Zach Collins

Nick Claxton is hurt right now.

They would not bring in Zach Collins till later in the game.

And when Jalen Smith came out, he kind of slid down to that small ball five.

And I actually like Tiago Splitter experimenting with that this season.

Look, he did look like he was in some pain at points in that game.

If Jalen Smith is not able to go, Zach Collins is still on a minutes restriction.

We have no Nick Claxton.

I mean, at that point, you're running a lot of small ball center with Leonard Miller.

But, hey, young fella, go take advantage of it.

Go show Tiago Splitter.

Make him have to second guess not playing you over a Zach Collins, for example, or something like that.

I'll tell you what, this is one where if I'm Toby Iwaka, you make the final statement on it.

And it's not like they're drowning in other options.

Shout out Zach Collins, I guess.

But yeah, Jalen Smith, questionable today.

That will have some knock-on effects for the Chicago Bulls if he happens to end up out.

Other options that are like good.

So he'll certainly step into sometime.

Realistically, Zach Collins is probably the dude in that scenario.

I want to look at one thing here quickly.

guys.

But, uh, How do you compare how that roster was built? Zach Collins, I mean, you know the guy.

Tilly, Rui, all of them.

And now, he just said it's a whole new world.

And in that column, Goat, which is brilliant, y'all should go read it as soon as you finish watching today's show.

You also cited an interesting stat from ESPN's Zach Cram because he had a 10 overreaction or not overreaction column on ESPN.com. And the Bulls and their woeful shooting start to the season made his list.

And Cram noted the following.

According to Genius IQ Tracking, the Bulls rank fourth in quantified shot probability, which accounts for factors such as location, defender distance, and shooter talent.

So Chicago's shot making is bound to improve.

Goat, did that blow your mind as much as it blew mine when I read that stat?

I was actually talking with Zach about it last night.

We both had kind of the same idea for the story.

But I think this is a really good role for a young player who's as raw as he is.

And the last one for me, Goat, notice that Zach Collins was a DNP tonight.

He had gotten into a handful of these games after coming back from his late offseason injury that he was nursing and did not look particularly great in his minutes.

But then just to not see the floor at all tonight, you know, Tiago went 10 deep and he wasn't one of them.

Against the Celtics, they went small in the first half, big in the second half.

I think he reserves the right to mix and match as needed.

I think part of it, though, is that you're seeing Leonard Miller play really well and have sort of a dynamic play playmaking dribble drive threat from the five that you don't get when Zach Collins is out there.

He offers you screening and better rebounding and a little bit of floor spacing from time to time.

And so I think more so than anything else, If the Bulls are looking at the lottery or worried about any of that, look at that when you're actually making these trades.

If you do end up trading a Jalen Smith or a Zach Collins or a Trey Jones, if you end up trading any of those guys, keep in mind of the draft positioning when you're doing that.

That's way more important than worrying about your own pick.

Now, you know, it is what it is.