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Bulls Notes: Karnisovas, Zanik, Reinsdorf, Boylen

April 8th, 2020 at 8:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas made a strong impression on the Bulls‘ front office during his interview today, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Management plans to meet with Karnisovas again electronically in a few days, and he could be hired as soon as next week.

A few other prominent names emerged today from the team’s interview process and some of them may be added to the organization as well, Cowley adds, as chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf is using the makeover to create depth in the front office. Cowley states that not all the interviews have been for the executive VP of basketball operations position, and some of them were just former executives that Reinsdorf wanted to gather information from.

The source says Jazz executive Justin Zanik also impressed Reinsdorf with his background in player relationships and salary cap knowledge. The Bulls may decide to hire several executives and have them manage separate departments.

There’s more tonight from Chicago:

NBA writer Stephen Noh examines Karnisovas’ background in a story on The Patreon. His aggressive philosophy toward trades was shaped by his first NBA job with the Rockets more than a decade ago, where he worked with general manager Daryl Morey, former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and current Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas. “They would call every team constantly and look for ideas of how they can make their team better.” Karnisovas said. “That’s what I took and still to this day, I believe in coming up with 100 ideas. Maybe one will stick.”
Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated examines some of the challenges awaiting whoever gets hired to run the team. He believes there’s too much young talent in place for a complete overhaul, but veterans such as Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky may be moved. A decision also has to be made on the fate of head coach Jim Boylen.
Black executives around the league are upset that no African American candidates have been interviewed in the Bulls’ front office search, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “It’s clear there is an underlying hypocrisy telling us the NBA is diverse, but when an opportunity comes, the process isn’t,” a black assistant GM said. “All we want is a chance. As a black man, all we want is a fair opportunity to show we are just as qualified.”

Bulls Continue Talks With Top Candidate Karnisovas

April 8th, 2020 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls president and COO Michael Reinsdorf completed an initial round of virtual interviews for a new executive VP of basketball operations on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reiterates what we’ve been hearing over the last 24 hours: Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas has emerged as the focus of Chicago’s search.

K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reported this afternoon (via Twitter) that there are plans for the Bulls are Karnisovas to talk again after their initial meeting, and Wojnarowski confirms that conversations between the Nuggets GM and Bulls officials are continuing today.

According to Wojnarowski, Karnisovas’ “diverse background” in basketball appeals to the Bulls. Before working with Tim Connelly to build a contender in Denver, Karnisovas was part of the basketball operations department in the NBA’s league office and served as an international scout for the Rockets. He also had a successful EuroLeague career as a player and won a pair of bronze medals for Lithuania’s national team in the Olympics.

If the Bulls decide Karnisovas is their man, he’s expected to be given the go-ahead to make changes within the team’s front office, including hiring a new general manager, sources tell Wojnarowski. Current GM Gar Forman will likely be re-assigned to the scouting department.

Jazz GM Justin Zanik and former team executives Danny Ferry, Wes Wilcox, and Bryan Colangelo have also interviewed with the Bulls.

Paul, Young, LaVine Among Likely H-O-R-S-E Participants

April 8th, 2020 at 3:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and ESPN have nearly finalized a plan to televise a H-O-R-S-E competition to help sate fans’ appetite for basketball, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

While it’s unclear exactly when the event will take place, Wojnarowski says Thunder guard Chris Paul, Hawks guard Trae Young, and Bulls guard Zach LaVine are among the players expected to participate. The field will also include a couple of WNBA players and recent NBA players, according to Woj.

As we relayed over the weekend, the plan would be for players to remain in isolation, likely in home gyms, while putting up shots against competitors.

H-O-R-S-E is a popular playground game in which a player attempts a shot, and if it goes in, a competitor has to make the same shot from the same spot on the court. Each failure to do so results in a letter, and the first player to spell out H-O-R-S-E is eliminated.

Bulls Interview Bryan Colangelo For Top Front Office Role

April 8th, 2020 at 1:33pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Bulls continue to conduct interviews for their top basketball operations job, Bryan Colangelo is the latest veteran executive to emerge as a candidate. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Colangelo has interviewed with Chicago for the open position.

As we detailed earlier this afternoon, the list of candidates to interview for the Bulls’ job now includes Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas, Jazz GM Justin Zanik, former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox, and former Cavs, Hawks, and Pelicans GM Danny Ferry, in addition to Colangelo.

