Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Chuck Swirsky talks state of Bulls after initial moves in free agency

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Leila Rahimi was joined by Bulls Radio play-by-play announcer Chuck Swirsky to discuss the state of the team after the initial wave of free agency.

This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 1043, The Score. Thanks again to Dustin Rose for filling in on the baseball talk for this first hour. And now we have another special guest today, which makes me happy. It is Bulls Play-by-Playman, my partner on Chicago Sky Broadcast as well. You may know him as Joey Bag of Donuts and an overnight host extraordinaire, Chuck Sworsky. Chuck, thanks for coming in on this Thursday. It's a pleasure. Lately, how are you?

I'm good. So much. media news that took place and we had a short show yesterday. We really didn't get to get into it a lot. But I think we've got to start with what we now know is is an idea of a starting five with the Bulls with the Nick Claxton News. And then we see Norm Powell who a lot of people think is a very savvy pickup. There's the shooting that we've talked about. And then, you know, they also make the move in re-signing Zach Collins, which was a bit of a surprise to me. So how are you feeling about what you've seen so far out of the Bull's moves? Well, there's a lot to dissect there.

Number one, they also have 9.4 million left. The mid-level exception. Yes. Very important to know what we consider all of this, yeah. So let's start with Zach Collins because when he was healthy, and that's been a situation throughout his career as we know, with Portland, San Antonio the Bulls. But when healthy, he's a very, very good part-time starter, role player,

whatever they ask him to do. And remember, before he got hurt, Billy Donovan was going with Vooch and Zach in the starting lineup. Yeah. And they were producing. Zach had like two or three double doubles in about a week and a half. I got to tell you, I was very excited about, it may sound silly now. But at the time, at the beginning of last season,

I was excited for a healthy Zach Collins because I thought he would have really completed the team. And even the season before that, when he got traded for, I always thought he would make a lot of their defensive needs make more sense. He was a compliment to vuch. He's a compliment to vuch. And also when someone came through the lane for a layup, he was going to probably end up on the floor. Fair enough.

But you need guys like Zach Collins. And I've read like online, people are ripping. I'm thinking, wait a minute. You have to understand that this is the new NBA. People are saying, look at all this money. You're right. It's a lot of money. But it's also the new landscape of the NBA with a cap.

I mean, Layla, look at the TV revenue the NBA is making. And so money's going up. I mean, we just saw Jalen Brown got traded, and he's eligible for an extension coming up very soon. So right now he's probably making you, probably having in front of you, anywhere between 50 to 60 million each year over the next three years. Yeah, his numbers especially, it's the supermax of all supermaxes, right? Like Cheyieldius Alexander. Yeah. He's getting paid, and he should.

I mean, he hasn't even hit the midpoint of his prime career yet. No, I completely agree. But for the Bulls, I like what they're doing. I'm excited if they run, you've got Getty, you've got Bezellis, you've got Wilson. I mean, this is a really potent from baseline to baseline opportunity for the Bulls. And I love Powell. You know, the irony of it is, the only who his teammate was at UCLA. Zach Levine.

I didn't even think about that. I didn't even think about that. Yep. And Zach barely claims UCLA, I feel like. Isn't he like a USC football fan? There's a reason for that. I think the reason is Steve Alford. I'm not sure they were on the same page, the one year, Zach.

And the reason why is because I think Steve Alford's son was a starter on that ball club. and I just think it probably was not the best situation because Zach Levine is from my hometown, actually, Seattle, thank you very much. And we are 20 minutes apart from his home in Seattle where I grew up. So he was recruited by everyone. And I'm talking everyone. He was a five-star. And Seattle has a lot of great high school players.

And so he went to UCLA. And he turned down a lot of great school. schools, because if you have ever been on the campus of UCLA, and I don't know if you ever been to Brin. My brother went there. Did he? It's a requirement. I can make the joke.

I'm of the heritage. Somebody in our family, because I'm Persian, and our family lives in Tarangeloas, as we like to joke. Somebody had to go to UCLA. So, of course, that was my brother who is now a doctor, because you have three career options, doctor, a lawyer, or engineer. Notice how I'm not one of those. One brother's a doctor.

