Bulls, Karnišovas Prove Bulls Are Completely Lost
The NBA trade deadline ended this past Thursday and if anyone thought the Bulls would actually put forth effort into getting this team into position to rebuild this team then once again they were disappointed.
Ok let me be fair – the Bulls weren’t completely dormant as they have been in years past at the trade deadline. They actually pulled a trade off sending G Zach LaVine to the Sacremento Kings in a three team trade that saw the Bulls get their 1st round draft pick back from the Spurs and players Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins & Tre Jones from the Kings. While it wasn’t much considering Zach is a 2-time All-Star it was at least something. The expectation from fans was the LaVine trade would be the first domino to fall, Bulls management would finally cut their losses and blow up the team. What happened next left Bulls fans utterly disappointed – again.
The Bulls and G Lonzo Ball agreed to a 2-year extension on his contract. There were those who thought this extension would factor into a potential trade with Lonzo but that never materialized. As the deadline drew to a close, the Bulls made the decision not to move C Nikola Vucevic, who is having an All-Star caliber year averaging 19.3 pts, 10.2 rebs & 3.5 assts on 54.4% shooting from the field. They also decided not to move G Coby White who’s averaging 18.7 pts, 4.6 assts & 3.5 rebs. That left the Bulls with just enough veteran talent to not completely fall into the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. In a word – that’s perplexing.
Bulls’ VP of Operations Artüras Karnišovas once again took center stage to answer questions from the media regarding the lack of movement at the trade deadline. His answers left little to be desired:
“If in the next 30 games we’re going to be out of the play-in and playoffs, we’ll get a good pick. But at the same time, if this young team can make the play-in, it’s going to be an accomplishment.”
Keeping Vucevic makes absolutely zero sense because it puts the Bulls in the same position they’ve been in for the past 2+ years – no man’s land. The fact Karnišovas believes making the play-in would be an ‘accomplishment’ speaks to the ineptitude of this front office. What it also speaks to is their constant overvaluing of its talent. The time to unload LaVine & Vooch should’ve happened before last season.
The front office continues to gamble that its young talent will develop and somehow form a young nucleus that could attract a star player. That hasn’t really work out for them. Sure, Coby White has emerged as a good player in this league who could possibly be an All-Star caliber player but what else? Ayo Dosunmu is a solid player as is Julian Phillips & Jalen Smith. Josh Giddey could be a player but is hampered by the Bulls’ overstuffed backcourt of White, Ayo, Lonzo Ball & Jevon Carter. You have to imagine Ball & White will be your starting guards going forward so where does leave Giddey? It’s safe to say now Patrick Williams is just a guy – a guy you gave $90 million to who’s averaging 9.4 pts & 4.1 rebs per game. That was your #4 overall pick back in 2020. The only hope for Karnišovas is for Matas Buzelis to emerge as a star player. He’s shown some flashes but the true test will come once teams see him on film. His ability to be able to adapt once teams game plan for him will be the true test.
The Bulls are past being at a crossroads. They were there 2 years ago and chose to do nothing. Artüras Karnišovas now must live with his decisions and no amount of word salad will justify his decisions. To quote the poet Kendrick Lamar Duckworth – “Can’t Toosie Slide up out of this one, it’s just gon’ resurface/Every dog gotta have his day, now live in your purpose.”
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