Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Are we any closer to understanding the Bulls’ direction?

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris wondered what the Bulls' direction is amid their flurry of activity on the trade market.

Life can feel overwhelming, but on my podcast, From the Heart with Rachel Brathen, we're in it together. Every Friday, a new episode brings you a new story with topics on motherhood, wellness, self-love, and more. Listen to From the Heart with Rachel Brathen wherever you get your podcasts. Before we get to the Jason Seahorn reference, there was a MacMachlan reference in there that I mentioned, and guess who's probably playing tonight for the Bulls? Is it called up? MacMacly. Is it MacMaclong?

That's Mr. Dunk-McCondon. to you? Three-time reigning dunk champion, not defending, I guess, because he won't be defending his dunk championship this year. He's always said, I'm opting out. Which is ridiculous, by the way. I want to focus on real basketball. If you're in the G-League and there's even a question that you can compete in the dunk

contest, then you should be forced to compete in the dunk contest. You're too good, Mack, we need your dunks. Have you seen the skepticism and criticism we've gotten each and every year since, you know, all the dunker-dunkers said they don't want to do it anymore? Yeah, I mean, how bad is it when the dude in the G league is opting out? And that's not disrespect to Mac. That's just letting you know what the priorities are. Yeah, Mac needed that money.

Let's be honest. He's good at it, too. He's very good at it. I wonder, like, at what age do you stop being as good of a dunker? Maybe he's just like, man, that's a lot of wear and tear on my knees. I think it's when Zach Levine probably stopped dunking as much in the game, which was he was even dunking a lot in his last season with the Bulls, you know, last year. After he got over the knee problem, he's like, look, I'm healthy.

Watch this. Yeah, he was an above the rim player. A good old day, Zach Levine and the glutton of super talented, bright future, early 20s guys, and now everybody's gone. Everybody's gone. So that's it, is that let's use that Zach Levine trade as the example, because I feel like that actually is the beginning of this arc. Okay.

That's the beginning of the transition for the Bulls. And essentially, we asked this question and are appreciating. show meeting because they're still continuing to make deals. We're trying to figure out whether or not Dail and Terry being moved is going to be official. And that's where a guy who we think might be the bull center once he gets here if he is going to happen, Gershon Yaboussela. So he's from New York.

And that's one deal that we're trying to figure out whether or not it's going to happen. You heard the update from David Haw that that might still be up in the air. We know that Dio are not Dio Degro Ayo Dissumu let's fire up the football brain instead of the basketball brain. We know that Iodosu

gets traded this morning, according to reports, alongside Julian Phillips to the Timberwolves for two players and four second round picks. It sure seems like the Timberwolves are making some moves, by the way. Is that any closer of an indicator that they might trade for Janus, knowing that they

freed up the salary of Mike Conley and the Bulls help them with that as well. Conley gets flipped yesterday in the Kobe White trade going to the Carolina team. Here's what I know. Mike Conley's probably going to end up back on the Timberwolves because now that he's been traded twice, he can go back to that team after a buyout. You can't do it if you just get traded once. You can't just go to a team through trade, get bought out and go. The Yonis thing is interesting because I think that is the linchpin of whatever we see happen today is going to be Yonis and then teams maybe trying to get in on that deal. And then and we couldn't get Janice,

so maybe we do other stuff instead. Safe to say it would be a three-team deal at least to balance for Janus. At least. Yeah, so that's what makes us compelling. And when you know, the Bulls are still doing business with them. Now, I also brought up the question, is this the Bulls trying to acquire a ton of second round draft capital in some sort of package to try to trade for Demontas Sabonis?

As we try to figure out who is the five on this team where they don't have a guy over six foot nine right now. But all of this is temporary until we figure out what they really want to do. If this is them standing pat, if they feel like they got rid of the expiring deals that they needed to get rid of, sending Kobe White to Charlotte, helping flip Mike Conley, helping flipping Iodosum now, which I think is a huge deal because he was actually drafted and developed by the organization alongside Julian Phillips. they pick up an expiring deal, as we know with Jane and Ivy. They pick up an expiring deal with Anthony Simons.

