We’re less than a month away from the start of NBA training camps, and that means season previews are in full swing.
Sports Illustrated released the first half of its Top 100 NBA Players of 2020 list, and it included four Bulls.
Here’s how SI put together the list: “[R]ankings were assigned based on a fluid combination of subjective assessment and objective data. This list is an attempt to evaluate each player in a vacuum, independent of his current team context as much as possible.” Also, “past performance (postseason included) weighed heavily in our assessment, with a skew toward the recent. Incoming rookies were not included. A predictive element also came into play with the anticipated improvement of certain younger players, as well as the possible decline of aging veterans.”
We won’t simply rip SI’s analysis of the Bulls (give them a click and a read) but we will offer some critiques/analysis from what they had to write. So here we go:
90. Zach LaVine
At first glance this appears to be far too low for LaVine, a top-20 scorer who took on the difficult task of playmaking lead guard despite being most effective off the ball. LaVine’s defense is rough, but as SI’s analysis notes, it’s easier to stomach when considering how impressive he was as a scorer last season, both with making difficult (and clutch) shots and getting to the free throw line. It’s easy to see LaVine taking another significant jump forward this season. Is LaVine really not better than Jeff Teague or Andre Iguodala?
75. Lauri Markkanen
This one feels right. Markkanen has posted outstanding numbers through two NBA seasons despite battling injuries and battling the Bulls’ desire to play for Lottery balls after each All-Star break. Markkanen is a plus rebounder but still doesn’t provide much on the defensive end. It’s easy to forget he’s still just 22 years old and still has plenty of room to grow. He’ll be higher on the list every season going forward the next handful of years.
70. Thaddeus Young
Every contender needs a glue guy, and it was nice to see SI reward Young’s critical role with a spot on the list. He’s reliable (he hasn’t missed a game due to injury in two seasons), he’ll play whatever role on either end of the floor and has assumed veteran leadership roles at all of his previous stops. Young isn’t going to throw up 20 and 10 games on the regular in Chicago, but his standing on the team and the little plays he makes will lead directly to Bulls wins.
57. Otto Porter
Porter is this high on the list because he’s the sort of player whose best traits are becoming the most important ones in today’s NBA. He’s one of the league’s best 3-point shooters, and that’s before considering he’s 6-foot-8. He was stellar in 15 games with the Bulls and is one of the better wing defenders in the league. For all the talk about LaVine and Markkanen potentially being All-Stars for the 2020 game in Chicago, Porter may have the best chance if the Bulls get off to a hot start.
Tomas Satoransky got a glimpse of Jim Boylen’s personality during Satoransky’s free-agency recruitment, again when the Bulls’ coach visited him in Europe as Czech Republic prepared for the FIBA World Cup and more during some informal September workouts.
But Tuesday marked Satoransky’s first experience with Boylen as a head coach conducting a practice.
“It’s a lot of energy there. He runs up and down talking to each player. I love this type of communication when the coach is with you,” Satoransky said Tuesday at the Advocate Center. “I feel also that you can talk to him at anytime. And that’s the most important for the player when he has that kind of confidence and there’s this open relationship.”
By now, Boylen’s intensity and energy are well-known. He also wears his emotions on his sleeve. So Boylen didn’t hesitate when asked what Tuesday represented for him, a basketball lifer who toiled for close to two decades as an assistant coach conducting his first training camp practice as a head coach.
“It’s very emotional for me. It’s very humbling to be in this position. It’s still sinking in in a way, although I’ve been thinking about this team all summer,” Boylen said. “I’ve said this before, we’ve just got to get this right. That’s my goal. It’s not about me being the head coach. We’ve got to get it right for the city, we’ve got to get it right for the Reinsdorfs, we’ve got to get it right for John Paxson.”
Boylen compiled a 17-41 mark after taking over for the fired Fred Hoiberg last December. Throughout that period, which featured widespread injuries and glorified G League lineups down the stretch, he pointed to the benefit of conducting a full training camp.
The planning process for Tuesday began long ago.
“It started the day the season ended last year,” Boylen said. “It was a project of sifting through what we thought was important, what our priorities should be. We want to play faster so we gotta work at that. You are what you emphasize. We need to be better defensively. We need to work at that. We need to communicate better so we need to have drills that work at that. You think about those all summer.”
In fact, Boylen still has notes about ideas for practice plans that came to him as he flew overseas to visit Satoransky or sat in the stands at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Taking over as head coach midstream in any professional sport is difficult. There’s limited practice time to implement new ideas. Players have to adjust from one coach’s style to the next.
Even with Boylen serving as Hoiberg’s associate head coach for three-plus seasons, moving into the head role brings a different voice and different responsibilities. This is Boylen’s time.
“It’s pretty cool to have a group of guys who care and want to work. That makes it really fun,” Boylen said. “We were professional (Tuesday). We came in and went to work. Guys were on top of it. They went from assignment to assignment, drill to drill. It was a fast-paced practice.”
The decisions range from as small as deciding whether to hold one longer practice or double sessions, which only are permitted in the first week of camp, to as large as style of play and rotational decisions.
