The Chicago Bulls have entered Phase 1 of the recovery process – acceptance.
Arturas Karnisovas sat down with reporters after another depressing end to the regular season and – shockingly – said the right things. Not only did he take full responsibility for the team’s mediocre play, but he insisted that change was on the horizon. For the first time since its inception, Karnisovas admitted that the core he built wasn’t working and wasn’t going to work.
Did he recognize this too late? Yes. Should we now give him the benefit of the doubt? No. Again, this is only one Phase 1 of what should be a multi-step process. The roster needs to be torn to shreds, and the future needs to be prioritized. But you can’t move on to those next steps until you recognize there is a problem. Karnisovas has finally done that.
I’ve said it before, driving in any direction would be better than sitting in the middle of the road. But there is a path that is far bumpier than others, and I still fear Karnisovas will choose that path. While the front office leader didn’t rule out a rebuild, he still slipped in a few comments about his desire to win as many games as possible. The one that really stood out to me is when he threw out a specific number of games the Bulls need to add to the win column next year:
“We definitely understand that even with some of the positivity with the clutch wins and overtime wins, we’re still at 39 and at the play-in. We have to somehow generate an additional 10 wins. Even with injuries that we suffered this year, I think we need to change things,” Karnisovas said.
He may have merely meant that winning around 50 games is how you end up a legitimate part of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. And that’s fair. However, if he’s suggesting that the Bulls need to find a way to win that many games as soon as next year … that’s a tad concerning. The last thing on their mind should be giving up more future assets or young talent to add win-now players. They’re already limited enough. The willingness to toss the future aside is precisely what got them into this current mess. Don’t let history repeat itself.
Karnisovas also spoke about the trade deadline again, reiterating that there weren’t any deals he thought would “improve the team.” This is probably true … in the short term! If he wasn’t willing to improve this group’s long-term trajectory then, how can we be confident that he’ll be willing to do it this offseason? It still sounds like he only wants to make deals that will influence winning ASAP.
“I’m always open to doing deals that will improve the team and to still compete for a playoff spot, I’m not going to do it. So I think going into this offseason, we’re going to be more aggressive to look for ways to improve this team,” Karnisovas told reporters.
This is why I don’t expect anyone to take Karnisovas simply at his word. Did he finally express an understanding that this pre-existing roster needs change? Yes, and that’s good! Unfortunately, he also alluded to a continued desire to win now, and that’s bad!
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
While we’re on the topic of win-now trades, a report surfaced immediately after the Bulls’ season ended that Chicago might want to pursue a star …
We are not far out from it being TEN YEARS since the Chicago Bulls won a home playoff game (and, no, beating the Hawks in the Play-In doesn’t count). The Bulls have still yet to recover from the Derrick Rose era, which is a true testament to how far this organization has fallen.
The NBA’s future is so bright (just not in Chicago):
I love that KD loves this shit. I love that Ant lets everyone know and is totally fearless in spots like this already. This series is going to rule. https://t.co/RN73KDhBfy— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) April 20, 2024
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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