And Anthony Simons is a little bit older than what we think the Bulls' timeline is going to be. They also now have Colin Sexton on the books. So if the Bulls even let those deals expire, and Ivy, I don't think they will. But say it's two, do you think, Marshall, that this is a tank? do you think that this is closer to the bulls trying to, as I've said before, not rip the Band-Aid off immediately, but maybe slowly let the air deflate out of the balloon? Like the helium from like two weeks ago is still up in the balloon and you're like, well, how long is it going to take? Well, I think the biggest

question here is, is it a tank? Straight up. Are they trying to tank? I would argue that the answer is no because they haven't shown me evidence ever that they were interested in tanking. And so it may just be a matter of, hey, we've got these extra guards. Let's see what we can get for these guards as far as adding to that stockpile of what, nine second rounders they have gained in the last, what, five days? It's kind of amazing the number of deals

they've done, and yet they haven't been able to get a first round pick. Here's what I'll say about the Bull's approach to this. Unfortunately, they are several days late and they are several first round draft picks short of what they should have been doing if they were ready to say

we're going to turn this thing around and do a rebuild. Understand this. They've lost four of their top eight scores in a matter of days. They've lost over half their active roster in a matter of days. It's not just I.O. and Kobe and Vouch. It's not just those guys. We're talking about Javon Carter got waived to start this whole thing off.

Yeah. Yeah. Emmanuel Miller's two-way deal gone. And then you look around and see who's left on this team. understand Kevin Heter, who is their seventh leading score, is gone. Also, you look up and down and say, oh, Julian Phillips and Daly and Terry are gone. Those are two picks from two consecutive drafts that you've basically just given up on and said, we didn't do a good enough job in getting players that we could develop or players that we thought could be good.

However you want to look at that. This, I don't want, just because now they're acting like a normal front office by trading expiring contracts, for Archerich, Carnassovis, and company to be absolved of the sins of the past. And there are many. This is Rahimi Harrison Grady on 1043, The Score. I know a lot of people have tuned in asking about 1043 jams. Go to B96. The playlist will be a lot of what you're familiar with.

In the meantime, we're here now in 1043. Layla Rahimi and Marshall Harris with you. We're still on 670 as well. And as we try to break down this very active, Bulls Trade deadline, the most active in the time that Arturus Karnasovas and Mark Eversley have been with this team. You know, you brought up a good point that needs to be reiterated here. It's one thing to draft and then understand that the player didn't hit the way you wanted. But it's another to actually move on from them.

And that's why the Daly and Terry trade, if it goes through, is significant. Dail and Terry was the 18th overall pick in the 2022 draft, just outside of the, of the lottery pick. It's okay to say, you know, we had hope or we had scouts that thought that this was the dude. They clearly have a scouting process that is different from convention. So when these guys aren't hitting, you know, it's okay to say we need to flip somebody for someone else. The issue is, how much did the time that you invested trying to see if this guy was going to be somebody? How much did that time hurt you? And I think when we talk about not having Nikola Vucovich get you a first-round draft pick,

not having Alex Caruso, who we know that the Oklahoma City Thunder was thought to be absolutely crucial to their title win last year, not in trading away Zach Levine only to regain your first pick or your first round pick from the Demard de Rosen deal to get the protection back. So that was a reestablishment of your own pick to trade all of them. and not get a first rounder out of any of it. I understand why there's angst there. But I think it's just the price that the Bulls paid

in waiting so long to move some of these players. For what? The play-in game where they just got absolutely whooped by Miami. And then Miami reminds you that they will absolutely whoop up on the Bulls again in what was one of the historic losses of record that the team had earlier this week. Is it bad, Lila, that I came away? way from that three-game series with Miami the way it happened to work out with the condensation,

the postponement, and then now you're playing three straight games against the same team. Is it bad that I said, I think Arturz Karasovas is seeing the reality that the heat aren't a great team and yet they mopped the floor with you and that's why he's decided to go to these lengths, finally. At some point, you've got to say, I don't necessarily know if it's saying you were wrong because every GM does this. Every regime in the league says, yeah, this player isn't working

for us and they just flip them. But usually it's quicker. Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Follow and listen to Gone South season five, wherever you get your shows. It's the barge versus the banana boat.

