Shortly after the Chicago Bears hired new head coach Ben Johnson, stories began to emerge about his rise through the NFL ranks. It didn’t take long to realize that the young coach had a reputation. Everybody he seemed to encounter could sense something special. They didn’t just see a highly intelligent, hardworking person. They saw a future head coach. Guys knew it as far back as the mid-2010s when he was a no-name assistant with the Miami Dolphins. That only grew after he went to Detroit. There was even a point when a head coach from another team tried to offer a prominent defensive assistant job just to get him on the staff. Johnson ascended to offensive coordinator, dominated, took the Bears job, and won the division. Having heard those stories, you start to realize the same thing is happening with Bryson Graham.
The Chicago Bulls hired the 39-year-old as their new VP of Basketball Operations. Unlike Johnson, he didn’t come in with tons of fanfare. However, as stories about his rise start to emerge, you’re hearing many of the same types of comments you heard about Johnson. Jon Greenberg of The Athletic caught a few of them.
Bryson Graham has that same aura.
When Mark Turgeon took over Texas A&M’s program, he realized Graham, who suffered two ACL tears in college, was more than a guy who could clap on the bench.
“He was very mature,” he said. “You had different conversations with Bryson than you did with other players on the team.”…
…Nine years later, when David Griffin got the top basketball job in New Orleans, one name kept coming up during his information-gathering process about the staff he inherited: Bryson Graham. You’re going to want to meet this guy, he was told.
Griffin quickly figured out the hype was real.
“I was so awed by him that I made sure to promote him and keep him in the fold,” he said, “and I brought him as close to me as I could from the very beginning.”…
…Williams, Griffin and Turgeon all told me there is something different about Graham. It wasn’t hard to see what they were talking about.
“He’s the kind of person that will come in and people are just going to gravitate towards him,” Williams said.
“I worked in the NBA for 32 years, and I’ve never been with anyone like him,” Griffin said.
Michael Reinsdorf corroborated those comments.
The Bulls CEO admitted that he knew within two minutes that Graham was the guy for the job. That was how long it took the young executive to make an impression. Upon watching his introductory press conference, it’s easy to see why. Graham comes across as intelligent, sensible, and boasts the right mix of confidence and humility. He made it clear from the outset that this team is nowhere near ready to contend. A rebuild is needed, and it is his job to assemble the right group of people to execute it.
He may not have the same naked intensity as Johnson, but the sheer mix of knowledge and common sense is an obvious parallel. Better still, Graham has a clear vision for the type of team he wants to build. Every player must fit four core categories to play for this team: size, length, athleticism, and physicality. Or SLAP. He believes teams comprised of such players often go far in the NBA playoffs, which isn’t wrong. The goal is to find them in the draft and put them under a head coach who understands how to develop them.
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Graham must first overcome the biggest hurdle to this goal.
That is finding a head coach. During his long stint with the New Orleans Pelicans, the organization never seemed able to find that guy. Monty Williams, Alvin Gentry, and Willie Green all made the playoffs at least once. Combined, they made it out of the first round only once. That cannot be the standard Bryson Graham aspires to. Not with this team. This is where Phil Jackson built his legacy. It is where Tom Thibodeau earned his reputation. The Bulls aim to win championships.
Early indications are that Graham has his eyes on San Antonio Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney. He is by far the hottest candidate, especially with how the Spurs have played this year. There could be other names to watch. Don’t be surprised if all of them are first-timers. It is a fair assumption that more experienced coaches won’t be interested in doing a rebuild. The Bulls must find someone unafraid of the grind. Graham, like Johnson, almost lives for it.