Colangelo previous served as the head of basketball operations in Phoenix, Toronto, and Philadelphia, winning Executive of the Year awards in 2005 with the Suns and in 2007 with the Raptors.

His time with the Sixers memorably came to an end in 2018, when he resigned after just two years following allegations that he was using burner Twitter accounts to disparage 76ers players and to disclose private information about them. Subsequent reporting found that Colangelo’s wife was responsible for creating some or all of those accounts and publishing that sensitive info.

The Bulls have already interviewed five candidates and may not be done, but Karnisovas still looks like the odds-on favorite. The Nuggets GM “made a strong impression” on the Bulls during their search, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweets that conversations are ongoing.

Bulls Interview Wilcox, Ferry For Front Office Job

April 8th, 2020 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

After talking to Jazz general manager Justin Zanik and Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls have touched base with a couple more candidates for their open front office position.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox – who now works as an NBA TV analyst – has interviewed for Chicago’s executive VP of basketball operations job. Meanwhle, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports (via Twitter) that former Cavaliers and Hawks GM Danny Ferry has also interviewed with the Bulls.

Up until now, reports on the Bulls’ search had identified only current front office executives as targets, with Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd and Clippers executives Michael Winger and Trent Redden among the other candidates said to be on Chicago’s radar. This afternoon’s reports suggest the Bulls are looking beyond current team execs.

Wilcox, who was originally hired by the Hawks as an assistant general manager back in 2012, took over as the team’s GM in 2015 and served in that position for two years before the team revamped its front office in 2017. During his time in the club’s front office, Atlanta was a perennial playoff team, winning a franchise-record 60 games in 2014/15. The club entered a rebuilding process at the time of his departure.

Wilcox took the reins in Atlanta from Ferry, who was let go after reading an offensive comment from a scouting report on Luol Deng aloud during a conference call. Before his time with the Hawks, Ferry was the Cavs’ head of basketball operations from 2005 to 2010, guiding the team to five postseason berths and an NBA Finals appearance during that stint. Most recently, Ferry replaced Dell Demps as New Orleans’ interim GM last winter, but didn’t remain with the Pelicans when the team hired David Griffin in the spring.

Interestingly, three of the four candidates known to have interviewed with the Bulls – Zanik, Karnisovas, and Wilcox – are the same three executives who were said to be finalists for the Bucks’ general manager job during the summer of 2017. Milwaukee eventually changed course and instead promoted Jon Horst to the position.

While it’s possible one of those three – or Ferry – will win out this time around and be hired by the Bulls, there’s no indication that the club is done interviewing candidates. Before Wilcox’s and Ferry’s interviews were reported, Karnisovas was said to be the frontrunner for the job.

[UPDATE: The Bulls have also interviewed Bryan Colangelo]

Nuggets’ Karnisovas Leading Candidate For Bulls’ Job?

April 8th, 2020 at 11:32am CST by Luke Adams

11:32am: The Bulls have completed their interview with Karnisovas, sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, who notes (via Twitter) that the team wants to make a hire sooner rather than later.

9:27am: Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas is “the leader in the clubhouse” for the Bulls‘ open front office position, multiple sources tell Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Chicago is said to be seeking an executive who will have full authority on basketball decisions, and Karnisovas was named early in the search process as one of the club’s top candidates.

Other executives identified among the first wave of targets for the Bulls, including Pacers GM Chad Buchanan and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, will remain with their current teams. That may be the case for Raptors GM Bobby Webster too. And while Chicago did conduct a video interview on Monday with Utah’s Justin Zanik, Goodwill suggests the Jazz seem “intent” on hanging onto their GM.

However, the Bulls received permission to speak to Karnisovas about their open position and reportedly have a video interview lined up with him for the middle of this week. As Goodwill explains, Denver’s GM has a strong draft record and has a good reputation for player development, which are two characteristics the Bulls are prioritizing in their search for a new basketball operations exec.

“(Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf) wants someone who’ll surround himself with smart people, a great talent evaluator,” a source told Yahoo Sports. “There’s a need to get better in the player development department, too.”

Sources tell Goodwill that Reinsdorf wants someone who “has a presence publicly,” which would stand in contrast to the reticence of John Paxson and Gar Forman over the years. According to Goodwill, the Bulls are also looking to beef up their scouting staff, with Forman potentially moving from his general manager position to a scouting role.

