NEWSLETTER
The words “winning” and “Bulls” haven’t been used in the same sentence all that much here lately, but new general manager Marc Eversley is prepared to change that.
During his first official interview as the Bulls GM, Eversley said he and executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas are the right guys to implement a winning culture in the Windy City.
“We both come from successful programs, and we’re going to establish a culture of winning in Chicago,” Eversley told the reporters on Friday. “So Bulls fans, hear me when I say, our ultimate goal is to bring an NBA championship back to the city of Chicago.
Now, sure, a lot of this sounds like generic new GM speak – and to an extent, it is – but I also do believe in Eversley. At the end of the day, the best way to know what it takes to create a winning culture – or at least recognize one – is experience. And both he and Karnisovas carry a very recent track record of winning basketball along with them.
But how much? Indeed, while they’ve both held multiple positions with varying degrees of influence over the past two decades, I wanted to see just how much winning Karnisovas and Eversley had actually experienced throughout their respective, executive NBA careers.
Here’s some back-of-the-napkin math!
Marc Eversley (Team Records)
• Raptors (2006-2013): 240-326
• Wizards (2013-2016): 131-115
• 76ers (2016-2020): 170-141 (Senior VP of player personnel from 2018-2020 when the team went 90-57)
• TOTAL: 541-582
Arutras Karnisovas (Team Records)
• Rockets (2008-2013): 217-177
• Nuggets (2013-2020): 282-275 (GM from 2017-2020 when the team went 143-86)
• TOTAL: 499-424
NOTE: For a more complete look at the actual titles each executive held with their prior organizations, click on their name. In addition, in Eversley’s case, his influence as “senior VP of player personnel” versus “VP of player personnel” (started without “senior” title 2016 and then got promoted in 2018), likely wasn’t all that different.
Anyway, both executives are clearly more than qualified to say they know what it takes to be a winning organization. Karnisovas not only holds a “winning record” (again, not entirely his doing, but you get the point), but he’s already helped an organization take a complete 180. The Nuggets went from winning an average of 33 games over his first three seasons in the organization to going 40-42 in 2016-17, 46-36 in 2017-18, and 54-28 in 2018-19. And until this season came to an abrupt pause, the Nuggets were heading toward another 50+ win season at 43-22.
And while Eversley doesn’t have the same winning record as Karnisovas, that’s also heavily weighted down by his early years within the Toronto Raptors. Take a look at the team’s Eversley has been with over the last 13 years, and they hold a combined record of 301-256. Not too shabby.
Again, not all of this past success is *specifically* due to the work Karnisovas and Eversley, but that’s besides the point. At an absolute minimum, this shows how well both execs have been exposed to and brought up in “winning cultures” for the majority of their careers. So while establishing this mantra in Chicago might be Karnisovas and Eversley’s toughest task, we should at least be happy the Bulls went out and hired two guys that can speak from experience.
