The Bulls Are Gonna Be Bad And We Couldn't Be Happier (S59 Presser)

[garbageman]

Dear Bulls Fans,

Last season marked the worst Bulls season under my management. We traded away our remaining core championship pieces in Talen Horton-Tucker and Michael Sneed, getting back Terrence Lewis-Weeks, Jalen Warley, and a pick we used to draft Ayo Dosunmu. We resigned the newly acquired Frank Daily to a big contract only to swap him back to the Pistons for Charles Jarrett and Emoni Bates. We made what we thought were some solid signings in free agency with some proven stars in Dan Yandell and OG Anunoby and some calculated gambles in Graig Howerton, and Malik Osborne. On paper, I thought last year's Bulls could squeak into the playoffs depending on how things shook out.

We only won 26 games and finished with the 4th worst record in the league. After a rough start, we leaned into it. We made some trades midseason and gave some run to our young guys to see what they had early on. We liked some of what we saw, but it was clear to us that we still had some work to do to lay a strong enough foundation for our rebuild.

Now, I don't think our record's going to be much better than it was this year. Heck, it might not be better at all. But, boy, did we build a strong foundation from the future.

We were really active on the trade market during the draft. The Lakers had expressed interest in Emoni Bates last season, but we couldn't get a deal done because of cap restrictions. Once they were able to open up some cap space in the offseason, we resumed talks and sent them Emoni (and a late 1st) for a young big man named Fabian Hub, who projects to be a solid contributor on both ends of the court. This deal also opened up plenty of cap space, which we'll get to later.

In terms of the draft, we had picks 3, and when it came time to pick early on, we were torn between Mikal Bridges and Brandon Ingram. We ended up trading back a pick to get some cash considerations, and luckily, one of them was still there for us at pick 4. Even more luckily, it was Brandon Ingram.

But we weren't done with draft day moves yet. We really liked Victor Wembenyama at pick 7, and we went to business with the Bucks again, sending them Terrence Lewis-Weeks and Jalen Warley.

Now, we liked Emoni, Terrance, and Jalen, but we didn't see any of them as part of the long term plan for the Bulls. The timing wasn't right. We wish Jalen and Terrance a great season in Milwaukee, trying to win a ring, and Emoni with whatever the heck the Lakers are doing. At least the weather's nice.

Anyway, RFA came and we had two players to deal with. The first was Charles Jarrett, who after last year's training camp, emerged as our most promising young star. We matched the Wizards max contract with no hesitation and look forward to what he can do as the best player on this team this season. We're not expecting wins or monster stats, but we'd like to see how he responds as a leader of a young unit (with help of course from two notable vets, of course).

Aron Lizarraga was a different story. He didn't like our qualifying offer, but there wasn't much else out there. So we agreed he'd test the waters in unrestricted free agency and told him we'd make another offer there, hoping he'd cooperate with us on timing so we could make some more signings. He kind of did, I guess, but like, not really. So 10 points and he's yours on less than 20mm a year for 3 years with team option on that third year.

But the rest of UFA went pretty well. We got our number one target, Gerald Dixson, who looks like he's going to be an absolute scoring machine at multiple positions. Then Aron signed, blowing our chance at Harold Schiff. And then we got an intriguing target at C in Tony Throckmorton, one of the ol' Throckmorton boys. He's no Schiff, but he can score inside, he can rebound inside, and he can swat the ball into the stands. Not a bad plan B at less than half of what we offered for the Schiff-ster.

Then, OG resigned with us...after everyone else signed or couldn't sign our offers due to cap restrictions. What a professional! He can be yours for 5 points. We also brought back some of our riches, Stark and Hunt, to be exact...for bird right purposes...as long as old Richard doesn't retire.

And finally, the highlight of the offseason...and forgive me, because I'm not used to saying this...Training Camp.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that all of our young guys came into Training Camp not only competing for a spot in the lineup or more minutes this season. They were competing for a spot on this team for years to come. They were competing for a spot on this team when the Bulls are ready to add some more banners to the rafters of the Madhouse on Madison.

Some standouts?

Ayo Dosunmu really worked on his scoring and projects to have a deadlier mid-range game than we thought as well as a better ability as a shot creator.

Victor Wembenyama was right there working on those skills with Ayo. His extra work in the steals department has him looking like a future DPOY candidate with the same offensive talents as Charles Jarrett in a 7'3 body.

Even Malik Osborne got in on the fun. He really pushed his three point shot to the next level, and this young, uber-athletic player on a value contract we gambled on a year ago (with a team option next year and full bird rights after that) will be exciting to watch on the court. We're also not tied to him ending the season in a Bulls jersey. Call me!

But the biggest story out of Training Camp was, of course, Brandon Ingram. Brandon came into camp with a chip on his shoulder. He was projected to go 2nd in the draft, and we know he feels a little passed up--even by us since we traded back instead of picking him at 3. Coming out of camp, Brandon's goal is to prove, down the road, that he could come out #1 in future redrafts of the S59 draft.

