Why can't someone do half a day of journalism and report what other GMs anonymously think of him? That used to be the job. But maybe never was in Chicago with the Bulls especially.
Worst thing to happen to this team was narrowly losing to the Heat before Miami made its improbable run to the Finals. Never thought AK would be so delusional to think that was indicative of how close the Bulls were to winning playoff series, but here we are.
I think the thing we are all so confused about is that AKME came into their first two seasons guns ablazin'. They went bold with Patrick Williams, traded for Vuc, acquired Lonzo, acquired Demar, signed high upside guys in DJJ and Javonte, and found a diamond in the rough with Ayo.
I think we all saw a front office willing to go bold and use every avenue available to improve the roster. It was as if we had seen technicolor for the very first time.
And then for whatever reason, they stopped. Like, it feels like we are being gaslit. AKME legitimately just stopped trying. I've never seen a front office go from so aggressive to so conservative so quickly. It's as if after Lonzo got hurt they said "sorry, ran out of ammunition."
I think we all have our suspicions as to why they have holed up - but it doesn't make the whiplash any less alarming. Watching those videos of AK, I can't help but feel he doesn't believe in anything he is saying. He looks so dejected. My theory - and what I believe is most likely - is that AKME came in, said they can change things but needed to do it their way. They tried it their way, it crashed and burned when Lonzo got injured, Zach didn't take the next step, and Pat never became anything more than promise. Because of that, Jerry has them on a leash again. He's not going to let them spend his money unless the product affects his pocketbook.
This team will not even sniff the Larry O'Brien until Jerry is gone.
Speaking of Marc Eversley potentially trying to keep his head down in hopes of not going down with a sinking ship, apparently he has been linked to the Hornets new front office opening. To be fair, a ton of people have been linked to it, but it seems pretty likely Eversley is trying to get out of Chicago as soon as he can.
One other thing I'd note is the Reinsdorfs have a long memory. One thing they looked pretty bad by doing what trading Luol Deng for literal nothing back in the middle of the season.
Among many completely valid reasons to shit on this transaction was that they were doing a bait and switch on all the folks that bought tickets for the 13-14 season expecting to see competitive basketball.
As far as I can tell, that's pretty much the only time the Bulls have done that. If they plan on being trash, they at least have the courtesy to let you know it ahead of time.
I'm curious about the role of two aspects that make AK suck: language and being accountable only to Jerry Reinsdorf. He didn't speak a word of English when he arrived at college in the U.S., and Lithuanian has very different phonetics and grammar. This obviously hampers his ability in press conferences, but more significantly, I wonder how effectively he's able to communicate within the boy's club of NBA executives -- he's the only foreign-born person in those ranks other than Masia Ujiri, who spent high school in the U.S. So I tend to think a lot of what reads as dumb is a combination of a limited English vocabulary and an introverted personality style. Working in the Reinsdorf's organization brings all the dynamics of operating in a family business. One of my favorites is called "cordial hypocrisy," the art of carefully avoiding discussions of tough issues and hard decisions. AK has likely instinctively internalized the mannerisms that enabled Kenny Williams to rack up a mediocre 30+ year career, be called a son when he got fired and get 3 sons drafted/hired by the Sox. Aligning with Reinsdorf's views automatically results in contempt for fans and anger toward the media.
NBA probably needs more financial incentives for winning. Maybe the under-the-cap money should be paid based on how many wins you got? I also think the draft lottery should be equal weight random draw for all 14 teams in it. There should be a pot of cash paid out to the 16 playoff teams that increases with each round you win, etc. NBA needs to fix every hole that allows losing to be more profitable than winning.
I'm halfway through the second quarter (couldn't watch last night) and Dominique has said Coby White took a bad shot three times. All three shots were wide open. They just happened not to go in. 😂
just a shame that AK doesn't believe in Ayo, as if he couldn't have replaced Caruso and kept the team "competitive" AND you'd have two first-round picks
IMO, you have to look at Arturas's boss, Jerry Reinsdorf and understand that he is just an investor and to him, owning the Bulls team is an investment like the stock market. He has no love for basketball and like the guys he hired, probably spends little time watching it.
Arturas job is to get guys on the team that fit chemistry wise without over paying for them like they did for Lavine. I heard that they had 1.7 million available and an open spot on the roster. They need a real 3 point shooter like Joe Harris who is now available but they always wait too long because they are scared to spend Reinsdorf's money.
He doesnt care about what the fans want but he better start caring because they want some wins and not word salad. Reinsdorf really should sell the Bulls to someone who loves basketball and wants more than notible players hired initially to sell tickets.
It is frustrating because of the way it looks from the outside. JR finds a player that looks good at first and doesn't go deep enough to know if this guy is going to work long term and over pays him. Then if things dont work out immediately or the guy gets injured, he lets everyone know that they are in a hurry to trade him.
They do not look at how bad the coach is and usually that is the problem. If they used careful evaluation when looking for a coach and not jump to conclusions, they would not have to try to sell the lie that the team is trying to find its identity. Donovan needs to get serious coach training or the Bulls need to find a coach that knows how analyze his players and use them correctly. Spend the money for a good coach Jerry! Then you won't have to overspend on players.
