Change of plans: New newsletters both tomorrow and Friday. Send topics my way you want covered. Send the newsletter to a friend and get them to subscribe. Things are looking up, ladies and gentlemen. LETS stillgottacomethroughchicago GOOOOOO!
This newsletter was scheduled to be a Bears-centered one, but things are heating up on the Bulls front, and I am absolutely livid that I am stuck in my house for this. Some people live to see the day that there’s worldwide peace. I have lived to see the day that John Paxson was removed from the front office for my entire adult life.
Right now, as report after report suggests my dream may come to fruition, I feel like I did when the Bears beat the Packers on Thanksgiving night in 2015. The Packers turned it over on downs at the goal line, my brothers started celebrating and I was just sitting there waiting for a flag to be thrown. My mind couldn’t calculate what had just happen, and I wouldn’t believe a bad Bears team was actually about to beat the Packers in Green Bay.
I won’t believe that Pax’s reign of terror is over until I hear it from the Reinsdorfs themselves. Everyone is running onto the field from the proverbial sidelines, celebrating the end of our city’s basketball nightmare, and I’m just shoving people back off the field.
I used to look at this picture of the Reinsdorfs and my hands would curl up into fists, ready to inflict physical harm upon people I’ve never met.
(Still one of the funniest pictures of all time — just a couple of the most powerful people in sports, guys)
Now I want to grab Michael Reinsdorf by that lame collared shirt he’s wearing and aggressively kiss him on both of his cheeks.
I want to lie to him and tell him he’s stepping out with those new kicks and I want to tell him the truth and let him know I’m (almost) proud of him.
All signs are pointing towards the Bulls moving onto the next chapter. The bully has almost been defeated and the comment section is already talking names, ready to move on.
From Monday’s comment section:
Even though Arturas Karnisova has the worst name of all goddam time, I think he would be the best option. I have absolutely no idea who he is, but…
That’s the kind of passion I want from all of you moving forward! We’re cool with the new masthead, as long as it doesn’t list John Paxson, the persisting clown of the NBA’s biggest circus, ever again.
Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty. A lot has transpired over the last couple of days, so let’s get you up to speed.
The Search
The Bulls had a slew of candidates in mind at the outset of this search, but have quickly narrowed it down, mostly because they got rejected by almost all of the candidates — either from the team or the candidate himself. That’s alright — the new motto is: As long as it’s not Johnny Pax, we can all relax.
Adam Simon is sticking with the Heat. Chad Buchanan is sticking with the Pacers. Justin Zanik, a Jazz executive (Utah, that is), seems like he’ll stay there. That’s fine, because he has some ties to the organization, and probably the one thing I want out of this search is to get someone who has zero ties to the Bulls. I don’t want anyone that is linked to the dogma that has terrorized our beloved Bulls over the last decade-plus. I want someone who doesn’t even know that the Bulls sell picks when they need to pay someone on the White Sox.
With that, it seems that Arturas Karnisovas — the general manager of the Denver Nuggets — is the favored candidate. I’d be absolutely thrilled if we got him. For one, he’s Lithuanian. Why does that matter? If you ever played youth basketball in the Chicagoland area, you know that those mutha fuckas can hoop! I’m talking knocking down step-back 35-footers at the age of 12. Wet as all hell, running offenses that some NBA teams couldn’t even wrap their brains around.
Secondly, the Big ART (might trademark this one) has got serious clout around the league. He’s been a contender for a few big-time GM jobs over the past few years, but ultimately got the promotion in Denver to be the team’s second man on the totem pole for basketball decisions. He’s known for having 1. built a championship-contending Denver Nuggets team out of thin air (literally, hehe) and 2. being one of the better talent developers in the league.
The first known-for is important because, well, that’s what makes a good GM. And the Bulls haven’t had one of those since Jerry Krause, all warts acknowledged and considered. The second known-for is extremely important because if the Bulls want to start making legitimate strides, they’re going to need a player development department that can turn things around quickly.
The NBA is not a league of fate. Few talents can make it regardless of their situation. I’m talking the LeBron James’ and Kevin Durant’s of the world. The rest, they need an organization with competent leaders who can guide them through the process of becoming a meaningful NBA player.
