Chicago Bulls players hold a players-only meeting one game into the new season

The Chicago Bulls players are apparently using the lessons they learned from their week-long stay in Nashville for the first part of training camp to good use, staging a players-only meeting after their 124-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the season opener.

“That would’ve never happened last year. It would’ve been a quiet group,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan shared. “So the confrontation piece is a sign that it’s important to them. And they know we’ve got to be better.”

Billy left the locker room at the players' request so they could talk amongst themselves pic.twitter.com/O7HLULk5Kh
— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) October 26, 2023

Constructive discussions

It was a frustrating night overall for a Bulls squad that had hoped to kick the season off on a rousing note. Instead, Chicago got waylaid by the Thunder, who were led by All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who torched them for 31 points.

Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic, who had a run-in with Donovan on the bench in the third quarter, shared what transpired in the locker room after the match. He admitted that while conversations were had, it was all done in a constructive manner.

“It was just regular discussions of what needs to be done. A lot of guys said a lot of good things, things that needed to be said. I think we can really use this to learn and change some things that we need to change,” Vooch said.

“It wasn’t anything crazy, no fighting or none of that. It was really constructive. It was maybe one of the first times since I’ve been here that this was like this. And it was really needed.”

Vooch WORKING inside! 💪 pic.twitter.com/2aLofvWi9r
— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) October 26, 2023

Born out of winning

Bulls guard Zach LaVine said it was only natural for a squad filled with highly competitive guys to hash it out after a crushing loss.

“Guys want to win. You put up a game like this in Game One, and people are going to have some conversations. Guys are frustrated, and you should be. If you’re not frustrated, it says it all. It sucks to have it happen in Game One. It happened. We gotta go from there. Guys are going to speak their mind after a game. Coaches are as well. We all gotta get it out and make sure we’re on the same page. It’s not one individual that lost. It’s the whole team,” LaVine said.

The Bulls will get a chance to turn things around on Friday night when they host the Toronto Raptors.

Constructive discussions

Born out of winning

Chicago Bulls suffer 20-point rout at the hands of Oklahoma City in season-opener