1. Alex Caruso (ankle) was a listed as questionable heading into the game and was a ultimately late scratch. He suffered a sprain on Sunday against the Spurs, a different injury than the left toe that was previously bothering him. Billy Donovan said Sunday after practice that he hoped Caruso would be back at some point this week.

2. DeMar DeRozan was sensational, scoring 41 points and adding 11 assists, the first time a Bulls player has reached those thresholds in a single game since December 23, 1992 when Michael Jordan last did it. Not bad company.

After a poor shooting first half on Friday against the Spurs, DeRozan got back to his usual ways and went 14-of-30 from the field with 10-of-12 free throw shooting.

He also hit the game-tying shot in the final moments of regulation to send the game to overtime.

But the facilitation has been the most impressive. He spoke recently about the importance of keeping everyone involved — how that makes his teammates more dangerous and unpredictable to opponents and creates openings for him later in games.

DeRozan now has 10 or more assists in three games out of the last four.

3. Coby White continues playing at an elite level. He scored a season high 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-10 on threes and 3-of-4 from the line. He has made 53 of his last 102 three-point attempts over the last previous 11 games and has emerged into an offensive weapon the Bulls will feature regardless of the direction they take over the coming weeks.

The hot shooting will inevitably cool off, but there is reason to believe White could actually become much more dangerous.

As well as White has played, he’s shooting only 45.3 percent on two-point field goals this year, the worst figure since his rookie season and nine percent worse than last season.

White was 2-for-3 at the rim and 6-of-10 on two-point shots against the Bucks and the way he’s changing pace and manipulating bigs in drop coverage, and now finishing at the rim and in the mid-range, could mean he’s bound for even more scoring improvement.

4. To get White some good open looks, the Bulls have been leaning on this flare set in half court offense and after timeouts.

The action is simple — White enters the ball to DeRozan on the wing, and flares to the top of the key over a screen from Nikola Vucevic.

These types of quick hitters are really useful, especially when executed so swiftly. Defenses are often prepared to settle in against DeRozan isolations from the mid-post area, so if he can whip the ball back across as soon as the defense lets up, it is often open for a three.

5. There was some frustration later in the game that DeRozan went a little too iso-heavy down the stretch, and that White was left out to dry a bit despite playing one of his best games.

There’s probably some truth in there, but I thought the Bulls handled the fourth quarter and overtime well. They continued to play well through DeRozan, moving White around the court as a screener to draw attention away from DeRozan and open up scoring outlets if necessary.

They opened the overtime period with two plays that put White in position to make plays out of pick-and-pop with DeRozan.

More, White was at his best playing off the ball rather than dominating it. That’s precisely why the offense has functioned as well as it has of late. At times, with Zach LaVine in the off-guard role, the ball sticks with him as he surveys the floor to create isolations for himself, whereas White has done well to fluidly move onto the next action, whether that’s a drive, kick, or shot from himself.

There is a tendency to want to pour more and more responsibility onto younger players when they are performing well to see how much they can eat. But sometimes it’s smart to let them thrive in a somewhat smaller role because it’s working for them.

6. With a shortened rotation, Dalen Terry got some early minutes.

Terry has been working on his shooting with new Director of Player Development Petter Patton, and it looked like he was much more comfortable letting it fly. He made 1-of-2 threes in his 11 minutes and had something to say to the Bucks bench after nailing the one.

Terry has struggled to earn minutes because defenses leave him alone. He’s not a strong enough ball handler to get all the way to the rim against sagging defenses and he can’t bully his way through defenders if he gets there.

He had a couple possessions during his first stint coming to set screens for DeRozan. Catching the ball in the short roll, he had the ball going straight downhill playing 4-on-3. This allows him to unlock his best passing skill by giving him an advantage to play with.

Other Notes:

— Ayo Dosunmu got the start in place of Caruso, in place of LaVine, and pulled a Tony Snell. In 26 minutes, he logged 0-of-6 field goals and a foul. I’m not too worried, Dosunmu has been awesome for the Bulls in LaVine’s absence. Let’s talk again if this continues for a few straight games.