It really irritates me to see that Donovan does the same thing over and over again expecting different results and doesn't seem to listen to his players and it also looks like the players gets minutes according to how much money the make. Vucevic is not as good a center as Drummond and makes 20 times more money so Drummond gets 10-15 mins playing time and Vuch gets 30-35 mins.
They would win more games if they were paired as starters. Drummond can guard the rim much better than Vuch alone and close the door for every good guard on opposing teams that can score. It has been proven. If a guard from an opposing team scores 70 points against the Bulls, someone is overlooking a problem regarding rim protection and you keep your best rim protector on the bench. There's about 6 teams that would love to have Drummond and pay him better but Donovan keep this 2 time allstar on the bench limiting him to 10-15 minutes. If Donovan has a beef against a player, he cuts their minutes.
Reinsdorf needs to ask Donovan what the hell is going on. Even the fans can see this.
Feb 13·edited Feb 13Liked by your friendly BullsBlogger
Shoutout to Bulldog on the Bulls Talk Podcast for calling out AK for using "competitive" as a way to justify being mediocre and just AK's general use of vague goals. That's probably the most direct criticism of the front office I've heard on that podcast.
Edit: Following up on this as I continue to listen through this podcast. Actually all three hosts (including KC) have pretty directly criticized AK's actions at the deadline and even criticized his lack of a long-term plan. It's not good when even the media partner that is 50% owned by Jerry is straight up criticizing AK...
Jesus, this is bad. I'd throw in on the "we do cap gymnastics at the end of the year" that this deadline was about two things: 1) getting marginally better for contending teams (after Indiana and NYK got noticeably better prior) and 2) teams doing cap gymnastics right now.
I'd like to think I can handle most conceptual ideas in sports pretty well, but this one had my eyes swimming. Granted, it's speculation by Hollinger, but I also think it's quite obvious that teams were making trades or not making trades solely based off of whether they'd be an over-the-cap team, have cap space, or what-not.
I don't think anyone could say that Artuas Karnisovas is smart enough to comprehend all these possibilities.
Why can't someone do half a day of journalism and report what other GMs anonymously think of him? That used to be the job. But maybe never was in Chicago with the Bulls especially.
Worst thing to happen to this team was narrowly losing to the Heat before Miami made its improbable run to the Finals. Never thought AK would be so delusional to think that was indicative of how close the Bulls were to winning playoff series, but here we are.
I think the thing we are all so confused about is that AKME came into their first two seasons guns ablazin'. They went bold with Patrick Williams, traded for Vuc, acquired Lonzo, acquired Demar, signed high upside guys in DJJ and Javonte, and found a diamond in the rough with Ayo.
I think we all saw a front office willing to go bold and use every avenue available to improve the roster. It was as if we had seen technicolor for the very first time.
And then for whatever reason, they stopped. Like, it feels like we are being gaslit. AKME legitimately just stopped trying. I've never seen a front office go from so aggressive to so conservative so quickly. It's as if after Lonzo got hurt they said "sorry, ran out of ammunition."
I think we all have our suspicions as to why they have holed up - but it doesn't make the whiplash any less alarming. Watching those videos of AK, I can't help but feel he doesn't believe in anything he is saying. He looks so dejected. My theory - and what I believe is most likely - is that AKME came in, said they can change things but needed to do it their way. They tried it their way, it crashed and burned when Lonzo got injured, Zach didn't take the next step, and Pat never became anything more than promise. Because of that, Jerry has them on a leash again. He's not going to let them spend his money unless the product affects his pocketbook.
This team will not even sniff the Larry O'Brien until Jerry is gone.
Speaking of Marc Eversley potentially trying to keep his head down in hopes of not going down with a sinking ship, apparently he has been linked to the Hornets new front office opening. To be fair, a ton of people have been linked to it, but it seems pretty likely Eversley is trying to get out of Chicago as soon as he can.
A. Ignorant
B. Lying
C. Doesn't look as bad from ownership perspective
D. All of the above (CORRECT ANSWER)
=====================================
One other thing I'd note is the Reinsdorfs have a long memory. One thing they looked pretty bad by doing what trading Luol Deng for literal nothing back in the middle of the season.
Among many completely valid reasons to shit on this transaction was that they were doing a bait and switch on all the folks that bought tickets for the 13-14 season expecting to see competitive basketball.
As far as I can tell, that's pretty much the only time the Bulls have done that. If they plan on being trash, they at least have the courtesy to let you know it ahead of time.
AK year two: "We will not settle for mediocrity here."
AK now: "5-5 over the past ten isn't bad considering we only lost by a couple of points sometimes! We're only a few games away from the 6th seed!"
