Bulls: Karnisovas And Eversley Work Magic, Work "The" Magic At Trade Deadline
Prying Vucevic from Orlando for a player who couldn’t get out of his own head and another who couldn’t stay out of the training room is a Cristiano Felicio-level finesse
It doesn’t matter the arrangement, just make sure to give Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley flowers today for what they did Thursday.
In “AKME’s” first collective aggression as the executive vice president and general manager pairing of the Chicago Bulls, they spared little expense upgrading much of the Bulls’ roster and continuing the unlikely transformation, not even a year in, from the franchise as a laughing stock of the NBA to one of its rising properties in the Eastern Conference.
Simply put, Karnisovas and Eversley were in their (trick) bag, somehow turning Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and a pair of first-round picks (2021 and 2023) into former Orlando Magic center and two-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic.
It was quite the sleight of hand given how loud the chatter of a Lauri Markkanen-for-Lonzo Ball swap had become and the prevailing illusions cast around the league that both Carter Jr.’s trade value and Vucevic’s availability were nonexistent.
Once all of their cards had been revealed, not only had Karnisovas and Eversley pulled one of only four players in the league averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds a game out of their hat, but they also came away with much needed wing depth— Al-Farouq Aminu, Troy Brown Jr. and Javonte Green— and interior toughness in Daniel Theis.
And poof, just like that, the team with all of three wins to its name against quality opponents, the team that wet the bed against the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday, is no more. The notion that Karnisovas and Eversley are anything like their predecessors is gone too, headed out of town on the first thing smoking along with Carter Jr., Porter Jr., Luke Kornet, Daniel Gafford, and Chandler Hutchison.
This season was pegged as one of evaluation with Karnisovas and Eversley taking stock of a roster largely made up of players from the John Paxson and Gar Forman era of business.
And, well, 43-games in, that assessment laid bare a team whose second-best player was 14-year veteran Thad Young — who has only logged more than 30 minutes in four games this season to help maintain the tread of his tires — and who struggled sizing up a quintet of young building blocks who together created too many double-digit deficits for their more seasoned teammates to slay along with a general lack of dogged determination when the going got tough.
At their best, the Bulls pushed the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers (albeit without Anthony Davis) and title-hopeful Los Angeles Clippers to one-possession games, beat Dallas twice and Portland once. At their worst, they squandered cushy fourth-quarter leads and opportunities to get the better of hamstrung opponents.
Billy Donovan wrung as much as he could out of essentially the same roster that lost 43 of 65 games by an average of nine points last year.
Young helped raise the team’s floor, even with his quasi-minutes restriction.
Its ceiling was left to Zach LaVine to extend.
To this point, with a mostly unreliable supporting cast, LaVine has only lifted the Bulls to play-in tournament contention. But in pouring in bucket after effortless bucket en route to his first-ever All-Star nod in February, LaVine has, perhaps more importantly, earned Karnisovas’ trust to remain the franchise’s centerpiece moving forward.
Replacing Carter Jr. and Coby White with Young and Tomas Satoransky in the starting lineup less than two weeks ago was evidence of that. Karnisovas and Eversley doubled down on that conviction and their commitment to winning Thursday.
Looking back, it’s a wonder there was ever any doubt.
In less than a year’s time Karnisovas and Eversley abruptly pivoted from their shortlist of head coaching candidates to pursue one with a better pedigree in Donovan, rolled the dice in drafting a 19-year-old sixth man in Patrick Williams and just brokered three separate deals that promise to rescue the Bulls from the fringes of the playoff picture.
Prying Vucevic from Orlando for a player who couldn’t get out of his own head and another who couldn’t stay out of the training room is a Cristiano Felicio-level finesse. Karnisovas and Eversley did part ways with draft capital but even that seems a small price to pay considering the direction this team is headed and that those picks are top-four protected.
These are the kind of forceful cuts the previous regime routinely check-swung on.
Yes, there’s still much ado about Markkanen and his impending restricted free agency. There’s also the need for a lead guard to help connect the new dots. But the fact is the Bulls are better today than they were 48 hours ago.
And you have the new brain trust of AKME to thank for that.
Drew Stevens is a Senior Writer for WARR Media, he lives and works in Chicago
Good evaluation Drew. Better days ahead!!