In the world of Arturas Karnisovas there are levels of mediocrity.
That has to be the only explanation for the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations.
And that tier he must be the most comfortable wandering around in and bumping into walls? Competitive mediocrity.
NBA hell for most, but not for Karnisovas. He embraces it.
Not good enough to even be an afterthought for the likes of Cleveland, Boston and New York in the Eastern Conference in a playoff series, but not bad enough to put himself in the best position possible to try and hit the lottery golden ticket and land a franchise changer like a Cooper Flagg.
Forget the fact that the Cavaliers changed their franchise twice by hitting No. 1 and landing LeBron James and then Kyrie Irving. Karnisovas would rather point to their 2013 No. 1 pick of Anthony Bennett. Ignore what Detroit has been building since drafting Cade Cunningham No. 1 in the 2021 draft. Karnisovas believes there are more landmines in the lottery than sure things.
Unfortunately, recent history shows how wrong he is.
Of the last five No. 1 overall picks, Anthony Edwards, Cunningham, Paolo Banchero and Victor Wembanyama have become All-Stars. The jury is still out on Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher — selected No. 1 in the very mediocre 2024 draft class — but he has already flashed with two 30-plus point games
More importantly, four of those five teams are currently ahead of the Bulls in the standings, and the Spurs were before they lost Wembanyama for the season.
Yet, the Karnisovas model is to build the team out rather than do whatever it takes to land elite game-changing talent.
Build out all you want, AK. It doesn’t work.
The NBA is a superstar league, and the Bulls have been void of a real superstar since Derrick Rose was stealing the MVP trophy from James back in 2011.
By the way, Rose was a No. 1 overall pick.
But here the Bulls are, sitting at 27-38 through 65 games and heading for the annual “AK Tournament of Mediocrity,” otherwise known as the play-in tournament.
The only player with All-Star on the resume is Nikola Vucevic, but it remains a roster void of a superstar. Even when they had three current or former All-Stars on the roster together — the closest they’ve come to having a roster that’s built out — there was little separation of where they currently sit.
Through 65 games with DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Vucevic two seasons ago, the Bulls were 31-34. Last year with that big three they were 29-36 at this time. With DeRozan and LaVine both in Sacramento now, the Bulls have slipped a whopping two games from this point last season.
They aren’t the haves, they aren’t bad enough to be the have nots. They simply exist in irrelevancy.
“I won’t be satisfied until we bring a championship to the city of Chicago,” Karnisovas said last April. “That’s why I was hired, that’s why I’m here and my mission remains unchanged.”
There’s no doubt that Karnisovas believes that.
The issue is he doesn’t understand how to do it. It’s definitely not this.
There’s no guarantee that the Bulls would hit No. 1 if they were a bottom three team. Washington, Utah and Charlotte each have a 14% chance. But those three teams also have the best chance to land Flagg, Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey.
The Bulls sitting at No. 9 and playing their way even further out of that? They have a 4.5% chance at Flagg, and a 20.3% chance to hit in the top four.
That doesn’t move the needle for Karnisovas. He’d rather wing it by selecting the likes of a Kon Knueppel, a Khaman Maluach or a Derik Queen. The perfect fit for Karnisovas’ roster.
More mediocrity toiling around in mediocrity.