Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Brian Geltzeiler's plea to Bulls: 'Pick a friggin' direction'

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by SiriusXM NBA Radio host Brian Geltzeiler to discuss what the Bulls should do as the trade deadline looms next week.

Rahimi Harrison Grotie, midday's 10 a.m. to two on Chicago Sports Radio 670. Wiggins with a spin. Wiggins threw it away. Intercepted by Kobe. Kobe on the runway. Kobe to Vooch. Vooch gives it up. Herder, right corner aisle. 4.3. Yes. Yes, but no. As we welcoming back to Rahimi, Harrison, Grotty, the Bulls lost the game last night to the Miami Heat 116 to 113. The Bulls, go down. They have lost three straight games. Highlights courtesy of the Chicago Bulls

Radio Network heard right here on 670. The score, Chuck Swirsky with a great call as well. Along with Bill Wennington, yeah, the Bulls trailed by 13 in the fourth quarter. They made a nice comeback, but they fall short in the end. Let's keep the Bulls talk hot.

The NBA talk hot as well. Nobody better to do it. Really, I just like listening to this guy. He is Brian Geltziler. He is of Sirius XM NBA Radio. He is a host there, and we are lucky that he is joining us right now on the Circus Sports Illinois Hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today.

Brian, real pleasure to have you on today. How are you doing? And what do you think about those Chicago Bulls? Well, I'm doing great, first of all. I hope you guys are good. The Chicago Bulls, I feel for Bulls fans, I kind of feel like this has been a lot of years of just straddling this playing line and no real move in either direction. And I kind of feel like the Bulls fans are great fans. And I truly believe that they would be incredibly supportive

of a rebuild done in earnest with the right kinds of pieces. And I think there's a fear of this ownership group about breaking it down too much and maybe taking a financial hit over it. And a little bit of the fear of the front office and breaking it down too much and not being able to keep their jobs. So I think you have kind of a bunch of different things factoring in that has left the Bulls with permanent residence in NBA purgatory, which you're not bad enough to get a high draft pick, and you're not good enough to be able to have a chance to win a playoff series. And that's where the Bulls have been stuck for a while now. I feel like this is the perfect time because of what you just said for the Bulls to make a flurry of moves

to at least get draft capital. because what I've seen from them so far is they just don't value draft capital the same way that everybody else in the association values draft capital with the number of players that they have, seven of them coming to the end of their current contracts, now is the time to go ahead, see what you can get for who, and then understand that Billy Donovan's a great coach, you're probably not going to ever be able to tank as long as he's your head coach. No, and tanking is never a coaching strategy.

It's always a management strategy. And so you could certainly break this thing down to the studs a little bit with the thought of who my building blocks are going to be. And if you want it to be giddy and Bezellis, it's Gideon Bezellis, that's fine. You know, you've got to make the biggest financial decision at the end of the season is going to be on Colby White. And what do you do there? And that's really a financial decision that technically should be made between now and Thursday's 3 o'clock trade deadline. Because if you are not going to resign him, you have to move him for value. because at his current contract, he's relatively easy to trade,

and there's teams out there that he would be a tremendous help for. So you could really fish something decent for him if you're willing to put him out there. But if you want to make him a building block, well, that's fine. But then maybe go the other way and look to add another venture or two to be better next year. Oh, no. And again, would I do that? The first option is much more viable to me than going that way. But here's my point.

pick a friggin direction like go do and that's and they're not picking any direction I agree on breaking down listen I love Nicole of Lucevich and veteran leadership and all that and he's a very good player

what's he still doing on this scene why is that because whatever value at some point you can get for him go get because again he's not going to be part of your long term solution because he doesn't fit the age timeline and that's the whole thing

start to align this thing to get good in the future Stop worrying about winning just enough games to hang around and keep people interested. I think it's cruel and it's unfair to Bulls fans that they kind of have to deal with this year over year. Something that I've said we should watch the Bulls do, and I doubt that they do what I tell them to do because that never happen. But move Kobe White, move Vujavich, move the other guys, but keep Ayo Dosumu because he's going to be cheaper to keep than Kobe White and re-sign him.

He's a Chicago guy. He's a valuable piece. even after you resign him, you'd still be able to move him in maybe a future deal to get a superstar. I think they've gone the way of not being flexible enough so that when a star like Yanis Ante Cumpo becomes available, they don't have what it takes to land a guy like that. What do you think about getting rid of both Kobe, Vouch, whoever else you can on the fringes, and kind of what you're saying in that you keep going forward with Giddy, Buzellas, and maybe Iodosumu and still have a whole lot more flexibility than what they've had in years past.

I agree with your theory on Dissoumoo because I think, listen, that's a player that you're going to get signed to a relatively reasonable deal. And he's a guy that you could see being a rotation player on a title contender. Really? I mean, he's extremely versatile. He guards well. He plays with a whole lot of confidence. He's unselfish. Like, I just, I like the player.

