The Bulls made a generational FUMBLE...

Against Utah, Io DeSumo scored 26 points and made 4 of 5 of his threes. He plays for the T-Wolves now because the Bulls traded him back in February. Chicago got Rob Dillingham back, a guard who was already buried on the depth chart. Now Anthony Edwards is out and DeSumo is averaging 21.6 points over his last seven games. The part that hurts is what Minnesota pays him is what we just paid for Norman Powell, the exact number. So did the Bulls fumble DeSumo? At the deadline, DeSumo was 26 years old, not an expiring contract, and from Chicago. He hadn't signed a three-year $21 million deal in 2023, so he was paid about $7 million a year. That's why Chicago sold, because his next contract was going to cost real money. At the time of the trade, he was averaging a career-high 15 points and shooting 45.1% from 3. Since the trade, he has played 34 games for Minnesota, and he is averaging 14.7. He is the same player, but what changed is the opportunity. Chicago could have given him that opportunity. Instead, the Bulls took back Leonard Miller, who makes 2.4 million and averages 7.1 points this season. Miller has scored two points in two of his last four games. And they took Rob Dillingham, who CBS said was buried on the depth chart when he arrived. Rob Dillingham has no game logged for Chicago this season. That is Dillingham, Miller, and four second round picks for a 15 point score. CBS counted Josh Giddey, Trey Jones, Collin Sexton, Ivy, and Simmons in the same backcourt, so there was a reason to clear room. But you do not clear room by sending away a guard who is shooting 45%. Then Anthony Edwards went out with an injury, and Minnesota needed a guard who could carry a scoring load. The Wolves are 8-3 on the season, and they have won their last four. Since October 29th, DeSumo is averaging 21.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.7 steals in 7 games. The Wolves are 5-2 in those games, and he has made 17 threes. In the three games he played with Edwards in the lineup, he averaged 10.7 points. That is double. Chicago let him go at 15 points, and in seven games with Edwards out, he is at 21.6. That's a tough hit. Wolves coach Chris Finch says DeSumo kick-started the season. He ranks fifth in the league and above the break three-point percentage at 47.2%. Here are the seven games at one time, because the run is better than the average here. Golden State first, 17 points, four steals, and the Wolves lost. Then the Clippers, 15 points, three threes, and a win. San Antonio, he had 27 points and nine rebounds on 64.7% shooting in a loss. Milwaukee 19 points 12 rebounds and 8 assists and the Wolves won. At Houston he scored 21 on 50% shooting and another win. At New Orleans 26 points and 4 threes and a win as well. And Utah 26 points on 4 of 5 from 3 in 30 minutes. Not one of those seven games was under 15 points. The Wolves lost twice and he scored 17 and 27 into losses. That is a profile of a starter not a sixth man. The minutes are the whole story. About 34 a game in those 7 and about 25 when Edwards was playing. He ranks 4th in the league in transition points per possession at 1.33. Wolves rookie, Rob Dillingham, said of him, quote, he's like a big brother for me. The Athletic had him 3rd on the board for 6th man of the year in late October at 10% with Peyton Pritchard at 24%. A Wolves fan wrote after the deal that he will never understand why some fans complained about it this offseason because he is so good. That is a player that a whole building trusts, and Chicago traded him for depth that they're barely using. Last season, the Wolves went 12-9 without Edwards and 48-25 with him. In 10 games without Edwards last year, Naz Reid averaged 17.6 points, 15.9 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. Then in Game 4 of the playoffs against Denver, he came off the bench for 43 points. He was 13-17 from the field, 5-5 from three, and 12-12 from the line. That is not a hot week, that is a player who is improving with more minutes. Chicago never got to find out what 30 minutes a night from him would look like, and we're getting to see it right now. Now let's look at what the Bulls have done with that money and those minutes. In that same stretch around the deadline, Chicago also traded Kobe White and Nikola Vucevic, so Naz Reid was one of three players they sold. Chicago has won one of its first nine games. In the eight games Norman Powell has played, the Bulls are 1-7. Powell scored 30 against New York, and Chicago still lost. Josh Giddey had 19.7 rebounds and 15 assists against Philadelphia, and Chicago still lost. The Bulls are 29th in the league in true shooting at 53.7 percent and last year they were 16th at 58.0 percent. They are 30th in defensive rating at 123.6 after finishing 22nd last season. A team that cannot shoot or defend needed a 45 percent three-point shooter but I'm not saying that Naz Reid fixes a one and eight start but I do think it would be better with him. What I am saying though is that the Chicago Bulls had a 26-year-old guard on the way to a big payday and they chose to find out nothing about him and we're seeing it pay off for Minnesota right now. Meanwhile, Naz Reid is averaging 18.3 points for Minnesota across all 10 games this season. That includes the games where Ant was playing. Here is the money and this is where my take comes from. Minnesota has Naz Reid on four years at 86.5 million, about 21.6 million a year. His deal runs through 2030-31 with a player option in his last year. Chicago has Norman Powell at $21.5 million