What’s New

The immigration lawyer who’s charged with bribing Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) to get a sign permit for a Northwest Side shopping center has lost control of the building amid a foreclosure lawsuit that accuses him of failing to make mortgage payments since shortly after he was indicted.

Charles Cui’s lender sued him last August, saying the attorney owes more than $12.9 million on the mortgage for the building that houses his law firm, a health club he owns and a Binny’s Beverage Depot liquor store that leases space there.

For now, Cui and Binny’s have to make their monthly rent payments to a Michigan company appointed to oversee the property last fall until a Cook County judge decides the case.

According to the lawsuit, Cui got the mortgage in 2017 and stopped making payments in September 2019 — five months after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he bribed Burke by hiring the alderman’s law firm to appeal the building’s property taxes.

According to the indictment, Cui also was hoping Burke could get City Hall to approve a pole sign that Binny’s wanted and that city officials had rejected.

Federal prosecutors say Cui hired Burke only after City Hall said no to the sign permit for Binny’s, whose rent would drop by $750,000 if they couldn’t get approval to put their sign on the pole.

“Although Cui hired Burke’s firm to perform actual property tax work, his express purpose was to influence Burke in his official capacity, which made the arrangement unlawful,” prosecutors said in the indictment. “In other words, the retention of Klafter & Burke was the bribe.”

Cui, 50, of Lake Forest, and his lawyers have denied the charges.

A federal judge has yet to set a trial date for the racketeering case against Burke, Cui and a third man — Peter J. Andrews, who was a longtime aide to Burke.

Cui, who is also a real estate developer, didn’t respond to interview requests regarding his property at 4901 W. Irving Park Rd. in Portage Park.

City of Chicago

His criminal defense lawyer won’t comment.

In 2016, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Burke and the rest of the Chicago City Council agreed to give Cui as much as $2 million toward his $14 million plan to redevelop the Irving Park Road property, which formerly was home to a Bank of America branch, and another property down the street.

Cui’s development plans called for the former bank building to become home to a Binny’s store, a gym, a theater, an art center and law offices for Cui, who also would put up a new building that would house a Culver’s restaurant.

In the spring of 2017, city officials rejected Cui’s permit application seeking permissions for Binny’s to put up a sign on the pole that formerly had a sign for the bank.

In August 2017, the indictment says, Cui emailed Burke about the pole sign. The next day, Cui hired Burke’s law firm to handle property tax appeals for the building.

Burke and the rest of the city council voted to approve Binny’s request to erect two signs on the building extending over the public way.

But the pole sign never went up, and the pole has been removed.

Federal agents raided Burke’s office on Nov. 28, 2018. The following day, when investigators questioned Cui, prosecutors say he lied to them when he told them that he hired Burke’s law firm “just because he is a good tax appeal lawyer” rather than because he wanted help with getting approval for Binny’s sign.

A grand jury indicted Cui on April 11, 2019.

A month later, City Hall canceled its $2 million financing deal with him. He never got any city money for the project.

On Sept. 27, 2019, court records show, Cui stopped making payments on the $9.75 million mortgage, which he originally got from Citi Real Estate Funding, Inc.

Cui sold the Culver’s property on July 29, 2020, for $3.15 million to the restaurant’s operator.

On Aug. 14, 2020, a Delaware company called CGCMT 2017-B1 West Irving Park Road LLC sued for foreclosure on the mortgage that Citi Real Estate had given Cui, saying he owed more than $12.9 million. The Culver’s property isn’t part of the foreclosure suit.

Last October, a Cook County judge appointed a receiver to run the property, which is 78% occupied.

Binny’s pays $38,891 a month in rent. Binny’s operators think Cui overcharged the store for maintenance of the property’s common areas, according to the foreclosure suit, and are negotiating a settlement with the receiver.

Cui pays the receiver $8,278 a month in rent for his law office, according to the suit.

But Cui’s gym, Retro Fitness Center, owes $551,013 in rent, the lawsuit says, because he cut its rent during the coronavirus pandemic without getting permission from the lender or the receiver.

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The intensive care unit at St. Bernard Hospital on the South Side is at capacity because of the latest surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

Last month, the small hospital treated more than three dozen COVID-19 patients — about the same number as in July 2020, just before a bigger wave of illness. That has St. Bernard administrators worried.

