Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - New Bulls boss Bryson Graham vows to get organization out of 'the mud' (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. It's amazing to be in here, just the weight that you feel of the excellence and the greatness that this organization represents. We are looking forward to hearing Bryson Graham be introduced to the media. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. We're going to bring you the press conference live when it happens thanks to our partners, CHSN.

That is when the press conference happens. happens. We broadcast live from the scores Hyundai Studios brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. They also will bring you the press conference. Thanks to, uh, thanks to Hyundai and thanks to CHSN. I think we all just want to hear him speak. I know people, people have already texted in wondering what he's going to say. I think we got a guess about how many times he'd say the word culture. Well, they wanted us to set the over under. I'm going to set the over under for culture at seven and a half. Do you want to take the over or under the word culture coming out of his mouth. It depends on

for how long he speaks. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, if you want to put it at seven and a half, I'm good to it. So, seven and a half, Ray, would you like to take the over or under? I am going to take the under on this only because for like an odd

reason. He seems like a bright young guy. I think he's going to have this thing well written out and yeah. Total guess in the dark. Okay. Tyler, you got a guess on that? I'm also going to hit the under on this. Just literally how I've heard him talk before.

Okay. I like this. I think that would be good. I think the more he can stay away from cliche, the better off that this thing will go. Yeah, I'm not even worried about that. I think that the more, the bigger concern is, what is he going to say about the stuff that we asked Michael Reinsdorf about

as a press corps? You know, it wasn't you and I. We weren't on the Zoom. We listened to here on the score. Things talking about, like, for example, tanking. How are you going to talk about assets? How do you value assets? How do you evaluate players? We're not going to get the whole answer. But when everybody's talked to him about all these different ways that he has gone about bringing talent, whether it's a two-way contract, whether it's

undrafted players, whether it's the draft, how he scouted them, that's what makes this compelling to me. I'm really curious about the idea of if there is a common thread when he goes out and binds these players that have been looked at as draft successes that weren't necessarily the top lottery pick players. If you could tell me how you can do that and give a better understanding of how you've gone about doing that, I feel like we'll have some answers on his perspective. And that's really what I wanted out of the press conference is a better understanding of his perspective doing this job.

Well, that's it. It can't just be the rebound from what Arturis Karas Charnasovas didn't say. it can't just be the response of, oh, this guy's completely different. You just want to know what he values, what makes him tick, and then how he tries to want to put a team together in a way where you don't have superstars to trade away like the Oklahoma City did with Paul George. You know, you don't have the thunder pathway to getting a ton of first round picks, for example. You don't have that option.

So what's it going to be? What do you think about guys like Modus Buzellis and J. Gosh, Kitty. What do you think about taking on expiring contracts? And it looks like we're about ready to go, Leila. Well, let's bring it to you. Thanks to your local Hyundai dealers in CHSN. All right.

Thank you, everyone, for being here. First of all, I want to start with our fans. I want to, actually, I need to say I'm sorry, because the results obviously just haven't been there. It's not something I'm proud of and it's something that I want to get right. Ultimately, it flows up to me and I take responsibility. So I do feel that today is a step in the right direction. And it's an important step.

When we started this process about a month ago, we said we wanted to be really deliberate. And we started with a, what I would say is a giant list. of names, names that we had already accumulated, names of people that reached out to me, names that our search firm added. And we took that giant list of names, and we made it into a long list of names. And we did our homework. We interviewed a number of people. And the thing that was really clear to me from this process was that there are a lot of good

people that are capable of running an NBA franchise. We met with some incredible candidates. But at the end of the day, Bryson clearly just stood out. So why Bryson? I think it starts with, he's not about shortcuts. And I know a lot of people have talked about Bryson's age. And so while he's young and age, he's not even foresight. 40 yet. He's old and experienced. He's worked his way up from the ground level. He started at the

