Trey Kirby (2:23)

It's been a long time. Been a long time. Je skeets. Yeah, the Levine DeRozan Vuchevic era finally coming to an end in Chicago. Didn't have to trade a single first round pick to get off of any of those guys. So this is a big time win for the Chicago Bulls. I'm surprised, honestly that somebody traded for Vucovic. I said maybe an hour and a half ago I thought he would be a buyout guy. I know there are some Chicago media peeps speculating that this Might have been a favor by AK trading Vuchovic to a contending team in the Celtics, but you know, they switched out their own second round or they switched out second round picks. Celtics sending a second round pick back. We'll see what becomes of Anthony Simons. I don't think it's a guarantee he plays for the Bulls this season. He could be rerouted, I do believe. But a cap move, no doubt for the Celtics as they're trying to get out of the luxury tax. They still got some work to do, but yeah, I mean, we're doing an emergency podcast for a Nicola Vucevic trade in 2026. I can't believe it.

Taylor Rooks (3:32)

Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that's downright sad and depressing, but here we are.

Trey Kirby (3:39)

It's a two time all star we're talking about here.

Taylor Rooks (3:43)

Yeah. What do you think? What do you think, Taz? I guess my question is like, do you think this was more of just an on court move for the Celtics to get a big in Vuch or like Trey said, is it more of them cleaning up the books a little bit? You know, getting. Getting it a little bit more in order though they got work to do still there or is it both and it's like sort of a win win for them?

Tas Melas (4:02)

I think there's definitely an aspect of having a basketball player who's a big man out there that they want to have a poor man's Al Horford out there, a guy who will definitely extend the floor and like Al can't defend the rim, but unlike Al, can't defend, you know, all that much. That's the problem with Vuch. But I think a big of it is, yeah, we're going to shoot a ton of threes and this man is a plug and play for that. So it's not that sad that we're doing a live podcast for Nikola Vucevic because this is the Eastern Conference and they have hopes of achieving a lot. I think this makes you start to think, is Jayson Tatum coming back this season? I know it's not. It's not one or the other. It's not predicated on Tatum coming back, but it starts to make you think that if Tatum comes back and now they at least have a guy who's different than an Amishkeita or Xavier Tillman, the fact that they at least have options at the 5 and because Joe Missoula will have this team shooting threes and this guy is the absolute perfect player for that. And I know it feels odd that it's it was nearly five years ago. I remember where I was when we do that did that emergency podcast where Nicola Vucevic was traded from Orlando to Chicago. This was a March trade because it was an odd Covid year where things were pushed back a little bit later I was in my mother in law's house because we were moving and we were staying there for a little bit and I was excited for the Chicago Bulls to have to give up just two first round draft picks for Nikola Vucevic, thinking they're going to piece things together now. There's a lot, there was a lot of pieces to put together. It obviously did not work out all that well, especially those first round picks, you know a Franz Wagner and what that turned into. But this is different in Boston in that they are an established product and Vuch can just be there and just shoot that thing. Again the defense is an issue but from the Boston side it can see why that happens. The Chicago side. Trey so interesting as to you know who they keep around after next after this season with all those guards they have. They have so many.

Taylor Rooks (6:23)

Yeah. Let me, let me read the list of guard deaths on the Chicago Bulls as of Tuesday afternoon here because I assume there are some more deals coming. But they have Josh Giddy, they have Kobe White, they have Ayala Desumo, they have Trey Jones, they have Yuki Kawamura who's on a two way.

Trey Kirby (6:40)

Nice one.

Taylor Rooks (6:40)

And then they've traded for three more guards here today in Jaden Ivey, Mike Conley Jr. And now Anthony Simons. That is eight guards right now. Do they even have a center on the team? I guess Jalen Smith is their center. He's not even that big. They got Zach Collins. So trade. You think there's. Well I know you do but more moves still to come here in Chicago.

