This has always been on Arturas Karnisovas.
The last few weeks was just a reminder of how much accountability the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations was shouldering.
Wins over Charlotte, Toronto, and then the shocker in Boston, gave the Bulls their first three-game winning streak of the season, before the Celtics ended it on Saturday. But still, Karnisovas’ roster was at 13-16, comfortably sitting in a very familiar ZIP code — the play-in.
Bye-bye 2025 first-round pick if things don’t change. That protected top 10 draft choice will head to the Alamo and become property of the Spurs.
It’s not like Karnisovas will get much cooperation from around him, either.
Thanks to the back-to-back games against Boston now in the rear-view mirror, the Bulls have the easiest remaining schedule left in the NBA. They have a coach in Billy Donovan that is seemingly pushing all the right buttons with arguably the least talented roster he’s had since his Year 1 arrival. And it’s not like his players are going to lie down and take losses by softening up the effort.
Guard Zach LaVine made that very clear by recently insisting, “Players and coaches never tank. That’s just not going to happen.”
Donovan reiterated that by admitting that he has not been told by the front office to ease back in the effort in the slightest.
“That would be very, very difficult for me personally,” Donovan said, when discussing that type of message being delivered to him. “To walk in front of a locker room every single day and be like, ‘Let’s pretend.’
“I think we’re trying to put our best foot forward.”
That’s why only Karnisovas — as well as general manager Marc Eversley — can course correct this.
According to a source on Sunday, the front office still has full autonomy on the direction this season can go. The Sun-Times reported at the start of the season that Karnisovas & Co. were firmly behind the idea of showcasing the likes of Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball through the first 30-35 games, and then hoping there would be a shift in a market they found very stubborn to make a deal in the offseason.
That shift necessarily hasn’t come, but there’s at least been a flinch.
While the Eastern Conference has been defined in the power structure at the top, the Western Conference is much murkier. Oklahoma City still sits atop, but after that Memphis all the way down to 11th-seeded Phoenix can make a logical argument on being a threat to make the conference finals.
That’s why Golden State — sitting seventh in the West — already traded for Dennis Schroder, put him in the starting lineup, and was reportedly still shopping for a bigger fish to add to their star power.
Both Vucevic and LaVine fit that description and would make the roster better.
Denver is reportedly sniffing around LaVine — which the Sun-Times confirmed — while the Lakers are in on every rumor of the day.
A team to keep an eye on is the Grizzlies, who would love to move off the contract of Marcus Smart. The back-up point guard has earned inconsistent minutes off the bench and makes $20 million this season. If it was an expiring contract, however, great.
The issue is like Vucevic’s deal, Smart is at $21 million in his final year next season. The Bulls aren’t looking to add veteran contracts that stretch beyond 2024-25 unless beneficial draft picks were attached.
Monday night’s showdown with Milwaukee is Game No. 30 for the Bulls. All eyes on Karnisovas now.
