Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Score callers sound off on Bulls' direction after recent trades

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris opened up the phone lines for Score listeners to sound off on the aimless Bulls.

Rahimi Harrison Grody The great Kevin Harlan I just pulled through the Taco Bell Drive-thru and I've got a couple of big, nasty Supreme Burritos right here waiting to beat. You know, the first thing they ask you now, are you using the app?

The app, no, I just want my burrito. I don't want to use an app. Bring a lot of mild sauce because I'm going to squirt it all over the way. Put some hot sauce on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. You will hear Kevin Harlan

with us today at 1 o'clock. So we'll get Taco Bell updates E-MOS and more. Right here on 104-3, The Score. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody. And we're going to go to the phones because the Bulls are making deals, but have you figured out a direction yet?

312-644-67-67. We start with Anthony in Plainfield. Anthony, you're on Rahimi-Harris and Grotie. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my call. So a couple things. And I should start with saying, I have not been a fan of AK upper bulls management for years.

What they have done has been brutal. They obviously waited too long to get things going here. With all of that said, these last two weeks or this last week or so, we've collected ninth second round picks, and I get we've gotten a few players for a bunch of players that have no future on our roster. All I've heard is we didn't get first rounders for I.O., we didn't get first rounders for Kobe. but if you look back at all of these drafts and you're on draft night and you're seeing these teams in the mid-late 20s, all they tend to do is trade out of those slots.

And those second-round picks we're acquiring for guys like A-O, those are going to be future first-round late-20s picks if the Bulls decide they want to go that route. So they have plenty of options now that they have all the picks. I don't look at this as we didn't get a first round for A-O. As a matter of fact, I think we got it. maybe too late first round picks for Iowa if the Bulls again decide to do it that way. Okay, I think you're putting a lot of blind faith in AK because he's not proven he can do anything really. I would ask you this, why not keep I.O. sign him to a deal and have him as a future asset while also helping your team. That's the issue I have with it. You had his bird rights.

You could have kept him and he was fine. I don't understand why you get rid of him in this manner. You're so much right. I understand. Iowa is a really good point. player and keeping him on your roster is keeping you in the middle of the pack, right? Like, they are picking a lane to get bad. And, like, again, going back to the whole thing with what you're talking about with AK, I agree with you, do we trust them to make decisions? But also, if you keep Iyo and you resign them and you look to trade him in the future, do you really think he's going to trade him at the right time for the right capital then? So you don't trade. Trust.

Well, here's part of my issue, Anthony, and I appreciate you calling, is that you're assuming the bulls are going to flip guys like perhaps Colin Sexton or Anthony Simons who are quality players and they are the ones on expiring deals. Ios having a career year but because of how he came up like you mentioned the bird rights he's going to be a more flexible contract. Now I was older than quote the timeline in quote if you look at 26 but as we've just mentioned, Anthony Simons, Colin Sexton is 26. Colin Sexton is that same age. So, you know, I don't necessarily know that you think that they're going to get bad enough,

but Colin Sexton and Anthony Simons and Jaden Ivy can play. Like, Jaden Ivy is a shot creator. I don't know that you're going to get as bad as you want to get keeping those guys here, unless you're talking about next year tanking. And I don't see that being the case in this. There's no evidence that they're willing to tank, first of all. And we'll see by 2 o'clock today if they're more willing to tank. We're going to hear from Arturis Karnasovas at 3.30, and that's when I think we get a lot more answers.

And so because of what Anthony said, I think, you know, two things can be true. One, AK made a move. There's just no reason to trust him at this point. There's not, he's, you can't point to something, look what AK did and say, that makes me think, one, he's a good evaluator of talent. Look at the drafts. And two, that he's going to be in a position where he's going to get better players. That's, that's, you have I.O.

You had him. He was right there. Resign him. And then if you want to move him later as part of a deal for a superstar, he's the type of player team will take back in a deal for, I don't know, a Zion Williamson, a John Moran. You can go down the list. Whatever disgruntled superstar pops up next because there's always one or two.

My thing is, I was a good enough two-way player, not as good as Caruso, you know, on either on the defensive side. Better than Caruso on the office. Yes. But my point is, you know, Caruso, theoretically. would have fetched you a first round pick. So I.O. coming off of the year he had had, if you re-sign him

because you have the room, next year, could have probably fetched you a first-round pick. Let's keep it going on the phones. 3-1-2-644-67. This is Rahimi-Harrison-Grody. Let's go to Donnie on the south side. Hi, Donnie. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call.

