Karnisovas content to keep waiting for young Bulls to blossom
Ten years ago, the Bulls fired coach Tom Thibodeau after he took the team to the playoffs five seasons in a row.
On Thursday at the Advocate Center, vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas gave coach Billy Donovan full support after reaching the playoffs once in five seasons.
This hasn't exactly been a decade of excellence for the Bulls — two playoff trips and three play-in eliminations during the past 10 years. Recent Bulls history has been an endless loop of cars piling up on a slick, foggy highway as one bad mistake leads to another.
Time marches forward, though, and Karnisovas thinks the Bulls could be onto something after finishing the regular season with a 15-5 stretch. Wednesday's lopsided loss to Miami in the play-in doesn't really change the outlook.
“I think we took the right steps with this group. I think we're on the right path,” Karnisovas said. “Yesterday was a very harsh lesson, but hopefully they can learn from that.”
Well, every declarative statement deserves a fact check. So let's examine the Bulls' current nucleus and the path they're traveling.
To start with the conclusion, yes — Coby White, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis make an intriguing nucleus. White is the oldest of the trio at 25. If this group can approach 50 wins next year — a big ask — then the Bulls are on the right path.
The hot stretch at the end of the season is a small sample size and the schedule included several opponents with no interest in winning. At the same time, there was an abrupt change after Zach LaVine was traded to Sacramento and White became the leader of the team. And this was the second year in a row it happened.
After the all-star break (27 games), White averaged 24.5 points, 16th-best among NBA players who appeared in at least 20 contests. If he does this from the start of next season, he'll be in all-star consideration.
After the break Giddey ranked fourth in the league in assists (9.3), ninth in rebounds (10.7), averaged 21.2 points and shot 45% from 3-point range. The rebounds are interesting because Giddey was the only non-center among the top 14 players.
Buzelis averaged 13 points after the break, the NBA's fifth-leading rookie scorer in that time frame. He's got unlimited room to grow, so it's reasonable to argue the Bulls got a top-five rookie at pick No. 11 last year.
So despite all the front office blunders of the past 10 years, the Bulls have put themselves in a position of potential improvement. The players seem to agree.
“I thought our back half of the year was phenomenal and going into the summer, those are really positive things you can take,” Giddey said.
Added Ayo Dosunmu, who missed the end of the season due to shoulder surgery: “I just think we have a great opportunity next season to start off better. Seeing how this season ended, I definitely do think it puts us in position where we can really make some noise.”
It's obvious what the Bulls need to add — some sort of defensive identity, physicality and rim protection. One player can make a huge difference sometimes, but every team in the league is searching for shot blockers. This step won't be easy.
And the Bulls will have few roster vacancies. Everyone is under contract next season except for Talen Horton-Tucker and Tre Jones. Giddey is a restricted free agent, which means the Bulls can match any offer and will almost certainly sign him to a long-term deal.
The Bulls have their first-round pick and a second from Sacramento. Assuming they keep both drafted players, next year's roster is full. They might consider buying out the final year of Jevon Carter's deal to create another slot.
Karnisovas should be checking around the league to see if Dosunmu, Dalen Terry or Julian Phillips can bring back a defensive player in a trade. The Bulls have been hoping Terry can become a perimeter stopper, sending him out Wednesday to try to slow down Miami's Tyler Herro. Terry still has a long way to go.
Then there's Nikola Vucevic. Why did Karnisovas give the veteran center a three-year deal two years ago, when he was in low demand as a free agent? Well, what's done is done. Ideally, the Bulls will find a taker in a trade, but if Vucevic is back next year, that's not a terrible scenario if he shoots the 3 as well as he did this season (40.2%).
“Obviously, I'm at a stage in my career where I'm trying to win now and play in the playoffs and hopefully deep playoff runs and things like that,” Vucevic said Thursday. “So we'll see. I believe there are pieces here we can build upon.”
When it comes to coaching, White agreed with what I've been saying here in the past — the Bulls had options to build a team identity and didn't do it. At least this season, they bought into a fast-paced style and stuck with it.
“Establishing an identity, I think that's something we were lacking in the past couple of years,” White said. “I think this year, you're kind of seeing it — when you have that identity to play a certain way, it's easier to win games.”
Regarding smaller details, Karnisovas said he's not a candidate for the vacant Denver job and Lonzo Ball said his knee held up better than he could have imagined. At the moment, the Bulls are tied with Dallas for the 12th-worst lottery odds but could move up a spot if Miami beats Atlanta on Friday.
If you're tired of waiting for Karnisovas to build a winner, there's not much to say. But the Bulls could trade everyone, win 15 games the next three years and still not come up with a better three-player nucleus than they have right now.