Monday, the Bryson Graham era of the Chicago Bulls progressed to the next stage of reality as 2026 Chicago Bulls media day took place at the Bulls’ Advocate Center practice facility.
Graham, flanked by Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter, opened their media press conference with a brief and largely unscripted set of opening remarks before taking questions from media members in attendance.
The prevailing theme of the Graham and Splitter press conference was a near chorus-like refrain about championship standards. In the ecosystem of North American professional sports, management and coaching vernacular enthusiastically espouse words like standards, culture, and identity as semantic wallpaper.
To both Graham and Splitter’s credit, despite the discussion of standards in their press conference remarks weaving in and out of boilerplate styles of response to media questions, the Bulls' braintrust made nuanced, insightful statements that leave no doubt about how they are defining a new championship standard for their NBA franchise.
New Standards for Chicago Bulls Basketball
An obvious template for Graham and Splitter's Bulls roster journey to championship standards is the work ethic that rookie forward Caleb Wilson is demonstrating in his daily practice habits that start early in the morning and end late in the evening, according to both Graham and Splitter.
In response to a question by Bulls.com’s Sam Smith, Splitter expanded the aperture of what the composition of the 2026-27 Bulls championship standard should look like on both ends of the basketball court.
On offense, Splitter cited a desire to play “fast but smart” basketball, which should ultimately serve as a wake-up call to Josh Giddey to clean up his turnovers despite his preference for playing fast and making transition passes.
As for defense, Splitter’s body language said more than his actual words when discussing what the Bulls’ defensive style of play should look like for the upcoming season, preceding his statement with a pensive pause before acknowledging “we need to up our lines and be more aggressive”.
Clarity is the desired outcome
The B-side to Graham’s leading theme of standards turned out to be organizational clarity by the end of the presser.
Also, in response to a question from Smith, Graham made perhaps the most candid statement of all statements in the press conference when he tagged his answer on what success looks like for the 2026-27 Bulls season to a provocative take on organizational clarity.
"Not everybody is going to be a part of your culture going forward. So [if] they can’t live up to your standards, and they don’t want to take part in that identity? They won’t be a part of the culture."Bryson Graham
"So organizational clarity is going to be really, really important for us, and we’re going to gain that as we go through this year."Bryson Graham
Bulls fans should make sure to fully appreciate the opening front office and coaching manifesto Graham and Splitter delivered in their inaugural Bulls media day press conference.
They are implementing standards that should ultimately separate the wheat from the chaff on their basketball roster by the end of the 2026-27 season, just like the trade that sent Rob Dillingham to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Buddy Hield.
If the Bulls' roster in April of 2027 looks remotely anything like the Bulls' roster in September 2026, and there aren’t clear strides made in winning, then fans should spare no criticism of Graham and Splitter's first season on the job in Chicago.
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