Newest Chicago Bull just wants to win
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson developed such a strong bond with Bulls draft pick Bobby Portis, he flew to Chicago for Monday's introductory news conference.
Anderson has said one of the first things he did after taking the Arkansas job in 2011 was start recruiting Portis, who at the time was a sophomore at Hall High School in Little Rock.
"I remember walking in the gym, he was a 6-7½, gawky-looking guy with some big goggles on," Anderson said.
Anderson must have made a positive impression, because Portis committed to Arkansas at the end of his sophomore season after leading Hall to the second of four straight state titles.
"After his junior year, that light really clicked. He was a self-made McDonald's all-American, just the hard work and pouring himself into it," Anderson said. "Of course, that hard work continued. That's why we're here today.
"He's got that mindset where he doesn't want to be a good player, he wants to be a great player. He will be a sponge, and people might as well get excited about Bobby Portis. He's going to bring his hard hat every single day."
On his first day at the Advocate Center, Portis didn't bring his hard hat. He brought three boxes of doughnuts to the podium and offered them to reporters covering the event.
Portis, the No. 22 pick of the first round, made reference to bringing doughnuts on draft night when he sent out a tweet apologizing for an anti-Derrick Rose, pro-Miami Heat message he sent during the 2011 Eastern Conference finals.
Sitting between his new coach, Fred Hoiberg, and Bulls general manager Gar Forman, Portis talked about wanting to join a short list of famous athletes to make it out of Little Rock.
"You have guys like Joe Johnson and Derek Fisher; Darren McFadden in football. Besides those three, you can't name anyone," Portis said. "I wanted to be that guy that my brothers can look up to, little kids can look up to."
Back up a few years and you could add longtime NBA guard Sidney Moncrief, another Hall High School grad, but the basketball list pretty much ends there. Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers played in college at Arkansas-Little Rock, but grew up in Mobile, Alabama.
The 6-foot-11 Portis averaged 17.5 points and 8.9 rebounds during his sophomore season with the Razorbacks. On Monday, he displayed a knack for saying the right things.
Asked if he has any goals for his NBA career, Portis replied: "I don't have any individual goals. I'm always a team guy. First off, I want to win as many games as we can win, then I want to take my team to a place they haven't seen in a long time."
Asked what position he prefers, Portis insisted it doesn't matter.
"I feel like I don't have a position. I feel like I'm a basketball player," he said. "I do the things the coach asks me to do. Whether it's blocking shots, rebounding, defending or scoring, I do a lot of different things at various times."
Portis' role during his rookie year is tough to project. The Bulls could use some depth on the front line, but if Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic stay relatively healthy, it's also possible Portis will spend more time toting doughnuts than playing basketball next season.
However it works out, the Bulls hope Portis lives up to his billing as someone who will work hard to become a viable NBA player.
"Bobby's one of those guys, he doesn't want to be denied," Anderson said. "This guy's the first one in the gym, the last one to leave."
Hinrich will stay:
Kirk Hinrich decided to pick up a player option for next season rather than become a free agent. He will make $2.9 million.
The move comes as no surprise, since Hinrich, 34, has established roots in Chicago and may be nearing the end of his career. He appeared in 66 games last season, averaging 5.7 points.
"We're happy that Kirk picked up his option," Forman said Monday. "We think he's a very valuable piece to our team."
Forman acknowledged the Bulls' primary goal when free agency begins Wednesday is to re-sign current players Jimmy Butler and Mike Dunleavy. Backup point guard Aaron Brooks also is a free agent.
Butler is a restricted free agent, which means the Bulls can match any offer from another team. Butler almost certainly will stay with the Bulls and collect the maximum salary of around $15 million per year. It's just a matter of how long a deal the two sides will agree on.
"After that, we won't have a lot of flexibility," Forman said. "We'll have another spot or two to fill, but not a lot of money to do anything on a major scale."
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