One brother's an engineer. So. But do they love their job? Like you do. They do. They're both very good. But yeah, so my brother went to UCLA. With the big brewing in the center of campus, right? Yeah. I mean, it is a beautiful campus. It is. And Pauli Pavilion's great. I think you're on to something about Alford, though, because remember how he got there too? He had that massive contract with New Mexico. Was it something like 10 years? Yep. It was some wild contract. And then he's like, uh, never mind, going to UCLA.

But guess what? He has never coached his alma mater. And if you told me 30 years ago, one day Steve Alford is going to be a college basketball coach. And he's going to have three stops along the way, three, five, whatever the case may be. I would have bet 99.9% or even 100% one of those stops would have been in Bloomington and his alma model. And what happens, he goes to Iowa. And he coaches against Bob Knight. Yeah. Irony of irony.

Yeah. And you know, the point being, Steve Alford, you know, who's very close with Bill Winnington, because they were teammates at Dallas. You are now playing six degrees of separation of Chuck Swirsky here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. That's something. Yep.

But that is cool that Dorman Powell was a teammate of Zach Lewis. We forget how good some of those college teams are because of the ones and duns. Yeah, but now, I mean, you've got kids that are going to be in three or four schools during their career because of NIL and they're getting moved. Transfer portal. I mean, these young people, men and women, they're being recruited while they're still playing.

And you know what? We really saw that, Chuck, affect the second round of the draft this year. Like, I think there's a couple truths that are being told right now. Number one, we're still trying to figure out what the new post-new CBA NBA NBA is. Yes. Like, I loved the, oh, it's trade deadline. Everybody's making deals. You're trading several years into the future. You know, first round picks are everything.

Like, we knew what it was. I had a lot of fun in that. I don't love this new CBA, but we have to accept it. And then another part of it was July 1st was always free for all. You know, whoa, just got like 95 updates an hour. You're finding out who everybody's signing and where the money is unstoppable. And you're right. This is not the same type of framework.

We're seeing that with the second round. You know, the Bulls essentially ended up again trading out of it because the one player they got, they ended up trading away. Cash considerations is not just a Bulls thing. There were a lot of teams who decided to do this. that was it 29 out of 30 picks were traded in the second round? Correct. And then we hear last week on our station, Chuck Brightson Graham, say when he was live in our

studio that we just didn't like some of the players available. And because of NIL, it's worth it for these guys to stay in school now, which is great, too. Get paid for what you're good at. You know, that's a good thing ultimately. So here's another reason with the NBA changing landscape. Yeah. How many champions have we had over the last eight years? Oh, it's been many, right?

Eight. Yeah, it's been a different one every year. We've had a different one every year. That's crazy. That's wild. Now, some people say, well, we need a good cop and a bad cop. We need a team wearing the black hat, so to speak, like the Wild Wild West, you know? The piston's 4.0 at this point.

Yeah. That's right. You know, we need a villain. And so, but those days are over because you can't keep a team anymore. It used to be, you know, like in my generation, you had the Oakland Athletics had a run of three straight World Series championships. 72, 73, 74. Yankees had a great run.

You could go in the NBA back in the day with Boston. Yep. And then in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Islanders. I mean, you know, even if you would, if you think about it later, the Patriots, Dynasty, if you think about it, the Blackhawks won three cups in what, seven years? Is that right? Yeah, three and six or three and seven. Okay.

To me, in today's world of sports, that is a dynasty. It is. You win three championships in a window of five, six, seven years. Okay. No doubt, especially the third. You know, that's what makes it so challenging. I mean, even how long did we go before we saw back-to-back World Series again in baseball? It was the Yankees.

It was 98, 99, or 99, 2000. And it was those Yankees. But Layla, make no mistake about it. This front office has a lot of work to do. I mean, I hope people, and maybe you can call this up, Leila, look at the Bulls roster, the last season of Garin Packs. So that was 2020. Was it 2019-2020 season?

Look at the roster. I can go off of that at the top of my head. And look at the roster of the last two or three seasons. and I invite our listeners to do that, except if you're driving. Yeah, be safe. Don't do that. Yes, please.

