It was an interesting way of thinking about it.
Anfernee Simons headlines a group of newly-acquired Bulls players that are basically in a 10-week job interview with their new organization, but the 26-year-old had a unique take on it all.
“I think even before (the trade) it was always going to be a job interview with this being my last year (of the current contract),” Simons said. “I just got to make the most out of these last couple months, being here, start building chemistry with the guys and see where that goes.”
OK, for some it’s been an on-going six-month tryout.
And the part the Bulls play in all of this? Another important evaluation test for a front office that has more fails than passes in that department.
In adding four guards in the week leading up to the Feb. 5 trade deadline, the Bulls gave themselves a runway of 30 games – including Saturday’s – to evaluate Simons, Collin Sexton, Rob Dillingham and Jaden Ivey.
Simons and Sexton are in the final years of their current contracts and will become unrestricted free agents, while Ivey will be a restricted free agent. Dillingham is on his rookie contract but considering how poorly things were going in Minnesota for him, the Bulls need to find out why and was it fixable.
Not an ideal situation for the team to be in considering they are in a rebuild – or as executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas says, a new “stage – and every decision has consequences that help the seed grow or kill it.
“At the end of the day I tell myself, ‘Hey, just be where the feet are at,’ “ Sexton said of his approach to the rest of the season. “Don’t look too far in advance and when I’m doing that I feel like I’m at my best. Just give it my all for this organization, give my all to this team, show them what I can do. I just know that’s something I can control. Each and every day coming in with the right energy. Being a true professional is something I can control and the rest will take care of itself.”
That’s where coach Billy Donovan comes in.
Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley can watch the basketball part of their new guard room, but it’s Donovan that will be with the players on an almost daily basis between now and mid-April.
“For me a lot of it comes down to the way I look at from the lens of the mentality piece,” Donovan said on Saturday. “That’s kind of what I’m looking at. To me it’s more of the competitiveness, the mentality, how are they in the locker room, how are they as teammates, can they follow game-plan discipline, all those types of things.”
Donovan admitted that he had a meeting with the front office on Friday to figure out playing time and if they had an edict on a minutes priority. After all, it would make sense to see more of Dillingham and Ivey since they are more likely to be kept, but Donovan said there was none of that.
“I think at least the feeling from the front office was they wanted to see kind of all these guys that are in here right now,” Donovan said. “It hasn’t been, ‘Hey, we want you to play this guy, this guy.’ They want these guys to go out and compete, see how well they can fit in to how we’ve been trying to play.”
Music to Dillingham’s ears, who was begging for a new start after a season-and-a-half with the Timberwolves and diminishing minutes.
Job interview? For the second-year guard it almost feels like a career change.
“I’m just trying to show I can play basketball, I belong here and I can help the team win,” Dillingham said. “I’m not looking at it as something specific.”