what we see from this new roster rebuild is balance. I think that one thing that I like to see in a roster is that when I look at this roster, I can tell just on paper how they're going to play. You can look at the balance. You can look at the construction and you can say, okay, they're going to stretch the floor. They're going to play fast. They're going to pull the floor out and let Camilla Cardoso kind of cook a lot in the low block on her own. They're going to crash the boards. They're going to take a lot of threes. And I can just tell that even without kind of talking to Tyler Marsh and Jeff Tagliaka,

who confirmed that last night after the draft, you can just tell how they're going to play from looking at the roster construction. And that is something that last year's roster and the year before that just really did not have. Talking to Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune, Bulls and Sky Beat Rider for the Tribune right here on Rahimi Harrison Grody.

On Chicago Sports Radio 670, the score. Julia, obviously, as I just mentioned, covers the Chicago Bulls on the Daily as well. where are we today as far as the bulls having and acquiring and paying for and getting new leadership atop the organization? Yeah, I mean, step one happens this week, which is the much talked about sit-down conversation between Billy Donovan and ownership. And I wrote about that in the Tribune this week. It's going to decide so much about the future trajectory of this team, whether or not there's, head coach from the last six years decides to recommit to a rebuild with new ownership.

And there's a lot of different ways to look at it. I know a lot of folks have acknowledged that it is, you know, not always the most traditional way to go about things to keep your coach and bring in new executive leadership. But, you know, Bull's ownership is very high on Donovan. He's well respected, obviously, throughout the program, throughout the franchise. And so I think right now that's the big thing for this week. They need to sit down. They need to have that conversation.

and then Billy has a big old decision to make. What do you think is most likely out of these options, Julia, Billy taking a year off and walking away from the Bulls, Billy staying as the head coach, or Billy going upstairs, whether it's as the new leadership or in some other advisory role? What do you think the most obvious of those options is after having followed him the back half of the season

and listening to his post-game press conference after the final game? Yeah, definitely. the general sense that I have gotten is that Donovan has certainly been offered the opportunity to go upstairs. That does not seem to be within his interests right now. He wants to keep coaching. He loves coaching. For that reason, I personally have a very hard time imagining him taking a year off. I just can't imagine Billy Don't have been going like five days without watching film.

It's just hard to picture. Don't know what that looks like. Maybe he can do it. I don't know. I know he has to take a break at some point. but I do think that it is more likely between those two options that he would either stay in as coach or go somewhere else to coach. I just cannot, like I said, I can't fully imagine him taking a year off.

He has had a very difficult year personally as well as as a coach. So, you know, there might be a necessity for just taking a breather in that sense. Maybe some of the other coaching jobs that are open aren't appealing to him. So he has to take a year. But I think that one way or another, he's going to be coaching. and I would expect him to be coaching in the 26-27 season. Just hard for me to imagine kind of an avenue where that does not occur. Okay, my brain can't compute, you know, the best and the brightest of executives

wanting to come where they're being told you have to have this guy as your coach. You can't bring your own guy. How much do you think that handcuffs what the Bulls are going to be able to get as far as what is a desired position, leader of one of 30 jobs to lead a front office in the NBA versus. is, you know, getting a guy who says, I'm okay with this. I mean, it seems like it's a bad place to start. Yeah, I'm kind of of two minds of it.

And I think I kind of end up landing somewhere in the middle. On one hand, Billy Donovan, like I said, is very well respected. He's an excellent player development coach. Very few people around the league would disagree with that. I think a lot of executives who would be interested in a job like this would also be interested in working with Billy Donovan as a coach. So I think that sometimes that can be played up a little bit too much. On the other hand, I have a hard time imagining any truly top-level elite executive worth

or salt who would be comfortable being told, hey, you know the biggest decision that you can make as an executive? We're taking that away from you. I just, I don't think that that is how these really top-level, and I'm talking like cream of the crop executives operate. And I would worry with the issues that the Bulls have had with past, and with a lack of kind of that decisiveness over the years, I wouldn't really worry if a new hire comes in

and is content to take the backseat on that decision, even if at the end of the day they're like, yeah, I would work with Billy. I'm fine doing that, but I don't want to inherit coaching, if that makes sense. So I'm of two minds with it. I think that sometimes who Billy is as a coach gets played down too much in that conversation, but I just really, really struggle to believe that that top-level executive is just going to let that decision be taken away from them. Well, the other part of this, too, is there's no way Billy Donovan doesn't get that as a veteran head coach.

