Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Pod

A wild night of NBA Play-In Tournament basketball ended with a thrilling Blazers comeback win over the Suns, which resulted in the Bulls getting another first-round pick in the upcoming draft. It's a pick the Bulls have been waiting on since the Lauri Markkanen trade in 2021, and it gives the new front office another asset to play with to rebuild the roster.

In the early game of the night, Coby White played hero for the Hornets in a wild overtime victory over the Heat. After several years of play-in disappointment against the Heat, White got redemption with a third-quarter flurry and a circus game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime. White is in a perfect spot with the Hornets, and hopefully they're able to get to the playoffs. 

But now that the Bulls do have another first-rounder, what should they do with these picks? Ricky breaks down his draft strategy depending on multiple scenarios and reviews a number of possible targets. The Bulls could also look to package these picks for a trade up (or for a proven player), but would that be worth it? 

While the Bulls just finished up a miserable season, this added draft pick and the firing of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley bring some hope. Now everybody waits on Billy Donovan. 

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The Bulls fired Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley before the end of the regular season, a pleasant surprise after years of calling for their heads. Jason and Ricky break down why their firings were warranted for so long.

But while AK and ME are out, Billy Donovan is still badly wanted by ownership, as evidenced by Michael Reinsdorf's media session where he said the new lead exec needs to be willing keep the head coach around if he wants to get hired . Should the Bulls go all in on Donovan and let him effectively run the show? Or should they go for a clean slate? Who are some of the options to replace Karnisovas as Donovan looms over everything? 

Whatever happens with Donovan, there are also major questions about the roster. Should Josh Giddey be a trade candidate? Will the Bulls try to get in on the Giannis sweepstakes or try to make another big win-now move? Reinsdorf's no-tanking mandate, Donovan's philosophy and some of the reporting out there suggests the Bulls think they're a quick fix away from contention , which is short-sighted and off-base. 

This year's draft is where the Bulls' roster changes will begin, and Ricky was at the Final Four to see some potential options up close and personal. And if the Bulls finally get the Blazers pick, two first-rounders will hopefully help the cause of rebuilding the roster.

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The Bulls' brutal season just got even worse with the Jaden Ivey situation going totally off the rails. While the Bulls were right to quickly move on from Ivey after his series of social media rants, Arturas Karnisovas comes out of this mess looking worse than ever. This is especially true given Karnisovas hasn't even made any kind of statement on the matter, failing to show immediate accountability and forcing Billy Donovan and his players to comment on it first. 

It's yet another reason why Karnisovas should be fired, and there's very little reason to keep him around at this point. Nobody in the organization apparently has any faith in AK's plan, so will Michael Reinsdorf make the right decision? The public pressure after this Ivey mishap could prove to be too much to keep AK around. 

With the Karnisovas decision hanging over ownership, Donovan's future is also in question. There's smoke billowing that Donovan is ready to resign after the season, especially if Karnisovas is retained. Is there a scenario where Karnisovas is fired but Donovan moves into the front office to run basketball operations? 

There still is basketball happening on the court as the Bulls play out the string, with Leonard Miller one of the few bright spots. Matas Buzelis also continues to show flashes of being a potential star down the line, but there are still plenty of things for him to work on. 

Finally, the Final Four is here and Ricky has plenty of thoughts on how the top NBA Draft prospects have fared in the NCAA Tournament. Has Cameron Boozer's stock dropped at all after a somewhat lackluster run? Who has improved their draft stock? What's the Bulls' draft situation looking like? 

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The Bulls are 4-4 in March after going 0-11 in February, with Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis leading the way. Giddey has been the best version of himself in March throughout his career, and he's doing it again by being a triple-double machine and shooting the lights out from 3-point range. It's very similar to what happened last season, although a 15-5 finish likely isn't in the cards this time around. 

Meanwhile, Buzelis has enjoyed some monster games of late, including a career-high 41 points in an overtime win over the Warriors. What has Buzelis been doing well and what still needs to improve next season for him to take another leap into star status? 

With the Bulls winning games again and Billy Donovan pushing to keep winning, they look destined to finish in the No. 10 lottery slot. It's a battle between them and the Bucks for 9/10 in those lottery standings, but Milwaukee has been horrible and Giannis Antetokounmpo just got hurt again. 

With the draft in mind, it's officially time for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Ricky goes through region by region and highlights draft prospects to watch along with potential juicy matchups. His deep dive looks not at just the star prospects who could be in the Bulls' first-round draft range but some deeper sleepers who could be selected in the second round. 

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The Bulls have won a couple of crazy games since their 11-game losing streak, but they also just lost to the lowly Kings and look destined to finish in the No. 9 or 10 lottery slot. There's not a whole lot to write home about with the young players, with Matas Buzelis' growth stagnating a bit, Rob Dillingham looking rough and Leonard Miller going back to the bench against the Kings after some nice flashes in prior games when he got to play due to injuries. But, hey, at least Collin Sexton was enjoying a nice start to Mickey Mouse March before his leg injury in Sacramento. 

With the Bulls essentially playing out the string and March Madness about to kick into high gear, it's time to really start diving into 2026 NBA Draft. Ricky breaks down some of the top prospects in Chicago's current draft range, including Illinois star freshman Keaton Wagler. Ricky then examines some of his favorite prospects, such as Duke center Patrick Ngongba. 

And if the Bulls get lottery luck? Ricky looks at the much-hyped top of this draft, with Cameron Boozer sitting at No. 1 on his board and the Darryn Peterson saga adding a layer of intrigue to his draft stock. 

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