AT THE HEAD of a row of cubicles sits the offices of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, the Chicago Bulls vice president of basketball operations and general manager, respectively, which overlook the basketball courts below. Each office features a sliding glass door that opens up to an indoor balcony from which they can watch and observe the team they have constructed. Inside those offices on the heels of yet another disappointing season, Karnisovas began soliciting ideas from other members of the front office, coaches and players on how to execute a new vision.
Turning the Page
Keeping this roster intact once again was untenable. For the second consecutive season, the Bulls had been eliminated on the road by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, missing the playoffs for the sixth time in the past seven years and the third time in Karnisovas' four-year tenure. In a press conference the day after the season-ending loss, Karnisovas declared he took "full responsibility."
The challenge this summer inside the offices on the top floor of the Advocate Center was to figure out what that looked like. Karnisovas told members of his front office staff, "We need to have a summer like 2021." Karnisovas and Eversley had a vision for a roster centered around DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, fueled by Lonzo Ball running the team as point guard.
A New Direction
Chicago was the only team in the NBA not to make a trade at the deadline in any of the past three seasons. This summer, the Bulls let their best offensive player (DeRozan) find another home in free agency, traded away their best defensive player (Alex Caruso), and allowed their backup center (Andre Drummond) to walk. The Bulls replaced each player in their 30s with someone in their 20s: Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, and Jalen Smith.
Coby White finished second in the voting for the NBA's Most Improved Player award. For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Bulls held training camp outside of Chicago, gathering on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville.
Midseason Dilemmas
The Bulls were 24-27 at the trade deadline. They decided to prioritize making the play-in tournament for the second consecutive season instead of unloading their veteran talent. They held onto Drummond and Caruso. DeRozan maintained all season that he wanted to remain in Chicago. The Bulls eventually traded Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Giddey. This marked a new direction by acquiring Giddey.
Re-signing restricted free agent Williams became a priority. The Bulls agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Kings, who gave DeRozan a new three-year, $74 million contract earlier this month. LaVine had season-ending surgery in February but has fully recovered and will be ready to start the season on time. However, LaVine has clashed in recent years with coach Billy Donovan.
Coaching Changes and Expectations
Former lead assistants Mo Cheeks and Chris Fleming both departed, and Josh Longstaff accepted a new job with the Charlotte Hornets. The coaches were replaced by Wes Unseld Jr. and Dan Craig. Chicago is unlikely to be among the top contenders in the conference: Boston, Milwaukee, New York and Philadelphia. The Bulls owe their 2025 first-round draft pick to the Spurs, but it's top-10 protected.
Karnisovas indicated that he wanted to bring back DeRozan for both his value on the court and his investment in the team's young players. "We need to have a summer like 2021," Karnisovas reiterated. "We've gone young. We've got players who are experienced and give us a greater opportunity to have a longer runway for sustainability to winning meaningful games for a longer time," Eversley added.
Player Thoughts
"A thank you would be an understatement. The love, passion and joy you filled me with for three seasons was a dream. It gave me a drive every night to return the feeling," said DeRozan in his farewell. Eversley commented on DeRozan's departure, noting, "I love DeMar. He was terrific for our organization the last three years. But I don't think we were in a position to deliver what he was looking for going forward. He wants to win. He deserves an opportunity to win at a really high level. And arguably, we're not in that situation right now. As much as it hurt to let him go, I'm extremely happy for him."
Looking at LaVine's situation, Eversley mentioned, "The most unfortunate situation for Zach last year was that he got hurt. Coming out of camp, he wasn't right. Him going down early in the season proved that. When he came back, he was pretty good and the team was pretty good. Small sample size, but we can build off that. Simply put, we're looking forward to having him come back to training camp and joining the team."
Addressing LaVine's motivation, a team source said, "He's never won, he's done it his way the whole way and never won. If he's interested in winning, he'll do what's asked of him. And if he's motivated to not be here, one way is to come, be compliant and be who he is."
Eversley summed up the changes succinctly: "We've promised change and we think we've executed that. I think the changes being made at all levels of the organization are positive ones. Now it's time to put in the work and see if some of those changes are going to be fruitful or not."