Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: Reacting to Bulls' acquisition of Jaden Ivey

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes for the daily transition segment.

Rahimi Harris Grody is like speaks, described the food spread yesterday. Disgusting, appalling and arousing. That was amazing when he said that. Disgusting, appalling, arousing. Sure. Or is it disgusting? I want to be disgusting.

I want to be appalling. Brody's arousing. For the record, they appointed me arousing. So you just can't have to deal with that. I can't stop being aroused. Perfection. Thank you to Matthew.

you Spiego for that set up. That's really funny. That's kind of amazing. What's, I got to say, though, what I said was about me, not about the spread. I said I was disgusted, enraged, and aroused. Close enough. So one of you is enraged. Where is?

Where is? Thanks to Joelle Lorenzi, thanks to Bruce Levine and Paul Pappst. Those Piaf's out of the show today. Paul Pappes. Paulie Pabst. Paulie Pabst. Well, where is pipped? He had Oracle Park in the backdrop.

Thanks to Ray Diaz. Is it Scored? Is it Scored? Is it Scored Day? It is. Every day needs to be Scored Day. I think every day is scored day. I didn't realize the skyscrapers lit up and blew an orange for us last night.

I did see that later. Dude, like the Hancock and the former Sears. Didn't I know that was coming? It's the Sears. It's the Sears. Just call it the Sears. What are we doing? But either way, it's Sean Sears for us.

The Sean Sears Town. Sean Sears Towers. You go 14 and 3 or 15 and 2 in football picks. You better believe it. In this economy? Thanks to Brandon Friar, Carter O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis. And the country, this state is in. Sorry.

Would we sign Sears to a $50 million deal, though? Or was a fluke season? I mean, that's the thing. Like, you know, he's a free agent now. LFG Awards. Give him the LFG Award for the score. You don't pay for past performance, Gordia, right. Yeah, yeah.

So I don't know. Like, are we all just assuming Sean is the guy. Love you, Sean. but I don't know you're the guy that we go, dude, that was one year. You're saying he's a 2024 Vikings? Is that what you're saying? Oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good.

Okay, yeah, your interview with Mr. Collar was, it was hilarious because I'm thinking to myself, oh, wait, who runs this team? Why have I asked this question before? Oh, so this is what happens when you don't get the quarterback right? Oh, now there's all these other ancillary arguments that really don't make a difference because if the quarterback had been correct, you wouldn't have fired him the day you did and you wouldn't be making up stuff that doesn't matter. You're like, wait, why does this all feel so familiar?

Wait. Oh, wait. The secondary part of that, though, and Speegs brought it up yesterday is like, KOC kind of comes away unscathed and he should not. It does not feel good. That's it. That KOC was able to wipe himself completely of blame after we spent the last two years saying that that place is all about his quarterback vision.

Right. And now, oh, no, yeah. The other guy made the choice. Seth Wickersham reported it. Caleb Williams wanted to work with KOC. If it doesn't work out, then I guess we have to say, well, I guess he's not as good at developing quarterbacks as we thought he was. Well, and the bigger thing is Paul PASS was on this.

You know, you've got to ask Sam Darnold what he did for himself. What were the messages that he gleaned and what did he learn? What did he do to also work with these people to have this success? That's what Kurt Warner told us yesterday. I thought Kurt was great yesterday. Kurt talking about, like, you don't know exactly what it is. It's growth. It's human growth. And like it happened, not the hormone.

But it totally happened for darn old after certain things, after certain failures, because he was with Shanahan, because he had a moment to sit back, whatever it is. It takes a while. He's had to do that this year. That guy was bad in the playoffs. And then it was bad this year in a game in L.A. against the Ramsey, he threw all those picks. And, like, he was so relieved to be great in the playoffs.

You could see that. He's like, oh, thank God. I didn't regress back to my crap self. Well, it also helps when your team is good. For sure. It helps when you know your defense is going to get the stops. It helps when Jackson Smith and Jigba can create a route tree out of zero. That guy.

What do you see when you watch that guy? Because I feel like I learned some stuff watching him in the playoffs. We're like, he makes every step look the same no matter what he's about to do. It's just like the smoothest runner and mover. And boom, he's just gone. He's, like, so efficient and crazy smooth. He gets open, and he's so quarterback-friendly. He comes back towards the quarterback with every route.