New Orleans. Was the Hornets at the time? Yeah, it was the Hornets at the time, now Pelicans. He started there, whatever, 15 years ago, and he started as an intern. And one of his jobs as an intern was at night, they didn't even have their own practice facility. They rented space. But it was his job to clean up the practice area every night. But of course from there he grew. He ended up being involved in player development, video coordinating, scouting director, then he oversaw it, then became director of scouting, he became assistant GM, he became a general manager. Those no shortcuts. That experience, he understands what it's going to take to build a winning organization. During the time that I met Bryson over the last few weeks, some of the traits that I

would say about Bryson are that he's thoughtful, he's disciplined, he's measured, he's intentional, and he communicates with clarity and conviction. And throughout this process, those qualities consistently stood out. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to talent, evaluation. It doesn't matter what we do up there, if the players can't play, we're not going to be successful. And one thing that came out clearly is that he is an elite talent evaluator. And we did our homework. We talked to people that have worked with them. We talked about, we talked to people in the NBA who just know of Bryson, and everything

was absolutely clear. The guy gets it. He is a unbelievable judge of talent. I think he understands today's players. I think he's disciplined in his approach to talent evaluation. And I think that's incredibly important because we're in a moment in time now where we're headed in this offseason and we have two first round picks, two second round picks, a boatload of money to spend, and we have a great opportunity, but we've got to get it right.

I think when it comes to talent, though, I think Bryson understands it's not just whether a player is good or bad. I think he looks at it holistically. He understands that it's got to be the right fit. So how does that player fit into the system? What is he going to be like from a culture standpoint? What's he like in the locker room? Does he belong in this building? Those things matter.

Then when it comes to leadership and communication, he just connects with people. Whether there's players, scouts, staff, players' families, which, by the way, is really important, Bryson gets it. And I think part of his success is that people trust him. They know that he's genuine. They know that he's prepared.

And they know that he's a thoughtful person. And I think that's part of his leadership style. He's a listened first person, someone who wants to understand first what he's hearing, and then he wants to respond with clarity and purpose. And that's something that's really important for me from a culture standpoint. He's going to get the best out of the people because they know that. he has their best interest at heart, and I think that's really important. But at the end of the day, we still got to build the right team.

And when I was spending time with Bryson, the one thing was clear, he knows he's not a one-man operation, nor does he want it to be a one-man operation. He wants incredibly strong and smart people around him, whether it's scouting, strategy, health and wellness, player development. It's really important that he has the brightest and smartest people, people that are really capable, people that have a seat at the table whose voices are heard, and that's going to be really important. I think that self-awareness is critical in a leader. So I go back to like a month ago when I talked about what we wanted. I said I wanted someone who's process-oriented,

conviction, someone who's a good communicator, someone who understands trends, talent, team building, a great evaluator, a collaborator, and someone who can lead a complex organization. Bryson checks all the boxes. So now, as we go forward, we need to build this thing into a sustainable contender. We need the bulls to be relevant again.

But we need to be realistic about where we are, but we're committed to doing this right. So whether it's the resources, whether it's the time and the effort, we're going to build a foundation, we're going to elevate this organization. We're going to make our fans

proud again. Eventually we want to compete at a high level year and year out, and we do want to have a real chance at competing for championships. So that is going to be the Bulls standard. So with that, welcome to the Chicago Balls family. Thank you, Michael. Bryce and Graham. I appreciate that. I think that's my cue to take it from here. First of all, thank you, Michael. This is, This is unbelievable. I mean, I'm always going to be transparent and just be myself. That's all I know how to be. And this is unreal. When Michael called and told me, I got the job, I'm not afraid to say this. I started crying. I broke down, man. I was like, because this organization means so much to me. And, but first, let me give all glory and thanks to God, who's the head of my life.

And he's just giving me an incredibly amount of favor and grace. And so I want to make sure I give him honor. I want to thank Jerry. I want to thank Michael and Nancy for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I want to thank my family who are here. My dad couldn't make it. He's probably too nervous. So he stayed home.

But my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, they just gave me such a great foundation. And they were always super, super supportive. That is so important if you have kids to make them believe that they can do anything. And they did that for me. My wife, she is big time. This job is hard. You're gone a lot. and she has made a ton of sacrifices for me.

