The Bulls do have a (bad, stupid) plan

this time there's no excuse for being caught off-guard by AKME's incompetence

I’m sure I’ll look up the word count after some time and be surprised how much can be typed for something that is really not worth caring enough over to constantly reiterate. As I embark on this post, though, I really do think it’ll be relatively short: this most recent debacle of a Bulls trade deadline, their 4th in a row, was predictable.

As much as the Bulls never talk¹ it leaves an information vacuum where PR-affiliated observers, media, and common-fan dipshits (::raises hand::) alike try to conceive of some secret plan. A plan that at least starts with an honest assessment of the Bulls’ current standing in the league, and then has some sense in how they will try to improve that.

But then when they do the actual talking, and make their actual moves (or lack thereof) it becomes, actually, not confusing at all. This is all going according to plan, the plan just sucks.

Back at media day, Arturas Karnisovas² laid out his priorities for the season. It was to be “competitive” and play a new offensive style. There were tertiary goals of maybe developing a young player along the way, and a weird fixation on home record, but as of last month I looked back at how the season was going and determined AK likely thought they were hitting these goals:

Arturas Karnisovas is satisfied

And even though they have since had several bad losses, they are still technically in play-in contention, which is the (very) low bar³ to which AK is measuring this team.

At the post-deadline press conference⁴, Karnisovas was consistent in these self-congratulations. And even though they traded their best player, that was remarked upon less in what they gave up and more what they gained. Now without fear that they’ll give the #11 pick away, Karnisovas said the LaVine trade allows them to freely strive for their season-long goal. It was said no less than 8 times in 20 minutes: in spite of basic sense of the NBA⁵, the next thirty games mean something to him.

Karnisovas, delusional as ever, painted the picture of a roster that was an already-good-enough combination of young (“players between 20 and 24”) and quality. And where improvement is best achieved from the internal development gained in going for 38 regular season wins this year, supported by veterans like Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic (and vet-friendly coach Billy Donovan).

So while the rest of the league⁶ sees the benefits of many future draft picks, or even one very high draft pick, this deadline was another indicator that Karnisovas is not only unique in his assessment of his team, but unique in his belief of what’s an acceptable timeline for this “building something sustainable”.

This unique, ahem, perspective has not engendered perception that Karnisovas a visionary. Instead, a laughingstock.

Karnisovas literally at one point said “no urgency”, and based off of yet another dud deadline, he means it. And by virtue of the AKME regime’s continued employment, there’s no urgency from ownership either.

1. or, alternatively, have their head coach talk and talk and talk yet say nothing

2. the last time AK showed himself. Hey, let him cook it’s clearly going great without pesky accountability to the fanbase

3. One thing I do wish the Bulls stopped getting away with is this narrative that they’ve successfully perpetuated that they’re “in the middle”. No, they are a bottom-ten team in basketball. The middle would be what their likely sustainable peak was in 2021. If they had three straight 46-win 6th seed finishes, THAT would be the middle. This is bad.

4. I’m no longer upset at AK’s brutal press conferences or the Bulls’ media corps inability to get more out of him to where I’ll do a fisking of them anymore. The man is a dimwit. There are always attempts at good questions to get him to be accountable, and he literally doesn’t understand them. And I don’t think that’s an act. It shows a lack of respect for the audience, and thus I have no respect for him. Any media member that is granting him respect because of his position means they don’t respect themselves.

5. it was such a wrongheaded mission statement that it was called out in a follow-up question by Bulls.com employed Sam Smith

6. No need to go into all the other deals done, or ones rumored for the Bulls that they turned down. Many (so many) minor deals - a lot motivated by the luxury tax - that netted second round picks were completed.