Bulls Finally Move On From Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

It’s finally over. The abysmal Bulls season AND the Arturas Karnisovas era.

Let’s put those 6 pointless years behind us and look forward to a brand new day. Nothing beats a little light at the end of the tunnel!

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

L - SHARKS 3 BLACKHAWKS 2

POWER SURGE

• Hawks’ 5-forward power play shined with 1 goal and an 11-shot-attempt 2-minutes in the 2nd period

• Spencer Knight saved 20 of 23 shots and made huge stops on multiple breakaways

• A Wyatt Kaiser turnover in the offensive zone led to the first Sharks goal

L - HURRICANES 7 BLACKHAWKS 2

THE B-TEAM

• Hurricanes rested a bunch of players and still owned the Hawks with their effort and forechecking

• Anton Frondell scored 2 goals and hit the post in his attempt for a hat trick

• Knight had an off night, allowing 7 goals on 22 shots. The Hurricanes only had 2.57 expected goals!

L - BLUES 5 BLACKHAWKS 3

JUST ANOTHER LAFFER

• Sam Lafferty played defense, Frank Nazar got hit in the face with a puck again, and the Blues of course scored 3 2nd period goals

• Ilya Mikheyev scored 2 goals

• Hawks outshot the Blues 34-28 in an evenly matched game

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Anton Frondell

2 goals and 2 assists (4 points) on 15 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Frank Nazar goal

Clinched 2nd best lottery odds - guaranteed a Top 4 pick in the draft! 13.5% chance at #1

Connor Bedard recorded his 200th career point in Game #215 - the same number of games as Patrick Kane

Alex Vlasic is the team’s nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which honors leadership and community service

Blackhawks Hall of Fame induction ceremony for their inaugural class was held on Friday!

Only 2 games remaining in the season!

SCHEDULE 📅 M/W

CHICAGO BULLS

W - BULLS 129 WIZARDS 98

ROBBED THE STREAK

• Bulls snapped their 7-game losing streak, the 17-win Wizards lost their 7th straight

• Rob Dillingham scored a career-high 26 points (26p/7r, 5 3PT)

• Patrick Williams stepped up for the shorthanded squad and scored 20 points for the first time in a full calendar year

W - BULLS 119 WIZARDS 108

FINAL STRETCH TWO TAP

• Bulls beat the Wizards for the 2nd straight time as the Wizards drew closer to securing the best draft lottery odds

• Bulls only made 9 3PT (30%) but made 24/25 FT

• Tre Jones (31p), Collin Sexton (27p), and Leonard Miller (26p) did the heavy lifting on the offensive end

L - MAGIC 127 BULLS 103

LAST CHAIR ON THE SIDELINE

• Lachlan Olbrich got the start as the Bulls limped towards the finish line with a shorthanded rotation featuring Gueye, McClung, and Yuki

• Matas Buzelis returned from injury and left early with an ankle sprain (14p/8r, 0/9 3PT)

• Tre Jones was the Bulls’ leading scorer AGAIN with 23 points on 8/12 shooting

L - MAVERICKS 149 BULLS 128

NUMBER NINE, PLEASE

• Cooper Flagg left the important lottery-odds game early due to injury, but the Bulls still locked up the 9th best odds with a loss

• Mavs scored from everywhere - 45 1st quarter points, 52% FG, 45% 3PT

• Olbrich squeaked out his first career triple-double (10p/15r/10a) and became the 4th rookie in Bulls history to do so (Jay Williams, Kirk Hinrich, MJ)

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Tre Jones

20.0p/4.5a per game

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Yuki Kawamura pass to Leonard Miller

🚨 Fired Executive VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley 🚨

I guess mediocrity wasn’t enough for Michael Reinsdorf to pull the plug on the AKME era. It took a messy Jaden Ivey release and an unintentional spiral, following a trade deadline that simply filled a ledger, to realize change was necessary.

This was at least 2 years overdue.

This front office’s incompetence has been well documented in Windy Conditions and elsewhere. Karnisovas’ team building plan has changed more frequently than he has made player transactions. When he was hired in 2020, he said he wanted to build through the draft and develop young players. A year later, he traded away draft capital for Nikola Vucevic and built a misfit veteran team using unwarranted shortcuts.

Then he believed relationships and continuity would boost them to the top. Once DeMar DeRozan was traded, he conveniently told the media that you don’t need a superstar to win a championship. You need 9 to 10 very good players. Well, after a couple seasons of MAYBE having 2 very good players and never finding a star, his plans were proved unsuccessful.

We sat through 6 years of pointless Bulls basketball, except for about 2 months in the fall of 2021. This regime refused to value draft capital, seek a superstar, conform to the modern NBA, or tweak their obviously perfect rosters. They walked into the building, submitted the Patrick Williams draft card, and never got off the floor.

Nobody knows if Reinsdorf will hire the right replacement. However, I know that a front office change was the only way to move forward and have a CHANCE at becoming a relevant organization again.

Timely news right after last week’s Mild Take…

Billy Donovan will meet with the Reinsdorfs this week to discuss his future. Michael Reinsdorf is passionately in favor of retaining Donovan as the Bulls head coach and sounds determined to keep him in town no matter what. I’m not sure forcing a coach on a new VP/GM is a smart plan, but I’m generally ok with hanging on to a successful coach like Donovan. But why would he stay???

