Chicago Bulls 2018-2019 Preseason Presser

[garbageman]

phpBB [video]

The suit is on point, and even though it's kind of lame to do indoors, the dark shades are an essential piece of GM Garbageman's get-up. They make the red, white, and black inflatable saxophone pop as Garbageman pantomimes playing it along with Chicago's "Only the Beginning," an apropos theme for this year's Chicago Bulls. Somewhere out there, Conroy is kicking himself for not posting first, using Boston's "Foreplay / Long Time" as a suitable theme for his young team that is not ready yet, but is poised to have rising talent that will leave them ready for a solid run as a top team in a few seasons.

The song concludes and Garbageman sets his blow-up sax next to the podium to address the press.

GM: Hello and welcome to the Chicago Bulls preseason press conference for the 2018-2019 season. We're very excited to play in front of the greatest fans in the PBSL, and we couldn't be happier with the team we put together. It's a team that is built to grow together into hopefully the most talented and successful Bulls team ever. But first...

LAST SEASON

GM: To assemble a team with such a high ceiling, we had to make some difficult decisions last year. Facing a very steep tax bill if we tried to compete, we ultimately settled on trading out of Spencer Hawes' and Goran Dragic's contracts. After a 19-19 start with a team we had built to challenge for a championship, we knew that if we didn't reconstruct the team, we might be saddled with large contracts that would prevent us from rebuilding for a couple more years. The second half of the season went about as expected, but we got plenty of minutes for our young guys...Phil Milburn, Vernon DeSantis, and Charles Simmons...and we really like how they are developing. We finished 34-48, which ultimately landed us in the 9th spot for...

THE DRAFT

GM: ...where we were extremely lucky that Dennis Smith, Jr. was available to us. DSJ has the potential to be one of the league's best future point guards. We have very high hopes for him, and we were thrilled with the numbers he put up in the preseason. 16 points and 10 and a half assists per game already put him in line with the league's elite. In fact, only three other point guards had more points and assists then Dennis: Ish Smith, Isaiah Thomas, and Derrick Rose...so he's already in pretty elite company, and though it's early, I expect him to be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year come April. Once we had DSJ inked to the roster, we moved on to address our other needs.

RFA:

GM: In restricted free agency, we had a handful of guys that we had our eye on. We were really hoping to get Zach LaVine back. Although Zach was unhappy at times with his first stint on the Bulls, he wanted to come back and play for us and be a part of our future. Unfortunately, the Raptors matched our offer. We also had Marcus Smart interested in a very reasonable deal. The Magic in turn matched, and Smart's great training camp has him looking like an excellent value on a championship contender down in Disney World.

With those two contracts matched, the third signing we made was TJ Warren. TJ filled a position where we were in dire need of a high quality starting player as there weren't many comparable young small forwards. He cost us our 2021 1st Pick, but after seeing the work TJ put in during training camp, we believe he was worth even more than that. He led the team in scoring during the pre-season, and we know he'll play an important role for us during the next 4 years of his contract.

UFA

We had three signings in UFA that I'd like to talk about. First and foremost, we were able to land a long term deal with Charles Simmons. Charles is a player with incredibly interesting potentials as he is a seven foot, 300 pound center who can score from anywhere on the court. We were impressed with him towards the end of last season where he put up double digits in the last 10 games of the season once we moved him to a starting role. He helped us to some late season vicotires...with a high of 35 and a couple solid double-double performances.

Next, we were able to land Doug McDermott on a nice deal. Doug is an extremely smooth shooter and will back up TJ Warren as a sharpshooting threat from behind the arc.

And finally, we were able to land a player we've had an eye on for a long time in Bismack Biyombo. Biyombo is a monster on the boards and defensively in the post, so we knew that landing a power forward with that skill set was something on a lot of teams' agendas, coming off a championship win from a team with the most dangerous player in the game at that position in Anthony Davis. We gave Biyombo a strong offer, and we were happy to beat out the other teams who sent contracts his way.

