The Chicago Bulls have not had a record over .500 since the 2016-2017 season. In the past two seasons, the Bulls have eclipsed just 22 wins in each of those seasons. The Reinsdorf family had enough of this after last season. The Bulls cleared the house in the front office, with the biggest move being the firings of GarPax (Gar Forman and John Paxson). They also fired their head coach Jim Boylen. Check out the full recap of the Chicago Bulls 2020 off-season below.
Front Office
The Bulls let go of the infamous GarPax duo this past season, after both of them served for the Bulls for a combined 18 seasons. John Paxson is still within the scouting department of the Bulls organization. With those two out of the front office, check out who joined the team for this season.
Arturas Karnisovas: Arturas, in his day, was a Lithuanian professional basketball player that played in different European leagues. He started his post-professional career with the Houston Rockets as a scout for five years. After that, he spent the next years with the Denver Nuggets as an assistant General Manager. In 2017, he worked his way up to be the General Manager. He is responsible for the drafting of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the signing of Paul Millsap. He is the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Chicago Bulls.
Marc Eversley: Marc Eversley was named the general manager for the Chicago Bulls going into this season. Eversley has served significant time in a front office, most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers. Before then, he was with the Wizards and the Raptors. He had a big role in the drafting of Ben Simmons and the signings of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris into the 76ers organization. Eversley is the first black general manager for the Chicago Bulls in franchise history.
Coaching
The Bulls let go of their second head coach in the last five years after firing Jim Boylen this past offseason. Boylen faced much criticism, especially from the Bulls’ best player, Zach Lavine. He was wildly criticized for the misuse of Lauri Markkanen and his poor relationship with the team. Check out who the Bulls brought on in their new coaching staff.
Billy Donovan: Billy Donovan most recently served as the Oklahoma City Thunder head coach. There, he never coached a losing season and took them to the playoffs every year. The furthest the Thunder got in his tenure was the Western Conference Finals in the 2015-2016 season, which was his first year as head coach. He was hired by Arturas Karnisovas immediately after he parted ways with the Thunder. He also added on coaches John Longstaff and Maurice Cheeks to his coaching staff with the Bulls.
Players
After the new front office and coaching staff was created, the new Bulls organization got right to work. They immediately went into the draft with the fourth overall pick. Check out who they added to the existing roster of Zach Lavine, Lauri Markkanen, and Coby White.
Patrick Williams: Patrick Williams, 19, was drafted fourth overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2020 NBA draft. He is a lanky, 6’8″ forward out of Florida State. Williams has averaged 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and one assist per game off of 47.2% shooting from the field and 45% shooting from behind the arc this season. The rookie has recently received kudos from LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard for guarding them in the Bulls’ last two games. He is one of their better defensive players already.
Garrett Temple: Garrett Temple has now been on 11 NBA teams in his 10-year career in the NBA. He most recently came from the Brooklyn Nets, where he averaged a career-high 10.3 points per game, along with 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. This season, he is a vital part of the Bulls’ bench, averaging 8.7 points per game, along with 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He is shooting a career-best 40.9% from three-point range and is one of the Bulls’ better defenders.
Outlook
The Bulls had a significant turning point in the organization this past offseason after cleaning out their front office and coaching staff. They brought on a lot of experienced professionals that have solid reputations in the NBA. So far, they are 4-7 on the season, but they have put up hard-fought games against big-dog teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers.
