Local candidate Lloyd worked for Bulls during an era of smart decisions
The Bulls have been pretty bad since the championship era ended in 1998, no reminder needed there.
But there is some nuance within those roughly three decades of frustration. Which is why team president Michael Reinsdorf should feel comfortable bringing in a familiar name to run basketball operations.
According to several reports, the Bulls are down to three candidates — Detroit Pistons senior VP Dennis Lindsey, Atlanta Hawks senior VP Bryson Graham, and Minnesota Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd.
Lloyd is the local favorite, a Bensenville native and Fenton High School grad. He started with the Bulls as a media relations assistant in 1999 and moved into the scouting department when John Paxson took over from Jerry Krause in 2003.
Anyone who has stuck with the Bulls this long should remember an era when smart decisions were being made in the front office. Paxson got off to a nice start, drafting Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng the first two years, signing Andres Nocioni as an international free agent, and hiring Scott Skiles as head coach.
That group finally made the playoffs in 2005, ending the brutal post-'98 rebuild. The Bulls actually won a playoff series in 2007 after adding Ben Wallace.
Obviously, there was a lucky break by winning the draft lottery in 2008 and landing Derrick Rose. But the Bulls also made moves that paid off, such as getting two first-round picks from the Knicks for Eddy Curry. Those turned into Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas; the latter could have been LaMarcus Aldridge, but can't win them all.
There was a stretch of Bulls drafts that delivered amazing results. Without using a pick in the top 20, they landed Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler between 2009-11. They missed on free agent LeBron James, but did a decent job building a team around Rose.
The heart of the basketball operations staff in those years was Paxson, Lloyd and Gar Forman. When Paxson felt burned out and decided to take a step back, Forman moved into the main role, while Lloyd left town for a job with the Magic.
Bulls historians might say this is where things went south. Forman was a good scout, maybe not the best fit for a general manager role.
Some Bulls sources suggest a more specific moment — draft night, 2012 — for the franchise downturn. It's an infamous story by now, assistant coach Ron Adams wanted the Bulls to draft Draymond Green with the No. 29 pick, with head coach Tom Thibodeau in agreement. Forman decided to pick Marquis Teague, and boy, would NBA history be different if management listened to Adams.
That's when the rift between Thibodeau and the front office widened, Adams was shown the door, then Thibodeau fired after five straight playoff trips. The ensuing 11 seasons have brought little success.
Lloyd was not in the draft room in 2012, having already accepted a job with the Magic. He spent the past 14 years with Orlando and Minnesota, two teams with two things in common.
Both are still alive in the current NBA playoffs, and both fleeced the Bulls in a trade. Former VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas badly overpaid to pry Nikola Vucevic from the Magic in 2021. Turning one of the Bulls draft picks into Franz Wagner is one reason why Orlando took a series lead over the Pistons this weekend.
Now, the entire league is wondering how the Bulls got so little for Ayo Dosunmu after he scored 43 points for the Timberwolves in a playoff win over Denver on Saturday.
Of the three finalists mentioned for the Bulls this week, Lindsey was in a lead role with Utah from 2013-21, helping put together the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert playoff teams. He left the Jazz after being accused of racial comments by a player, though the NBA's investigation was inconclusive. Lindsey has been with the Pistons for two years.
Graham spent most of his NBA years with New Orleans, and was hired by the Hawks less than a year ago.
Some might argue the Bulls need a fresh start and new ideas in the executive role. But a return to the 2003-12 era is ultimately what they're trying to achieve. It starts with someone at the top who can make smart decisions.