Bull on Parade: Olbrich's fitting home in Chicago

• Lachlan Olbrich was drafted 55th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft and signed a two-way deal with the Chicago Bulls in July
• Olbrich went to UC Riverside before returning to Australia to play for the Illawarra Hawks
• Fellow Bull, Josh Giddey has starred for Chicago during the NBA preseason

Lachlan Olbrich may have already found himself a long-term home in the NBA.

The Aussie big man surprised many by taking his game to another level in last season's NBL Championship Series as he helped lead the Illawarra Hawks to a drought-breaking title, stepping up in the absence of injured star Sam Froling for games four and five.

Not featured on many mock drafts, Olbrich surprised scouts and officials once again at the NBA Draft Combine, leading to the Adelaide product achieving a lifelong dream when he was drafted 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers - with his rights traded to the Chicago Bulls.

Olbrich's rise to become a drafted talent was all due to one quality, his versatility. And it's that same quality which may see him become a longtime prospect for the Bulls, according to Chicago beat writer Will Gottlieb from CHGO.

"I know the Bulls like really value big men who can make plays, who can screen, who can run, and who can operate in dribble hand-offs," Gottlieb told basketball.com.au.

"That's very much in his skill set. That's what they liked about him and why they felt comfortable drafting him.

"Obviously at Summer League, he was one of the more featured players.... I think he's got sort of an interesting skill set that a lot of like teams are sort of building around now. It's bigs who can dribble past, shoot a little bit, who work hard, and physicality, I think he really adds to that too.

"He's got good touch around the rim, so he had some nice moments. He can run the brake a little bit, grab and go, and I think they're pretty excited about him."

While it may not seem like Olbrich is a huge priority for the Bulls, who notoriously don't play many of their two-way signings, also considering he's played no more than seven minutes in any preseason game and is expected to spend majority of the season in the G League with the Windy City Bulls.

Despite all of those factors, Gottlieb believes there may be opportunities for Olbrich this season but said he must learn quickly so he can make the most of the chances that may present during the 2025-26 campaign.

"I think he's going to get some opportunities even though the Bulls don't play many of their two-way guys just historically speaking," he said.

"But who knows what happens with some of the other players? Maybe trades give him some opportunity.

"I think (Olbrich) really leaning into being a guy you're able to run some offence through will help in the event that like Nicola Vucevic misses a few games, maybe he gets himself an opportunity and he's able to build on that.

"If he can build on that skill set and then obviously everybody's got to shoot in the NBA these days, adding more of that to his game and you see him working on it in practice with the likes of Jalen Smith when we go into practice. He just needs to bring that, along with the work ethic and the physicality the team is looking for and then just taking advantage of every opportunity that he'll have.

"For all young players and certainly like rookies, regardless of how old they are, like there is an adjustment, especially defensively and especially coming from a different professional league or from college, whatever it may be.

"Teams can really pick on bigs and pick on matchups. The Bulls are not a team where they have all these stoppers up and down the line-up, they really do have to do it by committee and that's something (Bulls coach) Billy Donovan has stressed, really over the last couple of years.

"I wouldn't call Nicola Vucevic a great defensive anchor, but like he knows where to be, he knows how to operate within the scheme. I think if Lachlan can learn that stuff quickly, then he'll put himself in position to get those opportunities and then it's just about maximising them by taking advantage."

Although the Bulls aren't known for playing two-way talents, the structure of their G League program allows players to be better prepared to make the step up to the NBA, according to Gottlieb.

"The last couple years they've had their two-way players spend a lot of their time down there. I think they're pretty much running all the same stuff that they run with the big club in terms of offence and defence and I think the idea is to be able to send guys up and down and not really skip a step," he said.

"For example, last year they sent Matas Buzelis down there for a couple of games early on in the season. Matas was obviously the 11th overall pick, he was somebody that spent the full year in the G League with the Ignite program the year before and did he really need to be doing that? Like could you just like give him the ball and let him get into his bag and try to score a bunch down there.

"But hat wasn't really the point of that. The point was to get him more reps within the system that they're trying to run. I talked about being ready to take advantage of opportunities. and if you are spending a lot of time with Windy City and you are excelling in the system that they're trying to run, then by the time you get up, you know what you need to do in those moments.

"I think that's like how the teams should be really using (the G League), like it's not really just like a playground where you can go get your own, it's really about developing the system.

"I think over the last couple years, it does feel like NBA teams are kind of treating themselves more like college programs in that way where they have a style they implement, they they identify players, bring them in and implement that system.

"I think Lachlan will probably spend a lot of time with Windy City but those reps will be valuable for when he does get the opportunity in the NBA."

Olbrich's transition into the NBA after two seasons with the Hawks in the NBL has also been smoother because of the Australian connection in the team. The Bulls obviously feature star Aussie point guard Josh Giddey - who signed a four-year $100m extension with Chicago and who Gottlieb recently spoke to basketball.com.au about. But former Sydney Kings head coach Damien Cotter is also an assistant coach with the Bulls.

"There's a lot of European guys on this team and there's a lot of international players on the team in general. I think (having that on a roster) is just a cool opportunity to get to know people from different parts of the world," Gottlieb said.

"I'm sure for Josh, Lachlan and for Damien, it's nice to have fellow countrymen like I've. I've met Lachlan only a couple times, just because he's newer with the team and Damien I see working out with guys before games, rebounding, doing coaching, player development drills, things like that with Josh before the game.

"I'm sure that there's a level of comfort that they have in just having fellow countrymen there for them. I don't know if that was like done on purpose, but certainly the Australian cohort of players is really is getting deeper. There's one or two guys on almost every team now it feels like, so it's just cool to see that growing in the NBA."

The Bulls open the 2025-26 NBA season at the United Center against the Detroit Pistons on October 23 at 11am (AEDT).