CHICAGO -- The Bulls are in the process of undergoing two makeovers.
The first one came during the summer when Bulls GM Gar Forman added veterans Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo to an unproven core of young players. Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol were out. Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson remained. In the multimillion dollar poker game that is NBA free agency, Forman pushed in all his chips behind Wade and Rondo, hoping the pair's presence would keep his team relevant. In Forman's mind Wade and Rondo would help mentor Butler as a leader. They'd serve as a sounding board for the 27-year-old All-Star swingman, while also helping unite what had become a fractured locker room.
The second makeover is much more difficult. It will evolve throughout the season and just like the first one, it won't be initially clear if it is a success or failure. The second makeover centers on creating a new culture for a group in search of one. The Bulls didn't just miss the playoffs in last season's disappointing 42-40 campaign. The group became fractured as Butler tried to take more of a leadership role and new coach Fred Hoiberg struggled to form an identity for his group.
Optimism throughout the first week of training camp is almost universal in the NBA, but the poignant words that many Bulls' players continue to speak about the ongoing culture change have been hard to miss. Player after player has regurgitated the same message.
This time is different. This time the group is unified. This time we're all on the same page.
Whether there is a discernible difference or not in regard to how the group plays together compared to last season remains to be seen, but the message has been unmistakable so far. After a season of unfulfilled expectations, the Bulls are embracing a new image, a picture which doesn't include long-time franchise stalwarts Rose and Noah.
"It's weird," Bulls forward Doug McDermott said of going to work without Rose and Noah. "It still doesn't quite feel real. But I think it's for the better. Not saying anything bad about those guys obviously, they meant a lot to this organization, and they helped me a lot. But I think we just needed a new vibe. And I think we got it with these guys."
A 'new vibe' may as well become the tagline for the Bulls' 2016 new beginning. Butler seems much happier knowing that he is now the unquestioned face of the franchise and the long shadows of Rose and Noah are gone. Wade seems confident he can guide his new team when needed and provide some stability from within the group its craving.
"I've come from a different place, a different culture, so things are done differently in different places," Wade said. "So I sat down and listened to guys and just talked and they tell me [about what happened last season]. But I think the biggest thing is some of the things they said I know it's not going to take place here. Not while I'm here. Not while Rondo's here and not while Jimmy's continuing to grow as a leader. You talk about last year, but at the same time last year doesn't matter neither. We have a different core ... We have guys, obviously Rondo's won a championship, I've won a championship, we demand respect on the court, but we got a lot of young guys as well so they'll listen. It's not a veteran team where everyone's stuck in their ways. Right now in training camp we got 10 guys that's three years or less [of NBA experience] so they're all ears and that's a good thing for this team right now."
Forman is surely proud of Wade's message given it's the same one the general manager has been opining about for months. The mixture of old and young is what Forman is banking on as the two makeovers merge into a larger project this season. He is confident that the young players will grow under the veterans' tutelage and the older players will be refreshed by working with their younger counterparts.
"Everyone's full of energy," Bulls forward Bobby Portis said. "I feel like it's a different level of competition. And also, everyone's trying to compete for minutes. We have a lot of guys that's around the same age this year that's trying to go out there and compete for minutes. It's always fun to go out there and compete each and every day because me, Cris [Felicio], Niko [Mirotic], Taj [Gibson], we're all competing for something big. At the end of the day we're all a team, but at the same time we're all competitors.
Hoiberg has consistently thrown plaudits toward his group after most days, appreciating the work they are putting in. But it's the talking points the group repeatedly hits that are worth noting. The communication, which was so bad at times on and off the floor last year, seems much better for now.
"I think the great thing about it is the players have been very vocal this year," Hoiberg said. "When you've got a guy like Dwyane Wade who's won multiple championships, who's been around this league, going into his 14th season. Jimmy's been very vocal in training camp. Rondo's got a great voice. So when you've got your players out there setting the tone with communication it makes everybody's job easier. As far as, am I more vocal? Yeah, probably. I probably am this year. But it's about going out there, carrying that communication to the floor once we get out in game-type situations."
It isn't just the Bulls' words that have garnered attention. It's the group's collective actions that have left an impression, specifically those of Hoiberg and how he has constructed the training camp schedule in his second year. The Bulls have not had a day off since camp officially began on Sept. 27, a rarity in a league more conscious than ever about rest schedules. The irony of Hoiberg running a tighter ship than usual this season is that his new work schedule, which has included multiple two-hour plus practices and several two-a-day workouts is that it resembles that of his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau. But even Thibodeau, a task-master, whom the Bulls' front office grew to hate over time -- at least in part because of the workload he put on players, routinely gave his team a day off during the first week of camp.
"We need the work," Hoiberg said of his new schedule. "We've gone every day, we haven't given a day off yet. The plan is to take our first day off after our Saturday night game [against the Indiana Pacers]. We'll play [Thursday], come in and correct some things [Friday], play again on Saturday night and then take Sunday off, but I just think we need the work. We've had tentative days scheduled where we might take it off, but I just felt we needed to be in the gym."
Hoiberg is in a tough spot no matter what he decides to do. He wasn't able to push the Bulls into the playoffs last season. The offense he was brought in to fix sputtered and the defense that had been the Bulls' linchpin under Thibodeau fell off. The Bulls have suddenly gone from a potential title contender to an afterthought. And Hoiberg acknowledged that he is feeling more heat this year to right the ship.
Hoiberg isn't just more vocal these days in how he wants his players to prepare, he's more forceful as well.
"He's been much more demanding on us," McDermott said of Hoiberg. "He's really vocal out there and I've noticed a difference for sure. Obviously, he's real hard on himself about last year, as we are too. And we don't want that to happen again so we're going to do everything we can right off the bat to try and fix it."
Hoiberg has been buoyed by Wade's arrival, with the future Hall of Famer acknowledging that the young coach has given him carte blanche to stop practice whenever he feels necessary to impart some not-so-subtle words of wisdom to his teammates. But it's Hoiberg who has been more open about exactly what he wants, much earlier than he was a year ago, according to his players.
"Just how much he's looking for everybody to be a perfectionist in whatever it may be," Butler said. "Whether it's catching a rebound with one hand or making a bounce pass here when you're not supposed to. I think that's holding everybody accountable to where they're not going to mess up because you're giving it to them early, the second day, third day of training camp. Let [the team] know this is how we're going to do it this year, this is how we're going to guard the ball -- everybody, not one or the other. Everybody. So when everybody has that same thing in their head, then everybody's on the same page."
Butler, who famously ripped Hoiberg last December, saying the coach needed to 'coach harder,' made it very clear on media day that he wanted Hoiberg to use him as an example for his younger teammates. Hoiberg has ramped up practices for Butler and his teammates both in time and intensity by integrating a lot more game-type action this time around.
"We are doing a lot more scrimmaging," Hoiberg said. "And we get into it quickly. Obviously there's a lot of things that we have to teach. But everything we're doing, we try to put a competitive element to it. And there's consequences: If you lose, you run. And the guys have bought into everything we're doing on that end. It's all about going out there and competing. Again, our guys are fighting and they know they're out there competing for minutes, rotation spots, so it has been a very, very competitive camp."
No rebuilding, or in the Bulls' case, 're-tooling' process, as Forman loves to say, is easy. There are going to be bumps along the way and there are still serious questions regarding whether or not this team has the talent to contend for a playoff spot again. But the one thing this group has been consistent about as it turns the page to another year is that, at least for now, everybody is pulling in the same direction -- and that wasn't the case a year ago.