He's amazing. He has an impeccable sense of timing. Like impeccable, based on the routes he runs. You know what it is? You'll watch the play, and he'll catch it, and you're like, how is he open? And then when they show the replay, you're like, oh, that's how he's open. Oh, he beat that guy off the line. Off the line.

If he gets open with his feet, groats, he runs the same routes, and the different routes look the same, and the same routes look. different. Just like we always see, you get away from Shane Waldron, and that's what happens, you know? That's true. He tried to warn you. He really did. His polite way.

Yeah. Very polite. In a super polite way. When you really go back to, like, what he said and the way he said it, the mannerism in which he said it, and then what actually transpired, it was like, oh, you were really trying to, like, soften the blow of how bad this was going to be. Do you remember when he stuck up for Justin Fields at the podium, too? Yep. Yeah, he's just, he's that guy. He's, like, subtle about it.

We'll see if he gets offensive player of the year or if it's Puka. Because I feel like those are the two guys that they'll probably win it. And Puka is similar but not the same. And then he adds a level of physicality to the position. And those two guys, incredible. Oh, I mean, it could be run CMC, too. He had an excellent year as well. Dual threat guy.

I'll be it abbreviated. Like a maximized dual threat. running back. I love that. We had some fun during the meeting looking at the Mike Conley trade that the Bulls just made.

Is that what you're calling it? The Mike Connolly, that's the headliner. Go ahead and give him that. Mike Connolly played college basketball with Greg Oden. I remember Ohio State?

It's like Greg Oden is I believe Greg Oden is 65 years old. Dad Mata, right? He just looked 65. When he was 21. On draft day, he looks 45. Yes, he did. I mean, this is the Joe Keem Noah.

draft. Mike Connolly still play. Joe Kim Noah, I believe, has had three jobs since he quit basketball. He's got a beard as long as Methuselah. He's out of here like... Maybe Mike Connolly be on the next episode of Nomad. Who knows? My God, this man is old.

Can't tell you all secret? Before we get Joe Kim Noah or what? Yeah. Can't tell you all secret? Of course. I like the tree. I really like the tree. Well, okay. Look, we've got our two basketball people over here. Let's hear it. Well, what do need to know about this trade. Okay, so separate from the, they should move everything that's not nailed down to the floor.

They did that, by the way, by moving to expiring contracts, they get someone, by their own definition, who fits like a modest Boozealous and Josh Giddy timeline. I'm not saying I'm 100% with that approach, but I will say this, if they get this guy and Jayne Ivy, who I like, who's just kind of been the odd man out because of injury, and then the defense is not there. I'm going to need you to not bup, bup the injury. The injuries were significant, and there are a lot of people who feel like he's not even close to being the same player that he was coming out of the draft. He's got no burst.

He doesn't have the burst that he had, and that was kind of the whole thing. He can shoot. That is fair, but he can't shoot. Yes, he can. He can't shoot. Shot 40%. Last year, you know, 37%. He's gotten more efficient as young players are wont to do.

I think taking a chance on him, though, and knowing he's a restrictive free agent, You don't have to worry about maybe next year. You get him on a really cheap deal. And you can see if that burst comes back. They have the luxury of that because they have this long, drawn out timeline, which I don't agree with. But if he does come back, now you've got other movable pieces. And when I say movable pieces, pieces that other teams may value in the future so that when a guy like a Janus or a John Moran or whoever does become available, you've got something to work with. What's interesting is that the Bulls don't necessarily need a player to be above the room.

They just need them to run. You know, like, that's a part of this, too. Like, typically I'm used to, like, having a team that's got a couple above the rim guys. Modis can be that person. But the Bull's primary need right now is shoot and run. So when you consider that part of it, they've got time to make that work with him. I think it's worthwhile to take a shot at a young player like Ivy. I do.

But here's the thing. He's 11 months since a fractured fibula, and then he had arthroscopic knee surgery after that. he's a spot-up shooter right now, and you're going to have to make a decision very, very soon on whether to give him money, like you just had to make that decision with Josh Giddy. And that one's looking out okay, but you're about to have a whole lot of money

on some really mid-players that you're hoping step forward. Who are the other mid-players when you say a whole lot of money? Giddy? I mean... I don't think he's a mid-player, though. I think he's above average. Mid.