You know, there's no current Bulls player on this roster that's going to go for a first-round pick. I don't trust A.K. at all to even make a decision to get a first-round pick. We couldn't get anything out of Caruso, Levine, DeRosen, Vooch, Kobe White, I.O., you know, we got a million trillion second-round picks. 15% of them turn into rotational players and less than 2% turn into all-star players. I really don't know the point here. I'll tell you the starting five tonight, too. It's going to be Moli Ha, Rahimi, Higee, Spiegel, and Home.

This is blasphemy what they got going. I mean, you know, I'm from 33rd in Hall said, you know, I'm a big Bulls fan all my life. I haven't been to a game in a 10-plus year since D. Rose. I mean, they just don't put a good product out there, and I just, this is, I got my blood pressure up. I just can't do it with this team. The decision makers, I mean, they're the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NBA. They love the play-in. That's what they look for, the play-in.

That's what's on their bulletin board today. Play-in, we're going to play for the play-in. It's just a joke. Look how fast the Pistons. turned it around. I mean, they were horrible for years, and then they get one guy. There's no plan either. Are they tanking? Are they not? They just want to stay relevant. I mean, if I see Mack McCong out there in a starting lineup, oh, my goodness, this team, I'm sweating. You might see Mack McClung. And you know what's funny about the Pistons is they had that horrible, atrocious losing streak,

but we all knew that they had had more talent than what was showing up on the court. They had pieces. They drafted well. Like they had Kate Cunningham at that time. You know, they had drafted well and they had made some savvy trades and acquired some first-round picks. And I think you and I were both of the mindset that Detroit wasn't as bad as they had looked. And I think J.B. Bigger Staff is a great coach. So I'm not surprised to see them doing what they're doing.

Donnie, great call. And I'm surprised you went with me instead of Marshall because the height advantage is definitely in favor of Mars. I don't want to get dunked on tonight. I'm fine. Dude, you're basically the average height of the Bulls tonight. You realize that, right? I'm only 6-2, guys. Don't listen to her.

I'm only 6-2. I'm only 6-2. Is he over 6 feet tall? I'm over 6 feet tall. Positional size, baby. Let's keep it going on the phones. 3-1-2-6-4-67, and to Stephen in Elkroy Village.

Hey, guys. First thing I want to start off with saying is AK should be fired, Mark Eversley should be fired. As much, I don't blame Billy Donovan for the current state because he's just working with what he's got, but I don't trust any of these guys to lead this organization. They've shown they can't be trusted with picks.

They can't be trusted with talent. We waited three, four years too long now to start a rebuild. When national media, when Charles Barkley on inside the NBA, in 2022 or 2023 is going up there and saying the bulls need to tear it down, and we still don't do anything, we just stand pet because we're happy being in the middle. As long as ownership is making money, this is all they care about. They don't care about fans.

They don't care about anything. Get a couple hometown guys to keep the fans involved. And then they just want money. And then to trade away, all these guys that we had, and we don't get a single first round pick except for the one pick that we traded

away, we got that one pick back. And then for all these guys, we don't get a single second round pick. it's just an atrocity. It's spitting in the face of these fans, and something needs to change with this organization. I appreciate it. I don't argue with anything that you just said,

because, again, if there was evidence to be like, I can point to this or point to that, I can't point to anything since the lack of a pivot after Lonzo Ball got hurt, and that was years ago. Well, and the thing is, even with what we're going to hear today, Arturis Karnasjovis has come off of and the actions that the team has taken. I think they've come off of the nine or ten good players concept

because of the expiring deals. And that's the part that I need him to fill in the gaps on what change from last year at this time to this year. Say that, but if he keeps some of these guys and he thinks they're one of the nine or ten good players, then that means he doesn't think anything has changed. Well, at least we'll get some understanding. Thanks for everybody for calling in.

thanks for the text. Thanks for the tweet that sent me back to a very, very interesting place with campaign. We have more coming up here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. Olin Kruits, our friend is coming up next. Talk a little bears. Talk about the, I think I've got to ask him about a drill he was coaching yesterday too for his O-Line kids. So we'll do that next.