Who is Tiago Splitter? Rounded up a few need-to-know facts (spoiler: he’s tall!) for Bulls fans about their new man in charge:

After a lengthy hiring process, sources confirm that the Chicago Bulls are finalizing a deal to hire Tiago Splitter as their new head coach.

The Chicago Sky are headed up to Loyola Chicago for future practices — and still can’t provide a move-in date for their Bedford Park facility.

Stacey King was always the life of the party. How those who loved him most — from former teammate Horace Grant to longtime producer Marc Brady — will remember his joy:

The Chicago Sky couldn’t win with Angel Reese. Now, they can’t win without her. After a loss to the Atlanta Dream, it’s unclear what was gained — or learned — from trading Reese away.

The two-big rotations are very necessary for the Sky right now given their lack of personnel, but they really encourage poor habits out of Kamilla Cardoso in terms of her engagement and activity. Just completely detaches from plays when she's weak side.

the thing about giving Skylar Diggins a technical foul is that sometimes it actually powers her up

Wrote about this last week but the Sky lead this category mostly because they chose *in free agency* to start the season with 1/4 of their roster on the IR. A hindrance, but certainly not a surprise.

My Stacey King story: I used to work at Record City in Northbrook. It was near enough the Berto Center that many Bulls would come in after practice. (Michael Jordan once shook his head disapprovingly at me wearing granny glasses). Stacey was more of a regular, so we saw him a lot. 1/N

What is your favorite Stacey King moment? Working on a story memorializing his gift of connecting with Bulls fans and would love to include as many anecdotes and memories as possible.

The Bulls announced just now that Stacey King has died at the age of 59. Absolutely awful news for the Chicago community. Sending love and prayers to his family, friends and the entire organization.

hard to explain to anyone who did not grow up in the KC suburbs how funny it is that the English national team is just posting up in Meadowbrook for the biggest tournament in the world

This is very embarrassing from the Fever

The Chicago Sky — and, namely, GM Jeff Pagliocca — took three major risks with this year’s roster. Here’s why they have yet to pay off:

Who should be the next Chicago Bulls coach? Talked through everything we can learn about this team’s trajectory through the early stages of this coaching search.

🏀🏀🏀A new OWC with @juliapoe.bsky.social talking #Bulls: new regime, head coach prospects, her draft preferences, other needed hires, possible medical upgrades and lots more. Links in replies. @312sportschi.bsky.social

Not sure how I feel about the late clock personnel management from Tyler Marsh on this one. Pulled Gabriela Jaquez with about three minutes left, put Aicha Coulibaly in a tough spot defensively. Now going with Banham for the closing two minutes, ostensibly to try for some threes.

Sounding like a broken record here but I'm not sure how the Sky outrun these frontcourt losses while also shooting this poorly (and this seldom) from behind the arc

Listen.... Kamilla Cardoso is putting on a footwork clinic in this here arena....

They're not going to go double big with Cardoso and EWill + Coulibaly is not up for starter minutes. It's just the best combination of who they've got at the moment. Personally think Stevens returning will push Cloud back into the secondary rotation.

Skylar Diggins is one of the funniest players alive, she just made Elizabeth Williams give her four re-screens in a row

Tyler Marsh is asking Gabriela Jaquez to do a lot by moving her down to the 4 without Rickea in the mix. She's handling it well so far, albeit with some difficulties due to the size disparity.

If you’re wondering why these questions came today — Tash asked to be allowed to address her free agency in a single availability once the team got back home to Chicago. The beat accommodated that request, so she did a presser this morning after shootaround.

Why was Natasha Cloud the last prominent player left on the free agent market? The guard still doesn’t have an answer. Tash went long (both today and to me in Portland) on where she fits in the league, speculation of blackballing and how she hopes to prove everyone wrong.

Mentioned Rickea Jackson in passing to Sky assistant Latricia Trammell today while talking for a different story and she immediately teared up. Said she thought Rickea had a shot at All-Defense this year. Echoed a common refrain from Sky staff today about how happy Rickea had been in recent weeks.

