Bulls Have 2 Early Candidates for New Front Office Position: Report

The Chicago Bulls have reportedly launched “a formal search” for a new top executive who will have full authority on basketball decisions, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Per Wojnarowski, two early candidates have surfaced as targets.

The Chicago Bulls Are Targeting Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors GM

Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson offers more information.

If the Bulls are successful in luring Arturas Karnisovas or Bobby Webster to the team as their new prime decision-maker, what will that mean for John Paxson and Gar Forman?

Wojnarowski expounded:

It seems Forman might be relieved of his duties, and Paxson will remain with the organization out of loyalty, but this has all the looks of a major front-office shakeup.

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What We Know About Arturas Karnisovas

The 48-year-old Lithuanian is a pioneer.

He was the first player born in the USSR to play basketball at an American college. He attended Seton Hall University where he played for four years for PJ Carlesimo. He has an extensive playing background in the Olympics for Lithuania, and he enjoyed a 15-year playing career internationally.

After his playing days were over, Karnisovas worked for the NBA for five years and later joined the Houston Rockets organization as a scout. In 2013, he was hired as the Denver Nuggets’ assistant general manager. He was considered a candidate for GM positions with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks before the Nuggets promoted him in 2017.

Karnisovas just signed a multi-year extension with the Nuggets in 2019, so if the Bulls are interested, they will need to explore a potential out in his contract. Karnisovas has been instrumental in the Nuggets’ rise to respectability in the last four years. The Nuggets have been above .500 each of the three seasons he’s been the team’s general manager.

What We Know About Bobby Webster

The 36-year-old Hawaiian is one of the hottest and most successful young general managers in the NBA. Under his direction, the Raptors won their first NBA Championship last season.

Back in 2006, Webster began working for the NBA and he worked with the league’s labor committee as it negotiated the collective bargaining agreement in 2011. The Raptors hired him as the Vice President of Basketball Management and Strategy in 2013. He worked his way up to general manager in 2017, and he is the youngest in that role in the NBA currently.

Webster’s dad is a Chicago native, so there is a connection to the city from that standpoint. Of the early candidates revealed, Webster is likely to be the fan-favorite in Chicago. He’s younger, American, and has recent high-profile success to boost his resume.

However, that doesn’t mean he is truly the best candidate, or that he’ll be interested in leaving a good situation in Toronto.

In any case, Bulls fans will likely welcome any new faces in the front office.

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