If the Chicago Bulls want to embrace their current youth movement in earnest, they can not ignore the 2025 NBA Draft. Any finish outside the league’s bottom 10 will result in their first-round selection heading to the San Antonio Spurs. Arturas Karnisovas has a 2021 sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan – who is no longer on the team – to thank for that.
Now, to be sure, no front office would say they plan to or prefer to be swimming among the league’s bottom feeders. We can all understand this. However, there is still a way for a front office to express an awareness of what is at stake. Karnisovas could’ve at least acknowledged that the draft is important in what the organization is trying to build. He could’ve emphasized that adding young talent moving forward will be a priority. The front office leader did none of that.
โI mean, this is not our focus,” Karnisovas said of the Top-10 protected pick. “Our focus going into the season is basically to define our style of play and find our identity. What is our identity with this group? And the last thing that Iโm trying to think about is how do we have a home-court advantage playing in this building. Last year we had a losing record. So those [are the] kind of things that Iโm trying to focus on instead of whatโs going to happen after the season.โ
Establishing a culture on and off the floor is critical, particularly with a young group. I’m not going to deny that. But failing to acknowledge that life exists past this season puts the Bulls right back on a track toward mediocrity. This is particularly true when we factor in Karnisovas’ comment about home-court advantage. If this genuinely sits near the top of the organization’s priority list, we can safely say that list belongs in the shredder.
Player development and culture building is often a multi-step and multi-year process. The Bulls sound like they either plan to skip steps or have zero clue where the stairs lead. Indeed, Karnisovas was asked specifically about his long-term plan on Media Day, and he offered another uninspiring answer.
โConcrete steps are starting to change. Going into the season right now, we have so many questions in training camp,” Karnisovas said. “How this group is going to work together? And constantly being open to making adjustments to make changes. Weโre in a stage where we have to find out a lot of things about this group.โ
Once again, this was a response to a question about how he plans to achieve the winning he so often talks about. This response also followed a comment during his opening statement that said, “We are not where we want to be yet, but the direction remains clear.โ If the direction is truly clear, why can’t anyone inside the organization draw it on a map? And how can the direction remain clear while the concrete steps are changing?
If the Bulls plan to take the wait-and-see approach with a young roster, all they have to do is say that. Instead, they are seemingly trying to burn the candle at both ends. They suggest that player development is crucial in one breath before declaring they’re “here to win” in the next. By moving on from DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso this offseason, they picked a lane that leads to the opposite of short-term winning. The sooner the Bulls recognize that the sooner they will be set up for meaningful success down the road.