It’s time to give Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley some credit.
They aren’t liars.
The Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations and his general manager haven’t been very realistic with the product they’ve built, and far too often sound like dreamers rather than basketball executives, but they seldom lie.
That’s why things are about to get interesting in just over three weeks when Bulls camp tips off with the annual media day.
The lies are going to be flying.
At least they better be.
LIE #1 – “We’re thrilled to have Zach LaVine back.”
Almost anything asked about Zach LaVine has to be answered in untruths.
Unable to trade the two-time All-Star since last season, Karnisovas and Eversley need to do everything they can to repair the LaVine burnt bridge, enough so that perspective NBA teams will be willing to cross it come trade deadline time.
No easy task.
If LaVine stays a Bull all season long the franchise will have invested $181.7 million in the two-time All-Star for one playoff appearance and one playoff game win since 2017.
Not exactly a profitable return, and not even the only gut punch when it comes to LaVine’s contract situation. The guard is still owed $138 million over the next three seasons in a new NBA landscape where many teams are handcuffed with the revamped collective bargaining agreement.
So the Bulls have to do all they can to lift LaVine up as a game-changer in order to make him more marketable, while knowing behind closed doors they lost faith in his ability to be a winning player for the franchise since the 2022-23 campaign when they first began actively shopping him.
Coach Billy Donovan and LaVine ironed out some differences earlier in the summer when Donovan went out to Los Angeles to meet with his scoring guard, but trust between the two is one bad moment away from watching the rope fray yet again.
LIE #2 – “This will be a very competitive roster.”
The last two seasons have ended almost identically for the Bulls: Mess around to finish in a play-in spot, and get a reality check down on South Beach to end the year.
And that was with an elite defender in Alex Caruso and one of the Association’s best closers in DeMar DeRozan. Both were traded this summer.
The idea that this roster is better is a bad punchline.
Yet, Karnisovas and Eversley have to do all they can to spin this as an organization moving forward when the reality of the situation is the best way to move forward is by falling backward.
In what could be an NBA draft lottery filled with organizational game-changers – starting at the top with Cooper Flagg – the Bulls will only keep their first-round pick if they finish in the bottom 10. Otherwise, it goes to San Antonio, keeping the Bulls in mediocrity – otherwise known as NBA hell.
Las Vegas odds have the Bulls currently as the 7th-worst team in the league entering the year, which would give them a 7.5% chance to hit No. 1 and plant the Flagg, but a 32% chance to hit on a top four pick.
It will be up to Karnisovas and Eversley to play those odds.
LIE #3 – “We’re accountable.”
Accountability is just a six-syllable word in a Jerry Reinsdorf organization.
The White Sox are on pace for historical embarrassment and GM Chris Getz can sleep easy at night knowing he can buy rather than rent.
So the idea that Karnisovas and Eversley are somehow in danger of losing their current gigs? It couldn’t be further from the truth. As this summer’s firings and changes throughout the organization showed, there was plenty of blame to go around, but nowhere near the top.