The first piece of the Bulls front office restructure is in place, with the organization finalizing a deal to make former Denver general manager Arturas Karnisovas the new head of basketball operations on Thursday.
Karnisovas, who was the only candidate to get multiple interviews the past few days – including a final conversation with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf – will be replacing John Paxson.
A source said that Paxson will move into an advisory role, still being a sounding board for the Reinsdorfs — Jerry and Michael — and would only offer opinions in basketball matters if Karnisovas asks. This is completely Karnisovas’ show, and an important one.
Yes, he is the first piece, but this restructure is far from over.
The first outside-the-organization hire for the Reinsdorfs, Karnisovas will now have to find a general manager to replace Gar Forman, but is also in charge of building out the other departments such as scouting, analytics, and player development.
The Bulls have historically kept a small front office, with only a handful of personnel having to wear multiple hats. That’s just not the direction of the modern NBA, as the league has watched front offices across the board expand the last five years.
And make no mistake about it, Karnisovas will have full decision making over basketball operations, including the futures of Forman, head coach Jim Boylen, and the entire coaching staff. He was even asked about Paxson, and had the option of having the organization move on from the long-time Bulls executive if that’s what he desired.
However, a source indicated that Karnisovas had no issues with the Reinsdorfs keeping Paxson around. The Sun-Times reported earlier this week that Paxson, himself, was poised to step down from the organization if asked, but it never came down to that.
So what exactly have the Bulls done in handing the keys to the car to the 48-year-old Karnisovas?
It showed that COO Michael Reinsdorf was serious about a new direction when the Sun-Times first broke the story of the restructure on All-Star Sunday.
The Lithuanian-born Karnisovas, played his college ball at Seton Hall, before making his mark on the court overseas. He got his foot in the NBA door with the Houston Rockets, working as an international scout, before eventually grabbing a spot in Denver.
He quickly gained a reputation as being a great communicator, as well as a guy that always seemed to have the bigger plan in mind.
Michael Reinsdorf has a bigger plan in mind other than the sinking rebuild in Year 3, and now it will be up to Karnisovas to start carrying that plan out.
Not that the entire process has gone off without some negativity.
There were multiple reports that the search angered a handful of African American executives around the league, who felt like people of color weren’t involved in the searching process by the Bulls.
A source close to the situation, however, indicated that not only did Michael Reinsdorf reach out to multiple minority candidates to try and get interviews – but was denied permission to do so by their current organizations, and in some cases simply turned down.
The Reinsdorfs have always prided themselves on being sensitive to diversity and embracing different backgrounds, going back to the White Sox days with Jerry Reinsdorf making minority hires in key positions such as Jerry Manuel (for the 1998 season), general manager in Kenny Williams (2000), and a Venezuelan manager in Ozzie Guillen (2004).
Since Michael Reinsdorf started gaining power with the Bulls the past three seasons, he has watched Shawn Respert and Roy Rogers join the coaching staff as assistants, while also promoting Karen Stack to an assistant spot on the staff.
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