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The Madison Street Notebook · Rumor check

Rumor Check: What's Confirmed, What's Just Noise

One report already became a trade; the rest are camp fodder carrying confidence scores in the 20s and 30s.

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By the Bulls Nightly Desk · Monday, September 28

The desk logged ten reports tied to this camp, and the transaction ledger already confirms the biggest one. Everything else still carries a source, a date and a confidence score too low to call it real.

Bulls Nightly artwork
Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

Trade already closed. Hoops Rumors reported on September 26 that Dillingham would head to Charlotte in return for Hield. Transactions dated September 27 confirm it: Dillingham gone at $6.9 million, Hield in at $9.7 million, payroll landing at $161.5 million against a $165.0 million cap. The report still reads open in the log, but the trade is finished.

Veterans report holds up. Hoops Rumors' September 25 claim of three veteran signings lines up with what actually happened: Brandon Boston, Marquel Sutton, Orlando Robinson and Drew Peterson all joined camp a day later. Houston Mallette left that same week. Close enough between report and roster to call this one accurate.

Camp filler, three teams. Tony Garcia's September 23 report grouping the Bulls with the Pistons and Spurs on camp additions carries a confirmed tag. It never named a Chicago player specifically, which fits a story about routine roster paperwork rather than anything that changes the roster.

Staff report still thin. Taj Gibson's retirement to join Tiago Splitter's staff, and the staff announcement itself, both date to mid-September and both carry a confidence score of 33. Neither has picked up a follow-up in two weeks, which by itself says something about how solid the report was.

King honor, low confidence. The September 10 report on plans to honor Stacey King this season sits with a confidence score of 28, near the bottom of this list. Nothing has moved on it since. Call it a plan until the team puts an actual date on it.

Oldest report, weakest score. A September 4 roundup of Giddey discussing Powell, Buzelis and his own jump shot carries a confidence score of 21, the lowest of the group. It reads as an interview recap, not a rumor, and shouldn't be scored like one.

On deck Preseason opens October 7 against the Suns, with the regular season opener set for October 21 at Toronto. Whether the coaching staff report, the King honor plan or the Giddey interview roundup ever gets a real follow-up is the other thing worth tracking.
Did the Bulls really trade Rob Dillingham for Buddy Hield?

Yes. Transactions dated September 27 show Dillingham moving to Charlotte at $6.9 million and Hield arriving in Chicago at $9.7 million, even though the original report is still logged as open.

Is Taj Gibson actually coaching the Bulls this season?

He retired as a player on September 14 to join Tiago Splitter's staff as an assistant, but that report carries only a confidence score of 33 and no further detail has surfaced since.

By the Bulls Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.

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