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NBA DRAFTJune 25, 2015Bobby PortisBROOKLYN, NEW YORK BOBBY PORTIS: First off, I want to thank God for this opportunity to even get drafted. As a kid I was always the guy that he was always slept on; no one ever talked about me. For me to get to this moment is cool. To sit at the table for two hours and hear my name called, that was crazy because I was expecting to go earlier. But man, I'm with the Bulls organization, so I'm still proud that I got drafted by them. I played Coach Fred Hoiberg this year. I was at Arkansas and my team played Iowa State, and they kind of beat us bad, but it was just the experience factor and to see how he plays his bigs. I think I'll do very good in his system. Q. You mentioned having to sit there. There was some talk about you maybe at 15, some talk about you in the top 10. What was that emotion like when it didn't happen? And talk about the emotions of being in Chicago. It's a loaded front court. How do you fit there? BOBBY PORTIS: I wasn't mad, but I was nervous all the way from 11 to 22. I was just nervous because I didn't know when I was going to hear my name. But then I finally figured it out. My agent told me that Milwaukee was going to trade up and they was going to get Rashad Vaughn, so that was out of the loop. And then he said that Washington was going to take Jerian Grant, so I was like, yeah, that's out of the loop. I didn't work out for Toronto, and I think it was Dallas at 21, I didn't work out for neither of those. So like after that, I kind of knew I was going to be a Bull. Q. You've been an Arkansas guy your whole life, what is it going to be like to go to the big city, Chicago, and kind of get outside of your comfort zone? BOBBY PORTIS: It's not going to be hard because these past two months I was in Chicago working out and I stayed there for two months, and I kind of got like a great feel for the city. I was there from April to June, so I thought it was cool to just go there and work out with Mark Bartelstein's group and even Sam Dekker was there working out with me. So it was cool just to go there and work out. I've been in Arkansas for 20 years and I think it'll be a big step for me to move out of Arkansas, but that's something that all kids have to deal with. Q. What are you looking forward to in terms of playing with Derrick Rose? BOBBY PORTIS: Just trying to open up the floor a little bit more. Just trying to make it more spaced out there so our bigs won't be cluttered in the paint. I feel like they'll need someone to step out and hit jumpers. I feel like I'm the player that can do it all. I don't do anything great they say, but I do a lot of good things. So for that instance I can come in and just make an instant impact, I think. Q. Jimmy Butler plays for the Chicago Bulls, much improved offensive player. You're also a pretty good offensive player. How excited are you about playing with Jimmy Butler who's much improved offensively? BOBBY PORTIS: Oh, very excited. I feel like Jimmy Butler plays with the same energy that I do. Every time I step on the basketball court, I try to go as hard as I can, and I feel like Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson and everyone else does the same thing. So I think I complement them very well. Q. Unlike some of the teams earlier in the lottery, the Bulls give you a chance to win right away. What do you think you bring to the locker room and what do you think you bring in terms of skill set? BOBBY PORTIS: Low‑maintenance guy, high character. I'm a guy that's always won everywhere. I didn't win a National Championship in college, but I got my team farther than they've been in nine years. So I've always won. In high school I won four state championships and in college I got my team as far as I could. I'm just a winner, so I think I can just bring a winning culture to the franchise. Q. You won four state championships. You were also kind of a key player on every team that you've been on. What kind of adjustment is that going to be to be more of a role player, especially to start out? BOBBY PORTIS: If you think about it, I feel like all role players are key players. The role players are the guys that does all the blue‑collar stuff for the superstars to rise. Role players are key players, too. I feel like eventually I can work my way up to being a starter. That's my main goal is to try to be the best Bobby Portis I can be in the NBA? Q. How is it working with Coach Williamson, your AAU coach? Is he giving you any good advice, getting you ready for the NBA? BOBBY PORTIS: Yeah, no doubt. He always told me, just stay in shape because he said that the college games are over in mid‑January, and in the NBA that's 30‑some games then. So he said, it's an 82‑game schedule, eat the right things, get your rest because I'm a guy that stays up a little late. I don't party or anything, I just can't sleep. That's me. I stay up until 12:00, 1:00, and I get like five, six hours of sleep, so I've got to start getting more sleep now. So that's going to be something that's big for me, trying to get to bed and things. Some of the other things he said is he said just watch out for family members coming out of nowhere asking for things because you have a little money in your pocket now. That's one thing he always said. Q.  With Fred Hoiberg coming in, how do you feel like your style of game fits in with the up‑tempo style? BOBBY PORTIS: That's something that I always played in. Every team that I played with always played in an up‑tempo style. Even Arkansas, that's I flourished because I ran the pick‑and‑roll, ran the pick‑and‑pop game. That's something that I think Fred Hoiberg does well with his bigs. He puts his bigs in a different type of situation than most coaches would. He makes his bigs play and just read and react off their instincts. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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