The summer workout videos released on social media have been trickling in for the Bulls as of late.
There’s Zach LaVine working on his corner three-pointer, while a group of guys that look like they were kicked out of a West Coast Cobra Kai dojo take turns closing out on his shot. There’s the classic “look at me work on everything’’ snippet from Coby White in which the former Tar Heel shows off his handles and his float game.
And maybe the best one of them all was injured point guard Lonzo Ball refuting a report by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that he couldn’t even stand up out of a chair without assistance. Ball’s response? Sixteen seconds of Ball sitting poolside and going up and down from the seated position, while yelling into the camera, “Who are your sources?’’
Exciting stuff.
One important reminder, however. Summer workout clips from NBA players are nothing more than movie trailers. Hype videos — where T-shirts are optional — only highlighting the makes while editing out the misses.
Still, that’s better than the alternative. The last thing Bulls fans want to see is one of their star players on a grainy TMZ video stumbling out of an L.A. hot spot with a Kardashian.
Especially for a Bulls front office that continues selling hope over results. That’s what summer workout videos really are. They’re hope.
Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is hoping that LaVine can live up to max-contract status, and do that on both ends of the floor. Karnisovas & Co. are hoping that White has the ability to be a lead point guard, whether that’s with the starters or coming off the bench.
And the front office is hoping that Ball can return for the 2024-25 season off of a third surgery on his left knee, salvaging his career.
They want you to hope, too.
Mediocrity covered up with a sweat-stained ballcap and ripped sweatshirt of hope. That’s what the Bulls are selling.
Because it sure isn’t accountability.
If this product goes south by February, Karnisovas and Marc Eversley are safe. That was made very clear by ownership last year, when the two were quietly extended and simply told to fix it.
Coach Billy Donovan will also remain bubble-wrapped, connected with his front office as tightly as an NBA coach can be.
No, this will fall on the players.
That’s how this roster was built. Continuity with an easily reachable eject button over the next few seasons.
DeMar DeRozan is up for an extension and comes off the books after making $28.6 million in the 2023-24 campaign. Nikola Vucevic was extended this summer but remains a very moveable piece considering his biggest payday doesn’t come until the 2025-26 season and costs only $21.4 million.
LaVine is signed through 2026-27 and comes with a hefty $48.9 million player option that year, but if he can’t be moved, there is still the hope that he can be packaged as the ultimate Robin for a big-name Batman on the free-agent market to join him.
The window for that next aggressive move for Karnisovas? Unfortunately, not until the summer of 2025 when the free-agent market is potentially stacked with talent. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo headlines a class that could include Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Jimmy Butler, Jamal Murray, Brandon Ingram, Kawhi Leonard, Jalen Brunson and Paul George.
Antetokounmpo will be 30 years old, and obviously the white whale of that group, and while the Bulls will be in position to try and land the “Greek Freak,’’ they will be in a long line filled with organizations with more to offer and a better situation, with the Knicks near the front of the line.
So what does that mean for the fan base until then?
Hope, along with a steady diet of workout videos.
