OKC Thunder front office ranks among NBA best as Bulls interest highlights

Chicago’s hiring of Arturas Karnisovas as Vice President of Basketball Operations hasn’t dampened interest in OKC Thunder management talent. Moreover, it cements the fact this franchise is among a trio of front office powerhouses.

Whether the NBA elects to return this season or not the Chicago Bulls aren’t waiting to effect change in the organization. They began that process this week with the hire of Arturas Karnisovas as Vice President of Basketball Operations. You’ll remember the rumors were the Bulls were covetous of OKC Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager, Sam Presti.

Perhaps that’s putting too fine a point on it. If you follow the Bulls you know they weren’t simply covetous of Presti they were willing to do what they never do — and open up the bank vault to get him. 

Likewise, it’s reasonable and logical why the Thunder GM was never going to be tempted. Sure, you’ll hear all sorts of disclaimers that the Bulls front office remains a top profile landing spot. However, the Gar-Pax (Gar Forman – John Paxson) era and Reinsdorf ownership hasn’t quelled recency bias. Interesting side note – Paxson’s middle name has a Shakespearean twist: “MacBeth”.

In the 22 years since Michael Jordan and Co. won the last of their six titles, the Bulls were 50-50 at reaching the postseason.

Of their 11 appearances three times they got to the second round and made one Conference Finals appearance with three of those four successes coming under the leadership of Tom Thibodeau and primarily during the Derrick Rose era.

The Chicago Bulls are a club teeming with young talents. To say they underachieved this campaign is an understatement. The narrator earmarked them to be in the mix for a lower ladder playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. In fairness, two factors dealt them an unsavory uphill battle.

The primary factor was injury and not simply the fact key players were injured. Rather, that those injuries hit key areas of the rotation. Losing Otto Porter Jr. to a broken foot was the biggest loss. Without many veterans on the roster, his presence was key to lead the young nucleus plus his two-way ability was essential to their wing (and overall) defense.

Other injuries happened, but the timing was key as the frontcourt was ravaged. At one point each of  Wendell Carter Jr. (who looked great in stretches), Daniel Gafford, Lauri Markkanen, OPJ, Chandler Hutchison, Shaquille Harrison, Luke Kornet and Denzel Valentine missed substantial time. There were games where the Bulls were missing both the starter and backup at the center, power forward and small forward positions.

The other key issue is coach Jim Boylen. His approach wasn’t just old school – it was antiquated. Installing a Flintstone-esque punch card time clock was just one of his many gaffes as the organization looked to reestablish their culture and build chemistry.