Boylen said he only decided “about 10 days ago” to hold one longer session, which on Tuesday stretched just past 2 hours, 30 minutes. Part of the decision stemmed from players’ widespread participation in September’s voluntary workouts, which featured conditioning tests all players had to pass in order to practice Tuesday.
“Everybody passed it. And the guys who passed it ran it again with the guys who hadn’t passed it yet,” Boylen said, alluding to Satoransky and Cristiano Felicio, who were fulfilling national team commitments. “So I just felt our base was pretty good. Then, that 17-, 18-hour recovery (until the next practice) is going to be really good for us.”
Satoransky said Boylen reminds him of some of the passionate coaches in Europe, which he likes. Otto Porter Jr., who accepted Boylen’s coaching style without blinking when he arrived last February via trade, actually kept asking for more work during those September voluntary sessions, according to Boylen and other team officials.
“He’s very passionate,” Porter said.
Boylen has credited Porter’s arrival as a critical step in his attempt at a culture change. When the highest-paid player and, at the time, the most experienced playoff player works without complaint, it can have a trickle-down effect.
The arrivals of no-nonsense veterans like Satoransky and Thaddeus Young, whose playoff experienced surpassed Porter’s, helps more.
“That’s called being professional, being coachable,” Porter said. “Especially with younger guys that are learning, that’s the biggest thing you can do right now. That’s our job. It starts at the top. We want to set a good example.’’
Speaking of the top, Boylen for the second straight day cited reaching the mountaintop as his goal for the franchise. Nobody ever accused him of talking or thinking small.
The belief when the Bulls signed Tomas Satoransky to a three-year deal was that the 27-year-old would fill an immediate need at point guard. He had filled in for the injured John Wall the final 54 games of the previous season in Washington, and performed well. But for as much as the Bulls love their free agent acquisition’s ability to run an offense, it’s his versatility that may wind up having him fill other needs throughout the roster and depth chart.
It was one of the items VP John Paxson discussed at Monday’s Media Day, mentioning how the 6-foot-7 Satoransky won’t be limited to only time at the point. As he did in three seasons with the Wizards, he’ll be capable of playing three different positions. In fact, he spent 60% of his time off the ball in Washington, filling in at the point last season after Wall suffered a season-ending injury.
“He’s just a basketball player,” Paxson said. “He knows how to play. He’s a good passer, a good shooter, a good decision-maker. He can play off the ball.”
Satoransky agreed with the assessment. He said Tuesday at the Advocate Center that he hasn’t been focused too much of winning a point guard battle or keeping track of who he’s playing with in different lineups. The Bulls plan on moving their Swiss Army knife, who played 60% of his minutes in Washington off the ball, around to mix and match with different lineups. Versatility was a buzzword at Media Day, and Satoransky fits the bill.
“For me (it’s) more to get used to who I’m playing next to, and today I played a lot with Zach, Lauri, KD and OP in the same five,” Satoransky said. “So for me it’s just getting used to those guys, to their tendencies and just make the best out of every position I play.
“I played a lot of the point guard position in Europe and throughout my career, but I played a lot without the ball; cutting baseline, cutting without the ball. It wasn’t that tough on me, but still it’s a different type of play here in the NBA and guys are obviously more physical and athletic. So defensively, it was much tougher. But when I found out our tendencies of the players and I did scouting on them, I was fine.”
The Bulls want to use Satoransky for more than just his point guard skills, but they also may need that versatility. Sophomore Chandler Hutchison, who was already nursing a strained hamstring and wasn’t practicing, went home sick on Tuesday with a virus. Denzel Valentine will be worked back in slowly after missing all of last season with an ankle injury.
That leaves very little depth behind Otto Porter Jr., who spent two-plus seasons in Washington with Satoransky and played 1,155 minutes alongside him. Porter discussed Satoransky with the front office in the lead-up to free agency, and he’s seen first-hand how the do-it-all guard can contribute in multiple ways.
“Very versatile, can play many positions, and his knowledge of the game,” Porter said. “It continues to grow and it continues to get better, and that’s impressed me.”
That’s not to say Satoransky won’t see minutes at point guard. There’s still a scenario – it may even be likely – in which he’s the starter. Satoransky is still the team’s most talented point guard, even with Kris Dunn drawing rave reviews in September and talented rookie Coby White waiting in the wings.
That competition will likely last throughout training camp – it’s a true position battle – but head coach Jim Boylen says the fight for minutes and rotation spots is a healthy one, not only because it’s breeding natural competition but because it will provide others opportunities at other positions.
“The point guard competition is a healthy thing. It’s a positive thing for this franchise, for this team. It’s a good thing. The other thing is, we’re building a system where – yes, we’ll have a point guard – but in a multi-handler system, everybody handles it. Everybody brings it. In our actions, we can put the 2 in there, the 3 in there. With that, Sato can play 1, 2 or 3; Dunn can play 1, 2 or 3; Shaq can play 1, 2 or 3; Archie can play 1 or 2.
“So I understand that we have to answer these questions and I understand why they’re being asked. It’s an important issue. But we are going to play a little different where the flexibility and versatility is almost more important than the position, old-school points guard, 2, 3.”
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