Trey Kirby (7:01)

Yeah, I do. And look, the Bulls are making smart moves here all around starting with the IV trade. This is a smart move to get off of Vuchevic, take a dice roll on Simons. I don't really think they should sign Simons. Like why would you trade for Ivey and Simons at the same time? But the best part about this is that the Bulls are ensuring that they are not pushing hard for the play in tournament. You're not going to win a lot of games if you keep trading all of your veterans Right now outside of Simons, Patrick Williams is going to end up being the highest paid player on the Bulls and if he is like the leading scorer then your team is going to be bad and that's the best news for the Chicago Bulls. They might luck into a decent draft pick and a franchise superstar going forward. I'm a little nervous though that they're clearing all this cap space and doing these moves for guys in Ivey and Simons who need to be re signed immediately. They will have leverage over Ivey as he's a restricted free agent, so they can kind of call their shots there. We've seen restricted free agency be a tool that teams have used very wisely in the past couple of seasons. Simons is an unrestricted free agent. He's a couple of years older than Ivey as well. To me he seems like he's probably just going to finish out the year in Chicago and search out for a bigger deal somewhere else. Though, like I said, he might be rerouted in the next couple of days as well. If there's a team that says yeah, we can take a chance on a bench score because Simons was pretty solid in Boston, I thought, especially once the calendar flip started slowly.

Taylor Rooks (8:35)

Yeah, yeah.

Trey Kirby (8:35)

Once we got to 2026, he started having his little outbursts. He gave definitely a better effort on the defensive end than he had when he was playing in Portland. So I think he kind of remade himself a little bit as a player to the point where a contending team could at least take a chance on him and see what he does in some high leverage situations. Because he acquitted himself quite well, I thought, for a month here in Boston. What are the Celtics getting in Vuchovic? I don't know. Is he going to be a starter for them? Maybe. I think they like the switchability of Keita, the athleticism that he brings. Though Tas is right. Vuch does shoot threes. He's like a 40% three point shooter. We've seen him hit some big ones during this year, so maybe he takes some big shots. At the very least, he's like a massive upgrade over Luka Garza. Luka Garza is a poor man's Nikola Vuchovic, if we're being quite honest. Vuch does rebound. He cannot move his feet. Celtics fans, Joe Missoula are going to be furious at this guy. Many times during the year when somebody gets a backdoor layup and all you see from Vuch is.

Taylor Rooks (9:43)

I'm supposed to.

Trey Kirby (9:44)

Be covering for all these guys. He's got a better defensive backbone in Boston than he ever had in Chicago. He was a part of good defenses when he played in Orlando, had a bunch of guys covering for him, but I don't really know what the Bulls are doing, they're facilitating trades. For the most part, they're helping other teams get done what they want to get done. Like we talked about, the Timberwolves basically made a cap move and the Bulls were there to be able to hop in and get a decent piece. I think what the Celtics are doing here is 95% cap related and that they're trying to get underneath these aprons and the luxury tax. But they're able to help out the Celtics as well by giving them a player that can at least be useful for them. So I think the right thing all around and I think, like Tass is saying, this does give us a little bit of a preview of how the Celtics are feeling about Jayson Tatum. There will be shots to be had on the perimeter and that's going to go to Tatum rather than a guy like Simons.

Mind Games Podcast Host (10:42)

What if Mind control is real?

Trey Kirby (10:45)

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

Mind Games Podcast Host (10:48)

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

Tas Melas (10:51)

When you look at your car, you're.

Chris 'Stugatz' Stanley (10:53)

Going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

Mind Games Podcast Host (10:55)

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

Tas Melas (10:58)

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

Mind Games Podcast Host (11:02)

Can you get someone to join your cult?

Taylor Rooks (11:04)

NLP was used on me to access my subconscious.

Mind Games Podcast Host (11:07)

Nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistic and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.

Tas Melas (11:18)

It's about engineering consciousness.

