#alex-caruso

#alex-caruso

Austin Reaves plays exactly like you'd want a role player that surrounds superstar players on your favorite basketball team to play.He's always giving 110% on the floor, he has a nose for the ball, and he always - whether it be from his intellect, or some otherworldly basketball magic bestowed upon him - finds himself making the right play at the right time.

In his relatively short tenure with the Chicago Bulls, Alex Caruso has already managed to develop a reputation as one of the highest basketball IQ players in the league.Considering this, it's clear to see why many would be interested in his thoughts about who the best players in Chicago Bulls history are.

As an impending free agent, there was a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Nikola Vucevic to come out and play like the two-time All-Star he once was.While the official accolade may have evaded him this season, Vucevic did the best he could to prove to the Chicago Bulls he was worth the massive investment they made in him at the 2020 trade deadline.

Five seconds remaining on the clock, Patrick Beverley is shaken off his man, Tyrese Haliburton pulls up from well beyond the arc, and the go-ahead three-pointer falls.The ball goes into the hoop, but the hopes and dreams of every Chicago Bulls fan in attendance are what pours out the basket as the ball makes its way to the floor before its thud is deafened by the crowd.

Well, at least they found a solution to gacking up large first half leads.Unfortunately, with an opportunity to add to their advantage over the 11th place Chicago Bulls, the Wizards decided building a large first half lead just wasn't worth the effort.After the first quarter, the Wizards led 27-25.With a bit of math, we can see they were outscored over the remaining three quarters, 77-55.

While achieving success as a team is vitally important, it's impossible to ignore the fact that so many members of the Chicago Bulls roster are playing for themselves as well.With this many players in a contract year, the Bulls will have plenty of tough questions to answer in the near future; a strong end to the season from any of these players could end up significantly impacting the front office's decision-making in contract negotiations.

Coming out of the All-Star Break, it didn't take long for the Chicago Bulls to begin rewriting the script of their 2022-23 season, did it?After limping into the break, this team has now won three of its last four games and has advanced to just one game back from the 10th seed and play-in position.Whether or not that's actually anything worth being proud of is a topic for another day, but at the very least it's been nice to see Chicago field a competitive basketball team for the first time in a long time.

Considering this has been a heavily rumored topic of debate dating all the way back to this year's training camp, it's almost a marvel that Nikola Vucevic has still not come to a contract extension to remain with the Chicago Bulls just yet.After all the draft capital the Bulls handed over to acquire the big man in the first place, it makes sense why the front office would be so interested in bringing Vooch back for the long run.

Chicago Bulls executives have recently denied any rumors of trading Alex Caruso, saying that he and Patrick Williams are not for sale.Caruso's name has come up recently in potential trade deadline moves because of his defense and ability to fit anywhere on a team.He has shown tremendous versatility both in defensive sets and position-wise, able to play both guard spots as well as small forward at times.

Last year, the Chicago Bulls overcame a litany of injuries to post a record of 46-36 and looked on the up and up in the Eastern Conference.The Utah Jazz, on the other hand, initiated a fire sale of the veteran talent, jettisoning Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Royce O'Neale for as many picks and young assets as they could get their hands on.

After playing the Detroit Pistons just last night, the Chicago Bulls will once again host visitors at the United Center with a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Year's Eve.This will be the second time these two teams square off this season, with the first being an embarrassing 96-128 blowout in favor of Cleveland.

In a relatively short career to date, 21-year-old Patrick Williams has encountered his fair share of criticism and frustration from Chicago Bulls fans thus far.After having his sophomore campaign cut short to just 17 games due to injury, the pressure to meet expectations of greatness was only amplified by limited opportunities for growth.

The Chicago Bulls have not had an easy time of it since trading away Jimmy Butler.Honestly, the years before trading him away weren't easy, filled with injuries and playoff disappointments, but at least the Bulls were racking up wins and getting to the playoffs.The first few years after Butler was sent away were painful.

If the Lakers have done one thing exceedingly well throughout the last decade regardless of the on-court results, it's been scouting and finding hidden gems.More specifically, they've made a habit of finding key rotation players outside of the first round of the draft.Even for all the roster turnover in recent seasons, the Lakers roster features a pair of second round picks in Thomas Bryant and Max Christie and an undrafted signee in Austin Reaves.

As the Chicago Bulls strolled into Miami on Tuesday possessing an 11-18 record, all talk surrounding this team involved locker room dysfunction, potential coaching and roster changes, and the reality of a long-term rebuild.Just two short days later, and things are starting to feel... right again?Now, I don't want to overreact here after just two wins.

The New York Knicks took command in overtime and beat the Bulls in Chicago, 128-120, on Wednesday night.This is just a postgame thread, so I don't want to talk about the brutal end of regulation - let's just say it was a cavalcade of DeMar DeRozan free throws and terrible Julius Randle decisions on offense.

After suffering back-to-back losses at the hands of the Suns and Warriors, the Chicago Bulls look to stop the bleeding here tonight against the Sacramento Kings.Fortunately, this will serve as the last leg of an exhausting six-game road trip before the team returns to the United Center for four of its next five games.

With a 3-3 record through six games, the Chicago Bulls are currently treading water through their November schedule.If they wish to break through the veil of mediocrity, they're going to rely heavily on an improved level of play from a handful of early underperformers this month.Looking ahead to the remaining monthly schedule, the Bulls are scheduled to take on two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic's Nuggets, then on to games against New Orleans and Boston (each of whom have recently defeated Chicago), before finishing things off against the NBA's current top-two teams in Milwaukee and Utah.

If there is one thing that the last several years have taught Lakers fans, it's that this ownership group and front office have thought a lot about how much it costs to run an NBA team, and how much it will or won't spend to field a contender.Because despite Jeanie Buss initially saying all the right things about being willing to pay the luxury tax for a contender back in early 2021, the team's actions have not borne that out.