Over the years, we've been married for, shoot, 12 years. It's crazy. Yeah, we've been married for 12 years. We got three kids. My oldest is Kinsley. My middle is Harper. And then my youngest is brave. These games great, and we call him Braves.

Y'all see him running around the gym. He's over there. So I love y'all, and I thank you all so much. for just being my rock, you know, and supporting me. So, yeah, after all the crying and everything was over, start thinking about, all right, how we want to, you know, build this. And we had such great conversations, such great conversations. The interview process with Turnkey and the search firm, it was awesome.

This wasn't something that was just done. Like, you know, there were multiple conversations, very, thorough. We covered everything you can think of. And at the bottom line is, yeah, we want to win championships. And we want to build a culture that can sustain a high level of competitiveness in this league that becomes harder and harder every year. It's so competitive. And we're going to do that with the right people. They're going to help create the right culture. And we're going to put the right team on the floor. And we're just going to compete every single night. When I look around, And, like I said, it's amazing for me because I grew up, obviously, a Bulls fan.

If you played basketball in the 90s, 80% of the kids, I don't care where you're from. I grew up in San Antonio. Yeah, I got some love for the Spurs. I grew up, you know, I ain't going to lie. But it did not supplant what the Bulls meant to me. And when I think about it, and I think about the greatness that's in this building and what's in these rafters. and the championships that have been won here, it's amazing.

It impacted my life more than I thought I knew because I was always chasing what this organization represented. So you see MJ, and obviously I wanted to be him, right? It's like everybody who wanted to be, you know. I wanted that. But it carried over into other aspects of my life. select my work ethic, my determination, my grit. I'm watching the bulls in what they displayed, and I'm like, that's what I want. And so tore my ACL multiple times when I was playing at Texas A&M,

gig them. But that grit started when watching this. And I want to bring that back. And there's a kid out there that's just like me that can be inspired. this organization and keep climbing, you know, and that's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do. We're going to pull our sleeves up. We're going to get to work, and we're going to get out the mud. And I'm not afraid of the work, and, you know, we're going to get started here pretty soon. So I'll open up with questions.

You're listening to the Bryson Graham introductory press conference, courtesy of CHSN on the score, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Nice to meet you, man. Nice to meet you. I've talked some people about you. this week and I've heard a lot of great things and one thing was that you're not afraid to disagree with people and that you were when you're running the draft room in New Orleans or whatever that you would give your input but do it in a nice way how do you mix your personal style I guess with

you know getting the job done yeah so one of the things philosophically I believe in there's no there's no bad idea and I want to hear from everyone that's that's in the room and I've always been someone that for better or for worse is going to share my opinion. And I think that added to the process in New Orleans. I think it added to the process in Atlanta. And that's what I want here. I want to open, collaborative, and very communicative organization. Because who knows, it doesn't matter about the position.

Everyone in this room could have something that could add to the ultimate decision. of making the right decision. And so, yeah, I want to take in what everyone says. I'm going to process that. And then, you know, I'm going to end up making that decision. But I want an open and collaborative group. Sure. Bryce and Julia Coach, Heather Friedan, you mentioned that getting the people right

is going to be a huge part of this. These hires coming up are going to be kind of the crucial first test for you. So how do you want to approach filling out the rest of your staff and that goes the decision? in that position, what are your priorities? Yeah, so look, we've got a lot, you know, obviously ahead of us. There are very, very good people and talented people in the building already. So as I hit the ground, you know, we're not starting from, obviously, ground zero. I want to, you know, obviously, bolster, you know, our staff.

I want to add to, you know, our strategy space. I want to add to our personnel space. I think that's necessary. But look, like, you know, we've got a long way, obviously, you know, to go, and there's a lot of, you know, decisions that are going to be made. But I think right now where we're at, I think we're in a good place, and I'll get started on that here pretty soon. Casey.

