Arturas Karnisovas woke up at dawn with Sirius by The Alan Parsons Project blasting in his home.
As he weightlessly rose from his bed, already wearing the cleanest suit this side of the Mississippi, he began to walk to the kitchen. He cracked four raw eggs into a blender with a box of nails. After blending for approximately 20 seconds, he chugged it. Not a wince.
Karnisovas then did 18 reps of 18 pull-ups while Benny the Bull provided blow after blow to his torso. Once finished, the front-office leader grabbed his Space Jam lunchbox and walked toward the door. Before embracing the rat race, he elegantly slid on his shades and turned to the camera: “It’s Draft Day, [expletive]”
Well, at least that’s how I like to imagine it went down.
The more likely scenario is the Chicago Bulls front office is … well … stressed. I imagine the hours leading up to draft night are somewhat similar to when Spongebob couldn’t remember his name. We got a look inside his brain where a bunch of tiny Spongebobs are scouring through file cabinets and computer documents to find the answer. By the end of it, things turn into a giant fiery mess where everyone is running in circles out of sheer panic. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here.
I’m sure front offices like to pretend they know how things will play out tonight, but I guarantee you they don’t. Organizations have been playing a game of cat and mouse for weeks when it comes to who they are interested in and what trades they might be open to. But everything will become clear tonight, which means everything could change at a moment’s notice.
I truly do believe the Bulls are still open to almost all options. I could see a world where they trade up, trade down, or trade out of the draft completely. And this is the mindset they should have considering their position in the draft and their need to add impact talent this offseason. With that said, we should still walk into tonight with the expectation that they select a player No. 18-overall. Not only is it the easiest decision, but it’s arguably the one that still makes the most sense for the direction of the franchise. If they can get a rotation player on a rookie contract, that could be extremely helpful for building out the rest of the roster. Not to mention, youth is still something every front office has to think about.
Although, if the rumors are true, there is certainly a world where the Bulls get rid of one of their youngest assets tonight. The reports about moving Coby White have yet to settle down, but how much value does he really hold around the league right now?
The Chicago Bulls are going to add to the center position this offseason. Whether that’s in the form of a new starter or a rim-protecting backup has yet to be seen, but I do think it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mitchell Robinson may no longer be an option. The Bulls have been connected to the New York Knicks big man since the trade deadline, and recent reports have suggested New York wants to keep him in town. More specifically, Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo has reported the Knicks could plan to keep Mitchell while also drafting one of the better center prospects in this draft:
Also: in yesterday’s column, I noted that it felt more likely the Knicks would re-sign Mitchell Robinson than select a big. Based on what I’ve heard since then, I’m going to slightly change my stance on that: I actually think it’s possible New York could keep Robinson and still draft a center anyway, in the interest of creating depth at the position moving forward. Whether or not that’s actually a good idea is entirely fair to ask, but I wouldn’t rule out Jalen Duren if he’s here on the board at No. 11.
In other interesting offseason news, Bleacher Reports’ Jake Fischer has reported that the Washington Wizards could be open to trading both Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. I have no idea what the asking price is on either player (I’m assuming Kuzma’s is higher), but I would quickly pick up the phone to ask if I were Karnisovas. Both seem to fit the bill of what this front office wants at the wing, and there is no question both also offer the kind of veteran playoff experience this roster needs to add. Kuzma is owed $13 million this season and Caldwell-Pope is set to make $14 million. Both are in the final year of their contract.
Listen to Javonte:
In case you want to study up before tonight, I’m going to link all of our draft profiles below:
Get caught up:
Hey, something positive!
NEWSLETTER