— Nikola Vucevic (14 points on 6-of-16 shooting, 10 rebounds, five assists) had a rough go of it offensively. He had some nice passes but never really found a scoring rhythm, with his 5-foot flip shot failing to fall.

— Torrey Craig struggled shooting the ball, but had a couple of key defensive plays late in the game that helped keep it close.

— Patrick Williams scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting and grabbed seven boards. He wasn’t the most efficient, but he was active on the glass and stayed aggressive. He continues to do a solid job on Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite his impressive statline (32 points, 9-of-13 shooting, 14-of-18 free throws, 12 rebounds, six assists).

— Andre Drummond had 16 boards in 14 minutes, 11 of which came on the offensive end.

— Despite shooting just 41.2 percent from the field, the Bulls made 15-of-34 threes. The lost the free throw battle 20-25 to 30-37, but had six turnovers to the Bucks’ 11, and 18 offensive rebounds to the Bucks six.

— Up next: Bulls are back home for the second leg of a back-to-back against the Nuggets on Tuesday night.

Watch the YouTube Replay

Plus, the CHGO White Sox crew, Sean Anderson and Vinnie Duber will discuss Shohei Ohtani’s MEGA contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers!

Fields slid for just a 1-yard gain, and rookie linebacker Jack Campbell put his full body weight on the Bears’ quarterback. Fields immediately looked at the ref and put his hands up. Cole Kmet and DJ Moore, who were to Fields’ left, clearly wanted a flag thrown on the play.

There wasn’t one, and that’s something Fields has grown used to since he was drafted in 2021. Fields has only received eight roughing the passer calls in 36 games played and none have been called in 2023.

• 2022 (5): two vs. the 49ers in Week 1, one vs. the Texans in Week 3, one vs. the Giants in Week 4, one vs. the Cowboys in Week 8
• 2021 (3): two vs. the Raiders in Week 5, one vs. the 49ers in Week 8

Fields has also only received three unnecessary roughness calls: one against the Giants in 2022, one against the Packers in 2021(which was offset by a Bears penalty) and one more against the Vikings in 2021.

The lack of late-hit penalties don’t go unnoticed, though.

Jaquan Brisker, who has never been shy to voice his opinions, was asked for his reaction on Monday when he sees Fields get hit and there is no penalty flag thrown.

“If it was us, they would be throwing it,” Brisker said. “It wouldn’t even be a reaction, they would just throw it. So I just think they should treat him fair. He’s a quarterback. I know he is 230 (pounds) and he run a 4.3, but it doesn’t really matter. He’s still a quarterback and we have to protect him. It’s disappointing.

“Obviously, the other team is being told to do dirty stuff after the play hit him like this certain way. It’s obviously being told by the way they have been treating him these last couple of weeks.

“A lot of shots to the head and it’s very disappointing seeing a guy like that get hit and take hits like that, and one of those hits, you know God forbid, could be something very bad. I think the league needs to get on that and notice that. It’s bad.”

Brisker accused opposing teams of being “told to do dirty stuff after the play.” The second-year safety was asked a follow up question about if he thinks it’s systematic that other teams are being coached to hit Fields hard or late.

“Yeah, you can just tell,” Brisker said. “Like Coach Flus he doesn’t tell us to do anything like that, but you can just tell the way they just hit him after the play .. you can just tell how they’re just trying to tug and try to do whatever they can to get him out of the game. It’s obvious. It’s obvious. All them head shots yesterday, all them late hits, trying to mess with his hand and things like that. It’s obvious, so the league just has to, you know, protect the quarterback and we’re going to protect ours at all times, so.”

Bears coach Matt Eberflus mentioned on Monday that he is “very active” and always in the ref’s ears when it comes to petitioning to protect the quarterback. Eberflus said he wasn’t happy about the play with Campbell and that he let the official know about it.

There were also some questionable hits on Fields in the first matchup against the Lions at Ford Field.

Like most of the other instances, Fields did not get a flag on the hits.

“That’s just what the Lions do — they play hard,” Fields said following the Week 11 loss to Detroit. “We knew that coming in that week the kind of effort and toughness and grit they play with. Their head coach preaches that. We kinda knew it was gonna be that type of game. I was talking to the ref and just asked, like telling him like, ‘yo, just watch out. Heads up for a late hit’ or something like that. I guess I didn’t get any. Keep playing ball and control what I can control.”