High-mid. Better be a bit above average. That's what I'm saying. I guess it comes down to what you think, guys can be when the team is actually good again. And when I say good, I'm in a team with a clear-cut winning record playing for a top four seed in the east. I hear you. Look, here's the thing. I'm with you overall on like taking a flyer on a dude who's 23, who is a good shooter. And if he gets back healthy, has a higher ceiling, is a fine thing. But what I don't know is

what is happening right now is teams are scrambling to get Janus space, to maybe get freaking James Harden space because for the fifth time he's engineering and hissey fitting his way out of a team or Jamerrant space Jaron Jackson got moved today like this is two days before the deadline we have no idea what things are going to look like in two days

I love it and I'm excited by it friendly reminder that even Jared Jackson fetched you multiple players and three first rounders Mavericks that is a lot so if you someone comes tomorrow or today and says hey you're not getting a first rounder or like the the best case scenario, as I can see it for Kobe, is a protected first round pick.

Like if somebody wants to give you that, cool. If not, take the two seconds. Take the two seconds and keep it moving because that's, you just got to keep stockpiling at this point. They wouldn't even take the two seconds for Drummond. Well, that, I think hopefully they learned from that mistake. That's the whole thing. This seems like they might have.

The activity these past few days seems like they're trying to at least shuffle and see what they can find. And be a facilitator. Like if teams are trying to, yeah, be the third, the fourth team. however you need to do it, just get as much as you can before the deadline. Don't worry. Billy Donovan will have these guys playing hard and somehow you'll end up right back where you were, 40-win team or whatever, without great players.

Here's the problem. And I hate to go all hub-arquish on your cornflakes. But here's the thing. Go ahead. You're right, Marshall, that stacking draft picks and assets is exactly what the bull should be doing. But at the heart of it, at the end of it, is the evaluation. part, and I don't trust these guys to make proper evaluations.

And so you can have all the picks in the world. And sure, it's a crapshoot. It's a lottery when you're making it. They have shown that they don't have a real good grasp of what makes a talented player. I think they're fine with modest. I think modest is going to end up being pretty good. Felt of them, by the way. Right.

Felt to them. But there were other players in this past draft that could have fallen. into them. And what did they do? They said, let's take an experiment. Let's take a player that probably isn't going to be on our roster until year three. And now with the injury, it's very much looking like that's going to be the case that he's not going to be here. When there were actual players, young players, mind you, and I'm thinking of one in particular. Derek Queen? Yes, that were available for you to draft and you walked right by him. Well, look, if Derek Queen, Derek Queen was the second best asset, the unprotected pick that Marshall has been talking about, is, that's a crime against basketball humanity.

It really is. Oh, it is. I can't overstate. And I know, I know people are like, oh, you're saying the same thing all the time. No, no, I want to get it drilled down in your head. Because it's worse than even Derek Queen. It's worse than anything. It's unforgivable in the modern NBA to look at that roster, that team, and all the problems they've had and say, I don't want your unprotected pick.

Because, fam, that could be the number one pick in the draft. Yes. This is how you end up with Caleb Williams. You get that pick. I mean, this is like how... The Bulls nearly got the number one pick in the draft. That's your point. Yeah, I mean, like, this is how you give yourself chances to reset things.

And they have not been in the business of giving themselves chances. But I do want to say, I completely agree with Lauren, somebody asked me the other day on social media, like, on one of my videos that I did, like, do you trust A.K.? I was like, no, I don't trust him, but this is what they're stuck with. So I'm just laying out how I see it. when I know I can't change the top. Right. The top can't change. And maybe through this process,

they will have changed the way that they look at players and they project players going forward. It just seems like they have a type and whether it's draft position or the doubling down. Like, let's double down on Patrick Williams. Or I guess you could even argue triple down. You could have either traded them Or you could have just let him walk.

And you said, no, let's give him a whole bunch of money to be the ninth player in your road. He started twice this year. Yeah. The reason it's tripled down and not even double down and you could auger quadripled down because the option you left out there is just let somebody else give him money and see if you want to imagine. Correct. Well, the Bulls didn't even really do that with Giddy, you know. Like the Bulls didn't have Giddy signed an offer sheet.

But there was no one to sign it. That's why the rate was so much lower. I'm good with the Giddy deal because of that. I'm not. And the reason why is you were bidding against yourself. He clearly wanted $30 million and the Bulls clearly wanted him closer to $20. Now, they met in the middle, which is supposedly a good negotiation. But they didn't have to.

