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

Moving forward, Mohammed may be a great get by the Bulls. He’s known as personable and well respected in the Association. With Elton Brand taking on a similar role with the 76ers it established the precedent for someone of his ilk to step into the GM role.

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The main takeaway here? Over the past decade or so the Spurs were the first name mentioned when it came to coaching or front office replacements. San Antonio was the template every franchise tried to emulate for the past 20 years and for good reason — they’ve been to 22 consecutive postseasons and won five titles. The Warriors were also in the mix during their era of winning.

Now it seems every time there is a front office opening it’s the Thunder (Presti and his staff) and the Raptors (Ujiri and his staff) who are mentioned first or Tim Connelly in Denver.

That Karnisovas became the first hire in the rebuilding Bulls front office and comes from Denver also isn’t that surprising given he was promoted into his current role when Masai Ujiri took the Raptors job.

The more important point may be the trio of front offices who appear to be the most desired in terms of emulating their success and culture are now the Raptors, Nuggets and OKC Thunder.

Given Toronto is the defending champions and the Nuggets rank third in the West with one of the deepest rosters in the NBA I’d say the Thunder are keeping great company!