I'm curious about the role of two aspects that make AK suck: language and being accountable only to Jerry Reinsdorf. He didn't speak a word of English when he arrived at college in the U.S., and Lithuanian has very different phonetics and grammar. This obviously hampers his ability in press conferences, but more significantly, I wonder how effectively he's able to communicate within the boy's club of NBA executives -- he's the only foreign-born person in those ranks other than Masia Ujiri, who spent high school in the U.S. So I tend to think a lot of what reads as dumb is a combination of a limited English vocabulary and an introverted personality style. Working in the Reinsdorf's organization brings all the dynamics of operating in a family business. One of my favorites is called "cordial hypocrisy," the art of carefully avoiding discussions of tough issues and hard decisions. AK has likely instinctively internalized the mannerisms that enabled Kenny Williams to rack up a mediocre 30+ year career, be called a son when he got fired and get 3 sons drafted/hired by the Sox. Aligning with Reinsdorf's views automatically results in contempt for fans and anger toward the media.
I have to admit, that game was enjoyable, because Young is so annoying lol
NBA probably needs more financial incentives for winning. Maybe the under-the-cap money should be paid based on how many wins you got? I also think the draft lottery should be equal weight random draw for all 14 teams in it. There should be a pot of cash paid out to the 16 playoff teams that increases with each round you win, etc. NBA needs to fix every hole that allows losing to be more profitable than winning.
Bulls move to 3-0 in competitive games post-deadline
Hornets 2-0 with 5 of their 9-man rotation being new players and still missing their starting PG and C. We suck
I'm halfway through the second quarter (couldn't watch last night) and Dominique has said Coby White took a bad shot three times. All three shots were wide open. They just happened not to go in. 😂
just a shame that AK doesn't believe in Ayo, as if he couldn't have replaced Caruso and kept the team "competitive" AND you'd have two first-round picks
IMO, you have to look at Arturas's boss, Jerry Reinsdorf and understand that he is just an investor and to him, owning the Bulls team is an investment like the stock market. He has no love for basketball and like the guys he hired, probably spends little time watching it.
Arturas job is to get guys on the team that fit chemistry wise without over paying for them like they did for Lavine. I heard that they had 1.7 million available and an open spot on the roster. They need a real 3 point shooter like Joe Harris who is now available but they always wait too long because they are scared to spend Reinsdorf's money.
He doesnt care about what the fans want but he better start caring because they want some wins and not word salad. Reinsdorf really should sell the Bulls to someone who loves basketball and wants more than notible players hired initially to sell tickets.
It is frustrating because of the way it looks from the outside. JR finds a player that looks good at first and doesn't go deep enough to know if this guy is going to work long term and over pays him. Then if things dont work out immediately or the guy gets injured, he lets everyone know that they are in a hurry to trade him.
They do not look at how bad the coach is and usually that is the problem. If they used careful evaluation when looking for a coach and not jump to conclusions, they would not have to try to sell the lie that the team is trying to find its identity. Donovan needs to get serious coach training or the Bulls need to find a coach that knows how analyze his players and use them correctly. Spend the money for a good coach Jerry! Then you won't have to overspend on players.
It really irritates me to see that Donovan does the same thing over and over again expecting different results and doesn't seem to listen to his players and it also looks like the players gets minutes according to how much money the make. Vucevic is not as good a center as Drummond and makes 20 times more money so Drummond gets 10-15 mins playing time and Vuch gets 30-35 mins.
They would win more games if they were paired as starters. Drummond can guard the rim much better than Vuch alone and close the door for every good guard on opposing teams that can score. It has been proven. If a guard from an opposing team scores 70 points against the Bulls, someone is overlooking a problem regarding rim protection and you keep your best rim protector on the bench. There's about 6 teams that would love to have Drummond and pay him better but Donovan keep this 2 time allstar on the bench limiting him to 10-15 minutes. If Donovan has a beef against a player, he cuts their minutes.
Reinsdorf needs to ask Donovan what the hell is going on. Even the fans can see this.
Shoutout to Bulldog on the Bulls Talk Podcast for calling out AK for using "competitive" as a way to justify being mediocre and just AK's general use of vague goals. That's probably the most direct criticism of the front office I've heard on that podcast.
Edit: Following up on this as I continue to listen through this podcast. Actually all three hosts (including KC) have pretty directly criticized AK's actions at the deadline and even criticized his lack of a long-term plan. It's not good when even the media partner that is 50% owned by Jerry is straight up criticizing AK...
Jesus, this is bad. I'd throw in on the "we do cap gymnastics at the end of the year" that this deadline was about two things: 1) getting marginally better for contending teams (after Indiana and NYK got noticeably better prior) and 2) teams doing cap gymnastics right now.
Hollinger goes into a very deep and esoteric dive here: https://theathletic.com/5268831/2024/02/12/furphy-whitmore-nba-trade-deadline-hollinger/
I'd like to think I can handle most conceptual ideas in sports pretty well, but this one had my eyes swimming. Granted, it's speculation by Hollinger, but I also think it's quite obvious that teams were making trades or not making trades solely based off of whether they'd be an over-the-cap team, have cap space, or what-not.
I don't think anyone could say that Artuas Karnisovas is smart enough to comprehend all these possibilities.