Bulls forward Isaac Okoro doesn’t like playing the comparison game.
‘‘I don’t really like comparing,’’ Okoro said as he sat in front of his locker Monday, fresh off the Bulls’ third consecutive victory to start the regular season. ‘‘I’m just not a big believer in comparing teams.’’
Then came the ‘‘but.’’
Okoro spent his first five seasons with the Cavaliers, who finished last season atop the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 record. The Bulls have a different roster, a different makeup of players and a different playing style, but one similarity rang true.
‘‘What I can say is that, since I’ve been here, this has been a real close-knit group of guys,’’ Okoro said. ‘‘This is like the same type of chemistry that we had in Cleveland, whether it’s doing team dinners, team bonding things. Everyone is close to each other. We sit in the locker room after practice and just talk to each other — home and away — and that’s kind of what you want in a team.
‘‘That talk off the court, that communication, works on the court. Hold each other accountable without guys getting in their feelings because we created that bond off the court.’’
It’s a seemingly simple concept the Bulls have gotten wrong for a long time.
Back in the days of Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo, Butler was a big proponent of speaking his mind and letting others speak theirs. It didn’t go so well when some young players started ‘‘getting in their feelings,’’ leading to Rondo calling out Butler and Wade and the front office benching the two veterans for the start of a game as punishment.
Even in the Zach LaVine-DeMar DeRozan era, there often were public complaints about teammates unable to have hard conversations with each other without feelings getting hurt. Alex Caruso pointed that out several times.
The Bulls’ locker room is different this season. It doesn’t have a veteran or two sticking out as leaders as much as a committee. Second-year forward Matas Buzelis is as comfortable speaking to a teammate about effort or a play as 35-year-old Nikola Vucevic. Players are heard, and feelings stay at home.
‘‘Being able to hold each other accountable is very important because, at the end of the day, the goal is to win,’’ Okoro said. ‘‘If you can’t hold each accountable, then you have to say something lighter than you want to say it, lighter than it should be said, and that hurts the team. Being able to hold the best guys accountable or anyone one through 15 . . . like, the 15th guy can say something to the No. 1 guy. The No. 1 guy in this group can take that criticism and still go out and compete. That’s huge.’’
But before fans read this and expect the Bulls to make the playoffs this season, Okoro again prefaced his look inside the locker room with a reminder that he doesn’t like to compare teams. The Cavaliers had an elite defensive frontcourt last season, they have an MVP candidate in Donovan Mitchell and they have All-Stars throughout the roster.
The Bulls? Aside from Vucevic, they’ve only watched All-Star Games on TV and fall under the up-and-coming category, at best.
But there’s a fabric there that translates from the locker room to the hardwood, and it’s a must for team success. Go ahead and check that box for the Bulls.
‘‘That’s what helps teams win games,’’ Okoro said. ‘‘We can all talk, take the criticism and keep competing. It’s rare.’’
