00:00Layla, I would tell you the biggest thing that comes to mind, even as we're having this conversation now,
00:05is it's not even so much about Matt as you talk to people around the league.
00:11The biggest question in the last week or so is we don't really care who the Bulls hire.
00:17Are they actually going to spend?
00:19And what I mean by that is for years and years, the Bulls scouting department was much smaller than others
00:28around the NBA.
00:30The analytics department was much, much smaller.
00:34There were times that you'd look around and be like, wait a minute, all these teams are adding all these
00:40different pieces all over?
00:42And what the hell are the Bulls doing?
00:44I mean, as far as the optics go, they've been the same way for a long time,
00:49which is the Bulls don't want to spend at the same level that their peers do across the league.
00:56In Michael's defense, I think, in the last couple of years, he has gotten the message,
01:00and they're starting to spend a little bit more.
01:03But I don't care if it's Matt Lloyd or anybody else.
01:05The question that any of these execs are going to have is, are you going to spend now?
01:12And that's what the league is watching almost as much as, who is the person going to be to run
01:20the show now?
01:20Because it's an arms race across the NBA.
01:24And again, I'm not just talking about salaries for players.
01:27I'm talking about top to bottom in the organization.
01:30Are you going to spend money to make your product the best it can possibly be?
01:37And the knock on Jerry and now Mike for years is, they don't want to do that.
01:42It's about profit.
01:43It's about tickets.
01:44It's about all these people coming to see Benny and loading up the UC.
01:50And I think the difference, Layla, and this absolutely ties into the executive conversation,
01:56is I don't think the tickets are there the same way that they've been in years past.
02:01I think season ticket holders are finally starting to see the light that the product isn't near where it should
02:08be.
02:09So this is a first step, depending on whenever the news finally comes down here.
02:13But they have a lot of work to be done.
02:16And a lot of that work can be helped by a push from ownership and saying,
02:23hey, we are going to spend a little bit more than we have in the past.
02:27The sad part is, when you talk to people who are around that organization and have lived in it,
02:33they just roll their eyes.
02:34Or in my case, they just kind of laugh.
02:37They think, if you're waiting for them to spend at the highest level, good luck to you.
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