I think our church, Connor's all of a sudden turned in his barge for a banana boat. But the thing about doing that quick... Like being able to pivot and make a change. and change your course. Because, because even, let's go back to the premise, right, as stated by the front office, we're looking to build, you know, nine, ten really good players that fit on the timeline of Modis Buzellis and Josh Giddy.

Here's what I want to make sure he understands going into this. And that was the statement he made a year ago at this time. That's what he said a year ago. Here's what I want people to understand about this. Even him saying that statement, you can plan for that, but if all of a sudden a player better and with a higher ceiling than modest Buzellas and Josh Giddy becomes available, you have to alter that thinking too and be like, okay, we can actually do the same thing but around this player instead.

And then Modis and Giddy themselves should become expendable. You've got to always be looking at a chance to level up. And you can't say, what you cannot say anymore about the Bulls if you thought it was that they don't value draft picks. They're showing you that they will flip players that they care about. like Iyo Dissumu, for example, four draft picks. It is, however, a shame that none of them are in the first round because we know that is the most valuable asset of all in the NBA right now. I'm going to go further.

More valuable than a lot of players in the league. And they value players and they value young players who have experience who have maybe been iced out of other teams because of the talent level or what happens. Jane Divey, Josh Giddy fall into that category. Anfony Simons falls into that category. but you had to acquire more draft picks if you wanted to do anything in this league if you want to take a big swing if you want to add a star to your players

or if you want to add who you think makes this all work you absolutely had to get more draft picks in your stable in order to be able to use those for a deal to be made like the league tells you that every day all that being said I've been adamant that if there was a player they were going to hold on to it would be in shuner

be Ayo Dosumu unless you get a first round pickback to go over your point. I don't like this last deal. It's my least favorite of all the deals because you're giving up a player in I.O that, as you said, they drafted, they developed after he fell to the second run. He fits what you're talking about. And even if he doesn't fit necessarily the very specific timeline you stated, I liked the idea of having his bird rights and being able to keep him and have him on a new deal. And if you want to move him after that, it's fine. But that's a valuable piece that is, I think, valued around the league more than the other

pieces that you've gotten rid of to this point. And I think they sold short on him by just taking all the four second round picks. Well, and Jalen Phillips, who had a lot of value on this team. Yeah, there's that part of it too. Julian Phillips, like, Julian Phillips had a lot of value on this team. I'm not as high on Julian Phillips, so he can be moved. But that together could get you a first rounder. I just, and I'm not saying a first rounder like in this draft.

I'm saying a first round, you know, like, what about a 2029 first rounder? What about a 2030 first rounder? So the premise here, and I agree with that, right, what you just said, not this year. Because the premise is if you're trading I.O. Dosumu, you don't even need protections because that's a team obviously going to the playoffs. That's why they're trading for Iodosumu. But if you can get one in the future, I like that idea. I don't like what they did with Iodosum.

That's just my initial, I mean, this happened less than what an hour ago? That's just my initial reaction to this. This is not of the same ilk as some of the other moves that were made. Well, again, it just comes back to the same question. Is your value system and your valuation based on what the rest of the league thinks, are those aligned? Because I know for a fact that the Bulls could have gotten a first round pick for Alex Caruso. Yeah.