And I would agree there. I think, you know, you do want to bring him back. Kobe White's the big decision. him because Kobe White's going to cost you, you know, in excess of $35 million a year. And if you don't necessarily think that he's a, you know, a big part of your future, you don't pay him that money. The other thing is this that they have to be conscious of. You know, we're coming out of an era where if you didn't get what the value you thought you should get for a guy in a trade that was teams who are looking at as a rental, you would hold him, sign them, and then flip them with the thought that, you know, now that he's signed, he'll, retain some value. The problem is, is higher-priced players in this day and age, no matter how good

they are, are really hard to move. Teams are very careful about the kinds of numbers they're taking on their books, because once you get to that second apron, you're handcuffed from doing anything. And everybody wants to stay out of it. It's functioning as a hard cap. And for the team, the one team in the league that's in it right now, Cleveland, they probably need to do something here at this deadline they can't do because they're locked up. So my point being is that you have to be careful with White. If he's not a building block, you've got to decide this week and get whatever you can from. Listen, I know for a long time that at one point the Bulls wanted two first for Vooge, and then they're holding out for one. At this point, I think a young player in a couple of

seconds, I would just say, you know what, let's turn the page. It's okay to get bad enough to get a good pick in this draft, and this is an incredible draft to be bad for. Because even if you don't get one of these top four picks, you know, you have six meaningful impact guys that can be all NBA types of players in this draft. In addition, it goes anywhere from 10 to 12 deep with really, really good players. Like, it's a really good year to be in the lottery. And for the Bulls, it may make the difference. This may be the kind of year it makes a difference where you're going to be much better off at 8 than you are going to be at 12 or 13. And I think that's something that this front office has to take a deep look at. But again, if they'll

Guys that are running the front office are worried about losing their jobs. If the team gets too bad, you can't blame them either. A lot of this falls at the feet of Bull's ownership. What they obviously sold, that is our tourist carnishovos and Mark Eversley, what they sold to their bosses was, yeah, we know we don't have a star, but we're going to try to develop our own, if it's going to be modest but zealous, if it's going to be Josh Giddy or just have one of those teams that has a bunch of very good players. That's what they sold. Hopefully they would have the confidence to pivot,

even swallow their pride in that regard as well, because Marshall's right. And he brought up the name Janus. The Bulls would be in no position to acquire Janus right now. While the rest of the league is trying to do that, confirm that for us, and then update us on where you think Janus is going to land or where he ends up in his career. Let me say this about Artur's Cornicevis and Mark Eversley first. One of the reasons they don't go to Bulls ownership with the pivot move,

it's fear of losing their jobs. Like, it's, at one point or another, like, you can put coaches on trial, right? You're going to have a coach, you've got to win this year, you're gone. You start to put executives on trial, and they're making decisions one year to the next instead of what's best for the overall future. So

looking at these guys and saying, you know what, it's okay to break this thing down, and we're going to give you guys the rebuild, and here's three to four years and let's see how it looks. That's on ownership. And if ownership isn't doing that, am I blaming, listen, we all have bosses,

sometimes you tell your bosses what they want to hear, right? And if this is what they want to hear, that's what you're telling them to stay on the job. So I can't pound those guys too badly on that. It still falls,

it still falls at the feet of ownership. As far as Janus is concerned, listen, I just think Milwaukee realized how desperate they were a little late. If you're going to do, in this marketplace, a meaningful auction of Janus.

Your meaningful auction has to start with having Houston and San Antonio engaged in that. And one of the reasons I think the Bucks leaked through Shams Sharani of ESPN earlier this week that we're willing to take aggressive offers right now between now and the trade deadline is because I think they've realized that if they could wait for the summer and you're not going to get Houston and San Antonio in this summer either. They're not going to part with the players that you want on the part with. Now you can make the case maybe Houston should be willing to part with Alper and Schengun a deal like that? They're not as of right now.

So I think Milwaukee looked at this and said, geez, we, you know, Janice is going to come back. It's a calf injury. Next year, he's got one more year left on his field in a player option that he's absolutely opting out of. What if he gets hurt when he comes back this year? Where are we then? Then he doesn't play next year.

He opts out and we get nothing for him. And they can't get nothing for him. They don't have anything else. They have no draft capital. They have outside of Ryan Rollins, they have no good young players. Anybody's interested in. They have nothing.

So for them, this is everything, this deal. And I think they've realized that there's risk of the packages getting worse. So you throw it out right now for teams like Miami and Golden State, who can be desperate to want to compete right now. Atlanta is kind of on the margins here, but I don't want to give Jalen Johnson, which probably disqualifies them. A team like Toronto, who's having a great season. And if they could pull it off without having a sacrifice,

Scotty Barnes. You know, in Miami, Pat Rowell, clock's sticking on Pat Riley running this thing. If he can get Janus right now, we'll give whatever he has to give to get Janus right now. So I think Milwaukee kind of looked at this in that way. I did the local Golden State. They're willing to get Butler, Kaminga, Pajemski, and everything.