Lauri Markkanen. Wendell Carter Jr. Coby White. I would say the list goes on and on, but it doesn’t, and the lack of young talent is part of the reason we need someone new running the show.
We’ve seen flashes from all of those guys. Give the keys to the car to someone else and they might end up in an All-Star Game, as opposed to, like, overseas in five years.
I personally have no problem with basketball executives that never played the game at a meaningful level, and honestly prefer those candidates. But playing experience does go a long way (not all the way — see: Pax) in dealing with current players. Even though the Big ART never played in the NBA, he had an immensely successful career abroad and was the FIBA European player of the year in 1996.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo! have both expressed a similar sentiment over the last week about the Bulls — that people around the league view them as a sleeping giant.
In other words, if they threw Gar Forman and Pax to the side and got out of their own goddamn way, watch out.
Now, Woj and Goodwill just could’ve asked your boy (that means me, by the way) about that and they would have had gotten that answer years ago. But I digress.
The Bulls are hiring, according to Woj, an “Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.” That’s what Paxson is currently listed as. Does it mean he’s gone for sure? It does not. But multiple reports have said that the new hire with have the autonomy to do what they want with Pax. That sounds extremely awkward, but also sounds like maybe a savvy way for the Reinsdorfs to fire Pax without actually firing him.
That fucker has gots to go. GEEAUUUXX. He’s got to go. I can imagine whoever gets the job would not want the last guy that held his position to be lingering around the facility, but then again, the Reinsdorfs are “loyal.”
(Again, see how they handled Derrick Rose, Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Luol Deng and then delete that cute loyalty paragraph you have in your next piece.)
They’re loyal to some, and the reasons for that loyalty to some who have done everything they can to ruin the franchise over those who have given everything they had for the franchise will always astound me.
Pax as a goner is not a done deal, though, so Bulls fans will need to keep the pressure on. K.C. Johnson has reported that Paxson is willing to take as small of a role as he’s asked to. That role should be sitting at home watching the games on the couch like the rest of us.
Paxson needs to be out of the Reinsdorfs’ ear. He needs to have no autonomy on basketball decisions — he had his time. He already doesn’t like to face the music, and so I hope we’ll never see his arrogant face making excuses for the franchise on T.V. again.
If a new regime is given all the power that’s been promised, that means more changes will come.
The Bulls need a new coaching staff. They need a new scouting department, having one of the smaller ones in the league. They need a new mindset analytically — I saw something that the Reinsdorfs want a leader who can apply analytics to basketball. Uh, yeah?
I imagine the Bulls had an analytics department holed up in the United Center just doing math problems, none of which had anything to do with basketball.
You guys doing alright in there?
Whispers… Hey guys, I know this is big in the NBA now, but how do multiplication tables help us win?
Jimmy Boylen, I hate to see you go, but love to see a competent coach at the helm of one of the biggest basketball brands in the world. It’s closing time, ass holes. Get your last drink and get the hell out of here — Gar, Pax, Boylen — all of yas.
There’s about to be a new sheriff in town, and I could (potentially) not be more excited.
We got three committed Bulls fans back in the comment section on Monday, let’s see if we can get a few more today.
Comment section topics: Do you believe that Pax will be stripped of all influence moving forward? Do you like the idea of the Big ART running the show? I’d love to hear from you. Comment below.
Anyone who understands interpersonal relations knows that you can't replace a big job and have the man formerly in the job still around the organization whispering to people his comments. Pax needs to go to the White Sox or work for the United Center.
I do not know Karnisovas but I am also confident that I would be better than Gar and Pax.
First move, bring back THibs!
One NBA scout said this about Karnisovas- "He will blow the Bulls roster up. Full of the kind of players he dislikes. He wants passers, court vision, guys with multi skills on both ends. Keep the ball moving. Hates Iso. Boylen would be out of there."
Give me Kenny Atkinson. Keep Wendell, Thad, Lauri, Gafford, Coby, Satoransky, scrap everyone else and lets get some real players. Get the UC filled again. See you in the ECF next season.