“This tells you the trajectory of the COVID impact — it’s only going to go up,” says Rochelle Bello, the hospital’s director of infection prevention.

This month, the hospital already has treated 20 people diagnosed with the virus. None of the patients over the past two months were vaccinated. Two died.

City officials tout the low number of hospitalizations even as the number of COVID cases has risen sharply in recent weeks. But some areas, especially low-income communities of color where vaccination rates are low, are getting hit hard. From the South Side to the West Side, the Delta variant of the virus — about twice as contagious as earlier forms — is disproportionately striking Black and Latino communities.

Over the past month, Black Chicagoans made up 26% of the city’s total number of COVID cases, yet they accounted for 56% of hospitalizations and 65% of deaths, according to the city’s figures.

Combined, Blacks and Latinos account for 84% of the recent deaths and nearly three-quarters of all hospitalizations.

“I do worry that there are whole parts of Chicago that are just not vaccinated,” says Dr. Allison Arwady, the city of Chicago’s public health commissioner. “I see these cases and these hospitalizations and deaths, and these are so largely preventable at this point.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

St. Bernard largely serves people in Englewood, a community that badly trails the rest of the city in people being vaccinated against the coronavirus. Fewer than one-third of those living in the area’s 60621 ZIP code are fully vaccinated, the lowest rate in Chicago. Citywide, almost 54% of residents are fully vaccinated.

In recent weeks, St. Bernard has admitted COVID patients from 28 to 64 years old. The hospital also treated — but did not admit — infected children, including a 2-year-old, according to Bello, who says the Delta variant is resulting in far more severe illnesses.

Only about 37% of Black Chicagoans and 46% of Latinos are fully vaccinated, compared with about 60% of whites, despite city officials’ promises that the shots would be distributed equitably.

The low vaccination rates are cause for rising concern as the city and Illinois face this latest COVID surge, caused largely by Delta, which arrived about when Mayor Lori Lightfoot was announcing Chicago’s full reopening in early June. Around the same time, state health officials for the first time recorded cases of the highly contagious variant.

The Delta variant now accounts for more than 90% of COVID cases in Chicago, Arwady estimates.

The city’s reopening — which included dropping almost all of the precautionary public health measures that had been in place for much of the pandemic — makes controlling the spread extremely difficult.

“We still have a lot of people who aren’t vaccinated,” says Dr. Cathy Creticos, director of infectious diseases at Howard Brown Health. “We still aren’t at a vaccination rate where we aren’t going to see a wave of infection.”

With the number of cases dropping prior to the city’s reopening, many Chicagoans stopped seeking vaccinations or even tests, Creticos says.

Demand for COVID-19 testing had decreased so much that Howard Brown Health consolidated testing from 12 locations to just two — in Englewood and Uptown. Two weeks ago, the clinics started to see an increase in testing.

Arwady defends the city’s decision to reopen. She points to the Delta variant as the main reason more Chicagoans are getting sick and notes that, following recently revised guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, City Hall is now advising that masks should once again be worn indoors regardless of whether people have been vaccinated.

“I really want to keep Chicago open if we possibly can,” Arwady says, echoing Lightfoot’s pledge.

On Thursday, Arwady announced that more than 200 reported infections have been reported among those who attended Lollapalooza, the recent four-day outdoor music festival that drew 385,000 people to the lakefront.

But she downplayed that number as nothing beyond what might normally be expected given the huge crowds and said it wasn’t a “superspreader” event.

City officials plan to continue to track cases among people who were at Lollapalooza, which became a symbol of Chicago’s reopening, though some health officials still question the decision to let the festival go on despite the latest surge.

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

Humboldt Park Health had reached a point where it didn’t have any COVID patients, but that’s changed in the last month or so, says Dr. Abha Agrawal, its chief medical officer. In recent days, the hospital was treating five coronavirus patients, including three in intensive care. None of the five had been vaccinated, according to Agrawal.

“If the trend were to continue in the city or state, we are going to be back at where we used to be,” he says.

The 60629 ZIP code on the Southwest Side has been seeing a high positivity rate in recent weeks even though more than half of its residents are vaccinated. The Latino-majority area is home to many who have been going in to their workplaces, many of them in public-facing jobs, throughout the pandemic. Many also live in multigenerational homes. Those are both factors that make them vulnerable to infection.

