Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder would be a fantastic addition as the possible next general manager of the Chicago Bulls.
An initial bout of rumors in the Chicago Bulls search to potentially find their next general manager didn’t yield many promising results, at least outside of the Indiana Pacers assistant GM Chad Buchanan. But there were a lot of flaws pointed out in the logic of the Bulls trying to pursue Buchanan and a various list of agents to be their next “powerful voice” in the front office.
This time around, the Bulls are reportedly looking toward (ESPN’s David Kaplan on Twitter) the well-known and respected Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti to fill the same position in their organization. Apparently Presti is the Bulls No. 1 target in their management search at the moment, and they are willing to pay him what it takes to get him to the Windy City.
The potential pursuit of Presti would be the most significant news yet in the Bulls general manager search. The level of respect in which Presti commands in the NBA these days could likely override the power that the Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson has in this front office.
According to @thekapman on ESPN 1000:
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) March 3, 2020
Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti is the Chicago Bulls number 1 target.
Kaplan: "That's the guy they want. They are prepared to pay him what it takes."
Landing Presti could truly accomplish what the Bulls were looking to do in reshaping the look of this front office by bringing in a more powerful voice than that of Paxson and current general manager Gar Forman. Right now, the Bulls might have one of the least well-respected front office duos in the NBA with GarPax at the helm.
Here’s what Kaplan had to say on the matter on ESPN 1000 Radio pertaining to the Bulls pursuit of Presti.
"That’s the guy they want. They are prepared to pay him what it takes."
At least getting GarPax out of power would be a good first step for this Bulls organization. But before they will command any level of respect and attention from various stars in free agency and on the trade market year in and year out, they need to usher in a complete culture change. The Bulls won’t be able to enact that culture change until all traces of the voices of Paxson and Forman in the front office are gone.
The Bulls also need to figure out how to maximize the younger and more valuable roster pieces that they have in place right now. Maximizing the promise of the likes of rookie point guard Coby White, shooting guard Zach LaVine, power forward Lauri Markkanen, and center Wendell Carter Jr. is key.
Presti sat at the helm for the Thunder as their general manager since they moved to OKC more than 10 years ago. He was actually originally hired in 2007 to be the general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics. Since then, he has drafted and developed the likes of former Texas Longhorn Kevin Durant, former UCLA Bruin Russell Westbrook, and former Arizona State Sun Devil James Harden.