With four games still remaining in the regular season, that means there are still chances Fields will be susceptible to taking late hits. So, it will be up to everyone on the Bears to make sure the officials are well aware of how the 24-year-old quarterback is being treated.

And welcome to Victory Monday!

Two-game winning streaks aren’t noteworthy for many NFL towns, but when Chicago goes 707 days without one, well, we’re going to bask in it.

Let’s get to the thoughts …

1. I don’t know if it will be a December to remember for our Bears, but Sunday’s 28-13 triumph over the Lions certainly showed the ingredients are there. The defense was dominant, forcing another three turnovers and holding Detroit scoreless in the second half. That, in turn, allowed our coaching and quarterback to be better than their coaching and quarterback. You couldn’t draw up a better script for a NFC North win at home late in the season.
   
   
2. Does that mean the Bears are officially in the hunt? At 5-8, they’re holding up the bottom of those network graphics, but the New York Times still projects the Bears with just a seven percent chance to make the playoffs.
   
   
3. That said, we’re two weeks out from Christmas and already looking forward to next Sunday’s game in Cleveland. If the Bears win that, we’re set for two must-see home games against Arizona and Atlanta on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. That’s a big win for a team that started 0-4 and fell to 3-8 just 22 days ago when they coughed up that late lead to the Lions in Detroit.
   
   
4. Credit Matt Eberflus for his team staying relevant this late in the season. He might’ve been shaky at the end of early losses and at the podium, but it’s clear he never lost the locker room. I still think any decision for 2024 should be made on the Bears options — if there’s a clear upgrade, Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren must take it — but the rise of the defense have erased some of our early doubts about Flus.
   
   
5. Ryan Poles deserves a lot of credit, too, for going out and getting Montez Sweat. There’s so much parity in the NFL that one difference-maker can swing the fortunes of a unit. We’re seeing that with Sweat, who has single-handedly turned the defensive line into a problem for opposing quarterbacks. And while the rush defense was already solid to Sweat’s arrival, it’s now rating second-best in the NFL, just behind the Super Bowl contender 49ers.
   
   
6. Justin Fields makes it look so damn easy sometimes. He was 22 yards out when he took off on his touchdown run and he was still able to beat three Lions defenders to the front corner of the end zone while looking like he was on cruise control. I’ll miss plays like those if the Bears do make the offseason decision to move on.
   
   
7. Anyone starting to get the feeling the Lions are the new Vikings while Jared Goff is the new Kirk Cousins? Both franchises built up solidly with blue-chippers on both sides of the ball, only to get complacent with a better-than-average quarterback with a clearly defined ceiling. It’ll be interesting to see how Detroit proceeds at that position going forward.
   
   
8. What a damn shame all those Lions fans at Soldier Field left disappointed.
   
   
9. I wouldn’t hate if Poles’ offseason shopping list in free agency includes an upgrade at running back, particularly if the Bears can take care of WR at the top of the draft.
   
   
10. I still can’t believe 38-year-old Joe Flacco will be quarterbacking the Browns on Sunday. Here’s a fun fact for the road: Justin Fields was nine years old when JF15 made his NFL debut in 2008.
    

Kevin Kaduk

More coverage from CHGO Bears:

• The CHGO Bears crew gave us their initial reactions on the win
• Nicholas Moreano dives deep on 4th-and-13
• Greg Braggs Jr. says that was the best play of QB1’s career
• Mark Carman issues his grades for Diehard members

And that’s why they traded for Max Stassi.

No, Stassi, the 32-year-old defense-first veteran the White Sox got in a Saturday-evening deal with the Braves, is not that future. But he is the present, or part of it anyway, with the idea that Edgar Quero, the third-ranked prospect in the organization and the No. 81 prospect in baseball, will one day take over behind the plate.

With Stassi now in the fold — for a $7 million salary that the Braves covered most of by sending along cash considerations in the trade — that day might be as soon as 2025.

Quero, acquired in the trade-deadline swap that sent Lucas Giolito to the Angels, is just 20 years old. Though he did spend time at Double-A in 2023, he’s not expected to make a beeline to the big leagues. That, however, shouldn’t make anyone question how the White Sox — or prospect evaluators, for that matter — feel about him.