this season with a $22.6 million team option next year. That is the same money, almost to the dollar. Powell is 33, Naz Reid is 26. I don't get this trade at all. Powell has been good though, and he is outscoring Naz Reid this season, 19.3 points to 18.3. That is the best argument the Bulls have, and I'll give it to him. But the Bulls are 1-7 when Powell plays, and the Wolves are 8-3. The points are close, the records are not. But the Bulls signed a 33-year-old guard in July after trading a 26-year-old guard in February. The fair argument is that keeping him would have made them have to pay for him in free agency, and the Bulls spent their cap space on Norman Powell instead. So the choice was Powell or DeSumo, and they chose to take the older option when they're trying to rebuild a young team. Makes no sense. One report says analysts already expect Chicago to look at trading Powell around the deadline because a 33-year-old does not fit a rebuild. If they do trade Norman Powell, which is what we all expect at this point, there'll be two guards traded within a year. That's pretty crazy. For me, I really think that paying DeSumo doesn't really hurt you at all. I think this is a guy who would have really helped us going through our rebuild now. Obviously, we got a lot of young players here, Bucelis, Wilson, all these guys. I think having a 26-year-old DeSumo to grow with this team would have really helped. And the part that keeps sticking out to me is it's the same number as Norman Powell got. Like, you don't even have to pay more than what you paid Powell for a guy who's seven years younger. And he was lights out when they traded him, 45% from the three. It's crazy that they traded a guy who was shooting that well, when we're, right now, in hindsight, we desperately need him. And obviously, it is a small sample size because Ant is out, but seeing now that you're giving him more minutes, he's turning into a better player, he's learning how to be a scorer at the NBA level, and he's doing it very well in Minnesota right now. And yeah, when Ant played, he only averaged about 10.7 points per game, but... This is a guy who is showing to the coaching staff and to the organization that took a risk on him that he's worth the money that they paid for him. So yeah, it's really working out for them, not working out so well for us. So really, Chicago doesn't really have an Anthony Edwards. They have a Caleb Wilson, a guy who I think is going to be a star in this league. But Ayo DeSumo would have been the guy for us here to put in the starting lineup, and he probably could have launched us into the stratosphere, and we probably could have had a couple of better games, right? Like, I'm not saying we're a winning team or a playoff team with him, but I'm just saying we probably aren't 1-9 to start the year with him. There was one Bulls player who gave fans a reason to watch against Philly. Bucelis started the year with 17 points, but on 2 of 8 shooting and 0 of 4 from the 3. Here is his season in 9 games. 17, 7, 21, 11, 17, 14, 4, 12, and 19. That is 13.6 points a game. Before the Philly game, he was on 40% shooting, and the headlines were about his coach benching him. On October 25th, a headline said Tiago Splitter decided his decision to bench Vucevic, and two days later, he got real about Splitter. The first time he saw Philly, he scored four points and turned it over five times. And after that, he said, quote, I'll promise you I'll figure it out. Then Philly came to Chicago on Sunday, and boy, did he figure it out. Two games after four points, he had 19. 19 points on 6 of 10 shooting and 3 of his 7 threes. He had 0 turnovers in 31 minutes after 5 and 23 the first time. In 9 games, he has made 3 threes in a game only twice against New York and on Sunday. So this is not new, it's a return. The 19 points are his second best of the season behind 21 against Washington. The 31 minutes are his second most behind 35 against Washington. The desk has Vucevic shooting 26% from the three with Caleb Wilson on the floor and 44.4% without him on the floor. Whether it's spacing or nerves, it is a reason to watch a few more games to decide if his shot is back or not. As a team, the Bulls shot 27% on 37 threes. A giddy pass set up a corner three that tied the game. The Bulls still lost 127-121, their seventh straight loss. They picked up his 27-28 team option October 20th, so he's a part of what comes next. And if you're enjoying the content here on the channel, go down below, hit that subscribe button, it's completely free to do so. If he keeps shooting like that, Chicago has a young scorer. And if we kept DeSumo, that would be another guard to feed him those passes. Chicago kept a young forward and moved a young guard, and this week, one of them moves looks better than the other. So here is where I land on both things we talked about today. Chicago traded a 26-year-old scorer who was shooting 45% from the three, and Minnesota is paying him $21.6 million a year, the same as Norman Powell. With Ant out, he's averaging 21.6 points a game, and the Wolves are 5-2. The Bulls still have Vucevic, who just showed what his shot looks like when he's not thinking about it and has that confidence back. That is a young core piece that Chicago kept, and one that they let go. Comment down below and let me know who you would rather have on your team, DeSumo or Powell. I'd love to hear from you guys. And if you're enjoying the videos here, leave a like, subscribe to the channel as always. I've been your host, KC. We'll catch you in the next one.