The Bulls Actually Did Something
You know how you can tell the Bulls have started to enter White Sox territory of being completely insignificant? I, who appears to be the only Chicago Bulls fan I know who hasn't completely given up until owner Jerry Reinsdorf is no longer in control of the team, did not even care enough to write about this huge news.
And for once I'm not being sarcastic. The Bulls actually did something incredibly significant and important... and no one in Chicago cares. That's because at this point the only major move the Bulls could possibly make to put out the complete dumpster fire that was once the greatest franchise in the NBA would be the news that Jerry Reinsdorf was no longer holding our favorite team hostage.
So what happened? The Bulls FINALLY fired their executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. Hurray! There is a god!
But here's the problem, they were fired after overseeing the worst trade deadlines in NBA history. Well actually probably second worst as they did not trade Luca Doncic for one first round pick.
Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley actually started out pretty hot. When they got here six years ago they brought in an All-Star center in his prime in Nikola Vucevic. They then went out and brought in the first significant free agent acquisitions in about a dozen years when they got Demar Derozan, Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball to join the squad. People actually wanted those guys and the Bulls got them!
But then the wheels fell off when Lonzo Ball got hurt and the Bulls made absolutely zero moves to deal with it. The Bulls got punched in the mouth and proved they had no real plan.
Since then, the Bulls have traded Zach Lavine, Demar Derozan, Alex Caruso, Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball, Coby White, Ayo Dosumnu (their only good draft pick ever) and got back exactly ONE first round pick... their own that they got back from Portland and promptly wasted on a teenager from France who played 2 games this year and then broke one of his incredibly skinny bones.
These guys needed to be fired BEFORE they were able to gut the team in exchange for FOURTEEN second round picks. That is not an exaggeration!
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They took their time firing them, no doubt everything they've done is to make them unwelcome citizens in Chicago, but oh well, the important thing is to start rebuilding, hoping for some luck in the draft and that one of their players steps up to become the team's guiding light for the future.
Perhaps those players helped them get first-round draft picks, but from what I read, they only got 14 second-round picks. Let's hope they can choose well and that some of the players are good enough to make a competitive team in the coming years. They only fired those two; perhaps others, like their assistants, could have been let go, but the important thing is to start making smarter changes.
What stands out most is how the team had a solid direction at one point Bringing in players like Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan actually made the Bulls feel relevant again. But like you said, once Lonzo Ball went down the lack of a real plan became obvious.
How are the Ball boys still relevant. I remember how big of a joke their dad was and how horrible it got to be. His whole shoe brand was just the icing on the cake.
The dad is flat out a terrible person. But both of the kids in the NBA were pretty good. Lonz’s injury and the obvious bulls mismanagement destroyed his career. Lonzo tried to distance himself from his dad. I actually feel bad for them.
There were three of them right? I just remember the videos of the one kid not playing defense at all and cherry picking shots. They said he was such a great player, but he just looked lazy to me.
That's the 3rd son. He was a complete bust and actually got arrested while he was playing at UCLA. They got arrested for shoplifting in China. He's freaking lucky he's still not in jail there.
Oh yes, I remember than now.
I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about this, and sometimes the Bulls need to hit rock bottom to rebuild, so these releases could be the start of something good. But they were also saying that you have to be a losing team for two seasons and try to find talent in the early rounds of the draft, and if you add those second-round picks, you can do something really great. They were also talking about how bad it is to be in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th picks, since you're not as good at competing for titles, but you're not as bad at drafting talent that can help you take that next step either.
Jerry’s still running this show until he’s not.