Ah, NBA media day.
It’s when every front-office suit pats himself on the back for a summer job well done and every coach insists he wants competition at every position in camp.
The Bulls likely will be no different Monday.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley will talk about the “continuity’’ of the core and the additions of Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig, while coach Billy Donovan will try to detail how the key additions will be used.
It’s the latter of the two that will actually be interesting and the must-watch as camp begins Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Carter is a no-nonsense point guard who brings a Chicago attitude to the backcourt, while Craig is a defensive-minded forward who can also sling it from three-point range.
But are they starters?
Let the camp battles begin.
Jevon Carter vs. Coby White
Re-signing White was a top priority for the Bulls’ front office when free agency started in late June. The guard signed a three-year deal that could go up to $40 million and by all accounts has been in the gym and working hard on his game.
But White wasn’t the only priority on the shopping list.
With the organization aware that Lonzo Ball would miss the 2023-24 season because of a third surgery on his left knee, adding disruption and chaos on defense to the backcourt was a must. That’s where Carter comes in. He can be teamed with Alex Caruso to pressure opposing guards and throw off the timing of an offense and is also a lethal shooter from three-point range.
That’s what was missing from the Patrick Beverley addition last season.
Beverley brought the defense and swagger but was often ignored by opposing defenses as a non-threat from distance. That won’t be the case with Carter, who’s coming off a season in which he shot 42.1% from three-point range.
Expect Carter and White to get a chance to run with the starters in preseason games, but Carter’s defense will win out. White has improved in that area, but the idea of White, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan being expected to disrupt the opposition defensively isn’t realistic.
WINNER: Carter
Patrick Williams vs. Torrey Craig
This camp battle will be interesting and might be closer than outsiders think.
Craig is a better rebounder than Williams has shown but doesn’t offer the individual defense and isn’t quite the outside shooting threat that Williams has become.
The veteran also isn’t a homegrown talent selected No. 4 overall in the 2020 draft.
The best way for Donovan to let this play out is to give both starting looks in the preseason to keep the competitive flames burning for an often lethargic Williams, then name Williams the starter once the regular season starts.
Give it a good 20 games to see if Williams will be more assertive offensively. If not, Donovan has Craig to fall back on.
This is Year 4 for Williams, and the training wheels are long overdue to be kicked off. A financial decision has to be made on the forward, and it’s time for him to start gaining the faith of the organization.
WINNER: Williams
Continuity vs. A Major Move
There are still some big-name players unhappy with their current situations — even in the wake of the Damian Lillard-to-Milwaukee deal — and the Bulls have been rumored to be interested in several over the last year.
Don’t inhale the smoke.
According to a source, any calls made from the Bulls have been due diligence and more about the possibility of being involved as a third team to add pieces or draft assets to the core.
Karnisovas & Co. are hell-bent on seeing if LaVine, DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic can re-create the success they had in the first half of the 2021-22 season before Ball went down, and the hope is that Carter can team with Caruso to help that process.
False hope? That remains to be seen.
WINNER: Continuity