University of North Carolina showed interest in Donovan but ultimately hired former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone

Clinched 9th best lottery odds - 20.3% chance for Top 4, 4.5% chance for #1

Portland Trail Blazers finished 8th in the West, so they’ll have 2 chances in the Play-In Tournament to make the playoffs and convey their 1st round pick to the Bulls!

Starting Lineups from Game 1 to Game 82:
Jones/Giddey/Okoro/Buzelis/Vucevic
Jones/Sexton/Williams/Miller/Olbrich

SCHEDULE 📅 OFFSEASON

CHICAGO CUBS

L - RAYS 6 CUBS 4

RETURN OF THE TROP FLOP

• Cubs only had 4 hits in the first game played at Tropicana Field since the hurricane damage in 2024

• Rays hit 3 HRs, Matt Shaw hit a HR in his 2nd consecutive game, and both teams sent balls to the warning track all game

• Shane McClanahan was chased from the game after issuing 4 walks in 4 IP

W - CUBS 9 RAYS 2

A RAY OF HOPE

• Cubs hitters went OFF for 9 runs and 16 hits after Drew Rasmussen was scratched from his start

• Javier Assad filled in brilliantly for Matthew Boyd (5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)

• 7 Cubs had 2+ hits, Ballesteros and PCA hit their 1st HRs of the season

W - CUBS 6 RAYS 2

SAME OLD REA

• Colin Rea was sharp as expected in his first start of the year (5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K)

• Nico Hoerner hit a leadoff HR and finished 3-for-5 with 2 RBI

• Michael Conforto hit a 2-R double that scored a 3rd run on an error. He went 3-for-7 with 3 RBI over the last 2 games of the series

L - PIRATES 2 CUBS 0

SHO-TIME HANGTIME

• Shota Imanaga was masterful and exited with a no-hitter (6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 18 whiffs)

• Caleb Thielbar was the first Cubs reliever and gave up a 2-R HR to Bryan Reynolds just 4 pitches into his appearance

• Cubs hit 0-for-8 with RISP and left 11 runners on base

L - PIRATES 4 CUBS 3 (F/11)

IT’S A LOW BAR

• Thielbar almost had a redemption outing in the 11th until he threw the ball away towards 1st base to allow the winning run

• Alex Bregman tied the game with an RBI single in the 9th!

• Cubs hit 1-for-15 with RISP and left 16 runners on base, including 8 runners in the 9th/10th/11th alone

W - CUBS 7 PIRATES 6

CARSON’S COMEBACK KIDS

• Carson Kelly capped off a 5-0 comeback with a deep walk-off single

• Jameson Taillon allowed 6 ER but struck out 10 hitters as Brandon Lowe hit 2 wind-aided HRs

• Michael Busch broke a 0-for-30 streak at the plate with a pinch-hit soft single in the 8th to tie the game

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Nico Hoerner

10-for-28 (.357 AVG), 7 RBI, 2 2B

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Dansby Swanson over-the-shoulder catch

Cade Horton will miss the remainder of the season. He will have UCL surgery after receiving a 2nd opinion from a doctor in Texas. It sounds like a similar surgery to Justin Steele where the extent of the repair will be determined during surgery. Horton was the best pitcher in baseball in the 2nd half last season and was definitely going to be the Cubs ace this season. Unbelievably sad news.

Activated Seiya Suzuki from the IL

Placed Matthew Boyd (left bicep strain), Phil Maton (knee tendinitis), and Hunter Harvey (right triceps inflammation) on the 15-day IL

Ian Happ missed Tuesday and Wednesday’s games with a bruised heel

LHP Riley Martin made his MLB debut on Monday and threw a scoreless inning

Recalled Javier Assad and Ethan Roberts from AAA

DFA’d OF Dylan Carlson

SCHEDULE 📅 M/T/W/F/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Caleb Williams was at USC putting in work with his receiver group - Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Jahdae Walker, and Colston Loveland

NFL Draft ➡️ April 23-25

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Alex Bregman

Michael Conforto was 1-for-10 to start his Cubs career before Bregman offered up some advice on his swing. Bregman’s influence on the clubhouse has already made a big impact! Watch Conforto discuss it here:

MILD TAKE

Cubs hitters will turn it around.

This should be obvious, but Cubs fans love to freak out.

Watching a slumping offense refuse to get a big hit is utterly disappointing, but I’ve seen enough terrible MONTHS over the last few years to know it just won’t click all the time.

Some current stats (AVG/OPS) -
Michael Busch (.135/.406), PCA (.203/.513), Dansby (.163/.617), Bregman (.213/.618)

Baseball is a strange sport. Players can play poorly and you can be frustrated. You can also remember there are 162 games and occasional bad baseball is always a part of the journey. A 6-7 start with horrid numbers has been an excruciating watch, but nobody on the team is this bad.

The slumps came early this year. Maybe that means they’ll get hot at a better time.

HITTING THE LINKS

Scott Wheeler - Chicago Blackhawks are No. 1 in Scott Wheeler’s 2026 NHL prospect pool rankings (The Athletic)

Mark Lazerus - How Blackhawks’ Kevin Korchinski rebuilt his confidence after a shattering rookie season (The Athletic)

Ben Pope - Blackhawks' new generation embracing challenge of conquering NHL together (Chicago Sun-Times)

Kevin Fishbain - Bears roster tiers: Colston Loveland, Luther Burden join team’s long-term core (The Athletic)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Two ridiculous hockey games left for the road!