Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Ricky O'Donnell eviscerates Bulls: 'Worst team in the NBA that tries to win'
29 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the Bulls' current struggles and recent performance?
We're talking to play-by-play man Kevin Harlan. You're the best when it comes to play-by-play of life.
We're sending Marshall Harris to D.C. to run on the field.
Come on, Marshall. Bring it home, baby.
We're ready for you.
The Rahimi Harrison Grody Show. Middays 10 to 2 on 670 The Score.
Murphy again at the stripe. It is up and it is good. 1-13, 1-10. Bulls 94 feet away with 2.3 left. Giddey and the pass deflected. Stolen by Nembhard. The ball game is over. Oh, no! The Indiana Pacers win for only the 12th time this season. Three of those coming at the expense of the Chicago Bulls.
Rahimi Harrison-Grody on the score. That one hurt last night. Did not feel good to see the Bulls go to 0-3 against what is now a 12-36 Pacers team. Indiana beat the Bulls last night, 113-110. Heard right here on the score, Chuck and Bill. Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington on the call.
I took in some Chuck and Bill yesterday as I was, believe it or not, walking around after dark, not ordering Uber from the Jimmy Johns in my building, walking about the town trying to feed myself. The Bulls blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead. They had chances at the end, and the Bulls did not win. That said, let's talk more Bulls now.
Let's talk more Bulls of the future, and let's do it with Ricky O'Donnell, writer, editor... and Associate Director of Programming at SB Nation. He is on X at SBN underscore Ricky, and he joins us right now on the Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, CircaLasVegas.com. Ricky, hell of a game last night. What did you think?
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Chapter 2: What should the Bulls do before the trade deadline?
The guy is shooting 46% from three this year. He's having the best season of his career. He's probably in line to
double his salary in free agency i would expect him to get around mid-level exception money maybe 15 million dollars a year four for 60 so i'd be looking to trade io the team i'm looking at is potentially the portland trailblazers who they owe the bulls a lottery protected draft pick i would be trying to lower the protections on that pick maybe make it top four protected instead of top 14 protected take back matisse theibel who's expiring salary
lock in that you're getting you know two draft picks in the first round in the 2026 draft so i think you know the bulls never sell high on anyone this is a big opportunity for them to sell high on io if they want to do it i like that deal other guy who's got to go kobe white Kobe, really good player for sure. He's been a rare Bulls developmental success story.
But do you really want to pay him $24, $25 million a year when you're just a 500 team every single season without much upside? So I'd be looking at the Houston Rockets. And Houston is fascinating because they have a ton of future draft ammunition. The Rockets have Phoenix's unprotected first-round pick in 2027.
They have swap rights with the Brooklyn Nets in 2027, who are one of the worst teams in the league. They have a bunch of second-round picks. So I think a fair deal would be Kobe White for Dorian Finney-Smith. And let's say a top four or top five protected 2028 first-round pick from the Rockets themselves. That would give you a few more bites at the apple. I still think this team could...
probably make the play in tournaments, starting Trey Jones, who's arguably been their best player. You still have Giddey. So even if you lose two guards, you'd have decent depth in the backcourt if they do want to continue to try to compete. So I would love to see the Bulls try to take a small step back and get some more future assets.
What I would expect from Arturas Karnaschovas, though, is that he does nothing because the trade deadline, every year he does nothing. It's always one of the most disappointing days of the season for Bulls fans, which is saying something because the season doesn't really have many high moments. So my expectations are at the floor, and I dare Arturus to exceed them.
That was a flurry from Ricky O'Donnell.
And I like what Ricky's talking about. I don't disagree with any of your suggestions simply because of this. The Bulls... As Archeris and Mark Eversley have pointed out, because this is what happens every year, all you've got to do is be not one of the worst five teams in the Eastern Conference to make the play-in. I think even after making those moves that you talked about, they can be that.
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Chapter 3: How has Arturis Karnaschovas impacted the Bulls' direction?
You do understand what the attendance looks like at the United Center, and that's why Arturis Karnaschovas doesn't have to go anywhere.
I mean, is the attendance there great? They're down to seven. Yeah, I was going to say, honest to God, I've been to a handful of games this year, and I don't know if I listened to what the attendance was, but it didn't look like the full house that I saw at the United Center the other night when it was Bulls and Lakers, that's for sure.
So I do think that the energy is not the same at the United Center.
Yeah, I was at that Bulls-Lakers game, too, and seeing the United Center crowd cheer for LeBron after all of his dunks, I'm like, how far has this place fallen? Joakim Noah was in a skybox. I kept staring up at Noah. Noah looked disgusted that the United Center was cheering for LeBron. He's a forever hater. That brought some joy to me.
You know what he is, Ricky? He's Hollywood as hell, I believe was the original quote. Wasn't that directed at, or I think it was just that team, right? It was that Miami team that he referred to as Hollywood as hell.
So good.
Ricky, so my point of contention with this team is I agree with your front office evaluation just based on, you know, it's not unlike what we saw with the Bears, although the Bears are fortunate that Ben Johnson wanted to be the head coach of the Bears because Ryan Poles got a second chance, just like Arturis Karnaschovas is getting another chance with another new contract.
And the difference is they hired Ben Johnson and they have a quarterback. They have their star in Caleb Williams, and obviously we saw how they were able to build on that. With Arturis, it's his aversion to draft capital which really drives me insane because I was in Philadelphia during the process.
I've seen what the Rockets were able to do to stay nimble and be ready to go when James Harden became available on the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think my biggest issue right now is learning what Joe Dumar said on draft night about offering the unprotected pick to teams above where they gave it the Hawks and that the Bulls were one of those teams and did not jump on that. Is that going to change?
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Chapter 4: What trades should the Bulls consider for future improvement?
You could swap Pirtle for Patrick Williams. They'd have to basically do a bad money for bad money style trade to get rid of Pat. He's just been so disappointing. He has no athleticism at all. Patrick Williams has five dunks this season. He had 51 as a rookie. He's just lost all his athleticism. He's gotten so heavy. That's so sad.
Yeah.
It's like, how is this guy such a good shooter and he's still so bad? It's kind of shocking that someone with his tools can be that good of a shooter and it's still so awful. Yeah, try to ditch Pat, but it's going to be tough. You're the goods, man.
This is why we had you on. A lot of positive reinforcement coming your way on our text line, including this guy is the embodiment of how Bulls fans should really feel about the Bulls. So nice job, Ricky. We appreciate you. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Ricky. Ricky O'Donnell right there. Just landed jab after jab. The Bulls not close to accomplishing anything. Boom.
Patrick Williams is the worst player in the league. Boom. The Bulls are the worst team in the NBA that tries to win. Pop, pop. Wow.
Don't forget about the Arturis Karnasovas shouldn't have a job.
Gotta be gone. Yes. I didn't even get to Billy Donovan. I didn't even get to player... Well, we got to a little bit with the players.
I don't have a problem with Billy Donovan in this scenario specifically.
Always the innocent bystander, Billy.
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Chapter 5: Why is Patrick Williams considered a liability for the Bulls?
There's just nothing there.
I have something. You got something? I'm tired of these. I'm not tired of this. I'm a little frustrated with Hollywood right now. Oh. Because the lack of originality is startling. And the latest example, I think as a sports fan even, you're going to be like, roll your eyes with what's coming back.
Okay. I'm looking forward to hearing this. It is coming up next on Halftime. We'll also tell you all the cool things that we've been talking about and who knows what will run through my brain during the break that I will bring to the surface here at the score. It's Rahimi Harrison-Grody on the score.