Bulls Finalizing Deal To Bring On Arturas Karnisovas As Head Of Basketball Operations
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Bulls have found their new front office executive.
They are finalizing a deal to make Arturas Karnisovas, now general manager of the Denver Nuggets, their new head of basketball operations.
The Bulls are getting rave reviews for the move.
Karnisovas worked for the NBA League Office, and then joined the Nuggets' front office in 2013. He played at Seton Hall, was on two Olympic teams for his native Lithuania, and has a lengthy European basketball résumé that includes stops in Italy and Spain.
CBS 2's Megan Mawicke chatted with Katie Wingee, of the Nuggets' Altitude TV, about what the Bulls are getting in Karnisovas.
"He's not a guy that works within a front office who just sits in his office all day long. He is constantly in the locker room talking with players. He's talking with coaches. He's a guy that, you know, will sit courtside and watch both teams warm up, and is mingling with, you know, NBA professionals and players from the other team, as well as media members and fans from around Denver," Winge said. "So his presence is very well known, and Bulls fans will see that very quickly, and I think that an organization like Chicago that was really looking for a culture shift in a lot of ways, and someone to come in and have fresh ideas and a fresh voice and a fresh perspective, you couldn't be anyone better. I can't speak highly enough about the person that AK is."
So what happens to Vice President of Basketball Operation John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman? It's unclear. Paxson might move to a senior advisory role, but not be around the team on a daily basis.
And will Forman be kept on since there will be a new GM hired? Forman could stay on in a scouting role.
The future for Head Coach Jim Boylen is iffy at best – he will likely be fired, Mawicke reported, It is just a matter of when.
