Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bryson Graham passed the 'communication test' with Chicago media

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

Rahimi Harrison Grody I don't want to break time I want to yell a bunch of Can we handle more Anthony Heron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3 the score We want obviously two-way

players I'm not going to take away from the offensive side but I refer to it as guys that have slapped size length, athleticism and physicality and that physicality is going to be felt on the defense's out of the ball When you heard the acronym

did you scream to yourself like I did, the Homer Simpson scream? No, not at all. I was like, that actually makes sense. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Yeah, don't get triggered by the acronym. For goodness sake, Liam Cohen has Fassasmat and the Jaguars are doing great. That one didn't make as much sense as far as when you had to actually spell it out and figure out what the words were because like acronyms are supposed to make up something,

a word. Fundamentally sound and then a bunch of other things that he knows. Exactly. remember for sasmat. By the way, Layla, 630 wants to know, what did the five starters say to the face? Sla! I'm glad it's catching on. But ultimately, he hasn't, he's telling you, Bryson Graham, how he evaluates players initially.

And if you think about who's on the current Bulls roster, or I don't know, any of the players take your pick on last season's Bulls roster. some of them don't fit into this. Let's start with size. I'm sorry. I think hype matters somewhat in the NBA. Can't teach it I heard. I hate to be that person.

But you can tell just based on what we heard, and we're taking your calls to 312, 644, 67, gotten a lot of feedback on the text line. And I feel like it's a little all over the place when it comes to the collective. Some people think that this press conference was stumbling. Some people really liked it. Like, we've gotten quite the evaluations all over the board.

Did someone really say stumbling? Because that person's just wrong. Yes. And I didn't get that. Like, for example, there was a textor that said they seemed that Michael Rinesdorf and Bryson Graham seemed misaligned on who hired the coach. Oh, that's not what that was, 708. That was, I'm pretty sure Michael making a joke.

about Billy Donovan being the head coach of the team when they didn't have a GM. That's exactly what that was, and I'm glad that he took a moment to correct himself. That's course correction because that got a lot of feedback, and now even though, and I understand why Bryson Graham is talking about, as he has in all things, a collaborative approach. He's like, yeah, you know, I'm going to have my owner sign off on the coach. He's like, oh, no, you picked the coach. Yes, I get it. And when he said we, I assumed he was speaking on behalf of the team.

But yeah, I didn't get that impression. I think what you wanted to hear was, first of all, I thought Michael Reinsdorf once again was really informative, started by apologizing to fans that they weren't good enough. And then when he says, this isn't his dad making the joke about Cho Hay O'Tani not going to the White Sox. He made it sound like the second apron and the luxury tax, as we used to commonly refer to it in the NBA.

was an eventuality if this team is competitive and wanting to be in the playoffs and try to compete for championships. That did not indicate to me that that was an owner who was satisfied with a play-in appearance. What he basically said was, yeah, luxury taxes all good. Don't bring me no non-playoff team in the freaking second acre. That's not happening. But yeah, if we're trying to win a championship, sure. An expensive loser. That's what you don't want.

You don't want an expensive loser. seen that before never ends well no no and frankly we could all describe somebody as being an expensive loser you know one or two in your life but i didn't i'm not the type of person i don't necessarily need you to tell me you're humble if you're super confident and then you're proud of the work you've put in because you took all the steps then i'm happy for you too you know i i don't that doesn't matter to me necessarily as much that then again i just try to explain away draymond greens irrational confidence, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask on this. But that seems to a matter to a lot of people, Marshall. No, no. First of all, your explanation about Draymond Green being

irrationally confident was spot on because I think to have a certain level of excellence, you have to be willing to do things that other people probably aren't willing to do and believe things that other people aren't willing to believe. But looking at these comments, I got to say, I think people are on board because nothing bad has happened yet. And what really bad could happen at an introductory press conference. Well, I think there are times where I'm not a big believer in, like, I always said this when Maddie Rufluz was the coach. Like, it's not the national talking league.

It's the national football league. But when the press conference tends to match, then the player discussion about not having command of a room or not communicating, then it's an issue. So Michael Reinsdrove said that he wanted to emphasize communication. He wanted to make sure that that was part of what went into bringing Bryson Graham into the building. Bryce and Graham passed the communication test with the media in the press conference today.

Also, as a leader, I appreciate a couple of things here. He did come across as both transparent and genuine in everything that he said. So much to the point where in answering a question that a lot of people would have deflected, he said, no, I have no coaching list. That process won't even start until probably about a week from now where he'd be begins to compile and begin that process. And if you're wondering why it's a week, just keep in mind the NBA draft lottery is Sunday and the Combine is all next week.

So that makes sense. He wants to scout players and probably see who's the best fit for the Bulls. The other thing I'll say about the things that he said is that in looking for a coach, he doesn't need someone who has all this championship experience. He just needs someone who he can believe in. I think that is the approach that successful franchises, sorry, successful organizations, sports or not. take with hires.

We'll get into a little bit more from what we heard from Bryce and Graham in our next segment. 312-644-67-67 is our number. I see we've got a couple people on hold. We have to take a quick break, but we'll be right back with more reaction to this on the score.