I know that. So how do you value your players based on how the league values your players? And some of whom I think they're willing to move a little bit more than than be able to part with something that are they selling low with some of their guys? Like are they more willing to part with them for a cheaper price because they value another guy more like, say, Josh Giddy. Well, we're about to find out because if any of these players that they have traded away, flourish at a level,

especially the younger ones, right? Like the guys we just talked about, Julian Phillips and Dail and Terry. If they flourish elsewhere and you didn't get adequate compensation, you're going to come out with egg on your face. The ultimate question is, back to the original question,

are they trying to tank right now? If they don't make another move, guess what? As good as Billy Donovan is is getting the best out of people, other teams should be able to just pound them into the ground. And it might be a tank. The problem is it's a tank too late,

if that makes sense. They're so far ahead of the pack. They're not going to lose enough games to outpace the rest of the league. And that's the issue too, you know, in all of this is when you take a look at the standings, but that's it. Every single time when we've talked about the decisions that this team has made, it's come down to what? Timing.

Charlotte Hornets are 23 and 28. Bucks are 20 and 29. Nets 13 and 36. Wizards 13 and 36. Pacers, 13 and 38. Kings are 12 and 40. They've got the lowest win percentage in the association. Pelicans, 13 and 40.

There's still reports that the Bulls might be interested in Zion. Utah Jazz, 16 and 35, Mavericks, 19 and 31, and the Memphis Grizzlies are 20 and 29. We expect them to not win many games after they traded Jared Jackson, Jr. All of that said, there's a big group that's fighting to get to the bottom of this thing. I'm looking at the tankathon right now. If the season ended today, the Bulls would be lined up, and this obviously could change depending on how the play in tournament goes,

because the Bulls, as right now are in the playing tournament. I don't think they're going to stay in there with Charlotte surging the way they are. Yeah, and trading for good players, yeah. They added Kobe White. They've won seven in a row. They've got a big game against Houston tonight, so they could be winners of eight in a row, and they could also be in a position to pass the Chicago Bulls,

because the Bulls will probably lose tonight in Toronto. We'll get to that. in the next segment. Oh yeah. Toronto's right now sixth in the east. Yes. And so the thing is, do you think you can lose enough games to say catch the Dallas Mavericks? Their five games, make that four and a half games back of the Mavericks who have the seventh best tank odds right now. I don't know. Well, the Mavericks are in the West too. That's what makes us even worse, is that the Mavs are more likely to lose games simply because they're in the Western Conference. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, the

the bucks who just beat you down, by the way. It'll be interesting to see if they tank harder now that Janus is out for a amount of time and who knows if they'll even be a buck at the end of the day. Are you keeping it a buck? I feel like you are. Listen, somebody needs to because I think people understand the frustration of going through this process and still not understanding what is the plan. And we'll find out today at 3.30 when Archer steps up to the mic and there could be more deals

done between now and that time. So coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison, Brody on 670 to score. We've got a bunch of calls, actually. So we should take your calls. 3-1-2, 644, 67-67. Did I say 6-70 the score? You guys are supposed to tase me or something every time I say it. 104-3 the score.

Thank you. Old habits. We're going to play the game of who he play for, except it's who's playing tonight, because Marshall and I got to figure this out. Also, to the person who sent me something, that took me back to a place I had tried to avoid on Twitter. I think we should revisit another trade deadline deal

that put together a pretty epic lineup. Because when I reminded Marshall of this deal, he was shocked to hear it himself. So another Bulls deal we'll discuss that is from a long time ago. I feel like that's worth mentioning. In the meantime, we broadcast live from the Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. When we have guests,

They join us via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today. Ray Diaz is our producer, Tyler Buterbaugh. Our producer, as well, you heard his excellent open. Brandon Fryer helps us out. You can join us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago, our Twitch mob is up and chatting away. Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis are our video team. I believe the YouTube address changed too, the score Chicago on YouTube too, so you can find us there.

And as I mentioned, our number 312, 644, 67, 67. Are the bulls any closer to the direction you think they might be going in? What is that direction? Who's playing tonight? Let's discuss it next. The podcast Campus Files is back with more stories of scandal, crime, and intrigue on college campuses. It is not hard to destroy a college. It's almost like a university under siege.

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