Mind Games Podcast Host (11:20)

Mind Games is the story of nlp, its crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a new age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all, NLP might actually work.

Podcast Narrator (11:38)

This is wild.

Mind Games Podcast Host (11:39)

Listen to mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Chris 'Stugatz' Stanley (11:47)

Stugatz. Here I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow and I have brought it here to Ivar. I'm also doing a live radio show from 3 to 5pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stugac company Live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports, a lot of phone calls.

Tas Melas (12:12)

I love you guys show. It's one of my favorites.

Chris 'Stugatz' Stanley (12:14)

A lot of interaction. Guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you can expect from Stugots Co. And Stugots Co. Live. So listen to Stugats Co. Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review, Stug Co. And God bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Taylor Rooks (12:49)

Yeah, with. With both guys on expiring contracts here in this deal, Anthony Simons makes 27.7 million. Vujovic makes 21.5 million. So that does help Boston's books. It doesn't get them all the way tasked out of the luxury tax, but they're now below the first apron, which could open the door here for some other win now moves if they're not happy with this team. But yeah, maybe it is this case of like, we got Tatum coming back. Thank you, Simons, for your service. We knew Anthony Simons wasn't going to be in Boston for the long run anyway. Like, basically ever since he got traded there, it was like, well, he'll likely be moved before the deadline. And he did sort of rehabilitate his image. Slow start, got it going, found his groove. This is a guy that's played now eight seasons in the league and was a starter for the most part as he turned into one in Portland and then just came off the bench. And like Joe Missoula, he praised him a lot for taking on that role and obviously helping with the second unit. So we'll see if he sticks in Chicago or not and trying to get another contract. But Vuch, baby, I'm a little concerned defensively against these bigs in the east with Jalen Duran or Cat and Mitchell Robinson or. Or Joel Embiid. You know, he's just so poor defensive. But maybe he's helped out in a better system like Trey said.

Tas Melas (14:07)

You would think so that there, there would just be, you know, like Trey said, he throws his arms up a lot and says, wow, yeah, you know who's to blame here? Now after the game, you can also hear him call out his team. And so in a scenario where you can't call out your team in Boston, you will have Missoula be calling you out all the time. Maybe you step up, maybe develop a little bit more of a spine on that defensive end. So there's that hope. And I think that's what Boston is looking for. The, the, the moves to slowly trickle down the amount of bucks they got to pay out. Trading Jrue Holiday for Anthony Simons and Anthony Simons turning in to Vucc, it seems extremely smart. It's so fun looking at a deal that's an Expiring for an expiring. And to think who is getting kept around by this new team. I said Vuch is kind of a poor Manzel Horford and in their eyes, I think it's a. Hopefully he's an Al Horford of the end of his career as well who's willing to take a pretty cheap contract to stick around with a really good team because Boston is that. As for Simons, I have no idea. It is so interesting with those eight guards that Chicago has. You know, two of them are signed. Giddey is their lead moneymaker for sure at 25 mil. Next year they've got Tre Jones. So there's those two guys. But then beyond that, Anthony, Ivan Simons, as we said, an expiring deal. Yeah, he signed a four year, $100 million deal back in 2022 to get him to this point. It feels like he could be got for even less of that amount. Even though, you know, he's. He's entering his prime. He's obviously a bucket off the bench, but it seems like you could get a decent deal. But I don't know if the, the Bulls want to keep him around with the. Exactly. You know, what Trey mentioned was going to get Jaden Ivey and then, you know, the option of keeping IO around who's different than all the rest of these guards. And it seems like Kobe White was definitely destined to go somewhere else at this point. So they just have a billion options, so this can't be it. I don't know if we're doing an emergency a couple hours from now for Kobe White, but it sure feels that way. It's going to be happening before 3pm Eastern on Thursday. That one, to me stands out as a guy that, you know, there's just too much duplication with these guards here.

