Bulls Juggle Guard Minutes And Lose Their 9th Straight Game

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

We’re stuck in the nitty gritty of the Bulls having too many guards on their roster, who the 26th man will be for the Cubs this year, and which draft picks the Blackhawks will end up with…when we can also witness history 46 years in the making.

It wasn’t quite the Kane/Toews 2010 showdown, but the USA/Canada gold medal game was a great reminder of how meaningful sports moments can be.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

OLYMPICS BREAK

Teuvo Teravainen won the Bronze with Team Finland!

Line combinations in practice coming out of the break:

Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky

Moore-Nazar-Bertuzzi

Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev

Dach-Foligno-Slaggert

Connor Bedard is healthy enough to take faceoffs again, so we’re back to seeing Bedard and Nazar at center!

AHL goalie Stanislav Berezhnoy was suspended 20 games for testing positive for a prohibited substance. The Blackhawks voiced their support for him and explained it was an unintentional incident due to a supplement he was taking. They signed goalie Olivier Rodrigue to fill in at Rockford for the rest of the season.

Proposals, golf, and…hockey? See what the players did during their break here.

Placed Wyatt Kaiser on IR, called up Kevin Korchinski and Sam Rinzel from the AHL

Trade Deadline ➡️ Friday, March 6th

SCHEDULE 📅 TH/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BULLS

L - RAPTORS 110 BULLS 101

FALLING IVEY

• Tre Jones (12p/6a) and Josh Giddey (5p/4r/5a, 4 TO) returned from injury, and Jaden Ivey was the odd man out in the guard rotation

• 23 turnovers doomed the Bulls who matched the Raptors in many other stats (42% FG, 30% 3PT, 46 rebounds)

• Brandon Ingram scored 31 points for the Raptors

L - PISTONS 126 BULLS 110

THIRD QUARTER WOES

• Pistons pulled away with a 44-26 3rd quarter after a tightly contested 1st half

• Josh Giddey tied a career-high with 5 3PTs and led the Bulls with 27 points

• Matas Buzelis had a career-high 6 blocks and scored 15 points

L - KNICKS 105 BULLS 99

NINETY NINE LIVES

• Bulls lost their 9th straight game but hung with the Knicks all night

• Patrick Williams had the 3rd-most minutes on the team (28), and the 4 healthy guards who played all scored 8 or less points

• Guerschon Yabusele (11p/13r) made 3 3PTs in the 1st half and had a double-double against his former team

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Jalen Smith

12.0p/7.3r/1.3b per game

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Team Fastbreak Play

Jaden Ivey will miss at least 2 weeks with left patellofemoral pain syndrome in his knee. It seems like everyone knew he lost explosiveness since recovering from a broken leg. I don’t understand why the Bulls traded for him as an upcoming free agent, knowing he was still battling knee problems, and trusting their own training staff to help him out when they JUST mishandled Coby White’s injuries this season and have a sketchy track record. I hope he regains his strength and agility!

Zach Collins will have surgery on his toe and miss the rest of the season

Anfernee Simons sprained his wrist during the Pistons game and may miss more time

Billy Donovan’s father sadly passed away. Wes Unseld Jr. coached the team vs. the Raptors while Donovan was away.

Starting Lineups after the All-Star Break:

Giddey/Simons/Okoro/Buzelis/Smith

Giddey/Buzelis/Okoro/Smith/Yabusele (X2)

SCHEDULE 📅 T/TH/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Promoted Jeff King, senior director of player personnel, to Assistant General Manager

• King has worked for the Bears since starting as a scouting intern in 2015

• Ryan Poles will have his 2nd Assistant GM since being hired as GM in 2022. King will work hand-in-hand with Poles and seems like a highly respected member of his front office. He’ll also have to stop Poles from trading up in the draft, have daily weighted vest meetings with Poles, and…well, that’s what Ian Cunningham did!

Stadium Update

• Indiana passed an amendment to Senate Bill 27 that would allow a potential agreement with the Bears to build their new stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond, IN. The Bears would commit $2B to the project.

• Hammond is technically closer to Chicago than Arlington Heights or other potential sites, but moving the team out of state would feel strange

• Illinois legislation was supposed to meet to discuss the “Bears” bill that could help move a stadium project forward, but Bears leaders allegedly cancelled the meeting to promote tweaks to the bill

• It feels like all of this is still talk. Leverage, leverage, leverage…maybe Illinois still comes through to keep the Bears in state!

Coaching Staff

• Will Lawing was named offensive analyst. He previously coached at Boston College (the Ryan Poles connection)!

• Isaiah Ford was named offensive quality control coach. He was signed by the Bears during the 2023 offseason as a WR, but he didn’t see any game action due to injury.

Released LB/ST Amen Ogbongbemiga - $2.07M in cap savings

NFL Combine is this week!!!

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

SPRING TRAINING

• Games started on Friday! 0-3 in the first weekend

• Seiya Suzuki left for the World Baseball Classic where he will play CF for Japan. He got reps in center for the Cubs before he left and hit a HR in his first Spring Training at-bat!

• Moises Ballesteros made it to camp after his visa issues got resolved

• Matt Shaw has been playing right field as he transitions to playing all over the diamond

Brewers manager Pat Murphy signed a 3-year contract extension. The Counsell/Murphy rivalry lives on. And so do the “underdog” Brewers…

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Jaden Ivey

Ivey was a DNP for the first time in his career vs. the Raptors. It was unclear to him whether it was because of his knee soreness, performance, or a matter of numbers with the Bulls’ full guard room. He was level-headed and gave glory to God despite a challenging evening. He’s a professional who wants to stay ready and help the Bulls win.

MILD TAKE

Alex Bregman should lead off for the Cubs

The Cubs have been searching for a leadoff hitter since Dexter Fowler.

Last year, I wrote about Ian Happ being the perfect leadoff hitter for the 2025 Cubs. He struggled quite a bit and was fittingly bumped down the lineup. They turned to a Michael Busch/Nico Hoerner mix depending on the pitching matchup.

Even though Alex Bregman seems like a middle-of-the-order third baseman, he may excel most at the top of the lineup.

Bregman SHOULD hit 20+ HRs. The Wrigley Field dimensions may add a few bombs to his ledger, but his exit velocities may dampen his results if we have another windy summer. He’s not a traditional power hitter. Instead of sticking him at 2, 3, or 4, I would give him and his career .364 OBP some run at leadoff.

Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki are the Cubs’ best overall hitters. Pete Crow-Armstrong can produce at a superstar level and profiled as the perfect cleanup hitter in the 1st half last season, but he has to stay lower in the lineup until he performs more consistently. This leaves Busch, Seiya, and Bregman in the top 3 spots without a clear 4 or 5. Nico’s contact abilities are impressive, but I think the Cubs subscribe to the generally accepted philosophy that places your best, and typically highest-OPS, hitters at the top so they get more at-bats.

Bregman/Busch/Seiya may be the most effective 1-2-3 on the team. Hopefully PCA slugs in the cleanup spot, and the rest of the lineup fills out accordingly.

HITTING THE LINKS

Sahadev Sharma - After a rookie campaign in which he ‘dominated’, what can Cade Horton do in Year 2? (The Athletic)

Ben Pope - Why Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight believes an illness gave him valuable experience (Chicago Sun-Times)

Scott Powers - Nick Foligno committed to Blackhawks but unsure how personal future will unfold (The Athletic)

The Rush With Maxx Crosby - The Caleb Williams Episode (YouTube)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! The Blackhawks are back! Get ready for the Connor Bedard hot streak after he was left off Team Canada…