“He was a 20-year-old in Double-A last year and he took well to an assignment that was aggressive,” Chris Getz said last week during the Winter Meetings. “Very smart kid, switch-hitting ability. I would say that looking into next year, he’s certainly going to be at the upper levels, and with really talented players, you never know how that’s going to play out.

“I don’t see him being on our Opening Day roster, if you are asking that question, but he’s certainly a guy that we know that he’s coming and we are excited to have him.”

“Quero is coming” might not be as catchy as the similar slogan from a hit TV show, but it shows where the youngster fits in the team’s plans, looking much like their outlook for Colson Montgomery, an even higher rated prospect. While there are questions about what position Montgomery will end up playing at the major league level, his eventual arrival is seen as one of the few cornerstone-type building blocks for the long-term aspects of Getz’s organizational renovation.

And so just like Getz did in bringing in Paul DeJong to be a placeholder at shortstop while Montgomery wraps his minor league development, here’s Stassi to do a similar job behind the plate while the White Sox wait for Quero.

And much like DeJong checked the defense box in a big way for Getz, so too does Stassi.

Here’s what Getz said he wanted in a catcher during the Winter Meetings:

“You are looking for someone that can come in here and defensively handle the position, including game-calling, and really have that presence that is needed at that position. … In terms of a veteran presence or someone who is a little more seasoned, that’s something we’re looking at.”

And here’s what Getz got in Stassi: a veteran who’s played in parts of 10 major league seasons and since the 2018 season has ranked as one of the best defensive catchers in the sport, according to Fangraphs. During that span, only nine catchers accumulated more Defensive Runs Saved.

Getz continues to deliver on his mission to improve the White Sox defensively, but Stassi’s arrival does little to inspire confidence that the team will be a run-scoring machine. He’s got a career batting average of .212 and a career on-base percentage below .300.

And alongside those offensive question marks, throw in some involving workload, too. Stassi has only played in more than 100 games in a season once in his career and missed the entirety of last season while dealing both with a hip strain and a family health issue.

If you’ve made it this far and wondering when we were going to talk about Korey Lee, here it is: Is Stassi here to top the catching depth chart and help mentor Lee while helping to manage the pitching staff? Or is he here to backup Lee, provide defensive certainty and let the rookie continue to develop at the big league level with a bigger workload and more responsibility?

All that is uncertain right now.

What is certain is that the White Sox didn’t go get Martín Maldonado or Austin Hedges or Eric Haase or Victor Caratini or Tucker Barnhart, free agents with mostly strong defensive reputations.

For the most part, they selected Stassi over all of them, unless they wanted Caratini, who signed with the Astros during the Winter Meetings, or Hedges, who reunited with the Guardians over the weekend. But Maldonado, in particular, was available and seemed to scream White Sox given his sparkling reputation for working with pitchers during the ongoing successful run by the Astros and his history working with Pedro Grifol during the South Side’s skipper time with the Royals.

Instead, it’s Stassi, who was traded to the White Sox the day after he was traded to the Braves in a deal with the Angels. But much like they did with DeJong, it’s hard to read the White Sox’ acquisition of Stassi as anything but the acquisition of a placeholder, meaning the $7.5 million club option for 2025 can already be somewhat confidently predicted to be declined at this time next year, when perhaps Quero will be knocking on the door of the major leagues.

The White Sox don’t have the ability to look to future cornerstones at many positions, but they do at shortstop and they do at catcher, helpful in describing the moves they’ve made to this point this winter.

Individual skill improvement is at the very basis of team improvement. And from Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley on down, the organization is more invested than ever in making that happen. 

“In general, this has been an ongoing focus over the past three-and-a-half seasons, since AK (Arturas Karnisovas) and Marc (Eversley) came here to Chicago,” Bulls Vice President of Basketball Strategy and Analytics Steve Weinman told CHGO. “It’s been a priority to do everything we can to create an environment for our players where we’re doing as much as we can to put them in position to maximize their abilities, and to do so in a way that helps our team.”

There is a unified initiative across the front office, to the coaching staff, and skill development department to help players grow.