Taylor Rooks (16:45)

Who's the big that the Bulls are going to be trading for here? Like, is it. Is it Anthony DAV Davis to go back to that? Is that a possibility? Is there another big that they're going to try and add to the roster here with some of these guards? Yeah. Do you have any read on that, TK or any preference on who'd you like to see them continue to make a move for here? Or just.

Trey Kirby (17:03)

No one? No one. I would rather them stay bad. Like, don't, don't blow your load on Anthony Davis. Doesn't make any sense. Definitely. Definitely not Sabonis. I mean, literally, there was Jakob Pearl rumors for the Bulls today. The Raptors would have to pay up for that. I would accept A couple of first round picks to take on Purdl's contract.

Taylor Rooks (17:29)

But nothing drastic like an AD or Sabonis.

Trey Kirby (17:31)

No, no, absolutely not. No. This is. The Bulls almost have a clean slate right now and they've got all their own picks. They might get a Portland pick that's lottery protected. I think. I think it would stick with the Blazers as of right now, but there's a chance that the Bulls get that one. They've got. Like I said, they got all their own picks. Now's a decent time to be a poor team. I don't think the next two drafts after 26 are all that hyped up. 27 and 28. But the smartest way to get a superstar player in today's day and age is to get them through the draft. It doesn't really happen during free agency. The Bulls are running out of things to trade that would have A, a high enough contract value and B, be alluring to another team and have anything left over. So at this point they should stay the course and sign Bill Weddington to a 10 day contract and bring him off the bench.

Taylor Rooks (18:26)

Why not? Here's a look, by the way. Because of the Photoshop Wizards out there, of Vucci baby Vucci, Maine in his Celtics jersey. I don't know if he's gonna wear number eight. Josh might not has that right now. How much will that cost Vuch to get the jersey off Josh? What do you think? What's the going rate? 20, 25k for a jersey?

Trey Kirby (18:45)

Sure. Yeah.

Taylor Rooks (18:46)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (18:47)

I mean, Luke Canard was wearing three for the Hawks and C.J. mcCollum wore it in his very first game. So these jerseys can be had for a decent price.

Taylor Rooks (18:58)

Yeah. I mean, Vuch has only ever worn number eight or number nine and Derrick White is number nine, so I can't imagine he'd be giving that up. So it's likely it'd be eight, I guess if he gets it off of Josh.

Trey Kirby (19:09)

And my guess is Iguodala was wearing nine in Philadelphia when Vuch was a rookie wearing number eight. So he probably didn't have. He didn't have the pocketbook or the pedigree to get that number off him. But he's higher on the totem pole than Josh Minot is.

Taylor Rooks (19:26)

Yeah. Yes, he is. And think about this, with Vucovic now going to the Celtics here, like he could win a first round for the first time in his career. He's never been out of the first round. Like he's barely been to the playoffs for a very long Career. He's been a couple times. Yeah. Handful of times, in fact. It's not unreasonable that Vucovic plays in more playoff games this postseason than he has in his entire career. If he can get up to like, you know, 15, 16 games played, which I think is what he's looking at in his career. So he gets to go to a winning franchise here. Tass and should contribute the Al Horford comparisons. Yes. I buy it on the offensive end. Less so, of course, on the defensive end where Al Horford, despite his age, is still like a much, much more sound defender. But yeah, can he hit some threes and hit a game winner or two?

Trey Kirby (20:13)

Sure.

Taylor Rooks (20:14)

Guy can shoot.

Tas Melas (20:15)

Yeah. Just to have. I mean, the comparison is also just the body. Just to be out there and have a big. That's an option like that. Now, Al Horford's got far more playoff experience than. It's incredible. So he's played in. Is it three first rounds that he's played in?

Taylor Rooks (20:35)

I think he technically played in a game with the Sixers way back, but yes, let's call it three first rounds for all intents and purposes.

Tas Melas (20:42)

Oh, yeah, those are some great series.

Trey Kirby (20:45)

35 round series when he was one of the stars.

