Reacting to Bulls Media Day; Recap and Key Takeaways

Reacting to Bulls Media Day; Recap and Key Takeaways

Media Day is in the books. Training camp starts tomorrow for the Bulls. They’ve got their first preseason game a week from tomorrow. Bulls basketball is back, everyone. It was a long off seasonason. And I’m looking forward to getting back into watching this team and how the season plays out. And just like I do every year, I’ll be recapping media day for the Bulls, the key takeaways from each interview with the players, as well as AK and Billy Donovan. What were some of the key themes coming out of the press conference and the implications all of that has on this team going forward into this season and beyond. So, what’s going on everyone? You’re listening to Bulls Central here. Hope you’re all doing well. Now, because we’re kicking off a new season, I’m sure there are some of you that are new around here. So, be sure to subscribe if you like the content and you follow this Bulls team closely as I’ll be covering the team all season long. We’re getting close to 45,000 subscribers. Let’s see if we can get there before the start of the season. Now, the media was able to speak to a number of guys today about their thoughts, goals, aspirations going into the season. We got to hear from AK and Billy Donovan, Kobe White, Josh Giddy, Ivuch, and Modus Buselis. Now, we’ll start with AK and Billy Donovan who were the first ones up at the podium. AK of course had his prepared opening address in which he praised the team’s final stretch run going 15 and five in the final 20 games. How they made great strides in improving their offense, but also their defense. However, he did call out the blowout loss against the Heat in the playin and how they simply put were not ready for the level of physicality when it came to the postseason. And the focus on physicality was a common theme throughout media day. It was a question and topic that was brought up to all the players as well. AK called out that this was a big reason they brought in Isaac Aoro because of his toughness and physicality that he brings on the defensive end. Now, I’m sure some will say, “Well, what about Lonzo? He brought that as well on defense.” While Lonzo played 70 games over the course of four seasons, Cororo is younger and obviously much more reliable. AK was also asked about what’s the latest on Kobe White and his contract extension talks and what’s the plan for Kobe going forward. And of course, he danced around the question, which to be fair, he kind of has to. He’s not going to publicly say, you know, where negotiations are at, what the latest offer is, what Kobe’s agent is telling them. I mean, we all know Kobe is not accepting an extension this year. he can make way more money on the open market as an unrestricted free agent in 2026, whether it be from the Bulls or another team. So, to be honest, that really isn’t and shouldn’t be a big topic for this upcoming season. Kobe will hit unrestricted free agency. It’s just a matter of whether or not the Bulls prioritize retaining him or potentially trading him before the trade deadline or letting him walk for nothing in the summer, which hopefully will be the worst case scenario. AK did add though that they do very much value Kobe. Their goal is to keep him around long term and we’ll see how the season goes and see where things take them next summer. Now, Billy Donovan did mention one of the key areas they’re looking at this year aside from just the physicality of the team, but what they especially need to focus on most and that is defense and how that will translate to more possessions in a game. He called out teams averaged last season four possessions more than the Bulls did over the course of the year. how they were 29th in deflections per game, 28th in offensive rebounding, 29th in forcing turnovers. And I’ve been calling this out dating all the way back to when Demar was still on the team. The Bulls consistently get up fewer shot attempts, fewer possessions than their opponent does. And it’s really hard to win basketball games consistently when you’re putting up less shots than the other team is. It’s pretty simple. It’s just down to math at that point because you have to be very very efficient, much more efficient on offense than your opponent if you’re going to win games despite taking less shots and getting to the free throw line less. So, the call out there and like I mentioned the theme across the board was how do they get more active defensively to allow for them to get more possessions than their opponent does consistently. Now, one thing that AK mentioned, which was a surprise to me, was that Kobe White is actually not going to be available to start training camp and could very well not be available until closer to the end of the preeason due to a calf strain he sustained in August, which was a surprise to just have that casually being dropped on media day. And we haven’t heard anything about that prior to today. Now, when Kobe came up, of course, the media had to ask him about that. And he mentioned, you know, this is really just more of a precaution given there is no rush for him to come back and play right now. It’s not like, you know, we’re in the playoffs, nor game seven of the NBA finals. Obviously referencing Tyres Hallebertton who came back and played from a calf strain and then of course Torres Achilles in that game seven. Sam Smith directly asked if that was why they’re keeping him out for now. And while Kobe didn’t directly say yes, he did say that they just don’t want to run the risk of a more serious injury. So hopefully Kobe is okay, hopefully he’s ready to go and will be back fully healthy to start the regular season. Uh, not that I’m a superstitious guy, but uh, I kind of hope he changes his number given Tatum, Dame, and Hallebertton, who all tore their Achilles in the playoffs, all wear number zero. But anyway, Kobe was of course asked about his impending free agency and contract extension. Of course, uh, he said he’s not really thinking about that right now, how he’s taking things one day at a time, which I’m sure in the back of his head it is obviously something on his mind. Um, but obviously he can’t say that. But he said his focus is to just keep getting better, help his teammates get better, and try to win. Kobe said his personal goals on this season is to shoot better than 40% from three, which he has yet to do in his career. Now, we also got to hear from Josh Giddy. You know, one thing I appreciate about Giddy when he speaks to the media is how self-aware he