But look at the roster of Garden Packs from 19, 18, and 17, and look at the players on that roster. Okay? You had Marketing All-Star, and you had Wendell Carter Jr. You had Daniel Gafford. You had Zach Levine.

You had Zach Levine. You had Chris Dunn. Yeah. I mean, you had some really good players. And so they're gone. So all I'm saying is... Lou Cornette? Yeah.

I mean, you know what, but... Part of a finals team? Yes. And, you know, they put them in the corner shooting threes, which I never got. But that's another story. You and me both, my friend. That, listen, this is not going to happen overnight. I know Bulls fans wanted to happen overnight.

All I'm saying is, I do like in the short span of what we've seen out of Bryson Graham. Direction. It's direction. It's direction. And it's direction. It's honesty. It's transparency. Amazing. But address the bigs. Laugh at us for asking where the shooting is. He was pointing his finger at me, Leila.

And then, hey, here's her shooting with Norm Powell, who should have been a perennial All-Star. But you know, you're in the Western conference. Yeah, that's the other part of this. And people are critical of the contract. And I get it. But you needed a rip-protector. You need a rim protector because there are two shots right now in the NBA, Layla. It's a three-pointer, more than likely in the corner, from the corner, a three-point shot, and at the rim. Now, if you can't stop at the rim shots, and the Bulls had one of the worst opponent's field goal percentage against the Bulls, it was very, very high. If you can't at least intimidate, block, or alter shots, you're in big trouble. Guess who couldn't stop enough at the

rim shots, the spurs. Yep, how about that? And it turned out okay for the Knicks on the other side, didn't it? Even with Wemby, when you get going downhill, you see how this benefits you. When you go downhill and look how many times players dart in the lane, they see Wembe and whether they do, they run right out of it. No, don't think so. I'll just screen or something.

Okay, so here's your roster. Do you want it from 2019, 2020, since we're cooking and we're having fun here? Special guest, Chuck Swirsky, and on Rahimi Harrison Brody. Ryan Archie de Acano. Okay. Villanova. We just talked about the Knicks. Windell Carter Jr., Chris Dunn.

Chris Felicio. I believe that was Felicio's last year with the Bulls. Yeah, that was not good. But Dunn is a starter, right? Wendell Carter Jr. is a start. Absolutely. Rookie Daniel Gafford, who was a starting five on a finals team. Yep.

And he started for Dallas. That's three. Jack Harrison, who I think had a lot of potential. You know, people talked about his potential. on the cusp, but probably a G-League guy. Yeah, Chandler Hutchison, who also positional size, that was always the I thought he had a chance to make it.

Yeah, the positional size comment because he was 6-6, you know, that was always talked about with Chandler Hutchinson. Luke Cornett, as we mentioned. Still in the league? Zach Levine, who at that point, starter. He had not gotten the max yet, but he was an all-star. So that's four right now, four starters off that club.

Larry Morganin. That's five, and an all-star. Macocca, I forgot about that. Yeah, you know what? Let me just say this. So, Paxingard did not cut Adam McCogica. That was from the previous administration. They kept Adam McCokka over Max Struce.

Yeah, Max Trues listed on the roster. Max Trues. Who's a free agent, by the way? He's a free agent. I'd love to see him here. And you know what? He was so disappointed. I love Max as a person as a player.

Lately, he wanted to come back. He didn't want to be cut, number one. He had an ACL. and they cut him. Yes, yeah. And why can you say to yourself, hey, you know what? This guy is a proven shooter.

Let's put him on the shelf for a year. Let's get him healthy. Then let's see what he can do. But they kept McCoka, who has never seen the NBA again. Never panned out. Otto Porter. Otto Porter Jr.

You know what? Otto Porter Jr. came in the league and it was a very high pick by Washington, like the third player was taking. Georgetown too. Yes. Yeah. And he got that big contract.

He got the contract from the Nets. Washington matched it, and all of a sudden the injuries start coming. Yes, that is what happened for him. Tomash Satteransky, a part of that team as well. Role Player. Denzel Valentine, a lottery pick. Not a good pick. Kobe White.

