PARIS — Bulls president and chief executive officer Michael Reinsdorf knows what his brand stands for globally.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to get a reminder of that every so often.
Paris checked that box for Reinsdorf.
“You know, we’re walking up to the arena and seeing everybody wearing Bulls jerseys, and how excited the fans of France and Paris are coming to the game, it’s pretty incredible,’’ Reinsdorf said on Thursday. “It seems like just the other day I was here in 1997 with my wife for those preseason games, and it’s just an exciting time to be a part of this organization.’’
The difference was ’97 was preseason games. The Paris Game 2023 counted, and considering how quickly tickets sold out when the game was first announced to be played at the Accor Arena, it wasn’t because the Detroit Pistons were on the fight card.
The crowd was 80-90% pro Bulls, despite Detroit being the home team, and it sounded like it from the moment the two teams were introduced, throughout the game.
“The league asks teams who wants to play overseas?’’ Reinsdorf explained how this all went down. “Traditionally we haven’t been that excited to do that, but I talked to [executive vice president of basketball operations] Arturas [Karnisovas] and [general manager] Marc [Eversley] and [coach] Billy [Donovan], and they were all excited to have this opportunity.
“They felt it was a great bonding experience for the players. The season is a long season, this kind of breaks it up. They actually get a few extra days off and then played [Thursday], and then we’re back at it again Monday in Chicago, so I think it’s a great experience for the entire organization.’’
And fitting that it came against the Pistons.
The last time the Bulls played in Paris, Bulls-Pistons were at the end of their heated rivalry thanks to Michael Jordan slaying the “Bad Boys,’’ but the very mention of those two teams back then still carried juice.
That’s long gone, but it wasn’t lost on Reinsdorf.
“We’re proud of [the 90s dynasty], but we don’t want to rest on what happened in the 90s,’’ Reinsdorf said. “We want to win again. That obviously is our goal, but we can’t shy away from the fact that back in the 90s we won six championships in eight years and we were one of the first global teams in sports. We have to embrace it, but we’d like to get back to the top of the mountain for sure.’’
Gold finger
Zach LaVine couldn’t avoid the Olympic talk even if he wanted to. There’s posters and the Olympic rings throughout the city, with the Summer Olympics scheduled for Paris in 2024.
LaVine and Team USA captured gold in Tokyo in 2021, and so of course the two-time All-Star was asked if there would be a second chase for a gold medal in his future.
“I mean, it would be great whenever you have an opportunity to play for your country,’’ LaVine said. “Last time, I was successful. We were able to bring back gold from over in Tokyo. It’s a great experience. I’ll never forget that. If I have another shot at doing that, I’d love to.’’
LaVine did warn, however, that he would have to see how his body felt when it’s time to start going through the workouts leading up to them selecting the team. Those workouts would start this upcoming offseason with invites sent out for the player pool selected.
