David Haugh | 670 The Score Chicago Host

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Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. We're pleased to welcome David Haugh, our friend from Mullion Haugh, our Chicago affiliate AM 670 The Score. We'll get ready for his morning show and so we appreciate a couple of minutes. David, how infuriating are these bulls sometimes? Well, they're always entertaining.

Good morning, Amy. And that was the guarantee that we knew going in. We said before the game on our show on Wednesday morning, this bulls team, you easily could see them losing by 15 or winning by 15. There was almost going to be no in-between. And certainly when you hit your threes at the rate they did and you get the clutch performance from a guy like Kobe Wise who came ready to play in attack mode, this is what happened. So they earned the right to get back to where they were a year ago at this time when they won the first play-in game and now they play the Heat in Miami just like they did almost exactly a year ago. Why though? Why does it have to be so inconsistent?

Well, that's a great question. And I think part of it is because they have had, you know, every team deals with injuries. The Bulls are one of those NBA teams that when they hit those threes and you know, they shot 57-58% from the field last night. So when they are hitting then they're going to be a team capable of beating a team like the Hawks by 15 and when they're not they look slow. What's been most maddening about the Bulls is that they play to the level of their competition. They are good enough on any given night to beat some good teams and then I think they lost to the Pistons twice.

So they have a lack of focus at times that, you know, if I knew the answer to that I think, you know, I'd have PhD at the end of my title and not radio host. Nice. 42 points in 43 minutes for Kobe White. Damar DeRozan has a nice game as well. And then Vucevic ends up with a double-double but there's now concern about Alex Caruso. How much would it hurt if they don't have him against Miami? It would hurt a lot because he is the guy that I think does all the dirty work and he's going to be on the All-NBA All-Defensive Team I think for the second year in a row. The only thing that balances that potentially this year that makes it different is that the status of Jimmy Butler is just as murky and I think when you see reports that Jimmy Butler might be dealing with an MCL issue that is more pronounced than maybe you'd like it to be through the heat, that could balance out the loss of Alex Caruso. Alex Caruso is a tough guy but he didn't return and they missed him because not only can he hit the occasional big shot but he's the guy that gets the big steal and rebound when you need it. So David, Billy Donovan ends up coming out and saying, hey I'm staying here, I'm not going to Kentucky, not taking that job. There are a few other guys that did that too. But Donovan, one of the first if I remember correctly, what's your reaction?

Is that a positive or a negative? Well I'm a big Billy Donovan guy. What's been really hard to reconcile this year is that the Bulls have been so inconsistent with their approach and Billy Donovan has never wavered in terms of the way he deals with the media publicly, the way that he handles his players internally and he's the most consistent guy you're ever going to meet. And I think when the Kentucky news came or the speculation began after Cal left for Arkansas, it was legitimate because of the way that Kentucky offered him the job basically when he repeated it at Florida. And I think that made sense but it wasn't a distraction, it wasn't anything other than a story that he needed to address. And one thing about Billy Donovan, if you've got the time, he'll give all the answers to you. He will explain in vivid detail what his commute is like, what the last possession was like and why he is flattered by the interest in Kentucky but wants to stay in the NBA. So there was no ambiguity and there was no mystery but Billy Donovan, what you see is what you get and I think that a lot of people in Chicago appreciate him and can't figure out why his team is so inconsistent when he is the same guy every day.

Well that's what I was going to ask you next. Under Donovan now, this is the fourth season that they've completed, at least the regular season, there's been just one year in which they were above.500. So why should he continue coaching?

I guess that's the question. It's a fair question Amy and I think from the outside you realize too with the NBA and turnover is a fact of life. I would offer this and not necessarily the strong defense of Billy Donovan, just as an explanation, I don't think the roster has been put together in a way that's always made sense. The Bulls, they don't have shooters that make them conducive to play in today's NBA. Last offseason they embraced the status quo after finishing with a loss to the Heat and blowing a lead late in the second play-in game.

They did nothing. They relied on Lonzo Ball coming back which was a full errand and Zach Levine to be your max player and he's been out and they've actually been better without Zach. So I think when you look at the roster that Billy Donovan has dealt with, it's lacked shooting, it's lacked some other factors that make the Bulls play in the way that he would like to. And I think he hasn't done a great job but I don't think he's done a poor job either and I think the way that he has approached it has been good enough to justify why he still has two years left on his contract and I think he's got job security in Chicago. David Hall is with us from our Chicago affiliate, AM 670, the score getting ready for his morning show.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. We're also just over a week away from the NFL draft and I know chatter has died down just a little bit because there was so much of it around combine and pro days. But what is the bigger story? Is it the Bulls potentially getting into the main bracket or is it what the Bears finally do with their number one pick? There's no doubt it's still the Bears, Amy. There's no doubt that it's still the anticipation of Caleb Williams and the expectation and the reality really that the Bears are on the verge of something special. They also have the ninth pick. When you have the first and the ninth pick in a draft this deep, you are going to get two impactful day one players. And you know the Bulls, great win last night.

