© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Billy Donovan and Arturas Karnisovas are marked as safe in the Bulls' potential changes
Point it out to injuries, inconsistencies, and other reasons that can be thought of. At the end of the day, the Chicago Bulls have emerged as one of the most disappointing teams so far this young 2023-24 season. As they have set lofty aspirations for themselves before entering the season, the Bulls failed to live up to competitive expectations and are now stuck in a room filled with questions and uncertainties.
With a 5-13 record so far, there seem to be necessary changes that are about to happen in the Windy City. However, according to a report, the impending reform may only require changing of players as two of the team's notable personnel appear to be safe from modifications.
Marked as safe
According to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, the Bulls are unlikely to part ways in both basketball operations chief Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan.
According to Johnson, the franchise ownership gave Karnisovas full authority to handle and repair the team’s shortcomings and needs. He also added that Chicago is typically slow to take a needed change within the front office.
Johnson also pointed out that Karnisovas inked an extension last offseason with the Bulls, which is also a considerable factor on why a dismissal won't happen.
“The odd part is: Typically in such circumstances, a coach may be on the hot seat or perhaps management could be in trouble. But with Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf’s history of employing Jerry Krause for 18 years and John Paxson for 17 until Paxson initiated his exit plan, not to mention Artūras Karnisovas’ contract extension, Karnisovas has been given the green light to try to fix the current mess.”
Meanwhile, Donovan has been a respected figure around the organization and is unlikely to see himself get fired by the Bulls, added by Johnson. Besides, the 58-year-old coach still has plenty of years left in his contract with Chicago. According to the long-time insider, the team isn't willing to remove a coach who remains under contract with them.
“Same goes for Billy Donovan, who is liked and respected by both ownership and management and also has multiple years left on his extension. While it has happened in recent situations like Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylen, the Reinsdorfs typically don’t like paying coaches not to work for them. So Donovan is safe, although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see his staff tweaked moving forward.”
Players on the hot seat
With both Karnisovas and Donovan out of the ousting talks, it now boils down to the players and how they will carry the burden of responsibility in the team's struggles.
Amid boasting three high-scoring stars in their respective positions – DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic – the Bulls are still interestingly at the 26th ranked in the league's offensive rating (110.5). They also have one of the lowest defensive rates with 116.2 – 22nd in the association.
“We don’t think about whatever is going to happen if it keeps going this way,” Vucevic said. “Our only focus is to try to turn this thing around.
“Rumors come with the territory. If you’re playing well, everything is great. Everybody is talking positive about you. If you’re losing, you get criticized and rumors start. We have to deal with that. The only way to deal with it is for us to play better. That’s the only way for that to stop.”
