Graham Couch

Lansing State Journal

CHICAGO – As Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg spoke to reporters Monday, Denzel Valentine sat next to him watching him closely, differently than he does people he already knows. It was as if he was learning Hoiberg, figuring out his new coach, the man who will decide his playing time and earliest NBA opportunities.

It’s a new beginning for Valentine. And a restart for the Bulls, too.

It’s clear the Bulls have high hopes for their first-round draft pick out of Michigan State, whom they introduced on Monday at their training facility across the street from United Center.

Valentine fits their needs because their needs are many and unclear, and Valentine is a fit on any basketball court, with any team. That’s what he does best — he fits the game. He did so at Lansing Sexton and then at MSU, his game morphing to whatever his team required.

The Bulls are reshaping their roster, uncertain of who they’ll add and when or what their identity will eventually be. Best to start with a guy whose mere presence creates a culture of ball movement and team basketball.

“He’s such an instinctual player,” Bulls general manager Gar Forman said at Monday’s press conference. “And I think how we want to play with our young core, how Fred wants to play. I think it’s a perfect fit in regards to his skill level and his basketball IQ, what he brings to the floor. I think he makes a lot of players better because of his ability to create and push in transition, spray the ball ahead, play off pick-and-roll.”

The closest thing to a superstar on the Bulls roster is guard Jimmy Butler — a B-level star, perhaps a No. 2 player on a championship team, a shooting guard who isn’t a natural shooter.

Valentine provides versatility and shooting around Butler. He’ll make Butler’s offense easier and help make up for what Butler doesn’t do efficiently.

“You can play him all over the court,” Hoiberg said of Valentine, who will wear No. 45, Michael Jordan’s other number with the Bulls. “He’s a facilitator, an excellent positional rebounder … and he always makes the right decision.”

He grew into that at MSU. It’ll take him some time at the NBA level. The game will move faster. Some of the passes that got through in the Big Ten won’t here. He’ll adjust. He’s ready to get to work on the adjustment. Valentine showed up in Chicago with “four or five” large duffel bags. He planned to work out at the Bulls' facility Monday afternoon and stay until he and the Bulls’ other young players leave for the Las Vegas Summer League next week.

Both Butler and third-year forward Doug McDermott have reached out to Valentine already.

“I like Jimmy Butler a lot,” Valentine said. “He’s tough and not afraid to compete and get after it, no matter who he’s playing against. He’s really developed his offensive game.”

Butler will love playing alongside Valentine, and Valentine will be playing.

This is an ideal situation for Valentine, but probably not for the reasons he and his father believed last week when the Bulls selected him with the 14th overall pick.

They perceived the Bulls as an established contender. “Winning matters here,” Valentine said Monday.

It does. But the Bulls are at least another draft and couple summers of free agency from challenging the Cleveland Cavaliers at the top of the Eastern Conference. They’re likely losing veterans Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson this summer and traded away Derrick Rose last week. That’s three of the Bulls’ top four scorers from last year.

Young pieces such as Valentine, McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Jerian Grant (acquired last week as part of the Rose trade) and veteran center Robin Lopez (also part of the Rose deal) are the complementary pieces surrounding Butler. The Bulls might have two draft picks next year, if they get a pick from Sacramento (that’s protected if it falls 1-10) and will have money to spend in what should be an attractive destination to free agents. But there are a lot of variables in play.

“We had a great run for 10 years,” Forman said Monday. “We’ve got to put this back together now, going younger, more athletic and building it back up.”

It’s perfect for Valentine, whose role and influence will be larger in a rebuild — or “retool,” as Forman called it — than if the Bulls were still chasing a title, however fruitlessly, with a veteran core.

Valentine will get a chance to develop and put his imprint on the organization while they figure it all out.

“Just everything about being a Chicago Bull, I like,” said Valentine, the first NBA first-round draft pick from Lansing since Sam Vincent in 1985. “It’s one of the reasons I got so excited on draft night, because I was coming to an organization like this and the caliber they represent.”

He’ll likely play a significant role in determining what that caliber is moving forward.

Graham Couch can be reached at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.