All eyes on Arturas Karnisovas, and five other keys for Bulls' season
Arturas Karnisovas is about to face his toughest challenge as the Bulls’ top basketball executive.
Firing coach Jim Boylen in 2020 and turning over the roster for the start of the 2021-22 season were child’s play compared to what’s on Karnisovas’ plate this season.
Karnisovas will be looking to showcase talent he can trade, develop his wave of younger players and keep the Bulls in the top 10 of the NBA Draft lottery. Those are difficult hoops to jump through at the same time, and he can’t miss on any of them.
But he’s going to say all the right things, of course, as he did when he was asked about the plan for this season on media day last month.
‘‘I think the ultimate goal is to win, right?’’ Karnisovas said. ‘‘Because the development is not learning how to dribble the ball, shoot, all this stuff. Part of it is adversity and also to teach those guys what goes into winning.’’
Those on the inside understand what he’s trying to pull off. Now it comes down to whether he can do it. That’s the Bulls’ main storyline for this season. It’s not the only one, but it’s the most important.
Here are the others:
1. Zach attack
Guard Zach LaVine has shown signs of looking more like the All-Star he was in 2021 and 2022 than the guy who seemed disgruntled with his situation and coach Billy Donovan last season, and that’s a great sign.
Trading him with three years and $138 million left on his contract will be hard enough for the Bulls; they don’t need him to be pouty, too. If LaVine can play well in November and December, it would take only one desperate team to take him off the Bulls’ hands.
Center Nikola Vucevic and guard Lonzo Ball also showing they can be valuable assets would put Karnisovas in even better position to make sure he keeps his top-10-protected pick away from the Spurs in the 2025 draft.
2. The rookie
The Bulls haven’t had a young player with as much attitude and fearlessness as forward Matas Buzelis since Bobby Portis.
Buzelis is showing all the signs of being a legit top-five talent who slid to the Bulls at No. 11 in June. Now it’s about making sure he develops the right way and joins guards Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Josh Giddey among the Bulls’ talented wave of youngsters.
3. Ball game
The entire league is pulling for Ball (left) as he returns from what was basically a full transplant of his left knee. It’s not only a great story, but it’s also a chance for Ball to get his career back on track. He last played in a regular-season game on Jan. 14, 2022.
There will be some speed bumps because Ball and the medical staff are venturing into unknown territory, but the hope is that there are no disasters.
4. White noise
White thinks he’s on the cusp of being an All-Star player, especially offensively. The next big leap he needs to take is on defense.
He has the size and want-to, but he will continue to be left out of All-Star consideration until he shows that two-way mentality.
5. Billy ball
Donovan is listed as having the best odds to be the first coach fired, but that ignores that he is well-liked by his bosses and ownership.
The best thing Donovan can do is to pull off his change in offensive philosophy and get the Bulls to play with more pace and shoot more three-pointers.