Arturas Karnisovas remained undaunted.
“Dame Time’’ had just clocked in about two hours up the interstate and Boston was forming its own version of a “Jrue’’ League, yet the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations sat in front of the microphone during Monday’s media day unfazed by all of it.
Either that, or Karnisovas is simply a very good liar.
While the Bulls spent the offseason once again unleashing “continuity’’ on the rest of the Eastern Conference with their “Big Three’’ of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic (one playoff game win since they came together), Milwaukee added perennial All-NBA player Damian Lillard to go along with former league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo last week, while the Celtics stayed in the arms race by acquiring Jrue Holiday on Sunday.
Aggressiveness by front offices on full display.
Yet, there sat Karnisovas still feeling like he’s assembled a product that the Bulls fan base can embrace.
“I don’t think it’s tough to sell,’’ Karnisovas said, when asked if Bulls fans could feel short-changed. “I’m optimistic about this group. I believe in this group. I believe in (coach) Billy (Donovan) improving certain things. We had goals last year focused on improving our record against good teams, and improving our defense. We accomplished that. We took a step back on offense, and it was actually the details. We scored more points than the year prior, but we were still 24th because everybody else made adjustments. It’s about adjusting from the past year and getting some improvement.’’
And maybe they can.
LaVine, Vucevic and DeRozan have failed to work in two full seasons together, but as DeRozan put it, “Three’s a charm.’’
The issue, however, remained that even if the Bulls can get out of the play-in tournament – which they failed to do last season – there is still a mountain in Milwaukee and Boston that would be very tough to scale.
The Bulls were listed as a destination place for Holiday, which stings even more, but according to a source, Karnisovas & Co. were making calls to Portland in both instances, but didn’t fit the trade profile for either Lillard or Holiday.
“Again, I don’t comment on rumors or how much we were involved, but we’re always going to look for ways to improve, get aggressive,’’ Karnisovas said. “At this time, I think the group that we have, we’re going pretty confident into training camp, and I’m looking forward to see them on the floor and what they did this summer.’’
Easy for Karnisovas to say, especially since he doesn’t have to compete against either team on the floor.
LaVine does, and couldn’t help but take notice of what the top of the East was building.
“Everybody is zero, zero right now so obviously they made some big trade acquisitions, some high level guards, obviously Dame moving and Jrue getting back to another contender in the East, so we’ll see,’’ LaVine said. “Obviously everything was good on paper, but everyone is zero, zero right now.’’
DeRozan was taking a slightly different approach.
“I love it,’’ DeRozan said. “The competition level should want to bring the best out of you and want to compete against that. That’s how I look at it, that’s my view. And that’s one thing I express to the guys, when you see that, you gotta get more hungry, understanding you want to go against those big-teams like that and compete.’’
And what if the Bulls do the first few months of the season?
What if this group actually does what it did two seasons ago, grabbing first place in the conference as the trade deadline neared?
The Reinsdorfs – Chairman Jerry and his son Michael – have always insisted that they would put money into the product when the product showed it was worthy. They have avoided crossing into the luxury tax yet again this offseason, but Karnisovas insisted that ownership would take a big swing if the right situation presented itself.
“I think we’re at the point where we’re going to go into the luxury tax if we’re confirming this is the group,’’ Karnisovas said. “I think this is just giving more time for this group to figure it out. And I think once you have consistent success, you can go for it. In all my conversations with Jerry and Michael, obviously they have no problem going into it. But we have to make sure it’s the right group. I believe in them. I have faith in them going into this season. We’ll see how the season plays out.’’
