Bulls pursuing competent GMs is something to be excited about
The news broke Friday afternoon that the Bulls have intentions in doing a formal search to hire a new top executive, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
This has been a very interesting week for Bulls fans despite the season potentially being canceled due to COVID-19. First, the announcement of the ESPN documentary series “The Last Dance” being pushed forward to April 19 instead of June 2. Now, we have news that not only are the Bulls searching for a new top executive, but they are actually pursuing competent figures.
Two people that are already being considered for interviews are Arturas Karnisovas, the Denver Nuggets’ general manager, and Toronto Raptors GM Bobby Webster. The Bulls still need to seek permission in order to actually perform these interviews but it still shows a step in the right direction.
This plan has been expressed directly from Bulls ownership and passed down the pipeline to John Paxson and Gar Forman according to ESPN sources. There is a high likelihood that Paxson and Forman will still maintain some type of role with the Bulls, but I hope it’s not one that holds similar influence to their current roles.
The expectation is that there will be new leadership well before league play resuming. Interviews will happen within the coming weeks via electronic devices.
Bulls fans from all over have expressed their repugnance of Forman and Paxson for several years and in a multitude of ways. But now, change finally is coming.
While many fans are still discontent with Paxson and Forman still having a job with the Bulls after all the mess that transpired this season, this news is still something that should be celebrated.
Karnisovas, along with others in a part of the Nuggets front office, truly reshaped the Nuggets into a Western Conference contender. The Nuggets have turned their organization around by developing their second-round pick, Nikola Jokic from Serbia in the 2014 draft and landing top-10 pick Jamal Murray in the 2016 draft from Kentucky. The Nuggets have gone 46–36 in 2017–2018, 54–28 in 2018–2019, and were well on pace to have 50 wins this season landing as high as second in the Western Conference behind the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bobby Webster was an essential overlooked part in the Toronto Raptors winning their first NBA Championship in NBA history when he was promoted to GM in 2017. Some of the notable moves that he and his staff made were drafting All-Star Pascal Siakam, the pivotal trade for 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, and snagging good undrafted talent like Fred VanVleet.
These candidates show that the Bulls organization is listening, and they are doing their homework. They may not do everything to please the fans, but they are starting to understand how critical it is to have great people in leadership outside of “cronies”.
At the same time, let’s be clear that this is only a step in the right direction. There will be many changes that need to happen in order to bring this Bulls team back into relevancy such as coaching re-alignment and roster reconstructing but we should be headed down that road once this situation gets addressed.