Spoke with Jackson a decent amount in the preseason. Hard to explain just how deeply she was driven by this relentless optimism that her turn had come. Injuries are really, really unfair.

Rickea Jackson will miss the rest of this season with a torn ACL. It's a brutal loss for a player who felt confident she was about to play the best season of her life. Now, the Sky are left to pick up the pieces without their leading scorer.

This is a review essay featuring three books on trans-inclusion in sport: @katiebarnes.bsky.social's Fair Play, Harrison Browne and @rachelbrowne.ca's Let Us Play, and Ellie Roscher and Anna Baethe's Fair Game. I recommend them all! I recommend reading them all together.

Mock Draft 1.0 Always a fun challenge putting the puzzle pieces together, but came up with some unique fits that might be a bit of a surprise allchgo.com/nba-mock-dra...

Hell of an opening road trip from the Sky, who will come home with a 3-1 record. Gabriela Jaquez looks very pro ready. The depth and style of play is holding up when it matters. Team will be holding its breath, however, until they get the results back from Rickea Jackson’s imaging in Chicago.

Let's raise a glass for a true Chicago original — and for a goat that once owned this town. 📝 Paul Sullivan

I have not liked the Sky’s shot diet in their wins or that loss. Fear it’s a reflection of a steep lack of 3-point shooting, both in terms of what they can generate and how efficiently they can finish. Don’t think they can midrange their way out of that.

It’s not even in the top five of issues in this game, but at some point Gabriela Jaquez needs to start pulling the trigger on these threes

everyone loves the art institute and everyone loves @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social

July at the absolute earliest. June 7 is the one year mark from the injury and she did several weeks of prehab before surgery.

DiJonai needs a decent amount of time, which the Sky expected (and was reflected in her salary). The team isn’t offering a timeline, but my personal projection is the All Star break. Was told as long as she’s fully up and running by the playoffs, the Sky are happy.

She is not practicing fully and is no longer expected to return this road trip.

Bryson Graham is adding two new VP’s to his front office — a pair of hires that reflect wider goals of the new executive’s vision for the Bulls.

Heck of a Jacy Sheldon game

I like the basic ethos of Tyler Marsh’s spaced offense but there has to be more off ball movement. Can’t get stuck with every weak side player just standing behind the arc waiting for a kick out.

What does Caleb Wilson think of Bryson Graham’s SLAP principle? What are teams asking Darryn Peterson about his cramping condition? Who won the most in the drills and measurements? Here’s what we’re hearing at the combine:

The Bulls announced this morning that Josh Giddey underwent a scope procedure in his right ankle. Three month recovery which will get him back in time for training camp, but not an ideal offseason.

The Chicago Bulls made their first tweaks to the front office today under new exec Bryson Graham. Expect a busy couple of weeks as the Bulls revamp their staff, search for a new head coach and prepare for the draft:

There is a part of this column that I love where Jason talks about his physicality on the court and muses on whether he learned to play that way to prove his own masculinity. Hard to express how rare it is to hear that kind of talk (even years later) in a male sports environment. Ahead of his time.

Rest in peace to Jason Collins, an unthinkably brave person and incredible leader for the LGBT community. Over a decade later and his coming out column is still an astonishing piece of writing. Wish the sport had caught up more and that he could have lived to see it.

Dybantsa is the best of the bunch IMO, but I don’t see any scenario where he’s available at No. 4. So I would take Wilson as the best for the Bulls out of the remaining three.

Wilson is personally passing the eye test for me in a lot of ways during his drills today. Smooth, solid form on his shot. Highly athletic. It’s early, but feels like a best case scenario for the Bulls at No. 4.

Put together an NBA combine guide for Chicago Bulls fans, who have a lot of time to fall in love with a lot of different prospects for the No. 4 and No. 15 picks:

Not sure how much weight teams place on these combine drills, but personally I laughed out loud seeing Caleb Wilson’s explosivity up close and in person on the no-step vertical jump

Bryson Graham can’t believe his luck. But he also knows that picking No. 4 in this year’s draft is simply the first test in the grueling gauntlet of a rebuild. “Look, there are guys in the top four that don’t end up panning out that well. We’ve got to be really thorough in our process.”