Despite the Bulls‘ miserable start, president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan don’t seem to be in danger of getting fired, meaning any changes to turn the season around will have to focus on the roster, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
Karnisovas “has been given the green light to try to fix the current mess,” according to Johnson, who notes that ownership is typically slow to make changes to its front office. Karnisovas received an extension in the spring, which indicates the organization still has confidence in him.
Donovan is “liked and respected by both ownership and management,” Johnson adds, plus he still has multiple years remaining on his contract extension. Johnson points out that the Reinsdorfs don’t like to pay fired coaches, so Donovan isn’t likely to be dismissed, although changes may be made to his coaching staff.
Chicago dropped to 5-13 with Sunday’s loss at Brooklyn, which marked its fourth straight defeat and the seventh in its last eight games. The players understand that they’re underperforming, according to Johnson, and they know that a quick turnaround is the only way to prevent a roster shakeup.
“Rumors come with the territory,” Nikola Vucevic said. “If you’re playing well, everything is great. Everybody is talking positive about you. If you’re losing, you get criticized and rumors start. We have to deal with that. The only way to deal with it is for us to play better. That’s the only way for that to stop.”
Johnson suggests the Bulls’ core problem may be a flawed roster built around Vucevic, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. He points out that those three players have been on the court together for 370 minutes so far this season and they have a net rating of minus-13.9.
Reports earlier this month indicated that LaVine and the organization are both open to finding a deal to send him elsewhere. However, the team has placed a high asking price on the 28-year-old guard and his pricey salary and injury history are limiting interest around the league.
DeRozan, who has an expiring $28.6MM contract and reportedly hasn’t made much progress in extension talks, is also considered to be a trade candidate, along with Alex Caruso, a defensive standout with a team-friendly deal. Most of the free agents who signed contracts this summer will become eligible to be traded on December 15, so that’s when the Bulls might become active if their record hasn’t improved.
The team’s stars are hoping that won’t happen, Johnson adds, but they know the only way to keep the current roster together is to start winning.
“We all get along,” LaVine said. “Nobody wants to be 5-13 or lose multiple games in a row. It doesn’t feel good. It didn’t feel like we’d be at this point now. But that’s our reality. So we have to figure out how to get out of that hole. Try to get a win. That’s all we try to worry about.”
This organization is a mess
Don’t worry. Jerry will give them 7 or 8 more years in order to completely and thoroughly prove their ineptitude beyond a shadow of anyone’s doubt before making a move.
Well I think ‘The Chairman, JR’ is running this team now, but its clear ineptitude for running an org also runs in the family.
Honestly, the ownership is the problem. Reinsdorf has no idea how to run a sports team. He’s arguably worse with the White Sox. Spoiled by MJ and Pippen, and the efforts of Jerry Krause to surround them with guys like Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc, and Ron Harper. Since then, he’s never been willing to actually build a team properly.
Neither Karnisovas nor Donovan are faultless (Karnisovas especially), but it’s kind of hard to do a good job when your boss is an idiot.
It is a flawed roster build. At least this organization has some respect for the coach unlike some others.
Agreed. The roster is missing something. The Bulls have too many perimeter players and not enough athletic forwards and/or interior players. Not enough size.
Eon: Will you explain how losing, even repeatedly, equals idiocy? Like most of the commentators on this list, you seem to excel in after-the-fact criticism. Tell me who you would hire to run the team, who you would draft, who you would trade or release, who you would sign and for how much and for how long. And also tell me how you’re going to negotiate those trades with other teams who will not simply knuckle under your genius. Tell me now, and then pony up the dollars to put the plan into effect—and then admit that it’s not as easy as you seem to think it is.
Realsox, get off your high horse. Nowhere did I say that I could magically fix everything wrong with the Bulls, no did I claim it would be easy to do so. Take a few reading comprehension classes, or stop jumping to conclusions.
Jerry Reinsdorf has a history of paying out *only* when he likes the moves, rather than listening to the guys he explicitly hired to evaluate, draft, trade for, and build the proper team. It’s been that way with the White Sox for his entire tenure as owner, and for the Bulls since the Jordan era. Hiring yes-men and personal friends such as Jim Boylen and Tony LaRussa also doesn’t help. That’s why I view him as an idiot. He’s doing the same crap that James Dolan always did in New York, just with less media attention.
He only got answers. Apparently he’s a Cavs fan. But knows more about all the other teams.
What does the MJ teams have to do with this team…… absolutely NOTHING. Eon just throws names or stats out there. To pretend he knows something. In reality says nothing.
