Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ new executive vice president of basketball operations, is asking Bulls fans to hang in there. He’s behind a bold new Rebuild the Tribe plan to recover his team’s former glory. After years of mediocrity, Karnisovas believes there are promising signs emerging from the team’s recent performances, particularly their strong finish to the regular season.
Karnisovas has developed a close working relationship with Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and CEO Michael Reinsdorf. He sees this nexus as perhaps the most central aspect of his strategy. He’s got strong connections with the team’s leadership. This encourages a more open discussion about whether or not we agree with his vision for the franchise’s future.
Over the past year, the Bulls have undergone significant changes, including the high-profile trades of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. Purists may be hoping for a full-scale rebuild, aka “tank mode.” Repeatedly, both directly and indirectly, Karnisovas has made it abundantly clear that he would never go that route. Instead, he’s more interested in having the most competitive roster possible, while clearly developing players and making sure that’s their priority.
As always, we’ll be closely looking for opportunities to improve this roster. Our hope is to bring a cant-miss, world-class talent. I’m not going to set any restrictions on this list. So we’ll see, hopefully Coby and Josh are doing really well and I’m all for that, but we’re talking about unprecedented things here. Karnisovas stated during a recent press gathering.
His predecessor’s performance, especially at the end of last season, has provided Karnisovas plenty of cause for enthusiasm. The team ultimately ended with a strong 15-5 record, a sign that the players and their talents were coalescing into something that could develop and accelerate quickly. “It’s hard to win games in this league and to finish 15-5. Yeah, it’s not a victory lap, but I think there’s some positives,” he remarked.
And yet, for all of these advantages, the Bulls have consistently run into roadblocks in the past few seasons. Of the organization since Karnisovas came on board, the team has just one playoff appearance. They haven’t made it past the first round since the 2014-15 season when Tom Thibodeau was at the helm. This history looms over the franchise as fans dream of a day their beloved franchise can return to its former glory.
Karnisovas continued to assert that he thinks the Bulls are on the right path in how they’re constructing their roster. “I do believe in the way we wanted to build this roster,” he affirmed. He projected a strong belief in the need to develop young, dynamic playmakers such as Coby White and Josh Giddey. Both players have shown high ceilings based on their play thus far.
Karnisovas’s strategy seems twofold — it’s about the immediate return for 2022-23 while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. He recognizes the value of results too, and for better or worse, creating young talent has to be the focus for the franchise going forward. As Coach Billy Donovan has repeatedly stated, the key is winning — and finding a way to win that develops younger players.
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