Dr. Marina Del Rios says it’s those “essential workers,” such as restaurant employees and housekeepers, she has been seeing lately in the packed emergency room at the University of Illinois Hospital at Chicago on the West Side. Del Rios says she also is seeing people get sick from family gatherings.

“It’s unlike last year, when most people were keeping in their bubbles and masking and keeping their physical distances,” Del Rios says. “We reopened too quickly. We celebrated too quickly.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

UIC’s intensive care area is near capacity, entirely with COVID patients, according to a hospital spokeswoman, who says 20 are being treated for the coronavirus.

Del Rios, who was the first Chicagoan to be vaccinated, is among health professionals critical of the city’s reopening and especially for allowing Lollapalooza to go on.

Del Rios and other doctors, including Dr. Ali Khan, executive medical director of Oak Street Health, say they hope the Delta threat will convince more people to get vaccinated, especially since the shots have been shown to be highly effective even with that variant.

“We actually have something that is darn near miraculous,” Khan says of the vaccines.

At Esperanza Health Centers, demand for COVID testing and vaccinations has risen in recent weeks after waning earlier this summer. At the height of the vaccination rollout, its community health clinics on the Southwest Side were administering 1,500 doses a day, but those efforts tapered off to 50 doses a day, says Dan Fulwiler, Esperanza Health Centers’ chief executive officer. In recent weeks, the clinics have been administering 100 doses a day, Fulwiler says.

He says one woman wanted to get the vaccine but wasn’t able to make an appointment before contracting COVID and dying.

“Their lives are very busy,” Fulwiler says of Esperanza’s patient population. “Sometimes, people are working two jobs.”

At one point, the Gage Park Latinx Council was routinely flooded with thousands of calls asking about getting the vaccine, but it’s getting far fewer now, says Antonio Santos, its executive director.

The community organization has been among those working to get people vaccinated in the Southwest Side neighborhood, which had been hard hit by the pandemic.

“We have to remain diligent and vigilant and precautious as a city,” Santos says. “Just because numbers are down, the way pandemics work, none of us are safe until all of us are safe.”

Contributing: Caroline Hurley, Mitchell Armentrout

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health and Elvia Malagon’s reporting on social justice and income inequality are made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.

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A man was shot while sitting inside a restaurant Friday morning on the Far South Side.

Just before 1:25 a.m., the man, 27, was seated at a restaurant in the 8400 block of South Stony Island Avenue when someone approached the entrance and opened fire, Chicago Police said.

He was shot in the groin and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he was listed in fair condition, police said.

No one was in custody.

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A man was shot and critically wounded Thursday in Englewood on the South Side.

Around 11:50 p.m., the victim, 25, was standing in an alley in the 5900 block of South Justine Street when someone approached and opened fire, Chicago Police said.

The 25-year-old was shot once in his back and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition, police said.

No one was in custody.

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The diamond was built, and they came to Iowa.

More than three decades after “Field of Dreams” became a hit, one of the most famous cornfields in history finally gets the opportunity to host real big league ball.

The White Sox and New York Yankees played in tiny Dyersville, next to the actual site used in the 1989 film. Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Amy Madigan starred in the movie.

The Sox won 9-8 in dramatic fashion with a game-winning, two-run home run by Tim Anderson.

A crowd of about 8,000 watched the made-for-TV event which was delayed a year after the pandemic postponed the original plans to play at the specially built field.

Costner came back for this, stealing the scene with a slow, ponderous stroll into the outfield his character Ray Kinsella often took in the film before stopping to watch the real White Sox and Yankees emerge from the corn for pregame introductions.

Clutching a ball in his hand, while the original symphonic score from the movie played over the loudspeakers, Costner stepped up to a microphone and told the crowd, “It’s perfect.”

This won’t be a one-time visit, either. Major League Baseball confirmed that the Field of Dreams game will return in August 2022, with the teams to be determined.

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DYERSVILLE, Iowa — This is how you end a “dream” game.

With a dream home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

After a nightmare top of the ninth.

“It was a dream come true,” said bench coach Miguel Cairo, who filled in for manager Tony La Russa, who was attending the funeral of his brother in law.

