The Bulls have fired Artūras Karnišovas, the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations, and Marc Eversley, their general manager, according to a press release.
Bulls CEO and president Michael Reinsdorf issued a statement, which read: “Artūras and Marc have led with a deep commitment to the Chicago Bulls. These decisions are never easy, especially when they involve people we respect both personally and professionally. We are grateful for their dedication and the work they’ve put in over the past six years. At the same time, we have not had the success our fans deserve, and it’s my responsibility to go in a new direction. This move is about positioning our team for sustained success moving ahead. I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand the frustration. I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right. At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.”
The Bulls have gone through several roster upheavals during their tenure, yet have been stuck in an endless cycle of mediocrity. Both men were hired in 2020 to revive a franchise that dominated the NBA landscape in the 1990s. Chicago improved its record from 31-41 in 2020/21 to 46-36 the following season but the franchise has been spinning its wheels since that point.
The Bulls have posted losing records ever since with win totals of 40. 39 and 39 over the past three seasons. Chicago is 29-49 after the front office made several moves during the trade deadline that once again put the franchise in rebuild mode. The Bulls haven’t won a playoff series in 11 consecutive seasons, counting this lottery-bound campaign.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (Twitter link), the replacements for Karnisovas and Eversley will have plenty of work to do this offseason. Chicago can be aggressive with $65MM of cap space along with the lottery pick.
This also increases the uncertainty regarding the status of head coach Billy Donovan. Donovan was reportedly a candidate for the North Carolina head coaching job but the Tar Heels on Monday chose former Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
Reinsdorf is expected to address the media at some point on Tuesday. Reinsdorf, along with senior advisor John Paxson, Brian Hagen, Pat Connelly and JJ Polk will work collectively at basketball operations during the executive search, according to Chicago Sports Network’s K.C. Johnson (Twitter link).
This is the happiest day since June 14 1998….
Anyone with a pulse will be needed for this job.
That’s the issue. All they’ve been hiring in the front office are people w/ a pulse and nothing else.
Raz- I literally just tried to do a cartwheel. It ended badly. Why it took me so long to reply. Just woke up.
Someone let me know when we’re competitive again. Maybe we can hire Nico Harrison to get us the first pick in the draft
Who are the keepers on this team?
Asking what’s left of the fan base.
Benny the Bull
Buzelis. That is all, and maybe Leonard Miller in a more expanded role.
Unfortunately the fans keep buying up all the tickets, they have a consecutive sellout streak even though they have been horrible for some years now. I hope people wake up and stay away like they do for Jerry’s other bad team in the Sox, the Chicago owners all started acting like Jerry as if they’re not in a top 3/5 market and started to cry about not generating enough profit to field a contender, while charging some of if not the highest prices for tickets and concessions in all of pro sports
They still keeping Billy so they will still be play in level. Billy had Presti who is easily best or top 3 and still fumbled.
About freakin time lols …..
Now Billy to UNC is next. OMG cant believe Malone went to UNC. Wow …. He would have been good for Bulls job. I wanted him in NY. Wow I am in shock he took UNC job. Good luck homey.
This is a very important draft for Bulls. Need to get this right. Never been a Billy guy. He blew it by not taking UNC job. Bulls can’t bring him back. Has to be a full rebuild with a new coach. Plenty of cap money and solid picks coming 😉. Good day in Chicago.
None of us is getting any younger, so when you read “patience” in the press release that can make your blood boil. Patient step 1: fire the incumbents. Patient step 2a: rework the roster with castoffs, aging veterans, and draft choices. Patient step 2b: raise ticket prices. Patient step 3: persuade the fans that approaching mediocrity is evidence that the “process” is working. Patient step 4: establish a fans’ Hall of Patience, where long-time fans who’ve died after 10, 25, or 50 years of being patient while waiting for a winner can be enshrined forever. Patient step 4b: invite the oldest living, longest-patient fan to come to a game and expire at mid-court during halftime festivities. Patient step 4c: raise the deceased fan’s body to the rafters in the United Center, there to take its place among the retired numbers of beloved former players. Patient step 5: after years of failure, return to step 1 and remind fans that they need to be patient. Meanwhile, never ever reduce ticket prices.
It’s nice the Bulls will finally reorganize the FO. However, with reports John Paxton will have input selecting the new GM, the news is not good. Reinsdorf must have lost his mind entrusting Paxton with this responsibility. Hey John, maybe you can resurrect your old buddy??? Vinny Del Negro.
Thank GOODNESS
The Bulls are so late on everything
Enough damage done by these two to set this team back another 10-15 years, that is if the bulls don’t cheap out again and hire someone from another loosing organization to run this organization, just as is the Chicago sports owners way of doing things, cut corners on everything they can, while raising prices on tickets and concessions that are the highest in pro sports, this team has been unwatchable since the good Rose years, too bad there were so short, and now we get to suffer through yet another restructure, because a rebuild is apparently too hard for Jerry to muster
There is no restructure,Billy is your daddy for next 10 years
It tells me that they are not going to spend this offseason, AK did this back in 2021 and wanted a quick fix with DeRozan and Ball additions. I believe the Michael/Jerry said this team is not ready to win, so no need to spend unnecessary money on average players in an average free agency class.
They wanna keep Donovan , WTF!!!
Shouldn’t they ask the NEW man that gets the job if he wants him first? I mean that’s the usual way it’s done. I’m just sooooooo happy that they didn’t give those 2 guys all that Cap space to throw away AGAIN! As they said on Monty Python. I think I wet em.