Bryce and Casey Johnson with the Chicago Sports Network. Michael touched on your eye for talent evaluation. You hear that basically in every conversation around the league about you. how do you think you develop that skill and how do you continue honing that skill as the game evolves? I think this experience, you know, from playing and then working in the video room, that really, really was helpful, like extremely helpful. So my second year in the league, Monty Williams, who's someone who I, you know, really look up to and he was a mentor of mine early on. I was his video coordinator and I also worked in player development on the court. And so watching a ton of film and understanding how the NBA game is played, that really, really helped me develop it.

And then also, I'm not going to lie to you, so much of it is also like your intuition, you know, like so much of like the experience of watching games, watching players, remembering certain things about certain players. And you've been around long enough, you can draw inference from, you know, one player to the next. So you could say, oh man, he's just like ex-player that didn't make it. or he's just like this player that did make it. And so I think the combination of just being around it for a long time, watching a lot of film, and also working on the floor, it really helped me. Hi, Bryson, Will Galley with CHGO.

I'm curious about your just evaluation of the roster as it stands right now. I know there's a lot that's going to change with the draft and lottery and cap space and all of that, but just kind of curious of your opinion of the roster and maybe the vision that you have for whatever it is that you're trying to build as far as, a longer term, more methodical approach, or maybe something that you feel like you can get this flipped more quickly? Like, what's kind of your opinion and vision for that? Yeah, I mean, I think

it's going to take time. It's going to take time. I think the roster, we're in a developmental stage right now. I think everyone in here knows that we're not where we want to be. But we've got four picks in this year's draft. We own all of our picks going forward. We've got a ton of second round picks. And we got a ton of flexibility this summer. And so we just want to be smart and we want to be also creative and opportunistic, right? But we're going to obviously take our time. You know, this is not going to be something that's going to be going to be rushed. But this is the beginning stages. All right. You know, we've got some pretty good young players, but we know that this draft is going to be the first real layer to this foundation going

forward. You're listening to the Bryson Graham introductory press conference on Wahimi Harrison Grotie on 104 through the school. My question is for Michael however, you talked about sort of building a sustainable winner and that just what has to be different on your end as far as

commitment to resources that you're giving your front office. As far as luxury tax, how willing are you willing to pay that? Building out of front office, just kind of from your perspective, do you feel like there has to be a shift or maybe more of financial commitment to empower your executive.

Actually, I look back at the history of the Chicago Bulls, and I'm looking around this practice facility. This is our second practice facility. The first practice facility was the first privately owned practice facility in the NBA. So we've always been about spending the resources. For some reason, there's been a narrative that that wasn't the case. each administration has been given the responsibility to spend them, you know, tell us where you want to spend the money. So I don't mean to push this on you, but it's going to be Bryson. Bryson's going to tell us here's what I need. We need to add in this area or, hey, we're good here, but maybe we need to add someone below that.

As far as the luxury tax, obviously there's specific penalties for being, in the luxury tax in the second apron and all that, and now you've got to manage that. No team wants to be in there. But if we're competing for a championship, we expect that we'll probably be in the luxury tax and totally okay with that. I don't want to be in luxury tax for a team that's not in the playoffs,

but if he did, then he wouldn't be the right guy. Sam Smith with the Bulls.com. We went to two. Michael has mentioned many times, several times, about the autonomy that you'll have. And I wanted to follow up on the roster point that was brought up. These are none of your players. You're inheriting everything.

So if you have total autonomy, presumably you can do whatever you want. Is there anyone in your view on this roster that's untouchable? That's funny you asked that. Look, I really don't want to, in respect to the guys, right? answer something like that. I mean, that's, that's tough, right? I mean, there's only a few probably players in the NBA, let's be honest, that are untouchable. And even them, you can get them. Right. So that's just the nature of the, of the beast. You're going to listen on every player. And that has nothing to, I'm not taking anything away, or I'm not trying to strike fear in the

guys on a roster. But that's just the nature of this, of this business. And so, no, I'm not, I'm not going to sit here and say that, you know, no one on this roster is untouchable, you know, but that doesn't mean that we're trading guys. I think we're going to come in, we're going to look at this holistically, and then we're going to proceed. I have one more. One of the, maybe one of the bigger questions, you have plenty, but is the cap room this somewhere, supposedly bulls have the most or as much as anybody? And what's your philosophy as far as you touched on a little bit, but use the cap room to add a player so that the team could, you know, have a veteran, be better, or use the cap room for purposes to add things to help you in the future.