Finally, sources confirm to Goodwill that Paxson – the team’s longtime head of basketball operations – will be “as involved or uninvolved” as the incoming hire wants him to be, as reports on Tuesday indicated. There’s an expectation that Paxson will move behind the scenes to an advisory role, but that’s still to be determined.

And-Ones: Clippers, Pistons, Cavs, Young

April 7th, 2020 at 9:49pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.

L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.

The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:

The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Thaddeus Young will find himself on the trade block this offseason. Young, who inked a deal the Bulls last summer, was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the season.
NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.

Bulls’ Paxson Reportedly Willing To Step Down If Asked

April 7th, 2020 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

While there has been skepticism that Bulls executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson will relinquish all of his front office power when the team hires a new executive, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that Paxson is prepared to do whatever is best for the franchise.

As Cowley details, Paxson is “all for” stepping aside and moving into more of an advisory role in the new front office structure, which is what has been rumored in recent weeks.

However, the veteran Bulls executive is willing to go even further than that, according to Cowley, who hears that Paxson would step down from the organization entirely if ownership and management felt that was in the team’s best interests amidst the latest rebuild.

Cowley’s source “insists” that Paxson is prepared for either scenario and that he’s not simply saying what he thinks everyone wants to hear. Still, the timing of the report is interesting. The Bulls haven’t had a ton of luck securing interviews with their first wave of candidates — Pacers GM Chad Buchanan and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon will remain with their current teams, and it sounds like Raptors GM Bobby Webster likely will too.

It’s possible that some of those candidates – hearing that Paxson would remain in a prominent role – were skeptical that they’d truly have “full authority” on basketball decisions in Chicago’s front office. The latest rumblings out of Chicago may be intended to show other candidates that they won’t be reporting to Paxson.

It’s still hard to imagine team owner Jerry Reinsdorf – a longtime Paxson backer – asking him to leave the organization altogether, but K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago stresses that Paxson is willing to “take as small a role as the new hire wants.”

For what it’s worth, Cowley notes in a separate report that Paxson didn’t participate in Monday’s interview with Jazz GM Justin Zanik, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said in Monday’s tweet that Zanik was interviewing for the “executive VP of basketball operations” job, which is Paxson’s current title.

Jazz GM Interviews For Top Spot In Bulls’ Front Office

April 6th, 2020 at 7:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz GM Justin Zanik had a video interview with the Bulls on Monday for the franchise’s executive VP of basketball operations opening, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Zanik has held the GM job with the Utah franchise since May 2019 after being promoted from assistant GM. That occurred at the same time longtime GM Dennis Lindsey was promoted to executive VP of basketball operations.

Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas will get an interview in the middle of this week, Wojnarowski adds. Utah just received permission to interview Karnisovas, who is one of four executives reportedly on Chicago’s initial wish list for the job. The person the Bulls hire will have full authority on basketball decisions.

Pacers GM Chad Buchanan and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon were two of the candidates on that wish list, but both decided to stay put prior to the interview process.

It’s also uncertain that Raptors GM Bobby Webster, the other candidate on the list, will be interviewed. Toronto may not grant the Bulls permission to talk to Webster, who is under contract through 2021.

Clippers GM Michael Winger, Clippers assistant GM Trent Redden, Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd are some other names that have surfaced as potential candidates.

Adam Simon To Remain With Heat Despite Bulls’ Interest

April 6th, 2020 at 4:20pm CST by Luke Adams

A Heat spokesperson said on Monday that assistant general manager Adam Simon – who also serves as the team’s VP, basketball operations – will be remaining with the franchise, according to reports from Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald and Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).

Simon was one of a handful of executives rumored to be drawing interest from the Bulls, who are looking to hire a new head of basketball operations. Chicago has reportedly been keeping a close eye on Miami’s office structure and had Simon high on its wish list, but the team won’t get a chance to interview with the veteran Heat executive.

In some cases, when a team wants to keep an executive who is drawing interest from a rival club, that exec receives a promotion and/or a raise. It’s not clear yet if that will be the case for Simon, who grew up in South Florida and is highly regarded by the Heat for his scouting and draft work, according to Jackson.

The Bulls’ initial list of front office targets was said to include Simon, Pacers GM Chad Buchanan, Raptors GM Bobby Webster, and Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas. Like Simon, Buchanan will be remaining with his current team, and there’s a belief that Webster will do the same. However, Chicago has reportedly received permission to interview Karnisovas and Jazz GM Justin Zanik.