Closer Liam Hendriks was roughed up for four runs in the ninth, two on Aaron Judge’s homer and the go-ahead run on Giancarlo Stanton’s blast.

There were eight homers in the game, four by each side. Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez and Seby Zavala preceded Anderson’s two-run shot with Zavala (walk) on base against lefty Zach Britton.

“He’s amazing,” Cairo said of Anderson. “The energy. He’s a leader. He’s the man.”

Fireworks went off as Anderson circled the bases before being mobbed by teammates at home plate.

“Big games like this, this is the time to show up,” said Anderson, who also doubled in a run in the third inning. “Being able to walk this one off was one of the best moments of my career.”

With baseballs flying out to all fields at the cozy Field ballpark — 335 feet to the foul poles, 380 to the power alleys and 400 to center with a high well — the Sox used the long ball to build a 7-3 lead. The Yankees used it, too, though, getting Hendriks for the closer’s ninth and 10th homers allowed this season.

“We’re not going to quit until it’s over,” Sox starter Lance Lynn said.

Lynn allowed four runs in five-plus innings. Michael Kopech got out of a jam left by Lynn in the sixth, and Aaron Bummer pitched out of Kopech’s jam in the seventh. Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless eighth and Hendriks got the ninth.

La Russa was attending the funeral of his brother-in-law in Tampa, Fla., and planned to watch the game on TV. He will have liked what he saw.

“I’ve got his back,” Cairo said. “He preaches family, and right now he’s with his family. His second family is here and now we have to do it for him.”

Pitching through pain

Sox starters got extra rest shortly after the All-Star break and there’s probably more of that to come. “Dead arm” issues are part of the rigors of pitching through 30 starts.

“Everybody is different when it is, too,” Lynn said. “Guys have different spots and different times of the year when they feel things. I would say the older you get the more you get used to it so you have less of them than the young guys.”

Lynn (11-3), who allowed four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in five-plus innings, said he feels good “maybe five starts out of 30.”

“You’re never pain free,” he said. “You throw a baseball for a living. It’s one of those things you get used to, and some days are worse than others.”

Carlos Rodon went on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with shoulder fatigue, but in his case it’s more than a “dead arm” and a shutdown was needed.

This and that

Adam Engel left the game with right groin tightness. He is day to day.

*With his 221st homer, Abreu tied Harold Baines for third all-time on the Sox list.

*Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed there will be a second Field of Dreams game next year but didn’t indicate which teams would play when asked about Cubs manager David Ross insinuated the Cubs would be in it.

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An ex-Chicago police officer who admitted taking thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for early access to the names of people involved in traffic accidents was sentenced Thursday to a year in federal prison.

Kevin Tate pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in September 2019, admitting he took “not less than $10,000” from Richard Burton, who ran National Attorney Referral Service, while giving Burton details from 25 to 100 crash reports per month from 2015 until 2017.

U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle handed down Tate’s sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrianna Kastanek in a court memo last spring sought a sentence of as many as three years for Tate. She wrote that Tate’s crime was serious not because of the crash reports, “but in the significance of a police officer accepting a bribe in exchange for providing a member of the public with access to information intended, at that time, only for police use.”

“In this context, it was traffic reports,” Kastanek wrote. “In another context, it could have been other sensitive information whose disclosure could risk public or private safety. In exchange for private financial gain (and a relatively small amount of gain) [Tate] compromised his integrity, and public trust in police officers.”

Todd Pugh, one of Tate’s defense attorneys, wrote in a separate memo that punishment has already been leveled toward Tate through the loss of his job, the “unrepairable damage to his professional reputation, and the shame of ignoring the oath he took as a Chicago Police officer to uphold the law.”

Pugh wrote that Tate was fired following his guilty plea. A CPD spokesperson said Thursday that Tate is no longer an active member of the department.

Tate began his career as a Chicago police officer in 2005 and was repeatedly recognized by the department, Pugh wrote, including when he received a Life Saving Award for rescuing two children from a burning apartment building.

Burton, who pleaded guilty in June 2019 to a bribery conspiracy, has yet to be sentenced, records show. A second officer caught up in the scheme but charged separately, Milot Cadichon, was sentenced in November 2019 to 18 months in prison.