What's your philosophy on using the salary cap space? Yeah, I think that's a great question. It really, it all depends. It depends on what's best for us in that moment. It might be signing a player. It might be throwing an offer sheet on a restricted agent, a free agent. It might be, you know, taking in and being an off-ramp for a team and taking in picks. You have to be open to every avenue because that's where we're at right now.

We're not in a place that we're going to be adding players in competing for a championship in the 26-27 season. This is a time for us to grow and build and layer it the right way, and we'll make the right decision. I'm confident in that. Kevin. Hi, Bryson, Gavin Dorsey, Roundtable Sports. Welcome to Chicago. Appreciate it. The previous regime was often criticized for failing to commit to a rebuild, spending a lot of years in the play-in. How do you define what a real rebuild looks like and how will fans know that this time is different?

Well, I mean, a real rebuild, you can look at the record, right? I mean, you know, just being honest, you know. And also, right, like most rebuild, you know, situations is when you don't have star caliber, you know, players, right? So right now, not to say that we don't have anyone on this roster that can get there, but until we, you know, continue to obviously draft well, add to this, add to this mix, and add more, this overall talent and team identity, yeah, you are, we are in the rebuilding phase. And we're extremely young, too. So that's how I'll define, you know, what the rebuilding phase, what a rebuilding team looks like. And I think that's where we are right now.

I'm not going to be up here in mince words and say like we're further along, you know, if we just add a couple of pieces because that's not the case. And then I hope that, you know, as fans, you know, we kind of understand where we're at. And we're going to get there. But like I said, I want to keep on saying this is that it's going to take time. Drew Stevens, the Biggs. Bryson. Oh, there you are. You obviously had to sell. yourself throughout this entire process, but interviews go both ways. What does you need to hear from Michael and company to make you feel like this was the right partnership for you? Really? Look, there are

30 of these opportunities, and this is the Chicago Bulls. I mean, Michael really didn't have to sell me much of anything. I'm just being honest with you. This is, you know, a lot of people from here, they've been here for a very long time. Me walking into this gym, like I've, feel the weight, you know, and I want that pressure. It motivates me. It gets me going. There was nothing that Michael needed, or Jerry, needed to sell to me for this job. I'm humble enough to know that I was chosen. I didn't choose them, you know, so to answer your question, there was, this is an unbelievable opportunity that I'm ready to take full advantage of. Saying there were no that you had for Michael that you needed to hear answers to?

Yeah, I mean, of course. I'm asking, I'm asking questions. But what am I going to, am I trying to be combative? You know, you know what I mean? I mean, I think what he's saying is, did you talk to me about resources and all that? Absolutely. That all came out naturally in our conversation. It was never, that was never an issue.

I mean. Yeah. But I will tell you, when we interviewed other people, you know, they asked some questions like that. But I think it was clear in this process that, Bryson was going to have the resources and the runway to, you know, to make this right. Yeah. And I'm, you know, trying to answer your question. I'm sorry. If that's more what you were looking for, yeah, that we had obviously questions and answers about, you know, the resources and things like that. And, yeah, we're fully aligned.

Matt's on, CBS Chicago over here. I was kind of going to ask what Drew was asking, but along those lines of, you know, asking questions of the organization, you know, Michael opened by saying the results haven't been there. What gives you the confidence that you can do what others haven't been able to do here? That's a good question. I mean, it's not going to be just me. It's going to be the people that I put around me and work with me. We're going to do this together.

And that's from the performance room. That's from the communications department to the coaching staff, CAP strategy, evaluation, every aspect of this. I don't ever want to put this on. I have the answer. Because I don't. If I'm the smartest person in the room, we're going to fail. And so I'm going to make sure that we add the right group of people and we're going to pull in the right direction and we're going to win games. So it's not about me. It's about the Chicago Bulls as a whole.