Exactly, Layla. Exactly. They didn't have to give Giddy $100 million. And for some reason, they decided that they were going to do that. And he's fine. But I keep, I said this to Spee's a few minutes ago. The thing about Giddy and my feelings on him are he's a, rec league player. He can go get you

buckets and he can go rebound. He still doesn't want to play defense that is still not changed. I think that if the best talent evaluator in the NBA, and that's Sam Presti, looked at three years of Gideon was like, he ain't it. And then everyone

else was like, well, there might be something there. Meanwhile, Sam Presti's team is out here doing little bitty moves that gets them to a championship. You're taking a guy that they were like, no, doesn't can't even make our playoff rotation. Yeah, that's because you are one of the inferior teams

in the National Basketball Association. Everybody knows as an org, they're not even an upper tier org. They're just not. Which is why the 5 million matters. Like, you know, a lot of teams would see it as nickeling and diving. The Bulls did that in good faith and that I understand. But now that you have the cap situations with the aprons, which is really what they are, that 5 million matters.

The little Wigower matters. the second round pick matters, having all of that flexibility. Yeah, this is why. The inches matter now because they add up to making room for something big. This is why, folks, if you want to go out there and hit on Leila Rahimi, and I'm not saying you do, but the successful way, she has said it to us before is if you say, baby, I would go over the second apron for you. Wait a minute, I'm the aroused one.

Why is Leila? Are you enraged? No, I'm not, that just, nobody's going to say that. Like, nobody's going to say it. I guarantee you it's early in 26. There's no way in hell that somebody's going to say they're going to go over the competitive balance tax

or the second day. No. Of 2026, someone will have heard this and will have approached her and made that comment. And you're right. That is 100% the way to like because, you know, that just shows value. And I just don't.

No. I mean, the ex-husband didn't have to do that. So like, I know. That's a really kind way to think about it. But God knows, I understand who I am. But since then, like, you know, Your standard is higher. Sure. Your standard is higher now.

You've been putting up buckets for years. So people are going to have to go over that tax now, like back in the day. Not so much. Do you see what the Dodgers did for Kyle Tucker? That's what I would do for you. That's what I would do for you. She said she's good with the MLE. That's inappropriate.

You're calling her mid. That's inappropriate. You can get a lot of talent with that mid-level exception. That's the point. No, the exception part is the thing here. Fame, aim higher. than the mid-level exception. No, but...

All y'all. I mean, it helps. The mid-level exception. Every day I make the point that I will choose nothing over somebody mid, so there's that as well. Facts. I'm like, no, I'll take nothing. I'm not there. I'll be better.

It'll be better. Mids comfortable. It's weird. I'm the only married guy with all y'all single ladies, and I mean you, Grody. Yeah. Wait, are we any closer to the compound idea of the grown Gen Xers living together? Is that happening? That was just Raji and I.

and yeah, he moved away and he couldn't put his down payment down. He had some issues. He couldn't handle Dave the cat. Wait, why are you out here dry snitching like D. Rose at the retirement ceremony?

Also, my brother was a criminal. Yeah, you got very personal. Was that a dry snitch or was it a love? It was. It was. I guess a little bit, yeah. I mean, look, we can't all have, like, come on. Who of us has, you know,

had a poor credit rating? one point in our life. I mean, that's the way it goes. I mean, sometimes, right? I'm recovered now. Hey, man, but that trip to that trip to Cali on that credit card when I was 23 was a damn good time. Remember when you were walking around the college campuses back in the day and they were like, hey, would you like a credit card? Yes, I would. Oh, man, finding money in college was the best thing. When somebody would get like their tax return, oh, we're going out tonight, guys. It's bad. Here's what we have planned for you on today's show. Matt Miller is going to join us at 3 o'clock, Guagi.

We will talk with him about the NFL and the NFL track. Yes, yay. We will find out if he's still rocking with Guaghi. Carmen Vitale is at Radio Row at the Super Bowl. We will talk with her at 425. There were a couple things that we felt like we needed

to get back to. The Rooney Rule conversation and Roger Goodell's terrible answers on it. And that's what we're going to do around 5 o'clock today. But look, When we come back, Speez and I were thinking about this. We're going to obviously watch the Super Bowl, right?

That's a thing that we're going to do because we do this for a living. But we didn't really have a rooting interest. We do now. Thank you. Thank you to somebody. And I have a specific prop that if it doesn't exist, I have to find a way to invent it as well. We can call our friends over at Circa and see if they can help us out with it because Bears fans should be all over it because they saw it a lot.

We'll explain what we mean. After Tanny's open next, here on the score.