“I feel strongly that our responsibility from a basketball analytics standpoint is to provide as much support for this process as we can, to help the coaches as they help our players,” Weinman continued. “More than anything else, our players are the product…the person most responsible for that player’s improvement, is that player.”

Shooting is the low-hanging fruit when it comes to juicing up the offense and making each player more dynamic. Last season, the Bulls were, on average, in an 8.4-point hole simply by losing the three-pointers made battle by 2.8 per game.

To rectify this area of weakness, the Bulls brought in Peter Patton as the team’s new Director of Player Development. Patton, a shooting coach by trade, believes that shooting is the foundation for individual improvement. Players need to be able to shoot well to pull defenders out of the lane. They need to have the floor spaced to create driving lanes to keep the offense humming. And they need to have a more modern shot profile — where on the court they’re taking their shots — to keep pace with the offensive boom happening across the league.

“We have an emphasis on shooting, specifically because our shot profile when I got here wasn’t ideal to the NBA standards,” Patton told CHGO. 

They’re operating through the lens of ‘skill over scheme’: the idea that players need to have belief in their ability in order to make the next play, keep the advantage alive and capitalize on what the defense is giving them. If they can maximize their offensive toolsets, they will be prepared to read, react and capitalize.

“I’m coming in to focus more on certain skill development, specifically shooting and basing everything off of ‘skills over scheme’,” Patton explained. “If they’re not comfortable with what they do, it’s hard to run a scheme.”

Skills over scheme

Ty Abbott is in his fourth year as a Bulls player development coach. A former pro in Europe and in the G League, Abbott started his career working with the Philadelphia 76ers affiliate team before eventually moving to the Bulls.

He’s playing one-on-one and managing drill work before games with Coby White and Zach LaVine. “Just having a guard background, it’s kind of natural for me to gravitate towards them and they gravitate towards me as well,” Abbott told CHGO. 

“The way that I see it, [my job] is really just to support these guys,” he continued. “You can look at it: you have your head coach who’s running the show, you have your assistant coaches that are coming up with the schemes and the way that we’re going to play. And then my job is to help our guys be as successful as possible and be as ready as possible to implement those schemes and show what they can do within the framework of what we’re trying to do as a team.”

The Bulls have a strong group of player development coaches including Abbott, Jordan Ash, Logan Power, and Nico Hobbs. Patton added to the group, bringing Peter Crawford with him from Dallas, and then hiring Austin Dufault away from Detroit.

“Everybody has an expectation and standard that we’re going to set with how we work with players,” Patton said. “What time we get here. What time we leave. Attention to details when we watch film with ourselves, our players. We’re going to study the game, study each other and encourage each other to communicate ideas and have an open forum in our office.”

In bolstering the skill development staff, the Bulls feel they can have a greater impact on player’s growth. Players need to trust and believe in the coaches they work with. Those coaches need to be able to relate to those players and challenge them with the right feedback as it relates to eventually implementing those skills in game. 

“Once [players] come into their own, they start to understand, alright, ‘this is my look here, this is my look here,’ and they start to have a progression in any given scenario,” Abbott said. “And as you see guys start to really understand the offense and understand their strengths. You see them go through those progressions. You can see how they’re playing the game within the game.”

Younger players like White, Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu are starting to show those flashes more consistently — a product of the work they’re putting in.

“You gotta do it when you don’t want to do it,” Abbott said. “And that’s more than just being on the court. Are you taking care of your body? Are you watching the film? Are you paying attention in practice? Are you learning the playbook?”

“All of our guys work,” he continued. “And they’ve fallen in love with the work. And they all feed off of each other’s energy.”

Learning your shot

Patton is always lurking behind players, arms folded and brow furrowed. He’s intently monitoring their shooting form as they work through drills. 

“He’ll operate in the shadows,” Abbott said.

Patton is looking at balance, hand placement, line to the rim. These elements are non-negotiable. 

He’ll never aim to tear down and reconstruct anyone’s shot form. That’s “asking for disaster,” especially during the season. Instead, his message to the players is consistent: he’s teaching them how to perfect their shot, not enforce his own upon them. 