Now, is that enough? I don't know that that's going to be enough for Milwaukee. We have to see. I mean, but it teams on a draft capital, forget it. Teams like Minnesota and the Knicks, I don't think they have a chance. In the end, gun to my head, if I had to give you a team that I think he's going to

end up on, I think it's probably going to be the Miami Heat. Because in the end, the best young asset type of player that's going to be available to Milwaukee to be able to put on a marquee's going to be Khalil Ware, who's played really well this year and shown that he can be a really good rim-protecting center and be a stretch five that shoots threes. And although he's had some inconsistent moments this year, you could see the potential there. And I think for them and getting a bunch of Miami's other young player assets, they have all their draft capital, I think you could take a package like that and spin it to your fans to keep people coming. And I think understand that for Milwaukee, that's a big goal here.

That entire downtown area and the FISA Forum has been built around Janus. They can't just take draft picks. They have to get a meaningful player back, which is, again, why they want Dylan Harper from San Antonio, why they'd want Schenguner and M. Thompson from Houston, why they would want Jalen Johnson from Atlanta. They want that kind of lead piece. And in the absence of one of those guys, Khalil Ware is actually a pretty decent option. No, I agree with you. We just saw him last night.

We'll see him tomorrow. We'll see him Sunday. As you know, the Bulls and the Heat playing in a three-game play-in series, at least that's what I'm calling it in season. And before we let you go, real quick, I just want to point something out. The Bulls had a chance, according to Joe Dumars, to get that unprotected New Orleans Pelicans pick, which would come in real handy. If this does go past the trade deadline with Yonnas, do you think the Bulls could make enough trades before this deadline to have. enough capital and maybe a young player or two to be in on the Yannis sweepstakes

because as you mentioned, the desperation? Um, listen, I don't think so. Enough, yes, the Bulls do have enough. But keep this in mind about Yonnas. Wherever Yonis gets traded, there's got to be enough there. Oh, man. We missed your last sentence, Brian. We missed you, but I think we have you back.

Well, I said the important thing here is that wherever he goes, He's got to want to stay there and sign the contract extension. You can opt out after next year. So the thing for the Bulls to be able to get them, well, sure, you could send Giddy Bezellis and Kobe White and all your draft capital and, you know what I mean? Like something like that. But then who's Yonahs actually going to come to Chicago and play with?

And that becomes a big problem. So, I mean, if you make a Yonest trade and take him from the frying pan into the fire, you get what you deserve. And that's the thing. And I think for the Bulls here, there's just not enough under the hood. to make a Janus pursuit all that worthwhile. Yeah, yeah, at least not at this deadline. I think they could probably recruit something

and do something in the golf season, if it comes to that, but we'll see. Brian, great stuff as always. Thanks for taking the time. We appreciate you. Thank you, Brian. Absolutely my pleasure. We'll talk to you guys soon.

Take care. I love that. That's Brian Geltziler, Sirius XM NBA radio host. Brian and I are aligned. Yeah, well, I was going to say Miami. Like, really? It wouldn't be in that plane anymore, I could tell you that.

That's true, but it just gives me flashbacks to the LeBron year where a lot of us around here thought maybe that triumvirate would happen at the United Center. Never, I bet. It was probably about as close to happening as the Olympics happening in Chicago. Not close at all. Around the same time as well. And now I'm thinking, not that I actually thought that it was in any way plausible for Janus to come to the Bulls, just the fact he's going to Miami.

Not even a finalist. I mean, and that's also not even a finalist. I'd sign an extension in Miami, too, by the way. Like he said, of course. Of course you have to sign the extension. But yeah, go to Miami, work for a really good. What is Pat Riley? The president of basketball operations?

Is that what his title is these days? I don't like his title's higher than that, but yes, he's in charge of best. Much like Matt Ryan, he's in charge. Yeah, and Spoe, man, Spoe. Spow, you don't hear as much about Spoe anymore. Spoh's going to the Hall of Fame, so we can go together if you want. He's so good. at his job. We can take a trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, whenever he gets in. One of those guys,

like our guests we just had, just like listening to the man, talk baseball. Let's talk more basketball. The last time, actually, the Bulls played in a real playoff series, it was against the Milwaukee Bucks. It's been a while for the Bulls. It's been a while for the Blackhawks. Let's talk about who's getting close, if at all. Who gets back in quicker? Who gets back in? Because, yeah, there's a chance. There's a chance for our United Center Tenants. We'll talk about that next. Rahimi Harris and Grotty on the score.