Arturas Karnisovas lost his job to Bryson Graham for several reasons. It starts with his ugly first-ever draft pick, taking Patrick Williams 4th overall, compared to other prominent options. Then you have his inability to get proper value in trades, too often giving away quality talent for highly questionable packages. Yet what probably frustrated people the most about his tenure as Chicago Bulls VP of Basketball Operations was his stubborn refusal to face reality. If there was one word he treated like kryptonite, it was ‘rebuild’. Any time it was mentioned in his presence, he seemed to bristle.
No comment better sums up his thoughts than what he said a year ago when reporters peppered him with questions about rebuilding.
“I don’t like that word, me personally. I like transition for the organization. Transition,” Karnisovas repeated. “And I think a full rebuild is an overused word. I think in terms of construction of our team, we have so many young players but those young players have six, five, four years under their belt. They’re pretty experienced players. So I would stay away from that.”
This was reflected in his actions. Karnisovas never made draft picks a priority in his trades. He was more interested in acquiring young players with experience who might do well with an opportunity for greater minutes elsewhere. That strategy certainly didn’t work out. Ask Jaden Ivey. Graham got his turn to address that word at his introductory press conference on Wednesday.
“We are in the rebuilding phase, and we’re extremely young too…I’m not going to be up here and mince words and say we’re further along.”
Bryson Graham showed in that moment that he understands reality.
This team is not one or two players away from contention. It has problems everywhere. Their defense is one of the worst in the NBA. They have limited bench depth and no star power. All they can hang their hat on is the youthful promise of Matas Buzelis. Cleaning up this mess will require more than one offseason. You don’t get that kind of honesty from executives, at least not in this town. If Graham wanted to start off on the right foot with Bulls fans, the best way to do that is by not lying to them.
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Now there is good news. The Bulls have the necessary resources to start a rebuild the right way. They have two 1st round picks in the upcoming draft. With some luck, one of them might become a top five pick in the lottery. Either way, Graham will have two valuable opportunities to add some young talent to the roster. They’ll also have the most cap space in the NBA. If he wishes to continue adding more future assets, he could look to take on some expiring contracts from other teams. The options are plentiful.
The good news is Graham is no stranger to rebuilds.
He was part of two of them during his long stint with the New Orleans Pelicans. However, the more interesting one came at the start of 2019. He was promoted to assistant general manager that year. The Pelicans secured the #1 overall pick and spent it on Duke phenom Zion Williamson. From there, Graham helped the organization steadily build a roster that went from 30-42 in the COVID season to a second-best franchise record of 49-33 in 2023-2024. The roster was littered with players Bryson Graham helped find, like Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones, Dyson Daniels, and Jose Alvarado.
Things probably would’ve coalesced sooner had Williams not constantly struggled with injuries over that time period. Either way, the point stands that Graham has a solid education in building a team step by step through sound drafting, disciplined free-agent spending, and smart trades. That was often the biggest issue with Karnisovas. He didn’t really do any of those things. Graham was brought in to change that. The first order of business is finding the right head coach.
