At times, they sounded like the two newest members of a Chicago tourism bureau.
‘‘The more that we have been here, the more the love for the city continues to grow,’’ Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham said as he sat next to coach Tiago Splitter last week. ‘‘These fans are unbelievable. Walking around the city, I’m getting a little love.’’
The two offered a message of excitement for the city and the job ahead.
‘‘I said this prior, and I’m going to say this again: I love to work with this guy [Graham]; we’re on the same page,’’ Splitter said. ‘‘We’re building something very solid in the city of Chicago.’’
It was a real feel-good moment, but it didn’t stay that way.
After all, when Graham was hired to take over the front office from Arturas Karnisovas, he did so knowing the Bulls haven’t won a playoff series since 2015 and, even worse, have become irrelevant in the Eastern Conference.
When Graham hired Splitter to be his coach, he did so knowing he would need a person in his corner who had a similar vision but also would challenge him in the decision-making process.
So while the two initially sang the praises of the city and the franchise, they brought it back to the reality of the current situation. All the rah-rah about the fans and what they are owed is cute noise, but at some point very soon — like, in a few weeks — the games have to be played. That’s when executive and coach can start being judged.
‘‘I hope it stays that way before they start throwing stuff at me,’’ Graham joked about the initial love he has received on the streets. ‘‘We are rebuilding; I know I’ve said that. We’re at the ground floor, laying the foundation for this organization and what it’s going to look like moving forward.
‘‘Although I say that, I get excited because we get to build this and we get to do it together. Just because the word ‘rebuild’ is out there doesn’t mean this can’t be fun, can’t be exciting. [We] understand what this team is going to look like and what we’re working toward moving forward.’’
That will be the fine line Graham and Splitter will have to walk: patience versus a natural competitiveness to accelerate the rebuild.
Karnisovas couldn’t do it. Once he traded for Nikola Vucevic in the second year of his tenure, he was all in on diving into the swimming pool. That meant mortgaging draft assets for veterans such as Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan. It wasn’t a bad gamble, but Karnisovas didn’t have an exit strategy when it went bad.
Graham knows the pitfalls and is as competitive as they come, admitting that he will have to be reminded of the brick-by-brick philosophy he must adhere to.
‘‘Yes, that’s going to be a constant fight and is going to be something that me and Tiago [and] the rest of the staff have to be committed to: not mortgaging the future for short-term gains,’’ Graham said. ‘‘I’m going to be leaning on Tiago like Tiago is going to be leaning on me because, yes, you want to expedite this process, but at the end of the day there is some internal development [needed] from some of these young guys. And for us to really, really take that push forward, they’re going to have to impact winning and start moving the needle night in and night out. And with young players, it just takes some time.
‘‘I will do my best to be patient because, just like every fan in the city of Chicago . . . we want to win, and I want everyone to know that very clearly. We want to win and we want to win a championship, and it’s going to take discipline and patience.’’
All of which will be tested sooner than later.