You're listening to the Bryce and Graham introductory press conference brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers on 104 through the score, courtesy of CHSN. The teams you worked for had a lot of different job titles, a lot of different people on the directory. what would you say were your main duties with the hawks and the pelican in the later years of the pelicans and any areas of expertise any authorities that you had? Yeah, overseeing personnel. You know, when David Griffin came to New Orleans, I oversaw the draft process. And that was like my real first responsibility, like really strong. responsibility of taking ownership of something of that magnitude of who are we going to to draft. And obviously I touched every other aspect of it, performance, player development and things of that

nature. I was involved in everything, but personnel is where I lived. Andy? Andy. Andy. Hi, I'm Andy Selt. Price and where do things stand in the coaching search? How far along are you in that process and what are some of the traits you're looking for in a candidate? Yeah. So to be honest, with me just obviously getting to Chicago, have not started a search, have

not put a list together of candidates or anything of that nature. don't plan on doing that for, you know, another, another week or so. But in terms of, you know, what I would say we're looking for, we're looking for someone that's obviously smart. We're looking for someone that can lead in some of a really, really high character. And we also want somebody that's, when I say smart, they're good on both sides of the ball. I think a lot of times now you have coaches that lean towards offense and they lean towards. defense, and that's fine, but we're going to try to find a coach that can coach both sides of the ball and care about both sides of the ball and then develop these guys as they're obviously young

in their careers. So to answer your question, those are some of the things we'll be looking for. We're going to take a few more. Paul. Hi, Paul Solve in Chicago Tribune. Congratulations. Thank you. And this could be from Michael, too. The great Bulls teams have always stressed defense, and they've kind of gotten away from that the last couple of years with some higher scoring teams, would that be something you would

emphasize when you build this roster or is a matter to you? Absolutely. Me and Michael, you know, talked about, you know, the importance of defense and establishing an identity on that side of the floor, especially when you're a younger team and you have younger players. When you compete on the defensive end, your team typically plays harder and you're starting to see a lot in the playoffs. teams that are having success are very, very good on that side of the ball. So 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 side of the ball. David. David Hoff from the score and CHSN, congratulations

Bryson. Thank you. Thank you. I was told this week and talking to somebody from New Orleans that at one point in time you had in your phone, a photo of you on your first day as an intern unloading boxes. I was just curious if you have that photo still in your phone and if you do what that represents to you. Yeah, I do. It represents a lot because, you know, you're starting from the bottom.

I mean, obviously I was the lowest on the totem pole, you know, coming in, which is expected, which I think a lot of people think that, you know, when you get into the NBA, you are you're just like giving everything and that's not the case. You know, you really have to put, you know, put the time in. And so that photo to me just means like that's who I am. You know, I don't mind doing the little things that are necessary, you know, whatever it looks like. You know, obviously this position is, it's a lot, right? But it's just a title, you know, like the work is what matters. And I got to be ready to pull up my sleeves because we're at the ground floor. And that picture represents that to me. Like this is where you started and this is back

where you're at again. A different title, but this is where you're at. Deion Miller from ABC 7. Welcome. We're excited that you're here. In light of that, this whole moment has to feel incredibly surreal. So how excited and prepared, I guess, do you feel for a challenge like this? How did you know you were ready to take on something like this. Yeah. I don't think you, I believe I'm ready, but you know, you probably never know you're really ready. It sounds like having a kid, right? It's like, I think I'm ready to have children. It's like, until you get it, you're like, oh my God. You know, I feel this, I feel the same way. And it's because of my experiences that Michael alluded to. I started out, you know, as an intern and went from an intern to the video, to being the head video

coordinator and player development coach, player development coach, the scouting coordinator, scouting coordinator, to director of college scouting, director of college scouting to assistant GM to general manager. So you're like, you're checking all these boxes and you're doing so much within the organization that it gives you the confidence that, okay, I've checked the boxes, I didn't skip any steps. I can step into this role, you know, and there's like a certain confidence that just kind of comes with it. It's almost like, if, modest, like, I'm sure the first 30-point game he had, he starts saying to himself, like, yo, I can go get 30 now. Like, I'm nice. You know what I mean? So it's, it's,

