Last month, when Bulls president and CEO Michael Reinsdorf was rattling off what he wanted in his next head of basketball operations, he included the term “process-oriented” without hesitation.
“I think [one of] the biggest mistakes we have made over the years is we have not followed a process,” he said.
It was a definite weakness under Arturas Karnisovas, whom Reinsdorf fired April 6, along with general manager Marc Eversley.
Karnisovas had come in like a lion in April 2020, firing then-general manager Gar Forman and coach Jim Boylen, then flipping the roster to bring in center Nikola Vucevic, forward DeMar DeRozen and guards Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso.
Few would have thought his second year would be his peak. Yet it was all downhill from there with a series of bad drafts, changed plans and no clear path to landing elite talent and escaping mediocrity.
In an informal meeting with reporters in late January, a week before the trade deadline, Karnisovas became defensive and short in his answers about his plans, reiterating there would be no tanking and that he considered second-round draft picks to be low-value assets. But by the time the deadline had come and gone, every move the Bulls made — seven trades involving eight players, including Vucevic and guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu — felt like tanking. And the Bulls had collected eight second-round picks.
Reinsdorf surely felt that. As of last week, his list of candidates to replace Karnisovas was down to Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd; Bryson Graham, the Hawks’ vice president of basketball operation; Pistons vice president Dennis Lindsey; and Celtics assistant GM Dave Lewin. All four are considered not only process-oriented but good at communicating their plans to ownership, fans and media.
A source told the Sun-Times that although there was no clear-cut favorite for the job as of last Monday, Lloyd has taken the lead and could be named to the position in the next several days. That makes sense considering his long stint with the Bulls under former basketball operations chief John Paxson, who remains with the organization as an adviser and is said to be a strong Lloyd supporter.
Lloyd has experience in multiple departments, from media relations to basketball operations to scouting. He also could bring a highly coveted coach with him. According to a source with the Timberwolves, if he gets the Bulls job, he undoubtedly would make Micah Nori the new head coach, replacing Billy Donovan, who resigned April 21 after six seasons. Nori has been the Timberwolves’ lead assistant since 2021, was voted top assistant coach by NBA general managers the last two seasons and is considered a top defensive strategist in the league.
With Reinsdorf indicating the Bulls could take a non-traditional approach to rebuilding the front office, the interviews that took place in the last few weeks might actually lead to two hires — Lloyd with an executive title and someone such as Lewin as a GM who’s also in charge of the Bulls’ analytics department. Lewin has a strong background in analytics.
