What a wild last forty-eight hours for the Chicago Bulls front office and most importantly Bulls fans around the world. Did anyone see this major over-haul coming?
I myself was worried heading into Thursday’s March 25 trade deadline. With little to no real information coming out of the front office, my day ended in shocking fashion.
First-year vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas shocked the entire league with some huge deadline moves. In the process giving the city of Chicago some hope for the future. That hope hasn’t been realistic for decades.
The front office had a plan and executed it with pure perfection and with zero leaks (why this was so shocking) from the organization. It was an outstanding display of real work and true direction. The Bulls finally have a front office that has vision and is about one thing and one thing only. That is building a winning culture in one of the biggest markets, the Windy City.
The leadership and realizations shown by Karnisovas were on full display heading into the final hours of the trade deadline.
Everyone in the city of Chicago knew that the roster was not our future and changes needed to be made in order to move to the next step in the process of building a championship-contending team.
He has shown thus far that he is the right man for the job. In AK we trust and he has proven already he is a real luxury for the Bulls going forward. Having the correct high IQ front office personnel is the single most important piece in building a successful franchise. Having vision is only half the battle, following through with that vision is what counts at the end of the day.
The NBA saw a record-setting trade deadline. 16 trades, 23 teams involved with 46 roster players being moved. The most ever in each category in the past 35 years on the day of the deadline. The Bulls front office was heavily involved and have made it very clear what the plan is, and that they are willing to do whatever it takes to improve this team moving forward.
The Chicago Bulls didn’t hesitate to try to get better
No move was more shocking than the trade with the Orlando Magic that sent Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. packing along with two future first-round picks.
Bringing the Bulls one of the top centers in the league, two-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic and forward Al-Farouq Aminu in return. It was literal magic in the making.
Even with the two first-round picks being sent in the exchange, they are 2021 and 2023 picks and also 1-4 protected. That means if this doesn’t work out and the Bulls miss the playoffs and end up with the number one pick, it’s still the Bulls pick, and sets them up for a more win-win situation.
The future is bright finally for the Chicago Bulls. It was a shocking display of some real front office work; these types of moves would’ve been out of the question from the previous regime.
"Arturas Karnisovas said “Long hours, long days. But it was fun to spend time with the staff. Obviously, Billy was involved, ownership is there… A lot of group discussions that led to success today. The group has been really good, and without collaborative efforts this wouldn’t happen today.”"
This kind of talk was nonexistent as recently as last season. The front office saw enough and pulled the trigger in a win-now out of the blue roster upgrade. This moves signals change is on the horizon and winning in Chicago is what is most important.
The confidence displayed by Karnisovas is amazing for this organization. The Bulls have a true leader who’s at the head of his pack. He is a well-respected, no-nonsense NBA executive with the correct philosophies and work ethic to accomplish anything he puts his mind to.
"Arturas Karnisovas: “Obviously we want Chicago to be an attractive destination for free agents. For us, we evaluated, had a sample size of more than 40 games so we made a couple of decisions on certain guys…we’re serious here about winning, we’re serious about culture of being competitive.”"
Wise words from a very wise man. Karnisovas also spoke a lot in detail about why he decided to add Vucevic and some of the benefits and why he thought he would be a great fit.
"Arturas Karnisovas: It’s easy to add Nikola to the way we play. We put in an offensive that’s fee flowing, a lot of ball movement and decision making. He can score, score down low or from the three, he’s a facilitator…He’s going to make everybody’s life much easier.”"
The Chicago Bulls front office worked tirelessly to get the help that was needed to fill the gaping holes and flawed players on the roster so far this season. Fans knew what was needed and AK came through in big-time fashion.
"He also said on acquiring Vooch: “Two weeks out, we did a lot of internal meetings to put down ideas on how we can make this team better. That was our main objective…Usually you don’t get to many chances at All-Star level players and we were fortunate to get it done.”"
The Chicago Bulls front office wasn’t done yet:
The Bulls were also involved in a three-team deal with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics, bringing center Daniel Theis, guard Javonte Green and forward Troy Brown Jr. to Chicago. They sent out forward Chandler Hutchison and center Daniel Gafford to the Wizards and big man Luke Kornet to the Celtics.
Not too shabby for the first-year vice president of basketball operations. Most importantly it was daring and shows a true willingness to get the job done no matter the cost.
The city of Chicago can now rest easy and the rest of the NBA is on stand-by. The Bulls still need a lead guard and AK always gets the guy he wants.
"AK also spoke about the players who were traded: “ I want to thank all the players that we traded away – OP, WCJ, Daniel, Hutch and Luke – for their contributions to the Chicago Bulls organization and we wish them well."
Adding these players instantly give the Bulls the missing physicality they were lacking. It added rim protection and defense to the frontcourt. Not only that but the frontcourt went from soft to about as tough as it gets. We have added tenacity and grit to a team missing a spark in the middle.
Pairing Vucevic with Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine is going to be special. LaVine gets the help he needs while the Bulls are better than before while losing almost nothing in these trades. Only gaining much-needed value.
The playoff possibility looks much more like a realistic possibility, the excitement is at an all-time level in Chicago.
"Arturas Karnisovas: Zach is an All-Star. Nikola is an All-Star. Any opportunies we get to make this team better – we took a chance today.”"
I was worried heading into the last day of the trade deadline, as were most Bulls fans. The days of mediocrity are far behind us now and the direction has never been clearer: in Chicago you come to win, if not pack your bags.
The most important thing said by AK was:
"“We got 29 games to go, we’re trying to improve our playoff odds and there’s going to be 29 games in a very short time. You need that kind of group of player that can compete in every game… Development is importnat, but winning is important too.”"
He totally gets it, and already knew what needed to be done. He made the choices that should’ve been made years ago. The choice was an easy one to make. You either stay still or move forward.
Although AK didn’t secure our point guard of the future, no worries. He will bring him here this summer, that I can guarantee. It is a special time for Chicago Bulls fans, enjoy it, we deserve everything coming to us. Even AK is happy for Bulls fans!