Arturas Karnisovas remains undaunted.
“Dame Time’’ had just clocked in about two hours up the interstate, and the Celtics were forming their own version of a “Jrue’’ League, but the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations sat in front of the microphone Monday during media day unfazed by it all.
It’s either that or Karnisovas is simply a 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 win in the playoffs since they came together), the Bucks added perennial All-NBA player Damian Lillard to go along with Giannis Antetokounmpo last week, and the Celtics stayed in the arms race by acquiring Jrue Holiday on Sunday.
Aggressive front offices on full display.
But there sat Karnisovas, still feeling that he has 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 before, but we were still 24th because everybody else made adjustments. It’s about adjusting from the past year and getting some improvement.’’
And maybe the Bulls can do that.
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, remains that even if the Bulls can get out of the play-in tournament — which they failed to do last season — there are still those mountains in Milwaukee and Boston that will be 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 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.’’
That’s easy for Karnisovas to say, especially because 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 turning into.
“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 right now.’’
DeRozan took 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 and compete.’’
And what if the Bulls do that 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 son Michael — always have 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. “This is just giving more time for this group to figure it out. And 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.’’