Taylor Rooks (20:50)

He's played 16 total games in the playoffs. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (20:55)

Interesting, because. Okay, so he would have to get to three series, you know, two seven game series and then to a third. And my guess is that if the Celtics are playing seven game series, Vuch is getting pulled eventually because that guy is going to be a target every time on the defensive end. Yeah, you're talking about Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duran. They will run a screen and roll at him every single time down the court. And it will be effective every single time down the court. And eventually it'll just be like, we're back to Keita.

Tas Melas (21:26)

Yeah, the, the good thing about the cell, every other Celtic that's going to be on the floor, they will make up for. Well, you know, attempt to make up for every step that Vuch is way too slow on because that's what they do. They're, they're good at that. It's going to be hard. It's going to be very hard. I mean, Vuch is going to play a max of 24 minutes a game. He's not going to play a ton because he's going to get burned too much. But he's just an option. And you know, it's just wishful thinking. This is, this is trade deadline, baby. It's wishful thinking time. It's yes. Squint and it's Al Horford, an old Al Horford. Because Vuch is very old too.

Trey Kirby (22:08)

He is also old.

Tas Melas (22:09)

Yes, yes, that's a problem. But the direction that the Bulls are going, absolutely the way to do it and just to continue to, to tear this thing down because, you know, as we we've been saying, their money is not tied up beyond this year all that much. Basically it's giddy Patrick Williams, Isaac Okoro, Jalen Smith, Trey Jones, and then cheaper guys like the great Matas Bouzelis and others. But that's all they really have tied up into next year. And then maybe it's Jaden Ivey staying on for long term, but he's a restricted free agent coming up, so they don't have a lot tied up. Adults under 100 million right now. And that's the way to do it.

Taylor Rooks (22:58)

So Vuch headed to the Celtics, Anthony Simons going to the Bulls. You would expect the Bulls are not done, but we can wrap this up soon. If you missed our previous emergency podcast a couple hours ago, not even at this point. We did talk about Jaren Jackson Jr. Being traded to the Utah Jazz in a eight player deal. Not seven player deal like I had on the graphic last time. My bad. Couldn't count. And then Jaden Ivey going to the Chicago Bulls along with Mike Conley Jr. In Kevin Herder going to Detroit and the Wolves getting in the mix as well in that three team deal. So we already talked about those ones. I'm sure we'll talk about them more on tomorrow's podcast as we have a little bit more time to think about it. But yeah, here we go. Another former all star in Vucevic being traded. You know, two time all star. Oh, both guys. Jaren Jackson Jr. I think was a two time all star too.

Trey Kirby (23:52)

Equivalent players, I've always said. Jaren Jackson Jr. And Nikola Vucevic, same guy, basically.

Taylor Rooks (23:58)

I'll tell you what I am a small part of me is gonna miss Trey Kirby trying to convince me tas the world about how great Fujivision is night in, night out, trying to build up that trade value. You know, I'm gonna miss it.

Trey Kirby (24:12)

They got something back. They actually got something back and didn't have to pay to get off Vuchevic. This is a great day. This is a great day for the Chicago Bulls.

Taylor Rooks (24:23)

I would tell you to wave your flag out in front of your house, but I know you ripped that one.

Trey Kirby (24:26)

Yeah, it's a big old hole in it. Just like the hole. The big old hole in the middle for the Chicago Bulls right now. I got a book, a flight to Chicago. I might get a tryout.

Taylor Rooks (24:36)

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You're a big enough guy for sure. You can play the center position. Well, that's funny. As we wrap up here, I said this to Trey right before we went live. It's like, do the Bulls play tonight? Yeah, they do. They play in Milwaukee tonight. You are going to see some insane rosters tonight in the league because the Utah Jazz also play tonight, and they just traded, like, four guys. And I can't imagine their new guys are going to be there. So they're going to have a funny roster. The Bulls are going to have a funny roster.

