The Chicago Bulls are building toward a harder, bigger identity, but the league is about to put a finer point on what that actually looks like on offense.
Bryson Graham has made his intentions plain: this roster is supposed to be defined by size, length, athleticism, and physicality. That vision showed up in a major way Monday, when he ended the brief Rob Dillingham era in Chicago. Then on Tuesday, the NBA League office added another layer to the equation, with referee Monty McCutchen releasing two officiating updates for the 2026-27 season that focus on how offensive players use physicality.
The points of emphasis fall into four areas: off-arm movement by offensive players, screens, perimeter and post play, and straight-line drives. The changes do not call for a complete overhaul of how the Bulls play, but they do mean the team’s new build has to account for the way officials plan to judge contact.
That matters because the Bulls are trying to establish a new standard under Graham and Tiago Splitter. The league is signaling that physical play on offense will still be part of the game, but only within a tighter frame. NBA physicality is not the same thing as football-style force, and the Bulls’ next step will be learning where that line sits.
One area to watch is off-arm movement. For players attacking the rim, the issue is control.
The ball can be driven to the basket through contact, but extending the off-arm to create space can draw an offensive foul. That means players such as Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, and Dailyn Swain will need to be sharp about how they create separation on the way to the rim without letting that off-arm drift into a push-off.
Screening is another place where the league wants more scrutiny. Officials will be watching for screens that turn into offensive players pushing defenders and limiting their movement.
For the Bulls, that puts attention on how Nic Claxton, Zach Collins, and Jalen Smith set screens that help generate space without crossing into illegal contact. The challenge is simple to describe and difficult to execute: set a firm base, create room for the ballhandler, and avoid putting the screener in a compromised position that leads to an inadvertent push.
The broader message for Chicago is clear. If the Bulls want to make their physical identity real, they now have to do it with more precision than ever.
In Other News...
Bulls Fans May Need Patience With Dailyn Swain For One Reason
Dailyn Swain already has the kind of draft pedigree that gets a young player noticed in Chicago, but his first extended run in a Bulls uniform was uneven. Taken with the No. 15 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Swain struggled through Summer League as the organization tried to get a first real look at how his game would translate against NBA competition.
Still, the early read around camp is more encouraging than the box score suggested. Coaches and teammates have pointed to a clearer sense of confidence and a stronger effort level as Swain heads into training camp, and the Bulls have been open about expecting him to need time before he settles in as a meaningful piece of the rotation. For a team that invested a premium pick in him, the development curve may matter just as much as the immediate results. [Read more 🡒]
Buddy Hield Already Signals A Different Bulls Rebuild Plan
The Bulls trade for Buddy Hield fits neatly into the tone Bryson Graham has been setting since taking over as the teams lead executive. Chicago is not just collecting talent for talents sake here. The front office has been talking about raising the rosters floor, and Hield brings exactly the kind of veteran presence that can make a young group easier to manage on a night-to-night basis.
What makes the move more interesting is the way Hield is being framed inside that bigger reset. His value goes beyond shooting, with the Bulls clearly viewing him as someone who can help the locker room and lean on existing relationships with teammates to smooth over some of the rough edges of a rebuild. It is a small clue, but one that suggests Chicagos next phase may be built as much on competence and chemistry as on long-term upside. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Camp Is Already Hinting At A Surprising Defensive Role
Tiago Splitter has made the tone of Bulls training camp pretty clear early on, with defense treated as a foundation rather than an afterthought. The first practices have been competitive and physical, and both Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson described the sessions that way as Chicago starts sorting out how it wants to play this season.
Isaac Okoro has already emerged as one of the more important names in that conversation because of what he can do on the perimeter. His defensive value looks set to matter right away, and the Bulls appear poised to use him in a role built around that edge, even if his place in the rotation is not the one some might have expected when camp opened. [Read more 🡒]