Federal prison records show Cadichon was released from custody in June.

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LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears’ father said in a court filing Thursday that he is planning to step down from the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money for 13 years, but his departure is not imminent.

James Spears filed legal documents saying that while there are no grounds for his removal, he will step down after several lingering issues are resolved. The document gives no timetable for his resignation from his role helping oversee his daughter’s finances.

“Mr. Spears continues to serve dutifully, and he should not be suspended or removed, and certainly not based on false allegations,” the filing said. “Mr. Spears is willing to step down when the time is right, but the transition needs to be orderly and include a resolution of matters pending before the Court.”

Those matters include the next judicial review of the pop singer’s finances, which has been delayed by months of public and legal wrangling over James’ Spears role and the legitimacy of the conservatorship by Britney Spears and, in recent weeks, her new attorney.

The documents say that James Spears has been “the unremitting target of unjustified attacks” but “he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests.”

The filing says James Spears will fight the petition to force him out, but will work with the court and Britney Spears’ attorney Matthew Rosengart on the next phases.

“We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed,” Rosengart said in a statement. “It is vindication for Britney.”

Spears said he was working on a plan to give up his role from before his daughter hired Rosengart last month.

For most of the existence of the conservatorship, which was established in 2008, James Spears oversaw his daughter’s personal affairs and money. In 2019, he stepped down as the so-called conservator of her person, and maintained control of her finances.

He was nevertheless the target of much of his daughter’s ire in a pair of speeches before the court in June and July, in which she called the conservatorship “abusive.” Spears in her June remarks said she had been required to use an intrauterine device for birth control, take medications against her will and prevented from getting married, having another child or even riding in her boyfriend’s car unsupervised.

“This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good,” the 39-year-old Spears said at the time. “I deserve to have a life.”

James Spears, 69, was fighting to remain in control in court filings as recently as last week. He said the allegations in his daughter’s testimony are “untested,” need investigation, and involve issues that have long been out of his control.

He suggested that Jodi Montgomery, who took over for him as conservator of Britney Spears’ personal affairs, deserved scrutiny if her allegations were accurate.

Rosengart said that while he welcomed the new move, he will not take the pressure of James Spears, who should not wait to step down.

“We look forward to continuing our vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years, while he reaped millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate, and I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future,” Rosengart’s statement said. “In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should remain silent and step aside immediately.”

Even after James Spears’ departure, the court will maintain the same control over Britney Spears that is has since the conservatorship was put in place in 2008. But he has been a lightning rod for the ire of fans in the #FreeBritney movement, whose voice have become increasingly prominent as they have been embraced by Britney Spears and Rosengart.

And Rosengart has marked James Spears’ departure as a necessary first step before ending the arrangement entirely.

The new filing adamantly defends the work of James Spears and the conservatorship, and pushes back especially against allegations made by Britney Spears’ mother Lynne Spears in a recent declaration.

“When this Conservatorship was initiated 13 years ago, Britney Jean Spears was in crisis, desperately in need of help. Not only was she suffering mentally and emotionally, she was also being manipulated by predators and in financial distress,” the documents say. “Mr. Spears came to his daughter’s rescue to protect her, and this Court made the determination that the protection provided by a conservatorship was necessary and in Ms. Spears’ best interests.”

The documents say that Lynne Spears was wrong in criticizing the hiring of a psychiatrist that she said James Spears chose for their daughter, and in saying that medications he prescribed were inappropriate.

The doctor was actually chosen by Britney Spears herself, and had the approval of Montgomery, her medical team, and Britney Spears’ previous attorney, the filing says. This same group, including the singer herself, approved of the medication the doctor prescribed, the filing says.

It also criticizes Lynne Spears assuming a role at all, saying she is someone Britney Spears “has avoided speaking with for most of her adult life.”

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A gunman who shot and killed a 21-year-old man in Chicago Lawn was out on bond in a pending gun case when he pulled the trigger, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Larry Hogan was recorded on surveillance video as he extended his arm and shot Gerald Kates multiple time just before 11 p.m. on Jan. 7 in the 6300 block of South Artesian Avenue, prosecutors said.

At the time, 20-year-old Hogan was out on a $1,000 bond for an aggravated unlawful use of a weapon case, prosecutors said.

