Reinsdorf has some requirements for Bulls next basketball operations boss

Now in their 11th-straight year of futility, the Bulls are ready to try, try again.

Recent team history has included a few smart decisions. Mostly, though, it has been a series of mistakes, made mostly while trying to correct past mistakes.

President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf made a rare podium appearance Tuesday to answer questions via Zoom about the decision to fire the basketball operations team of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley. And, in general, try to explain how things will be better or different this time.

Reinsdorf set a couple of parameters right away: Keeping Billy Donovan as head coach is a high priority, and the team has no interest in tanking.

Neither of those items qualifies as surprising news, though some would argue a new head of basketball operations should be free to choose the coach. That's assuming Donovan wants to stay, of course, but he did say Sunday he plans to continue coaching and loves the Bulls organization.

“If Billy wants to be our coach, and someone's not interested in that, then they're probably not the right candidate for us,” Reinsdorf said.

As far as tanking, longtime fans were already aware the Bulls are in the family entertainment business, first and foremost. Donovan also said Sunday he'll never tank, because he doesn't think it's right for player development.

Is there any reason to believe the Bulls will get it right this time? They could certainly go from GarPax to AKME to more failure.

Maybe the biggest change Reinsdorf mentioned is he plans to use a search firm. He believes they will talk to more people this time, and in the process, get more ideas on how the basketball department should be run. He's also not married to the previous model of a VP plus GM hierarchy. And John Paxson will be consulting through the process.

At one point, Reinsdorf pulled out his notes and listed the qualities he's seeking. His ideal candidate will be process-oriented, not afraid to make tough decisions, talk to reporters more often than two or three times a year, see NBA trends happening before they become widespread, evaluate talent well, and manage the expansive basketball staff.

He admitted being a fan of Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti, who was hired at age 29, when the team was still in Seattle. Finding the next Presti is likely the goal of all 29 NBA teams.

Reinsdorf said he wants Donovan to be involved in personnel decisions. As far as Donovan having a say in the GM search, maybe taking on sort of a Pat Riley-type of role where he's the basketball operations boss while still coaching, Reinsdorf was not asked about that possibility.

The Bulls were already in the middle of a sputtering rebuild when Karnisovas was hired on April 13, 2020. Karnisovas then hired Donovan five months later.

One regrettable decision happened right away. The Bulls landed the No. 4 overall draft pick and used it on Patrick Williams. It was a terrible evaluation, because Williams is an undersized power forward, without elite athleticism. Those type of players rarely succeed in the NBA. It's not really Williams' fault he didn't meet lofty expectations.

Tired of the rebuild, Karnisovas and Eversley, often referred to as AKME, overpaid to acquire center Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls sent two first-round picks and Wendell Carter Jr. to Orlando, and the initial draft pick was used on Franz Wagner.

Reinsdorf talked about the 2021 playoff push being regrettable, since it sacrificed the future. The Bulls brought in DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, and led the East midway through the 2021-22 season, but it all fell apart when Ball went out with a knee injury and stayed out for two years.

“Going forward, it's about sustainability,” Reinsdorf said. “We want to build this for the long term. So I don't want to be just good for one or two years. I want it to be year-in and year-out, we have a chance to be competitive and win. And maybe some of those years, we can go all the way.”

Reinsdorf said he figured this was a good time to start over, because the Bulls have their own lottery pick, will get rookie Noa Essengue back from a shoulder injury, could get Portland's first-round pick, and can clear roughly $65 million in cap space. Reinsdorf praised Karnisovas for this year's flurry of trades at the deadline, which at least kept their financial flexibility intact.

One of the mysteries of the AKME era was narrative control. Karnisovas would say they're on the right track, then Everlsey would claim the Bulls are in the early stages of a long, slow process a few weeks later.

After the February trades, Karnisovas said the goal was to escape the “middle” of the NBA standings, when in reality, nothing really changed. If he had said, “We've got a couple of good pieces in Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, we're in a good spot.” — would he still have this job?

Hard to say. But fixing this is about to be someone else's job.