Chicago Bulls Preseason Press Conference 1985

[logpmess]

Welcome everyone,

We feel like we are at an impass. We have a really good team with solid depth. Two years ago, we were hit with the injury bug. This year, we felt like we were primed to come out of the East in the playoffs. We won game 1 of the series with the Bucks in overtime, which means it was going to be a close back and forth series. Then we got completely wiped by the Bucks. To say that we are disappointed would be an understatement.

Fast forward to the offseason. James Bailey choosing to come back was an enormous boost for our team this year. He is a key contributor of our primary backup or a scenario based starter. We had one other primary player to address, Steve Johnson. We didn't think he would command a max contract, and he was signed to a mid-level contract just over $500,000. After a quick discussion with the Trailblazers, we decided to match. He is our big man backup and will see some starter minutes this season as well.

We feel we have depth at every position now with even some extended bench players in our rookie and second year players. We are going to be doing an assortment of starting lineups all season to try to make our best available lineup for the playoffs.

Automatic starters:
LaSalle Thompson
Calvin Natt
Maurice Cheeks

From there, we are going to be moving pieces around. We are open to some trades, but this team as currently assembled should be able to compete for the title. Our goal this year is to win the Eastern Conference. If we can also win the whole thing, that would be incredible.

With that, I will open the floor to questions.

[WigNosy]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian:

The offseason buzz was that Calvin Natt was available for trade; did you ever get an offer that made you consider moving off of him? Also, if you aren't able to break through this year in the playoffs, what is your next move with this team? More backcourt scoring? More defense? What do you think you need to get over the hump?

[AngryBanana]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: It is interesting to see Thompson among the players that are guaranteed starters. Can you go into detail on his growth since acquiring him?

[logpmess]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian:

The offseason buzz was that Calvin Natt was available for trade; did you ever get an offer that made you consider moving off of him? Also, if you aren't able to break through this year in the playoffs, what is your next move with this team? More backcourt scoring? More defense? What do you think you need to get over the hump?

Timing and quality of offers never quite aligned for Calvin Natt. He is the reigning scoring champ when he wasn't the only person on our Key Players. He definitely deserves a big offer if he is possibly going to move.

I actually think scoring from the center and powerforward position would help our team. Make the other team's low post players play defense more.

[logpmess]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: It is interesting to see Thompson among the players that are guaranteed starters. Can you go into detail on his growth since acquiring him?

He's been an anchor on this team at power forward for a couple of years now. He's easily our best low post two way player. Tree may have a slight advantage defensively, but LaSalle holds his own and can really be a force down there. We have pumped points into his quickness, so we are developing him to be able to thrive at the 4 or 5.