Hogan’s face wasn’t visible on the video of the shooting, but detectives were able to follow his movements by looking at his clothes. They were able to track him 25 minutes before the shooting at a sandwich shop where he was recorded on video without a mask while he purchased food, prosecutors said.

Three of Kates’ family members who looked out their window after hearing the gunfire also identified Hogan as the shooter, prosecutors said.

An arrest warrant charging Hogan with murder was filed the following month, court records show.

Chicago police

When police attempted to take Hogan into custody Wednesday, he shoved an officer and tried to escape, according to an arrest report.

Hogan then allegedly tried to reach for gun inside a backpack he was carrying. One officer suffered a fractured hand while attempting to apprehend Hogan, the arrest report states.

A loaded Glock pistol was recovered from the backpack. That weapon was equipped with a switch that allowed the gun to fire automatically and an extended 50-round drum magazine, police said.

Hogan was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting arrest.

Judge Arthur Wesley Willis ordered Hogan held on $250,000 bail on those charges but also ordered him held without bail for Kates’ murder.

Hogan is expected back in court on the murder charge Aug. 31.

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Ayo Dosunmu has already seen a path for his in.

Unfortunately for the former Morgan Park High School standout it’s not a clear track by any means.

There’s a high-flying All-Star in Zach LaVine, now carrying a gold medal around the neck, a former No. 2 overall pick in Lonzo Ball, who excels at tempo and defense, a streak scorer in Coby White, and a world champion in Alec Caruso, who officially signed his four-year free-agent deal this week.

Each of them with better resumes than Dosunmu, each blocking his way to NBA playing time.

At least until Dosunmu put the numbers under a microscope earlier this week.

“I saw the Bulls added a lot of guards,” the Illinois standout said from the Summer League in Las Vegas. “But I also did a lot of research. Coach Billy Donovan, he loves to play a lot of three-guard offenses. I know if I just play hard, compete and bring a lot of energy, then I know it will take care of itself.”

Maybe it will.

After all, Donovan had no problem rolling out a lineup in which Garrett Temple, White, and LaVine all shared the floor at times last season.

Three very different skillsets, but an ability to each play off of each other.

What hurts Dosunmu, however, is his skillset is nowhere near any of those three players.

Sure, it’s only Summer League, but through the first three games, including the ugly 78-59 loss to Minnesota on Thursday, Dosunmu has shown signs with his defense and his willingness to attack the rim, but clearly has a ton of work to do in the shooting department.

In his three-game body of work, Dosunmu was shooting 7-for-24 (29%) from the field, including a dismal 1-for-7 performance against the Timberwolves.

He has been a solid rebounder for a backcourt starter, averaging five rebounds per game, and did have four steals in the comeback win over the Spurs on Tuesday, but the offense needs a lot of work.

Dosunmu’s immediate goal? Just play hard, and let the rest come his way by putting work in during practice time and extra work on the court.

“The advice I got was go out there and play hard,” Dosunmu said. “Just try to learn something new each game. That’s the best way you’re going to get better. That’s why you see some of the second-year guys performing so well because they have games under their belt and experience. That’s all it takes. Just trying to stay encouraged and keep building brick by brick.”

And slowly move away from shooting bricks.

Dosunmu was 0-for-4 from three-point range so far, but did finish his 2020-21 season with the Illini shooting 39% from three-point range. So expect that to improve.

Besides, the 38^th overall pick from last month’s draft is not going to earn his ticket to playing time because of his outside shooting.

“He’s super versatile,” teammate Patrick Williams said of Dosunmu. “He can really defend as well. He’s been doing that pretty much all last week when we were at practice.

“But he just plays so hard … He’s one of the more vocal players that we have on the team, even as a rookie. Just nothing but praise from him. He’s been really good for our team, even when he’s not playing well at the time he’s always vocal. He’s always on the bench, standing up, giving energy pretty much anyway he can. He’s just a really good player.”

As far as the Summer League loss, the Bulls were once again led by Williams, who scored 18 and had 10 rebounds.

“I think in that first half we were a little stagnant,” Williams said of his latest performance. “When the shots weren’t falling, we went away from the offense, kind of started going one-on-one, and that’s my fault.”

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