They may even win Friday night in Miami because Jimmy Butler's status is iffy and they may go to Boston on Sunday as a real legitimate playoff team but they earned the right to get swept by the Celtics. That's the way Chicago is looking at the Bulls postseason whereas the Bears, you know, it's a Bears town. Caleb Williams is the quarterback they've never had and there's a ton, a ton of excitement about the NFL draft.

A week from today, we'll be going to work and we'll be talking about the Bears changing the course of their franchise. How much did the chatter about Caleb, his personality, how he did an interview well, I don't know, him being a diva, how much did that matter in Chicago to fans? Well, back to that end with, as you well know, the groundswell of support that Justin Fields had and I think that for months it was a full-fledged controversy and there were some legitimate questions about whether or not the Bears would find something doing their due diligence that would keep them away from Caleb Williams as the quarterback.

His dad made a lot of noise last summer. A lot of people re-reported false impressions of what Caleb Williams was really like but after the trade of Justin Fields to the Steelers for basically, you know, lawn equipment, I think that you look at what they're doing now and they haven't found anything but praise for Caleb Williams. He is a guy with high football maturity, the tape speaks for itself and now there's, I think, legitimate excitement that outweighs the maybe bad feelings that existed with people who really, really supported Justin Fields. What was your reaction, I haven't had a chance to talk to you, when he ended up in Pittsburgh?

I understood what was going on. We've seen this around the NFL, addition by subtraction and that's not a slight of Justin Fields but there was no way you were doing either quarterback, you would be doing them a disservice if they were both on the roster the moment that Caleb Williams was drafted. Because it wasn't tenable to keep both guys in the building. It wasn't conducive to the best environment for a rookie quarterback. You had to get rid of Justin Fields just because he was so popular and he wasn't going to beat out Caleb Williams.

The notion of competition was flawed so I knew what they had to do. You don't always get the best return in a trade when everybody knows you've got to a motor guy. And Ryan Polis did what he had to do and I think he basically cleared the decks, opened the locker room and made his commitment, full-fledged one, to Caleb Williams. And where do the Cubs factor into all of this?

Very exciting. They went two out of three in Arizona, they went two out of three in Seattle, they blew a game in San Diego, they would be coming home from a West Coast road swing in very good shape. They've had injuries and they've started to overcome them. Craig Council is very deliberate, he's very monotone, he's very thoughtful.

But he's also very smart. And the Cubs feel like they have an advantage. They've had injuries to their ace in Justin Fields, their best hitter in Seiya Suzuki, and they're still above water. So once things get going, I think there's an excitement level.

And where do they fit in the landscape? I think you know. It's Bears, Cubs, and then everyone else. And the Bulls are getting their share right now. Even with Connor Bedard in Chicago, the Blackhawks?

Well, you know what? They are finishing the season tonight out in LA. It's going to be a late one but Connor Bedard will probably win the Calder Cup.

It's going to be a tough couple years. They recovered from, or they're trying to dig out of the hole they created for themselves with the scandal. And then they had to tank for Connor and then they got Bedard and now they're starting to add some pieces. They've got a really interesting collection, exciting collection of young talent under 23 years old. The Blackhawks will be back, it will just be a matter of time.

Well, it's good that it's a completely different regime, a completely different roster so that fans can start fresh and support. I'm just going to assume that right now there's not much chatter about the woeful White Sox. Oh my gosh. Who? Who? The team on the south side?

You know what? They split a doubleheader yesterday and by the end of the game there were probably fewer than 1,000 fans. That's not an exaggeration. Wow. Alright, it's bad there. The Oakland White Sox are struggling. I was just about to say that sounds a lot like Oakland.

Great minds think alike. Alright, you can find David on Twitter at DavidHauhaugh. Part of Mullion Haw on our Chicago affiliate. AM 670 The Score.

Take the North podcast because there's so much to do on the north side of Chicago, not to mention the NFC North. I like the play, David. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. It's always good to talk to you. Anytime, Amy.

Thanks a lot. You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever or you could conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details. Hyundai.

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