And then my last question about Billy Donovan, too, is no matter what happens here, unless there is a miracle and there's signings left and right and the Bulls just hit on everything, Billy Donovan's going to be dealing with a rebuild, which was part of the reason he left Oklahoma City when he did to go to the Bulls because he didn't want to deal with a rebuild. So other than, I guess, being true to his contract and loving the quality of life and being in Chicago, is there any way that Billy Donovan would be desirous of overseeing a Bulls rebuild? Yeah, and it's not just the rebuild aspect of it, because I do know that the player development aspect of a rebuild is actually like incredibly interesting to Billy, and it's something that he does enjoy working with. It's the losing. And it's really difficult to explain how much Billy Donovan hate.

losing unless you were watching, which I kind of hope most people weren't, but if you were watching the last like 20 Bulls games, he was playing, the Bulls would be playing a meaningless basketball game already eliminated from the playoffs. All that is left is just figuring out these draft lottery standings. And if something happened in the fourth quarter, he's grabbing Trey Jones and throwing him back in a game because he can't handle the concept of losing, again, just one of these like garbage time games. And a lot of that comes down to, you know, kind of just the integrity and the way that he carries himself as a person, but he also just hates losing.

And it, again, to your point, it's hard to imagine someone who feels that way and is playing, you know, Trey Jones, Colin Sexton for 30-something minutes a game in the latter half of the season. It's just hard to imagine that fitting with a team that's about to commit to losing a lot. next season, probably the season after that, no matter what they do. Julia, we got to let you go. Real quick, I just want to know if you have someone at the top of your short list for this job that you think could be the Bulls pick. I really do think that it depends on the Donovan decision, and that is a boring answer,

but that decision really kind of flips the switch on everything else. So after this week, I definitely kind of would have a list, but right now I think we're just kind of working with a lot of factors that make it hard to answer that one. Got to figure out that X factor of Billy Donovan. Do you want to stay? Do you want to go? Do you want to coach? And do you want to lose some more? That's why our guest, Julia, Poe, told us this is a big week to potentially find that out.

Julia, thanks for all your information on the Bulls and the Chicago Sky. We will continue to read you in the Chicago Tribune. Thank you so much, Julia. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it, y'all. Absolutely. That is Julia Poe. And again, if you want to find out where she's coming from on everything, follow her on X.

at by Julia Poe. Coming up next, we have to discuss the debut of Noah Schultz going down tonight for the Chicago White Sox. And we must take you back to Las Vegas where the news broke and the reaction from one Marshall Harris as we were fine dining in Sin City. It's next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. We are the best show in this town to have the coach and or quarterback sit right here. Because we're here for a good time. We are here for a good time.

We're fun. We're funny. We're serious sometimes. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we laugh. Like, this is perfect. If you wanted a high chance of a drink spilled all over the studio, we are definitely repeated. Middays 10 to 2.

Maybe we're the show for you. On 1043, the score. White Sox, White Sox, go, go, White Sox. Let's go, go, go. Brahimi Harrison Grody, there is life on the South Side. It's all happening. Big things are going down because the White Sox host Tampa Bay tonight. And Noah Schultz, the White Sox's top pitching prospect,

their number two overall prospect, will be making his debut. the 6-10 lefty hurler who just happens to have gone to Oswego East. So he is a local kid number 46 in baseball MLB pipeline. So there is reason to be excited if you are going to the White Sox game tonight to see Noah Schultz, the future of the White Sox. And we all know the future feels a lot better than the present for the Chicago White Sox. How long have been saying that? for a long time.

But that is the case. Yeah, post-2020, right? It's been all, well, the next wave of guys will get you where you need to go. Three straight years of 100 losses? That's where we are right now, right? We ain't going to hit four. I'm here to tell you. They ain't going down like that.

I should give a little backstory. We got this news when we were in Las Vegas. Specifically, we were at one of Derek Stevens, has a couple of casinos, as it turns out. He had Circa, where we got to hang out. Circa swim, and we were spoiled there all weekend. The meals were great. We wandered off to a place called the D, which Derek Stevens owns.

We went to a lovely restaurant called And Diamo. And at this particular restaurant, we were split up into two tables. They couldn't give us like the big 12 top or whatever it was. So they split us into two tables. Marshall and I, just the way it worked. We were at different tables. You didn't want to sit next to me, Grody. No, that's not the case.

We were trying to kind of like break it up between the clients and the salespeople, just so we weren't like in our, so there wasn't like the groupings of people that just knew each other really well. You know what I'm saying? Go make a new friend. Go make a new friend. Exactly. So, so there I was. I'm eating my, I got the world's greatest parmesan chicken is what it was called. I'm eating that.

There I am, knife and forked. I'm enjoying it. eating a little Caesar salad. You love you a Caesar salad. I'm pretty much, I do. Like three of those. Every time I looked up, you were eating a Caesar salad. Hey, we had table side Caesar, though, where they make it right in front of you.

Oh, I didn't, I didn't know that. Oh, yeah, man. Because I should have gotten a Caesar salad. You should see, I always try to sit at Mitch's table. I was at the other table with Ray, hanging out. You got to sit at Mitch's table. Say it like you didn't like that. No.

