Chicago Bulls Preseason Press Conference

[logpmess]

Welcome everyone to a new season.

Last year was a year of wheeling and dealing, and we had a playoff berth to show for it. We built up some good young pieces but were missing that superstar. Well in the draft, we found it. We traded for Eddie A Johnson, who led the league in scoring. We were disappointed that he didn't make an all league team, but that is out of our hands. Later in the draft, we felt like we needed some depth in the post, so we drafted Olden Polynice. He looks like a really good option for the Center position going forward, so we are really excitd for him.

Our season started out tough. We were a losing team despite having scoring. We needed to shake things up. We made moves for both Derek Harper and John Bagley. It really shook our team up in terms of cohesion, but the talent was undeniable. Then the injuries happened. We didn't have a full sim with our starters until the second to last sim of the year. Then Bagley go hurt in the last sim. Despite that, we fiddled with our gameplan and came one game short of stealing a series from a good team.

This outcome gave us hope for the upcoming year. We proceeded to the draft and chose Pooh Richardson. With Bagley on the last year of his deal, Pooh could develop into our guard of the future. Then the TC gods came with a thunderous might. Koncak's ability completely disappeared. He was nerfed so bad, he may be out of the rotation competely. We did move Craig Hodges to the Hornets for Randy Breuer and points, so we have a stopgap for the time being. But that was devastating for our hope for this season. We are still great at depth in the one through three spots, but our bigs are going to be a mess. On a good note, Avery Johnson progressed and has reached his potential, so he will be a great backup for Bagley. Scottie showed up and developed some, but still has so much more to improve, and even Olden made some progression, but just isn't quite there yet to be a starter.

This season will be about finding the right gameplan with the following rotation:
C - Randy Breuer
PF - Roy Tarpley
SF - Eddie A Johnson
SG - Derek Harper
PG - John Bagley

Look for some switching of this lineup and potential trades that may move some people around. Gerald Wilkins is ready to contribute and Scottie is itching to get into the starting lineup. We like the versatility of these players with Harper being able to play the point guard and Johnson being able to play shooting guard.

With that, we will open the floor to some questions.

[JNR]

GWR: You mentioned it a little but your wing depth may eventually cause a problem with so many players able to contribute. If you do have to make some moves to give Pippen and Wilkins more run, what needs are you looking to address?

[IamQuailman]

Scottie Pippen on paper seems like such a fantastic talent, but he's turning out to be a little bit of a slow grower. When do you think it'll be his turn to take the reigns?

[logpmess]

GWR: You mentioned it a little but your wing depth may eventually cause a problem with so many players able to contribute. If you do have to make some moves to give Pippen and Wilkins more run, what needs are you looking to address?

Harper showed he could play the point, so realistically, Bagley would be a top candidate on the move. I could slide Johnson down to the shooting guard spot and move Pippen into the small forward spot with Wilkins playing a supersub that would come in for both the two and three. Wilkins would probably average over 20 minutes per game in this scenario from the bench. The only way this would happen would be for a center. I'd be giving up a starting caliber point guard that averaged a double double last year and would need a starting caliber center in return.

[logpmess]

Scottie Pippen on paper seems like such a fantastic talent, but he's turning out to be a little bit of a slow grower. When do you think it'll be his turn to take the reigns?

If we hadn't traded for Johnson last year, Pippen would be our focal point offensively this year. We would like to see him grow some more on his inside offense, but otherwise, he is on track with where we expected him to be. I could see him next season being the starting small forward and stay that way for the rest of his career.

[tbone963]

Eddie A. Johnson seems to be picking up right where he left off from last season. Who picks up the slack when he's off the floor?

[logpmess]

Eddie A. Johnson seems to be picking up right where he left off from last season. Who picks up the slack when he's off the floor?

The obvious answer here is Harper, but he's going to be contributing alongside Johnson more than anything. So really, I'm looking for my bench people to step up. I want to see double digit points per game from either Pippen or Wilkins to show the second unit has the firepower to withstand any runs that might come their way.

[WigNosy]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian...

A couple of years back, your team seemed to be overflowing with talented big men but needed help at guard; now you have multiple talented point guards but seem thin up front. What have you found is the most challenging part about building a balanced roster?

[logpmess]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian...

A couple of years back, your team seemed to be overflowing with talented big men but needed help at guard; now you have multiple talented point guards but seem thin up front. What have you found is the most challenging part about building a balanced roster?

Free agency has been tough for us. I feel like we have strong buds and some high talent free agents choose other locations. We have missed the playoffs twice in the en years of this league. I feel like we would be an ideal place to play but that hasn’t worked out for us.


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