Bulls' actions will speak louder than words coming out of fall camp

Just a few days into camp, the Bulls’ front office, coaches and players keep saying all the right things about a team and its goals in early October.

But keep an eye out for what this picture will look like by February or the end of the season.

While executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas and guard Zach LaVine play nice when it comes to their awkward situation, a source indicated the Bulls will continue actively shopping him.

The feeling outside the organization is that LaVine won’t be alone, either. Everything is and will remain in play.

“We’re not where we want to be yet, but the direction remains clear,” Karnisovas insisted when he addressed the media to begin the week.

That’s about as concrete as Karnisovas can get when it comes to the upcoming season, and with good reason. Big Brother will be watching.

The NBA office knows what the 2025 draft class — headlined by Cooper Flagg — means to the bottom rung of teams but continues to stress the notion of a competitive league. That’s why Karnisovas’ statement was more word salad than gospel.

The Bulls are already on the league’s radar.

Karnisovas was busted for violating tampering rules in the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade deal and forced to forfeit a second-round pick. The last thing he needs is a reminder that obvious tanking is a no-no.

He passed that test in his news conference, and then some.

“I think the ultimate goal is to win, right?” Karnisovas said when he was pressed on winning games with a team most consider way below average. “Because the development is not learning how to dribble the ball, shoot, all this stuff. The part of it is adversity and also to teach those guys what goes into winning.

“The process we’re going through right now, we just started, and it’s not a final product. I think coming into this training camp, there are a lot of players coming back from injuries, a lot of new faces. We have no idea how that’s going to work.

‘‘There are a lot of questions going into this training camp, and we’re going to be going through it and learning about this group, how this group can work together in this mix.”

That became a bit clearer in practice Wednesday.

Josh Giddey (ankle), who was acquired for Alex Caruso in the offseason, ramped up his activity in some of the contact portion of practice, Ball (left knee surgery) had no setbacks from practice on Tuesday and was at it again and Patrick Williams (foot) continued full practices.

Karnisovas and coach Billy Donovan have stressed an up-tempo style, and the only way to get to that level is to have pieces in place.

“We are going to see how this group is going to play together,” Karnisovas said. “We have to play faster and push the ball because we do understand that in losing DeMar [DeRozan] and [Caruso], there are going to be a lot of players on this roster that are going to take a role they have never done before.

‘‘The shots we are going to be hunting are basically rim shots and open threes, and the only way you can do that is if you play faster. Every time you go against a set defense, it’s very hard to score, so we’re going to look for answers, and training camp is going to be for that.”

Much bigger answers will come later this season.