I love Ray. I sat directly next to you. You did. Just be careful those margaritas, man. That's all I'm saying. But I'm there I am. I'm eating my Parmesan. I'm eating Layla Scalops because she's not eaten.

So I'm eating her food. I'm enjoying my food. It's all great. And then we see the news. Everyone's always giving you stuff. I just want to point that out. Well, they just look delicious. Yeah, and I appreciate that.

I have a lot of gratitude for those who give to me. I'm going to be one that take it away from you and see if you like that. No, no, too. I feel like you took it away from me, actually. So I see the news. There we are. Sitting, enjoying. I see the news on my phone.

Noah Schultz is coming. Mitch is like asking me all about them and like I'm giving them the lowdown and what's happening. And how big this is that it's all starting to happen. And the first thing I think of is, hold on a second. I got to go show this to Marshall. I don't think Marshall. No, look to me like Marshall's having a serious conversation with somebody over there. I need to go show Marshall.

And I'm just, I'm hovering over my breakup, the conversations are going. Marshall, check it out. Noah Schultz was just brought up by the White Sox. And how did you react to the news that I showed you? Check this out. What did you ask me? Do you want me to say it? I'm going to say it.

I show him this new. It's his White Sox. This guy's a diehard White Sox fan growing up in Alabama, loves the socks, watches more than we do, consumes every inning, even in 100 lost seasons. and I show him the news that Noah Schultz has come up and he looks at me and goes, can he hit? That's not even what I said. That is what you said.

I said, where's he going to hit? Where is he going to hit? And I was like, what? What is no Schultz? They brought him up. He said, Grody, I don't care because he doesn't hit. And the White Sox need hitting right now. The context here is that the White Sox had just lost their second straight game by a two nothing count.

No offense. At that point, they didn't have a single hit with the right. runners in scoring position in the series. And I'm looking at all these guys. Let me ask you a question. Yeah, please do. Mr. Grotie. Yeah.

I'll try to give you a snotty answer. Because they won Sunday, right? And they actually earned a series split with the Royals, which isn't something that they have been doing in recent years, winning games against the Royals. And they got a whole four-game series split. Yeah, remember that Toronto series at the beginning of the year? Of the qualified hitters, so that's hitters who have averaged 3.1 plate appearances per team game play.

Of the qualified hitters, how many would you guess on the White Sox are hitting over the Mendoza line? 200. How many would you guess? On the entire roster? Well, the way you're setting this up, my answer is not many. What about you, Ray?

You have an answer? I'm going to go, not many. Okay, I'll give you an actual number, but it's not going to be very many. I'm going to go with two. What about you, Tyler? How many would you guess? I'll go one over.

I'll go three. You'll go three. And Russell, is that your answer two in the back? I'm going to say one. You're going to say one? You're all wrong. And you all overbid. It's zero?

What? Colson Montgomery is hitting 200. Of the qualified hitters, he has the highest batting average on this team. Oh, no! Sorry about Sam Antinacci. Next up, Chase Midroth and a cool 196 after that. Remember that guy they traded to the Mets? Louis Robert Jr.

How's he doing? Do you remember the guy that got back? Luis Anheel, Acuna. You know the other Acuna? He's hitting 196 as well. He's not a switch hitter, right? Not a switch hitter.

He's not a switch hitter. We haven't gotten that clarified. Miguel Vargas, 180, and Munitaka Murakami. Your guy. Acroat 157. He's got power, but you've got to make contact

to use the power. That was my assumed one of my two. And so that's why I am excited for Noah Schultz. Don't get me wrong. And Russell Dorsey will talk to us about Noah Schultz coming up in the next hour and all that. But can we get some people on base and across the plate? Can we score some runs on a consistent level, a somewhat

consistent level? I thought the offense would be a lot better than what it has been. And I know they don't have Kyle Till, but I just, I need more, Gertie. I guess so. I need more. You are one greedy guy, you know? Breedy? We've been, no one's hitting over 200 and I'm greedy. We've been talking about these Noah Schultz, Hagan Smith, and Tanner McDougal all the time. And then finally it happens, and I get attitude from you in front of all of our colleagues. I'm sorry for embarrassing you in front of all of Congress. What am I told you about embarrassing me?

I apologize. What I tell you on the plane ride over, do not embarrass me this weekend. Yeah, Grody got up in that nice restaurant and went over to our table. I did. It stood up. It was a nice restaurant. It announced it. I left the tableside Caesar salad making to, I left Layla Scalips that I was enjoying to tell this to Marshall.

Very upset. Ray knew what I was coming from, though. He was frustrated because he had just seen the Cubs get, you know, slackled. Yeah. Shalackled is the great term for that. And you said it. Our guy, Russ Dorsey, is hanging out in the other side of the glass right now. He will come over to this side.

We will talk more about Noah Schultz. We will talk more about Chicago Cubs. We'll talk more Major League Baseball. We will do that all next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.