THE SEASON

In the first year of our rebuild, I'm positive that we'll have plenty to look forward to. Last year, we demolished the structure of our team, and I think that we're going to come out of the gates with a better overall record. We're going to be led by our best player, Victor Oladipo, and we signed plenty of savvy veterans to help off the bench, but we've got 8 players under 27 who make up the core of this team now and for years to come. I know Chicago fans were disappointed to miss out on playoff basketball last year, but it won't be long now, and it's only the beginning of great things to come for the city.

ANY QUESTIONS?

[false9]

Gar, we heard rumors that some veterans are already on the trading block. If this team finds itself in the hunt for a playoff spot, will you hold onto these vets?

[garbageman]

Gar, we heard rumors that some veterans are already on the trading block. If this team finds itself in the hunt for a playoff spot, will you hold onto these vets?

We'll see how the season goes, but with a new squad like this, we're keeping all of our options open. Right now, our starting 5 and our second unit spots are all slated for our youngest players. It's a harsh reality, but we're going to have to get under the apron by midseason, so we'd rather cut down on a 15 man roster by trading for cash than cutting guys who don't crack the rotation here.

[Wombataholic]

With Phil Milburn hitting RFA after this year and TJ Warren and Doug McDermott already under contract, it looks like there's a log jam at the small forward position. Is there any chance the Milburn will be moved in a sign-and-trade in next year's RFA?

[garbageman]

With Phil Milburn hitting RFA after this year and TJ Warren and Doug McDermott already under contract, it looks like there's a log jam at the small forward position. Is there any chance the Milburn will be moved in a sign-and-trade in next year's RFA?

There's always a chance that an RFA could move in a sign-and-trade, but that depends more on the contract size we'd have to match or the kind of return we'd get. However, Phil's listing as a SF is somewhat dubious. With Jordan Hill, LaMarcus Aldridge, Vernon Desantis, and Charles Simmons on last year's roster, we had a log jam at the center and power forward spots and no logs whatsoever at SF. This year, Phil gets to return to his natural position at PF for most of his minutes.

[TheSyndicate]

Rumor had it, Oladipo did not come into camp in the greatest shape. Can you expand on how that might affect his role on the team?

[Xist2Inspire]

Now that Anthony Davis and the Pistons have forced the rest of the Central into a state of flux, where do you see yourself in both the division and conference picture? Would you say that you're the closest one out of your rivals to regaining relevancy?

[garbageman]

Rumor had it, Oladipo did not come into camp in the greatest shape. Can you expand on how that might affect his role on the team?

Oladipo is still the leader and best player of the Chicago Bulls team. His role hasn't changed, and we're still expecting him to play at an all star level.

[WigNosy]

T.J. Warren had a great offseason and you got him at what may be an under-market contract. With Oladipo stepping back a bit in training camp, do you feel Warren may be the face of the Bulls going forward?

[garbageman]

T.J. Warren had a great offseason and you got him at what may be an under-market contract. With Oladipo stepping back a bit in training camp, do you feel Warren may be the face of the Bulls going forward?

I think Warren will be one of the faces for the Bulls going forward, but we're not going to be a team that has a guy like AD or Durant or Kevin Love. We love what Warren brings to the table, especially offensively, but Oladipo is still our leader out there.

Despite that, we're actually most excited about the progression of Vernon Desantis and Dennis Smith, Jr. Since they're both still on their rookie contracts, we hope to see them in Chicago uniforms for a long time, and it's a huge bonus that they're both ready to step into starting roles this early on in their careers.

[78#]

How excited are you with this team compared to the last couple of seasons when you were in a reset mode?


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[garbageman]

How excited are you with this team compared to the last couple of seasons when you were in a reset mode?


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I only reset about a half a season ago, and I still consider this the beginning stages of my rebuild. I didn't fully expect to be as competitive as this team looks like it could be, and it could be a challenge to even make the playoffs out East, but I do really like the way this roster comes together, and I'm very interested to see what happens as the season progresses.