Lauri Markkannen on His Future in Chicago, Jim Boylen, and the New Front Office
Sunday evening, Finnish podcast Uheilucast sat down with Bulls star forward Lauri Markannen.
Throughout the podcast they covered an array of topics, ranging from Lavar Ball antics all the way down to his looming contact extension.
Back in April it was widely reported that Lauri Markannen wants out unless “significant” changes were made to the organization, understandable given the changes to his role under Jim Boylen.
He told the Uheilucast:
“I had 80 touches the past two seasons, this season my touches dropped to 40…When we spoke with Jim Boylen, we talked about how I should concentrate on getting rebounds and leading the fast break, but it’s just really hard getting 40 defensive rebounds.”
Reducing your budding young star to a rebounder is not exactly the best basketball strategy, and that showed in the Bulls 22-43 record. Lauri Markannen was the only player in his class drafted within the top 7 (min 20 games played) that saw less minutes and shot attempts than in their previous seasons.
Luckily, the Bulls have indeed made a change that was significant enough to shift the young stars mind. This includes the revamping the front office by signing new VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and others.
When talking about the new front office regime Lauri said:
“Their work speaks for itself. I can’t describe how excited I am.”
And when asked about his looming contract extension he told Seppänen:
“I want to stay in Chicago and sign an extension, no question. I love this city.”
Having Lauri 100% bought in is a great step in the right direction, winning games in the NBA is hard enough as is, and having your best players in accordance is a must.
With all the excitement of the new front office you would think Markannen would be excited to get out there and play, but with his injury history, Lauri wants to make sure everything is done the right way.
He conveyed his concerns with the upcoming season saying:
“Every training camp like 3 or 4 of us get injured, and that’s after everyone has been training and getting ready the whole summer. How many ankles are going to roll, and how many quads are going to be pulled, if we resume after not being able to do anything for two months? Obviously I love this game more than anything, I just hope if we come back we have the time to get ready.”
Markannen is definitely right in this regard; the Bulls are a team that is hit by the injury bug seemingly every single season, and without the proper time to prepare things could turn ugly very quickly.
Whether or not the Bulls are able to return this season one thing is for sure Karnisovas, Eversley, and the others, have ignited a new found hope in the Lauri Markannen, and Bulls Nation alike.
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