WASHINGTON — It isn’t very often that Michael Reinsdorf speaks publicly about the state of the Bulls.
Then again, it isn’t very often that the team president makes the decision to remove a front office before a season ends and before it has at least a decade on the job.
He did both in 24 hours, pulling the plug on vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, and then discussing the decision Tuesday afternoon.
And while the younger Reinsdorf went through a list of what the Bulls need to see from their next front office, how they will use an outside firm to help with the hiring and how he plans on taking a more hands-on approach in trying to get the organization back on track, he also was transparent in their flaws, saying he’ll do what it takes to fix them.
The Bulls’ overlying philosophy has been not to tank. Reinsdorf reiterated that but admitted they need to be better in understanding league trends and being in front of them rather than chasing them.
There was a report that the former front office was trying to sell ownership on tanking but was told no. That was inaccurate — or it was members of the former front office trying to do damage control.
Either way, Karnisovas — both publicly and privately — always stood on “competitive integrity” and the idea of winning games no matter what the standings say. Could Reinsdorf start changing his stance on that when he sees where the Pistons and Spurs sit in the standings after tanking in previous years?
“We don’t know where the lottery changes are happening,” he said. “We know what’s out there and what’s being talked about, but we have to see where the league goes. Once we see where the league goes, that’s really important, understanding that trend. We haven’t always done that. We haven’t always recognized the trends on where things are going.
“Back in 2012 or ’13, when the three-point shooting started to increase, if we would have anticipated that more and how it was going to change, we probably would have had different decision-making in some of the players we drafted. So you’ve got to stay ahead of it.”
Autonomy will be reexamined
Reinsdorf said that while the Bulls’ and White Sox’ front offices mostly have been given full autonomy, that has to be reexamined, at least with the Bulls.
“I have to hold myself accountable too,” Reinsdorf said. “We do give a lot of autonomy to our people, but that doesn’t mean they can just make any decisions they want. It’s our job to ask the right questions and to push back when needed. So it’s not just going to be like, ‘OK, we hired you, now we’re done, we’ll see you in a few years. Hopefully, we’re good.’ We’ve got to really ask the right questions.”
Not missing much
There aren’t many certainties on the Bulls’ roster for next season, but Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis seem to be two of them.
Both players were left back in Chicago for the two-game mini-series against the Wizards. Giddey is dealing with a hamstring issue, and Buzelis is still fighting an illness.
Coach Billy Donovan said Buzelis might rejoin the team for the game Thursday, but that was up in the air.
Not that either were needed as the Bulls hammered the Wizards 129-98. Rob Dillingham scored a career-high 26 points.
Donovan obviously still wants to have the scheduled sit-down with the Reinsdorfs after the season to discuss the future, but he talked like a person who was already in the mix in figuring out that future.
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Holy sports meltdown, Chicago.
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The Sun-Times reported over the weekend that Karnisovas and Eversley were on the hot seat, and on Monday afternoon, both were fired with years left on their contracts.
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