The Arturas Karnisovas train hasn’t lost any steam in its journey forward. It just has slowed down a bit to get a good feel of the landscape.
The Bulls’ newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations not only has been busy talking to as many of the players as possible, but he also has had numerous meetings with what’s left of the scouting departments.
A source said that Karnisovas still was drawing opinions on who stays and who goes, as well as collecting information on what he has to work with from a personnel standpoint.
All the while, he still is conducting interviews to find a general manager. That process could continue through next week at least.
There was an erroneous report published Thursday that said Karnisovas had decided on CAA agent Austin Brown as GM, but that was taken down by late afternoon. Yes, Brown’s name was in the mix and would follow the history of the Reinsdorfs approving outside-the-box hires, but a source said Friday that there was no front-runner yet.
Does Karnisovas, the former Nuggets GM, have a front-runner? Only he knows for sure. He reportedly already has spoken to Marc Eversley (76ers), Mark Hughes (Clippers), Matt Lloyd (Magic) and Michael Finley (Mavericks).
The source did say that Finley made a great impression on Karnisovas, but there was no indication of a leading candidate heading into the weekend.
Karnisovas already has hired cap specialist J.J. Polk from the Pelicans and his player-personnel guru in Pat Connelly.
That’s three key hires in less than a few weeks, but it’s only the beginning of a complete overhaul of the front office.
What many Bulls fans want to see addressed is the fate of coach Jim Boylen, but as the Chicago Sun-Times and multiple outlets already have reported, that decision is further down the priority list, especially with the remainder of the season still up in the air because of the coronavirus shutdown.
Until Karnisovas knows if the Bulls will have to play their final 17 regular-season games, he’s not going to move on Boylen and the rest of the coaching staff.
Even with the regular season suspended, the idea that Boylen definitely is heading out just isn’t accurate.
Not only has the Sun-Times reported through sources that Boylen feels like he will be back next season, but he has continued going through the business of coaching in these unprecedented times by reaching out to his players with updates and film clips, including old Bulls videos.
Boylen has met with Karnisovas regularly to discuss the roster and has remained in close contact with his staff, giving them projects and assignments.
What about the idea of simply whacking Boylen and making one of the assistant coaches the interim coach?
According to a source, it’s not a staff that has an obvious interim candidate because all of the assistants are viewed to have equal footing regarding experience.
Finally, the GM likely will want to assess Boylen and the staff, so Karnisovas needs to get that position filled first before turning his attention to the coach.