is. One of the first questions that was obviously asked of him was how things went this summer with his contract and how taxing it was for that to be continuing to drag on day after day, week after week, and into September before a contract was eventually signed. And he said, “Hey, it was a negotiation. It’s how the business works. Never any hard feelings.” And he kept emphasizing throughout his press conference that this was where he wanted to be and is very happy to be in Chicago and now especially locked in long term. He wasn’t shy about what he needed to work on as well. Shooting more defensive effort and defensive consistency, but more importantly wanting to work on being a better leader for this team, being that extension of Billy Donovan on the court, being more vocal both on and off the court. Talked about how, you know, he’s usually a more reserved and quiet guy, but knows he needs to change that and pushing guys and helping them get better, especially knowing the expectations of him now that he’s on this new $100 million contract. Then we also got to hear from IO, albeit a bit brief and felt like his interview was a little bit awkward in the sense that not only was he asked about his contract, which he gave similar responses to what Kobe had said, but also his role in the team with all these guards and whether he’ll actually have an opportunity to get minutes. He said he believes he will. Uh he also did indicate that he’s a full go for training camp. This of course after having that season ending shoulder injury last year. Uh we did get to hear from Vuch as well. Vu’s press conference was a little awkward, too, because everyone was asking him questions about his retirement and reflecting on his career as if he’s this super old guy who’s just about to hang it up. And he’s like, “Hey guys, I’m not that old. I still have years ahead of me.” In fact, he even went on to say that he still feels great, that in a way he feels even better than what he did when he was in his late 20s. Uh that he still has productive years ahead of him. And even went on to say that he actually really enjoyed playing with the group of young guys, that he had fun with them, that he played well with them. like he did have the best year of his tenure since joining the Bulls. Now, whether he actually feels that way and enjoying being the oldest guy on a team filled with young players that are developing and clearly not being part of the Bull’s long-term plans, that’s another story, but he said he likes being a part and helping the development of these young players and looks forward to continuing working with them going into the season. V was also asked about his minutes this year. probably a better question for Billy Donovan, but Vuch did say as a competitor, he doesn’t feel that his minutes need to be reduced. And Billy Donovan hasn’t indicated anything to him that his role on the team is changing, meaning he wouldn’t be coming off the bench or getting say 25 minutes per game and prioritizing some of those minutes for the younger guys. And then finally, the Bulls ended their media day session with Modis Buselis. I love Modus. I mean, some might call it being unrealistic or not being self-aware when he sets these lofty expectations, but people are asking him what does success look like for him? What does he personally want to get out of the season? And he said, look, the benchmark for success as a team is winning a championship. Now, we know the Bulls aren’t winning a championship this season, but for him, it wasn’t about, oh, let’s set these low goals as barometers of success, you know, trying to make the playoffs. The benchmark for success in the NBA is winning a championship, and that’s what you should be striving towards. He then said for him personally, he wants to win the most improved player of the year award. And he said it with confidence, too. Like a matter of fact, he also stated he believes they are going to surprise a lot of people this year. And a big reason for that was because the guys on the team are working exceptionally hard to get better every day. They’re in the gym every day talking about how the vibe is there. The guys really get along, have faith in one another. You know what I thought was interesting was Modus was asked what was the one thing he wanted to improve most upon this season and he didn’t even have to think about it. He said defense, not shooting or trying to get to the free throw line more or improve at shot creation or playmaking. No, defense. He said he believes he can be an alldefensive caliber player and wants to be coached as an alldefensive caliber player. That’s more important to him than anything else. That’s why I love this guy because he is the ultimate competitor. He knows what he needs to work on. He not only wants to get better for himself, but he wants to get better for his teammates and get his teammates better and also get better for the fans because he believes the city of Chicago deserves a championship. They owe it to the fans and it starts with him and being the best player that he can be. Anyway, overall, I thought it was a decent media day. I thought the buzzword or the phrase that was going to be used to uh go into this session was to get out and run. It ended up being physicality. That was the buzz word, which I love. You guys know I’m all about hustle, grit, physicality. I want to see guys on my team that actually care about playing hard and wanting to win. I wouldn’t say I was too impressed on what AK said, but then again, I’ve just kind of resigned myself to the fact that he’s never really going to walk away from a press conference where I feel comfortably about anything that he said. He’s just really not good with the media. Doesn’t take much accountability when things go wrong. So, I have very low expectations when I hear from him. It’s sad that we’ve gotten to this point, but that’s where we are. Everyone else, though, even including Billy Donovan, I was pleased by what they had to say. Seems like the guys are on the same page. They look forward to playing together this season. They know what they need to do to get better and continue building while also competing. Those were actually words AK used to close out his presser. Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of media day from the Bulls and what were some of the things that stood out to you. Let me know in the comments. As always, be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one.

Reacting and recapping Chicago Bulls Media Day

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