Chicago Bulls: Breaking down new front office hires so far

Assistant General Manager

This will be the first role in the executive world in this league for J.J. Polk that won’t come with the New Orleans Pelicans front office. Starting in 2012, Polk got a promotion to the role of executive director of basketball administration in NOLA. He started his executive career with the Pelicans as their director of player contracts and basketball administration prior to the 2010-11 season.

Polk nearly got to spend a full decade with the Pelicans/New Orleans Hornets front office, so it will be a change of pace to be in a bigger market with the Bulls. But he was part of a very competent front office with a building contender in the Western Conference this season. He was part of the assembling of a roster that now includes rookies like Zion Williamson, Jaxson Hayes, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

The Pelicans also added the likes of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and J.J. Redick to a roster that already included star point guard Jrue Holiday. This is a very deep Pelicans roster that was assembled in impressive fashion after they unexpectedly won the draft lottery last offseason.

Much of Polk’s professional background comes from law, and he’s a graduate of Rice University, which is in Houston, TX. He played professional basketball overseas in Sweden, Latvia, and China, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The expected matters that Polk will mainly handle are parts of personnel decisions on the roster and staff and salary cap management/strategic planning.