The principles that Tiago Splitter has been preaching are easy to grasp: Play hard and you’ll play late.
Salary amount and contract length don’t matter.
Experience alone need not apply.
It is a simple ideology and one that the Bulls coach deems non-negotiable
That was evident in Friday’s win in Milwaukee as crunch time came and the likes of Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis were nowhere to be found. A night later in the home opener against Washington at the United Center, Giddey and Buzelis had a bit more urgency off the tip, letting their coach know that the message had been heard loud and clear.
Now the next lesson, it’s about staying power for 48 minutes, as the Bulls (1-2) overcame a disastrous third quarter in which they were doubled up 40-20, to make it a game late, falling 124-120.
And yes, Giddey and Buzelis were on the floor for closing time.
“We were very inconsistent with our coverages,” Splitter said of the third-quarter issues. “We didn’t take the best shots that third quarter. We’ve got to be smarter. It was really tough for us to score. For us to win basketball games we’ve got to play 48 minutes.”
Buzelis was a bit more harsh with his assessment of the third, pointing the finger at himself.
“We gotta be ready to play,” Buzelis said. “Part of that is on me, being a leader on this team. We should have easily won that game.”
Call it baby steps.
The one player that is a baby in NBA years but continues to play anything like a 20-year-old rookie? Caleb Wilson not only finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds but put on an aerial assault of the rim not seen by a Bulls player in quite a few years.
If the NBA Rookie of the Year campaign was waiting for a first-year player to move the needle, Wilson did more than jumpstart it on Saturday with five first-half dunks.
“Just being aggressive,” Wilson said of his mentality to attack the paint. “The Wizards are really big, and our opportunities are in transition because they have so much size.”
With 30 points, 14 rebounds and two steals, Wilson became the third-youngest player in NBA history to put up those minimums, joining John drew and Victor Wembanyama.
But the big picture through the first few games for the Bulls is the mentality that Splitter is trying to instill and the penalty for the players that don’t get it.
“In general players got to compete every possession and we’re not there yet,” Splitter said. “But that’s how I believe they get better. They need pressure. They need to have minutes as well, but they need to feel the pressure of when they’re not playing the way I want, you know, you’re going to sit with me for a little bit.”
Buzelis actually sat with Splitter a lot in Milwaukee, like the entire fourth quarter. The two spoke before the Wizards game and that’s why the coach tried to downplay how big of a deal it was.
“I think we’re making it a bigger deal than it should be,” Splitter said.
Buzelis showed a bounce back, scoring 10 points in the first half against the Wizards and finished with 21. And tough love for Buzelis was nothing new, considering that’s how former coach Billy Donovan handled the third-year forward in their time together.
Still, Year 3 for Buzelis was supposed to be different. Splitter wants to make sure it will be.
Splitter was asked about the ramifications that could come out of sitting Buzelis in clutch moments of games, especially since the former No. 11 overall pick was being considered one of the faces of the franchise, and responded, “My question is what is the ramification?”
“I think he’s learning,” Splitter continued. “He’s a 22-year-old, he’s still learning.”
Bulls fall to the Wizards as tough love lessons continue being learned 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-25 03:26:50
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