it's kind of like that, you know, and it's the same thing for me. Last one. Go ahead, Sam. Yeah, last one. Still trying to nail you down on some of these things. Okay. But we don't know exactly, you know, you were involved with the draft, but we didn't know exactly if it was your guys or somebody else. But that said, it looked like the profile of the players that you were paying. picking Nikkel Alexander, Dyson Daniels, sort of long, athletic, defensive-oriented wing players, switchable kind of thing. Is that sort of your philosophy that you want to bring here?

Those kind of players is 6-8 across the board, two-way defensive, offensive, that you have to be those kind of players? You don't have to be those kinds of players, but yes, but we would love to have size, length, athleticism, and physicality all across the board. And the more versatile you can be, the better you are. If whoever's guarding at the point of attack can also guard in the wing and then switch onto a big, you've got something serious. Like, you're really, really dangerous now.

And I think the really good teams, OKC, Boston, they have that. You know, like, who's Boston's point guard? You know, I see like J.T. bring it up. I see J.B. bring it up. I see Derek White bring it up. It's like they have so much versatility. They got so much size. They got so much physicality.

And that's where this league is going. And that's what the really good teams are doing. And that's kind of how we're going to look at our evaluation. And that's going to be our approach. You know, we want to be tough. And we want to be long and athletic at every position. Don't be mad at me, but one little one. Oh, yeah.

Go ahead. We're not surprised. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But go back to just the coach thing. Would you like to have a coach who's won a championship, experience, veteran kind of guy? A lot of the guys who are successful now are Oklahoma City, San Antonio, first-time guys, young, kind of grow with the team.

Sure. You know, how do you see that kind of thing? Yeah. No, I think we, me and Michael, and it's going to be done collaboratively, we want the right guy. And if I said, you're picking him. Oh, yeah, I'm picking him.

I'm picking him. I picked you. You get to pick the first. Absolutely. But it's a really good, it's a good question. And I don't, there's really no real like prerequisite in terms of, hey, you held a position or you won a championship.

If that were it, I wouldn't be in the seat. you know and I think about that because you just want the most talented person you know you believe in you think about the draft right um I'm not saying that the kid from BYU is the first picking the draft but he didn't win a championship this year doesn't mean that he's not talented enough to be the franchise player going forward or whatever the case may be and I feel the same way about staff and um at every point in the position. Let's find the most competent and most talented people. And that could be a coach that you may not even heard of. And I might get killed for it.

But if I believe in him, I'm going to hire him. One more, Sam? Yeah. Thanks, guys. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. That was Bryson Graham and Michael Rhinstorf. That was courtesy of our friends at CHSN brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers.

We are getting a lot of feedback on our Twitch chat, on our text line. 2, 644, 67, 67. If you want a call, what do you think? Marshall and I will go over some of what we thought. We'll take your calls, and we've got to get to some commercials next because it's free for you, not for us. Slap. Yeah, and we have an acronym. Are you ready?

Are you healed enough for an acronym? And I'm with it. I'm with this acronym. All right. We'll do it all next. Rahimi Harris and Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell at Marshall.

Can we handle more anthony? Hey, Heron. Middays 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 mean, 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. Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3

at the score. Yeah, don't get triggered by the acronym. For goodness sake, Liam Cohen has Fasasmat 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, and I remember Fasasasmat. By the way, Lela, 630 wants to know. What did the five starters say to the face? Slap! 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 value. all over the board. Did someone really say stumbling because that that person's just wrong?

Yes. And I didn't get that. Like, for example, there was a texter that said they seemed that Michael Reinsdorf 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.

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 Otani 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.

Seeing 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 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 don't, that doesn't matter to me necessarily as much. Then again, I just try to explain away Draymond Green's 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, always said this when Maddie Rufluza 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. Bryson 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 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 Bryson Graham in our next segment. 312, 64, 64, 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.