Bulls have had some decent picks. And have not developed any of them. Donovan is not a coach to build a team with. He’s better when the players are already in place.
Al, I could literally say the exact same back to you? Or am I hallucinating and you only comment on Knicks articles? No, you don’t. But I don’t say you don’t know jack even when I disagree with you and the names/stats you “throw out there” to try and prove your points. Rude.
I didn’t say anything about MJ having to do with this team, I said Reinsdorf was spoiled by having about as much success as one could possibly have with NBA ownership, and that makes him think he’s better at knowing ball than he actually is. Think Jerry Jones and football.
I comment on things I know. Things I watch. Give my take or opinion. Yes when it comes to Knicks. I think I know more than most.
But lol … seriously. You don’t have takes . You have answers. Do you understand the difference. Like I said before. You can’t possibly watch every team to have answers about them. Not even folks who make living doing this. Have answers. They have opinions and takes. Only geniuses have all the answers. Do you get that.
We can’t take you seriously if you have the answer for every freakin team lol.
Nobody on this board knows the Knicks better than I do. Yet I will listen and try and understand. And trust me . I have learned from posters. Geniuses don’t want a debate or conversation. They have the answers. You get it ……
You’re right. AK, Eversley and Donovan are intelligent and competent. They tried something and it hasn’t worked. The Lonzo Ball injury hasn’t helped.
DeM DeR >>>>>’to Knicks …
you get your PG and young players.
DeR and Zach are basically the same player. Bulls will have better chemistry with a Real PG. And Williams at the 3, his natural position. It starts there imo.
I mean the fact that the bulls keep doubling down on the worst big 3 in recent memory (Lavine, DeMar, Vuc) is why they are screwed.
Everyone knew those 3 aren’t that good except Chicago lol
Bulls were a threat with Lonzo,the team was cooking.So maybe other players are not that bad,maybe they need a proper PG to tune strings.They made cheap move second time already with Coby,let’s close eyes and maybe everything will work out somehow by itself.Look,Coby passing low balls to Vooch and for Vooch takes ages to bend down and get that ball,I saw it endless times.True PG knows his players,strong and weak sides,thats how you get involved the whole team.What we see now it’s just individual efforts,team is last in pace,assists….
Just because you identify the 3 best players on a team, does not necessarily make them a Big 3. LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic are not now, nor have they ever been a Big 3, despite the hundreds of such assertions that I have read. The only capacity that those 3 guys qualify as a Big 3 in is their combined salary.
Only a handful of teams have an honest Big 3. The Bulls have absolutely nobody on their roster that could ever be considered to be part of anyone’s Big 3.
ZL, DD, and Vooch should be shipped out and just rebuild the team, or trade for Westbrook and let him play PG with the other three.
I mean it couldn’t be any worse than it is now!
Should have done that last year, but after lack of movement last year, its pretty clear the Bulls are stuck with these guys, unless they take equally bad contracts or add something to sweeten the deal. I think the league is wise to these three prima donnas: Little effort, no drive to win, but they sure are fast to grab their checks. DeRozen is probably the best of the bunch but they overpaid to get him. LaVine they handed a huge contract to a guy with known knee issues (Then there is that whole mess of not wanting to play him a lot at the beginning of last season).Vuc is funny, clearly does not want to be there, but at the same time has no issues grabbing his bloated check.
How is that possible? After a decent start the first year it’s been one Dramedy after another.
Everyone’s safe until they’re not
This just further emphasises how lucky these upper crust types are…
Everyone with half a brain for this stuff can see the GM and coach do not share a philosophy on how to play a game…
Yet old Jerry is just happy to see the profit margin exist… Nothing else matters…
Bulls biggest issue was losing their PG. It’s all falling apart after that.
I’m not a Bulls fan …. But getting Quickley to start in Chicago. Will go a long way to fixing the Bulls. Especially since Ball seems like he could be finished. Cartridge replacement is no joke.
Actually the biggest issue was apparently building an entire team around one guy.
The Bulls are apparently full of (players and mgmt) guys only looking out for themselves or are insane (i.e. the definition of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results). It seems little wonder why some players like to stay in Chicago: No apparent accountability, no heart , just coast and grab your check on the way out for the night, rise, repeat. The only downside is no chance to win a championship, but then you have to wonder if that really bothers any of these guys they have currently.
Its the same with both orgs led by the chairman or his offspring. Lack of heart and want, and no accountability to take steps to fix that.
Donovan should go back to college.
The worst thing that could have happened for the Bulls was Lonzo’s last season. The brief fool’s gold success has crippled any sense of need in this team. Sadly, petty ownership like Dolan is better than clueless absenteeism.