We know this season will be more about growth than results, but the future looks so bright there aren't many teams out there that wouldn't trade places with us.

For media inquiries, please write to Sham Smith's mailbag!

[Eazy P]

What's your timetable of going all in again? History shows that you won't be in your current situation for long.

[IamQuailman]

how do you keep getting so lucky in TC?!

[garbageman]

What's your timetable of going all in again? History shows that you won't be in your current situation for long.

It could start as soon as next season, but I'm not going to push it if the market isn't right. I hope to win another ring in the next 5 seasons.

[garbageman]

how do you keep getting so lucky in TC?!

I don't. This year was different. Instead of going with recommended, we tried some new stuff. All of our young guys got the same conditioning regimen, and we used an analytical approach to determine where players had the most room for growth, implemented a time and workout multiplier based on probable positions, and assigned areas of focus based on those formulae.

[greepleairport]

You have a lot of young talent I see getting flipped. Historically in Chicago, youth does not stick around unless they have an ability to contribute at that point in time. But after this TC is there a change in strategy, so impressed with the potential you have that it's worth waiting a bit longer?

[ballsohard]

Have you gotten to the point of wanting to win in different ways ? If so, what build type would you like to win with ?

[K-100]

...there aren't many teams out there that wouldn't trade places with us.

soooo how much?

[garbageman]

...there aren't many teams out there that wouldn't trade places with us.

soooo how much?

474 points

[garbageman]

You have a lot of young talent I see getting flipped. Historically in Chicago, youth does not stick around unless they have an ability to contribute at that point in time. But after this TC is there a change in strategy, so impressed with the potential you have that it's worth waiting a bit longer?

Probably. Not everyone's going to stick around and we probably have more young talent than we can cash in. I don't think some of our young talent is too far off from being able to start on a competitive team if we make the right trades for win now veterans.

[garbageman]

Have you gotten to the point of wanting to win in different ways ? If so, what build type would you like to win with ?

I feel like the league has so much more talent per competitive team than it used to, so the era of builds is over. You're not going to win without a team that is dominant in pretty much every era. And with so many rings, I've had plenty of different looks. Our first ring in 2020 came with a do-it-all Russ surrounded by role-players. We've had teams win where our best players were wings with a big man by committee approach. We've had teams win where we had a dominant center in Wanderlei Silva. We've had teams where we had one leader tearing up the stat sheets and teams win where you couldn't find a Bull on the season awards page.

But going forward, I think it'll be rare to see a team win without a versatile, do-it-all identity.

[digiskunk]

Kenya Swallow, ESPN: Ayo Dosunmu Ayo Dosunmu is a guaranteed future star but he continues to struggle with his porn addiction. Has he committed himself to getting help or is he still spending a lot of time in the bathroom? Furthermore, what aspect of his game did he focus on improving the most during the off-season?

[garbageman]

Kenya Swallow, ESPN: Ayo Dosunmu Ayo Dosunmu is a guaranteed future star but he continues to struggle with his porn addiction. Has he committed himself to getting help or is he still spending a lot of time in the bathroom? Furthermore, what aspect of his game did he focus on improving the most during the off-season?

Well, he was redshirted last year, so he had a lot of time on his hands. As for the second question, he worked on improving his inside scoring the most with jump shooting and perimeter defense a close second.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: While Bates was definitely outside your timeline, TLW and Warley were pretty much on the same schedule as the rest of your guys. What specifically made them poor fits for your plans?

[garbageman]

Random Reporter: While Bates was definitely outside your timeline, TLW and Warley were pretty much on the same schedule as the rest of your guys. What specifically made them poor fits for your plans?

The answer has a lot of factors, but in short, when we looked at how long we thought it would take for all of our players to develop to the point where they could be a contributor on a competitive team--and we looked at where in their contracts they'd be, and whether they'd be on their second contracts--we felt like we'd be readier to compete faster and with more maneuverability when we're ready if we traded for Victor, who we like very much. With TLW's rookie contract expiring and Warley's expiring the year after that, we had to make decisions on them pretty quickly, and without as much of a chance to see what they've got.

[AngryBanana]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: I see that Dixson was your top target in UFA, with the wing position in particular of interest in UFA this season was there any other players you had your eye on as well?

[drkavarga]

With your team not expected to have a good record, do you think there's any teams worse than yours or are you just thinking last season will repeat itself again?

[garbageman]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: I see that Dixson was your top target in UFA, with the wing position in particular of interest in UFA this season was there any other players you had your eye on as well?

I wasn't looking for position, I was looking for young talent. Like I said in my presser, I threw a big contract to Harold Schiff, but the cap space got ate before he could accept. It's like you didn't even read my presser. It's like nobody reads the pressers and we could just put up threads and ask and answer questions. I also put a medium sized bid out on Ousmane Dieng. It was slightly less than the Clippers paid him.

[garbageman]

With your team not expected to have a good record, do you think there's any teams worse than yours or are you just thinking last season will repeat itself again?

The Mavs will probably be worse. Any team with only 8 players on it could be worse.