“It’s his shot, not my shot,” Patton said. “It’s the player’s shot and whatever they want to do to make their shot better, they have to buy into it. I’m gonna give them a platform to do it. It’s a back and forth. The big thing is making sure they understand why they miss. So when they miss they can make their adjustments in-game.”

Dalen Terry is one of Patton’s personal projects. He’s constantly in Terry’s ear during shooting drills, preaching balance, elbow in, making sure the ball comes off the middle finger, not ring finger. Behind each jumper, Patton is there, guiding and instructing every motion.

And of course, the trash talk helps build the relationship that lays the foundation for skill development and application. 

“For me, it’s a lot of talking shit, for real,” Terry told CHGO with a smile. “Like he’ll say some shit just to see how I react.” 

For developmental players like Terry, earning minutes will be a challenge without continued improvement in skill areas like shooting. 

“A lot of these guys, younger players, have come up or they’ve been told how great they are,” Patton explained. “No one has really coached and challenged them…If you can’t shoot you can’t play…that skill set, breaking guys down getting to the paint becomes a lot easier, because that means they’ve got to close out and it’s a much easier read and go by.”

The team uses the Noah Shooting System, a state of the art tracking tool that measures and visualizes shot arc, depth, and left-right accuracy data to help players correct their shot.

According to the Noah software, “The perfect shot is 45/11/0,” Terry explained. 45 is the degree angle of the arc, 11 is depth, the point where the shot enters the hoop in relation to the front of the rim, and 0 is the margin left or right of the rim.

“He’ll say my shot wasn’t perfect,” Terry said. “And I’ll say, ‘well, that shit went in’. Then he’ll bring up the chart and tell me how it wasn’t (perfect). We’ll argue about it, and then I’ll do it his way, and he’ll say, ‘see, do it again.’”

There’s no arguing with Noah. As good as the shot may feel off of Terry’s hands, if it’s not 45/11/0, it’s not right.

Measuring success

Weinman is building other “tools and toys” to help visualize information geared towards optimizing offense. His job is to provide support and information to the coaches to disseminate to the players as they see fit.

It doesn’t have to be regurgitating stats and tables, but rather, a lens through which the coaches can package and distribute information. And the coaching staff and player development staff are as eager to implement this information as Weinman has seen during his tenure with the Bulls.

“This [coaching and player development staff] is by far not just the most interested in receiving information, but the most aggressive in pursuing it,” Weinman said. “We have a staff that is really interested in engaging with as much data as they possibly can.”

Of course, the Bulls want to see those percentages rise, but the goal is less about reaching specific thresholds, and more about steadily moving in the right direction.

“One thing we’ve talked about is a goal of continuous improvement,” Weinman said. “It’s not just trying to hit this target number and then we’ve hit it and that’s the end. That’s not the idea. It’s to find ways to just continue to be moving in the right direction, ideally in every facet of the game.”

And to their credit, they have. The Bulls offense at large is still a work in progress: their efficiency is 24th, right where they left off last season (though they’ve dropped a few points per 100 possessions). But they’ve moved up to 13th during their four-game win-streak and are showing real signs of growth. 

The shot profile is also looking a lot healthier these days: 32.9 in three-pointers attempted per game, an 11-spot rise in the rankings. 33.8 percent of their offense comes from three, compared to 30.4 percent last season. 

The Bulls have climbed 22nd to 14th in frequency of shots attempted from the corners. They aren’t just launching threes for the sake of it. Instead, they’re understanding how to generate better offense by prioritizing areas on the floor where the expected value of shots is highest.

Better yet, they’re increasing volume without sacrificing accuracy. The three-point percentage has remained consistent to last season’s average, an impressive feat considering the inverse correlation between those variables.

“Our players have put in a lot of work,” Weinman said. “And you’re seeing that in terms of, in some cases, increased willingness to shoot threes. In some cases, it’s just purely increased accuracy on taking similar volumes of shots.”

More than anything else, shooting opens up a higher level of upside for each individual on the team and the group on the whole.

“People think that the Chicago Bulls are a non-shooting team. We’re going to change that narrative,” Patton said confidently. “I encourage people to go under [screens]. That’d be fine. 

We’ll be just fine with that. We’ll be ready.”