Tas Melas (25:02)

Noah Sangay gonna get some minutes?

Trey Kirby (25:04)

No, he's out for the season.

Tas Melas (25:06)

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

Trey Kirby (25:07)

Yeah, the Bulls didn't take the deal from the Pelicans that the Hawks did take, and then they drafted Noah Sangay and he played one second and then broke his shoulder.

Tas Melas (25:17)

Oh, yeah, that was.

Taylor Rooks (25:18)

Right.

Trey Kirby (25:19)

But that was last year. That was last year. Now it's this year.

Taylor Rooks (25:22)

Yuki.

Trey Kirby (25:23)

Yuki might be the starting center. He won that jump ball. So they're like, hey, man, you can handle it inside.

Taylor Rooks (25:29)

Yeah, he's a better rebounder than some of the bigs in the league. I was gonna say. What the hell was I gonna say? Oh, Patrick Williams might actually shoot and score tonight. Might be forced to.

Trey Kirby (25:39)

This is the. This is the time, Patrick. Go crazy. Go for 20, buddy. Put up a big double 10.

Taylor Rooks (25:46)

He's going for 30 tonight, man. I'm calling it now. All right, let's call it there. If you're new, thanks for joining us. Hit the like button. Subscribe. Podcast listeners, 5 star ratings and reviews.

Podcast Narrator (25:57)

Subscribe.

Taylor Rooks (25:57)

We will be back tomorrow unless we're back tonight. Like I said last time. That's a good question, Tas, if Kobe White is traded here in the next couple hours. I don't know. It depends who's coming back, right?

Tas Melas (26:10)

Is it. See, to me, it depends on where he goes to.

Taylor Rooks (26:14)

Okay, interesting. Interesting. Yeah. If he's like. Yeah, if he moves the needle for said team, yeah. Okay. Otherwise, we'll probably see everyone tomorrow. But we do have a special coming up on Thursday. Live all day. I'm getting a little concerned. All these trades happening here in the days leading up to the deadline. Like, what, we're just going to be sitting there twiddling our thumbs? Maybe on Thursday.

Trey Kirby (26:37)

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. Like, this is the kind of trade that happens at 2:30pm Eastern time, right before the deadline. Let's get our books in order. Which is why it makes me think maybe the Bulls would trade Simons because now they got like, you know, 48 hours to figure out another sort of trade because this is pretty minor, all things.

Taylor Rooks (26:57)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (26:57)

Considered. So yeah, maybe he's still on the move as well. We'll see.

Taylor Rooks (27:02)

We will see. Until tomorrow. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

Trey Kirby (27:07)

Have a great time. Turn up.

Taylor Rooks (27:08)

Love you guys.

Trey Kirby (27:09)

Awesome.

Tas Melas (27:11)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, a little known Chicago bull, Lachlan Ulbricht, has a great name, Lachlan Ulbricht and will definitely be playing tonight. Him and that stash Brace the day people.

Chris 'Stugatz' Stanley (27:29)

Stugatz here. I have a podcast empire that I have brought here to iheart and I'm also hosting a daily live radio show from 3 to 5pm Eastern called Stegaza Company Live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes. Every single day you can expect a lot of laughter, great guests, a ton of calls and a lot of fun. Listen to Stugats Co. Live and our original podcast, Stugatson Co. And God bless Football. And you can check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

Podcast Narrator (28:03)

What if mind control is real?

Trey Kirby (28:05)

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

Podcast Narrator (28:08)

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

Tas Melas (28:12)

When you look at your car, you're.

Chris 'Stugatz' Stanley (28:13)

Going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

Podcast Narrator (28:16)

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

Tas Melas (28:18)

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

Podcast Narrator (28:22)

Can you get someone to join your cult?

Taylor Rooks (28:24)

NLP was used on me to access.

Podcast Narrator (28:26)

My subconscious mind games. A new podcast, Exploring nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic Programming. Is it a self help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, app podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.