Arturas Karnisovas' plan to build a winning Bulls team

New Front Office Regime

Most sports executives start their new job with a meticulous plan. What else do they talk about in those 8-hour job interviews anyways?

They have a plan, and they do everything in their power to execute that plan. There are occasional hiccups, such as being cash-strapped by ownership or free agents opting to play somewhere warm. Even so, it’s not a game of who can make their plan a reality. It’s a black and white adventure known as winning or not winning. Executing the wrong plan leads to a new regime invading your office.

In the case of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, their current plan is wrong. And they can’t even bring their own vision to fruition. It’s quite the lose-lose for a duo with a lot of staying power. I also believe the plan changed over the years…Let’s take a look at what AKME set out to do.

The Immediate Shift

“Our ultimate goal is clearly to bring an NBA championship to the city of Chicago.”

The introductory media call sounded great, right?

Arturas Karnisovas was named Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations on April 13, 2020. Here we are in June of 2025 after 5+ years of his tenure, and the Bulls are exactly where they were when the NBA season came to a sudden stop due to COVID.

After years of yelling into the great expanse about Gar Foreman and John Paxson not getting the job done, any change felt worthwhile at The Advocate Center. The selected candidate seemed like the result of an honest process backed by others around the league. Michael Reinsdorf took advantage of the 2020 All-Star Game in Chicago to mingle amongst other executives and figure out who might be the best person for the job.

Karnisovas showed up in Chicago on the backs of high recommendations. So what else did he promise when he arrived?

“I like high pace, moving the ball…it’s a very entertaining brand of basketball.”

We all know it took until this past season to ACTUALLY play with a faster pace.

“We are the second youngest team in the league, a great young core; the Bulls drafted well…I think building through the draft and developing your players is the key to getting better every year.”

Does that mean he initially hoped to keep a young core that included Zach LaVine and three #7 overall draft picks: Lauri Markannen, Coby White, and Wendell Carter Jr.? Possibly. But it only took half of a season to send Carter out of town at the trade deadline, bring in Nikola Vucevic, and signal a swift but major shift in philosophy.

The 2020-2021 Bulls finished 31-41 and didn’t compete up to AK’s standards. The changes began.

Building Around A Star: DeMar DeRozan

After one full season at the helm, Karnisovas made his intentions clear. This wasn’t going to be a full rebuild. Building through the draft was a misspoken goal. Taking any steps backwards to get closer to contention was taboo. The goal was to win games as soon as possible.

In the summer of 2021, the Bulls acquired Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan in sign-and-trades. A new core quickly formed with LaVine and Vucevic whereas other young players were traded away. The John Paxson Bulls were no more.

At the time, the moves were intriguing because we had already suffered through a fruitless 5-year rebuild. DeMar was a proven star, Lonzo was elite at many different aspects of the game, and the fit between all of these established players could actually come together. Why bother waiting for more #7 overall draft picks to develop and form a decent squad in another 5 years?

Well, the Big 4 exceeded expectations.

AK’s roster of misfit vets was actually working. The selfless brand of basketball with a respectable amount of defense proved to be enough to sit at #1 in the East into the new year. We all know how things turned when Lonzo Ball got injured…

Looking back at that season, I believe the entire plan to contend for a championship was to rely on DeMar DeRozan as the star of the team. Even though he never carried the Toronto Raptors or San Antonio Spurs to a title, he brought the right skillset and demeanor to lead a Bulls team.

Acquiring a player like DeRozan was definitely worth it. He represented Chicago with poise, compassion, and authenticity. He was the ultimate teammate. On the court, he was the most reliable scorer and instantly became the King of the 4th with all of his clutch game winners. He ended up averaging 25.5 points/game in his Bulls career.

So if DeRozan was THAT good for the Bulls, how did Karnisovas’ plan go awry?

1) DeRozan is not the best player on a championship team

2) There was no adjustment after Lonzo’s injury

3) The Patrick Williams draft pick in 2020 - AK’s first first-round selection

4) Abandoning his self-declared ideal play style

5) Refusing to overhaul the roster around DeRozan

Without diving too far into the Andre Drummond/Goran Dragic/Torrey Craig/Jevon Carter MAJOR free agent splashes or the clear miss on Patrick Williams when Tyrese Haliburton was on the board, it was unfathomable to hear Marc Eversley say, during the 2023-2024 season, they owed their guys another shot:

“You've got a guy in DeMar, for as much as he's done for our team or [Vucevic], for as much as he's done -- do you just sit there and pivot out and put those guys in a situation that's like 'What are we doing?' We felt like we owed it to the team to keep it together.”

The team. Wasn’t. Winning. But they respected the veterans and wanted to be loyal to them? By not providing a better group around them?

It has been almost a full year since DeMar DeRozan was traded to the Sacramento Kings to officially end the shortcut-rebuild era of Bulls basketball. Since that team didn’t win enough and DeMar was gone, Karnisovas’ plan to build a winner changed. Surprise, it’s another extremely ineffective plan…

9 to 10 Very Good Players

"There's different structures that you can try to get to a championship. There's 2-3 star players and then a lot of role players, or you can build it as 9-10 very good players."

