Quincy Pondexter will have a big task ahead in terms of shaping the Windy City Bulls playstyle in a way that prepares players for real NBA minutes.
The Chicago Bulls VP of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham wasted no time this off-season in building out a new front office and coaching staff. Graham quickly nabbed former Texas A&M teammate Acie Law to be the team's Vice President of Player Personnel. He also grabbed the highly-regarded Stephen Mervis to be the Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations.
On top of the additions of Mervis and Law, the Bulls currently have job postings out for an "Executive Director of Research & Development," signaling that Graham clearly isn't done adding to his front office.
And the fact that Graham is still building is impressive, considering the Bulls have been known to have one of the smaller analytics departments in the league in past years. It is even more impressive when you consider I haven't even finished naming all of the new hires.
Graham has named Brian Hagen Senior VP of Player Personnel, Dione Calhoun as Assistant Athletic Trainer, Jarrett Sutton as Scout and Intelligence Coordinator, Justin Irwin as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, Noah Fax as Coordinator of Basketball Operation, and Alex Kaufman doubling up as the Senior Manager of Basketball Ops and GM of the Windy City Bulls.
Perhaps no move will be more fruitful in the long-term than than the hiring of former Bull Quincy Pondexter as the Head Coach of the Windy City Bulls.
Pondexter was a quiet and well-respected wing in the NBA over seven years, one of those in Chicago. He was a career 35.6% 3-point shooter, but more importantly, persevered through injuries to attempt a full recovery to the player he once was. Although Pondexter's last NBA season was 2018-19, he has stayed around the game.
He has a great opportunity to make his name as a coach with a Windy City Bulls franchise that has produced multiple G League MVPs in Carlik Jones (2023) and Mac McClung (2026).
While the Windy City Bulls have been great at producing great G League talents, the biggest challenge for Quincy Pondexter will be producing players who can play real rotational minutes during the NBA regular season, even if on a temporary basis. The true value of building up G League talent, and more specifically your Two-Way contract players, is the ability to quickly fill injury absences with players who already have been playing within the framework of your NBA system.
The Bulls haven't had many examples to point to in terms of G League-to-NBA success stories. One of the earliest Windy City Bulls was Spencer Dinwiddie, who did go on to be a solid NBA guard after being signed out of the G League, but not by the Chicago Bulls, despite a stellar nine-game stretch. Dinwiddie went on to sign a multi-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets and put up seven years of 14 PPG and 5 APG.
In total Dinwiddie has played 11 years of NBA hoops. It's one of the better success stories in the history of the Windy City Bulls program.
Thankfully for Pondexter, I don't think he needs to produce 11-year NBA veterans to prove his mettle. Simply coaching up--at the very least--the Two-Way players to be ready to step up for the big league club at a moment's notice.
The Bulls active two-way contracts for the 2026-27 season are big man Tobe Awaka and guard Jaylin Sellers, with one final two-way slot open. Sellers was particularly intriguing as an energetic scorer who could have some moments in the league should he lean more into being disruptive on defense. Sellers averaged 15.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.6 SPG over five Summer League games.
This isn't to say I expect Awaka, Sellers or the Bulls yet to be filled third Two-Way contract, to be high-impact players at any point in their career. But if Pondexter wants to help the Windy City Bulls right their biggest wrong, he doesn't need to build superstars, just dependable role players who can play in high-leverage moments with the parent club.
