Bulls Fans Can Rejoice With the Hiring of Arturas Karnisovas
Bulls fans have something to celebrate as former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas becomes the new face of the front office.
It’s been hard to generate any kind of buzz surrounding the Chicago Bulls lately with the pandemic putting everything on hiatus. Things have seemingly gotten so desperate for Bulls fans that many have been left clamoring for Zach LaVine’s participation in a televised game of H-O-R-S-E… an idea that works well if players are actually able to pull from a wide range of scoring tricks within their arsenal. And since Zach won’t be allowed to showcase his dunking skills along with his shooting abilities, the idea falls somewhat flat.
Thankfully, the Bulls front office, along with their fans, have a real reason to get excited. And that, of course, has to do with the recent hiring of Arturas Karnisovas as their new vice president of basketball operations. Which, of course, means that the GarPax will completely come to an end.
The plan is for Karnisovas to bring in his own guys to help modernize the Chicago Bulls front office. They have one of the smallest scouting departments in the league, and analytics department that seems to have no clue how to use the data that they’ve collected, and a head coach who was greatly outclassed by his peers (wearing Bulls across your chest won’t be enough to keep his job). Expect all of that to change with Karnisovas at the helm.
What does Karnisovas bring to the table as far as his front office moves in his role of GM?
Well, his draft selection has been on par with some of the best in the league.
One of the decisions that Karnisovas is perhaps most known for is drafting Nikola Jokic with the 41st pick in the 2014 draft. Jokic has developed into a potential NBA MVP with the Denver Nuggets. Since 2013 he helped shape the Nuggets into the playoff-caliber top-seeded team that you see today by selecting or trading for Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Jokic, Jamal Murray, Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, and Michael Porter Jr.
The Bulls also have a strong record of acquiring talent, with trading for Zach LaVine and Otto Porter, and drafting talented players with upside in Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., and Coby White recently.
Whoever the Bulls brought in would need to also have had a good track record in identifying talent through the draft and free agency, which Karnisovas has shown. The only thing that’s different is that the Nuggets have successfully built a structure in which their players have developed and that acumen is something the Bulls have not found.
For everything that Karnisovas has accomplished, there are still sure to be questions surrounding what his initial approach will be in handling the numerous questions around this team.
How will players be evaluated once play begins? Is the current core group of players the right fit in order for this team to make the next leap in their plans of being a playoff level team? Who will be calling plays from the bench when the season begins again?
It seems that the Bulls have found the man who can answer those questions in Karsinovas.
And for Bulls fans, it couldn’t have come soon enough.
Featured Image: ClutchPoints
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