In his annual trade deadline press conference this past February, Arturas Karnisovas was honest about his plan. He wants to build a winning Bulls team by collecting “very good players”. Has that ever worked? Is any other team in the league actively using that approach? I would argue no to both questions.

Let’s take a look at the last 10 NBA Champions and their star players:

The league is driven by stars. They dictate the game on the court and the drama off the court. Some of the best players in the last 25 years of NBA basketball are on this list as recent champions. You need elite talent to build a winning team.

This list of “star players” doesn’t even include the Jamal Murrays or Andrew Wiggins or Jaylen Browns or Khris Middletons of the world. In a completely subjective categorization of players, they may fill the tier between “very good” and “star”. If they set the bar for “very good”, then we are in way more trouble than I even thought in Chicago.

The final four from this year’s NBA Playoffs: Thunder, Timberwolves, Knicks, and Pacers.

Each team has 1 star (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson, and Tyrese Haliburton) combined with a lot of talent throughout the roster. And don’t get me started on GM Sam Presti of the NBA Champion Thunder and how many draft picks he stockpiled over the last 5+ years. Trading for draft capital works!?!?!?

No other organization in the league is actively trying to win while also refusing to pursue stars.

This plan doesn’t work, but let’s pretend that it COULD work. Can the Bulls actually find a way to compile a squad of 9-10 very good players?

If I’m being generous in comparison to others around the league, I could place Coby White and Josh Giddey in that category.

Coby continues to ascend. His role has changed almost every single year on the Bulls: young player trying to earn minutes at the end of the bench, sparkplug bench scorer, starting point guard, primary scorer 2-guard, and more. Through it all, he has developed into an exciting player who continues to show that his ceiling is much higher than I thought after a couple years in the league.

Pairing him with Giddey is actually beneficial as he settles in as an off-ball scorer. His basketball IQ and defensive abilities have grown tenfold as well under Billy Donovan’s tutelage. 20.4p/4.5a/3.7r per game are impressive averages.

Giddey turned a corner halfway through last season. After being benched in the playoffs with the Thunder because of his non-existent defense, he brought his inability to stick to anyone to Chicago. The playmaking, pace, and quarterbacking were all there, but he was unplayable on the defensive end.

Something finally clicked, and he started to play with a new physicality worthy of blue-collar Chicago basketball. He was high energy on the defensive end and started bullying through bodies when driving to the lane. This was the Josh Giddey AK hoped to unlock when trading for a 22-year old with a propensity for triple-doubles. Oh, and his 3PT% was a career-high 37.8%. We’re talking about a complete player if he can show all of those skillsets consistently.

So, they have 2 of their 9 to 10. Is that it?

Lonzo Ball is not the same player after his miraculous return from injury. Before he went down, he would have made the list.

Nikola Vucevic probably would have been included when he first arrived in Chicago. He was one of the best scoring centers in the league. Unfortunately, his defense has been disappointing and his long-range shooting has largely been missing.

The rest of the roster isn’t even close.

But trades, but free agency, but future draft picks, it can change, right?

The front office’s scouting prowess aside, they don’t have the assets to make it happen.

In 2025-2026, they have virtually a full roster already under contract. If Josh Giddey does in fact re-sign at ~$30M per year, they will be up against the cap. They may try to trade Vooch or Patrick Williams, but I don’t anticipate other teams wanting to inherit that money.

After next season, they have to decide on the future of a lot of players. Will Coby White be another $30M man and be paired with Giddey in the backcourt for the next decade? Is Ayo staying home in a reserve role? Do they like Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter, Dalen Terry, Julian Phillips, or a lesser Lonzo Ball enough to pay them significant money?

2026-2027 is the start of the cap flexibility with the caveat that some players will sign extensions before we get there. Unfortunately, flexibility doesn’t provide the draft capital needed to pursue a star who wants out from their current team or the conviction needed to persuade a free agent to play in the Midwest for a losing organization.

Even if they clear house and get rid of a number of their former draft picks, they don’t have a path to find 6 to 7 more very good players. It doesn’t exist. The only road to contention is a full rebuild, which they refused to do 5 years ago and will refuse to do for another 5 years. They want to compete. I guess competing means endlessly searching for very good players without any way to acquire them.

Now, AK’s plan could change again. Any young, talented player can develop into a star. I would not rule out Coby or Giddey making another leap, especially at their age and current trajectory. But the real hope - the lucky, draft night dart throw, hometown kid hope - is Matas Buzelis. Between his size, drive for greatness, willingness on defense, and ball-handling abilities, there is somewhat of a realistic chance the Bulls found a star. Let’s focus on that future.

If we don’t, we’ll just watch insufficient plans fail in vision and in execution. And the Bulls will never play winning basketball again.