‘Team in transition’: Bulls GM Eversley sends gloomy message on draft night
Injury misfortune has made the NBA's Eastern Conference a land of opportunity.
Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton, Boston's Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard are expected to miss most, if not all, of next season due to Achilles tendon tears. Terrible news, but maybe the Bulls can take advantage and move up in the standings next season.
Marc Eversley offered a different vision following Wednesday's first round of the NBA draft. The Bulls general manager went out of his way to preach patience and label the Bulls a “team in transition.”
“Building something great, making it last, takes a long time,” Eversley said. “It takes planning, patience and doing the hard work without taking shortcuts. There may be tough moments along the way, but we believe in this path and we appreciate the fans and you all sticking with us.”
This is certainly a strange message to send. It doesn't demonstrate much conviction in what the management team of Eversley and Arturas Karnisovas have done to this point.
Why not tout the new nucleus of Josh Giddey, Coby White and Matas Buzelis? The Bulls added another athletic forward Wednesday by drafting 6-foot-10 Noa Essengue from France, and they have a wide variety of expiring contracts available to trade.
A key move that drove Indiana's run to the NBA Finals was adding Pascal Siakam from Toronto last year. At some point in the next nine months, another NBA all-star will hit the trading block. It always happens.
If the Bulls get off to a decent start next season, they'd have the means to do the same thing. But Wednesday's speech brought back memories of John Paxson and Gar Forman after the disastrous Jimmy Butler trade in 2017: “We'll be in the lab cooking up a rebuild. Don't even knock on the door for three or four years, because we'll be really busy.” It was more about buying time than getting better.
Eversley even referenced mistakes made during the first attempt to end the rebuild. As a refresher, they were: 1) Giving up too much in the Nikola Vucevic trade; 2) Granting Zach LaVine a max contract and 3) Giving Vucevic a three-year contract extension when there wasn't much competition for his services. Some would add drafting and re-signing Patrick Williams to the list, but he could still contribute by knocking down 3-point shots.
“We need to remain diligent and pragmatic about how we build this,” Eversley added. “We don't want to skip steps. I think sometimes when you do skip steps, expectations kind of build and you make mistakes. And I don't think we want to do that.”
Sure, wouldn't want expectations to build. Again, this was an odd message. Karnisovas took the night off as far as addressing reporters, but he did stand in the back of the room and was willing to make small talk.
At the moment, Essengue is an unknown, having posted modest stats in Germany the past two years. If all goes well, he'll be ready for a Bulls debut at the Las Vegas summer league in a few weeks. Eversley suggested Buzelis will participate in rookie camp but may not play in many summer games.
Before taking questions, Eversley stated he would not talk about rumored contract extensions for both coach Billy Donovan and the management duo, saying it's against team policy.
Some teams treat contract extensions as a chance to celebrate and reward jobs well done. Not the Bulls, apparently. Granted, it might be difficult to explain why Donovan is getting an extension after making the playoffs once in five years. Team president Michael Reinsdorf could talk about extensions for management, but the next time he sits down to take questions from an open group of reporters will be the first.
Eversley touted internal improvement, which is fair. Buzelis made a huge jump from October to April of his rookie season. There are others on the roster who could take a step forward.
“We've had 10 to 12 guys in the gym every single day. Our gym is alive right now,” Eversley said. “We've created an environment where they want to work (and it) is something we're very proud of. It's a direct reflection of Billy's guidance overseeing that player development department. I'm really, really proud of what they've done this summer.”
OK, but Eversley could end up building expectations with that kind of talk. Maybe they should lock the Advocate Center and keep players away for a few weeks. You know, to avoid any more mistakes by management.