Kobe, that was their last pick. And Thaddeus Young. Yep. Just a respected veteran. What a team. I forgot. But the Max Druss of it all, that's the hardest part. Because wouldn't a dream scenario for you and me, like Bulls observers,

wouldn't it have been the combination of Max Drews and Peter Patton? How about that? And you know what? I saw Peter. Shakespeare. Peter's on the floor. Peter Patton, by the way, was a guard at DePaul. He's from Chicago.

I actually, my last year, calling DePaul, he was a freshman. And so that's how old I am and that's Peter Patton. But Peter Patten was... I mean, I heard it was three days ago, guys. you know, that's the time frame I heard. It was three days ago for Chuck and Peter Patton. Yeah, well, Peter Patton is a very well-respected shooting coach. Absolutely. And the players love him. Wherever he's been, the players have loved him. He was fabulous here. Yes. And so he gets a ring with New York.

Yeah, no, I was very happy to see that for him. That was quite a, uh, that's a, this is real hoops junkie. And we don't have time for it because we're coming up to a break here. But that is a really interesting staff when you consider a lot of the names that became part of Mike Brown's staff in New York. Like Gerson Roses, who has been part of many front offices around the league. He was a part of it. You know, you just mentioned Peter Patton. Well, he had not only the father of, you know.

Rick Brunson. Yes. A former Bulls player, as we know, and a former Bulls assistant coach. Jaylin and Stevenson product. I mean, Chris Gent, Brendan O'Connor. I mean, these are really good assistants. And people say, well, wait a minute, how can a guy like Peter Patton be a shooting coach? He's never played in the NBA.

There are certain people with minds that work that don't need to be a star. In fact, some of the greatest players who have attempted to manage in baseball or coach in the NBA and NHL have not done well because their standards are so high that when players can't match what they've accomplished in their own right, they get disappointed as a coach. And, you know, I look at Charlie Lau, and I'm dating myself again with the White Sox. Charlie Lau, that's L-A-U, was one of the finest hitting coaches ever in baseball. And yet, if you look at his Major League Baseball record as a player, it was okay, but it wasn't, you know, like All-Star. Yeah, the NFL is the clear, I think, calm for this because there are so many successful coaches in the NFL head coaches who were not the best players, you know, or they were, it's like Kevin O'Connell who, you know, had a brief career as a backup quarterback. Ben Johnson played quarterback in college. You know that

type of thing. That's what I always think about. If you look at it, Don Schula played in the NFL, but he was along with Tom Landrieu who played in the NFL. Sure. But, you know, Bill Belichick, he didn't play in the NFL. Yeah, the Dan Campbell's, who had an excellent career as a tight end for years in the league and also is now a successful head coach with playoffs on his resume. Those are fewer and far between, I think, the guys who have been good at both. Yes. That's, that, I feel like that is a good time. And Jim Harbaugh had a really good NFL career.

Outstanding NFL career quarterback. Yeah. So he's, he's the rarity. He's not, he's the exception. He's not the rule. Right. I feel like that speaks to him. But whether it's Shanahan, Schottenheimer, all these coaches, I mean, it's in their

bloodlines because their fathers and whatnot. They grew up in a, yeah. Yeah. But McDonald's with Seattle. I mean, he didn't play in the NFL and he has a really sharp mind to get things done. I mean, Mike McDonald's, he's, I don't know how you don't look at that Seattle team and say that's the standard now. You get enough out of Sam Darnold. Kevin O'Connell, of course, helps develop his career. And then that defense just, I think about that game often.

I'm so shocked though, Leila, that Seattle isn't playing the bear's opening night. Oh, we all are. We all thought that that was going to be the game. I get it, the Patriots or whatever. But, you know, I mean, it would have been, it would have been so nice to see Caleb go into Seattle. and come away with a dub. Well, a dub. See, that's why he's here. Chuck Swirsky is here to bring the positivity today. A dub at the University of Washington dub.

Ah, see, and that's another layer to this. Let's also shout out Olin Cruz, noted Washington players. My grad school. Yeah, yeah, I love it. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie with Chuck Swirsky filling in with me, Laila Rahimi. We'll shift gears next and talk some football with Mike Florio. Pro Football Talks Mike Floreo is here next.