Arturas Karnisovas is reportedly finalizing deal for Bulls
Arturas Karnisovas is reportedly the leading candidate for Bulls top executive role
According to the reporting done by Goodwill, the Bulls are looking to hire a lead executive who can check off a few very specific boxes.
First, Chicago is looking for an executive, “who has a presence publicly, especially given the reticent nature of Paxson and Forman the last several years”. As stated above, there are few people in the basketball world who are as respected as Karnisovas.
Chicago is also looking for an executive with a strong draft record and the ability to develop the young players that they select; both skills that Karnisovas has shown he has in spades.
I fully expect the #ChicagoBulls to hire Arturas Karnisovas within the next few days. I also expect him to hire an entirely new coaching staff. The interviews that have been reported earlier today were for other potential roles in a completely revamped Bulls front office.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) April 9, 2020
Karnisovas is a Lithuanian basketball legend and was also the first person from the Soviet Union to play college basketball in the United States of America when he joined Seton Hall despite not knowing any English. After his collegiate career, he attempted to gain interest from any NBA team, but failed to do so. That is when he went to play overseas and during his career he had stops in Spain, Italy, Greece and France as well as quite a bit of time with the Lithuanian National Team where he helped them win two bronze medals in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. In addition to his playing days, Karnisovas also worked for the NBA league office, was an international scout for the Houston Rockets, and directed the Adidas Eurocamp, which has since been disbanded and is now the NBA Elite International Camp.
Karnisovas has seen every corner of basketball across the globe which is big for his ability to build a strong scouting department as well as his ability to be a public figure to lead the Bulls into their next generation.
Back in 2013, Karnisovas was hired as Denver’s an assistant general manager and has since been promoted to general manager. He led the charge by spearheading the selection of Nikola Jokic in 2014, was a massive help in scouting international players of all kinds, and was the ideal complement to Connelly’s approach. (Karnisovas is said to be organized beyond belief and extremely stoic in his approach while Connelly is known to be a bit more energetic and imaginative.) Now the Nuggets have arguably their best chance at a NBA title that their organization has ever had and that would not be true if it wasn’t for Karnisovas’ contributions.
