Firing Bulls' front office was easy decision. Can Reinsdorfs find a way out of malaise?

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And now that they’re gone, their legacy in Chicago will be prolonging the franchise’s ongoing malaise, which started after John Paxson and Gar Forman jettisoned Tom Thibodeau following the 2015 playoffs. In the 11 seasons since, the team has had three head coaches and is 378-493 (with four games left this season), with just two playoff appearances. Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf made the obvious move Monday by firing Karnišovas and Eversley with a week left in the season. Unlike Paxson, Karnišovas never hit a 3-pointer to win the Bulls a championship, so he was easily expendable, and now everyone can just move on. (Paxson remains with the organization, by the way.) “I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand your frustration,” Reinsdorf wrote in a statement. “I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right. At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.” It’s one thing to be empathetic. It’s another to be emphatic. Can the younger Reinsdorf reverse years of franchise decay by finding a dynamic leader to shepherd this franchise back to relevance or at the very least, the playoffs? I’m not convinced. Will a new front office want to inherit an incumbent coach? And for all the love bestowed on head coach Billy Donovan, he hasn’t accomplished much in the big chair. Under his coaching, the Bulls went years without even sniffing .500 past November until this season. Donovan, a Hall of Famer based on his run at the University of Florida, was a top candidate for the just-filled North Carolina job, and he still has years left on his contract. Does Billy D want to stick around for more L’s? When Michael and his father, Jerry, hired Karnišovas to replace Paxson and Forman six years ago, it was looked at as a dramatic change for a stultified organization. The Bulls had long been known for having a small, insular front office, but now they were joining the rest of the free world. Karnišovas hailed from the Denver Nuggets, and maybe he’d find them the next Nikola Jokić, right? Instead, he drafted Patrick Williams with the No. 4 pick in 2020 and went on to sign him to a $90 million extension. That’s his Bulls legacy. Well, that and everything else that went wrong. Though Karnišovas had some early success hiring Donovan to replace the bumbling Jim Boylen and making a splash in 2021 free agency, it was short-lived. The Bulls, under Karnišovas, had just one winning season and one playoff appearance. They flirted with .500 and made a habit out of losing to Miami in the Play-In Tournament, but were ultimately an irrelevant franchise. Locally, the media and a majority of the fan base treats the franchise like a piñata. Despite being an international brand in one of the top three media markets, the Bulls are rarely on national TV. The only time pundits talk about the franchise is to poke fun at it. It hasn’t been difficult to find material. At one point, Karnišovas went nearly three years without making a trade involving a player. And when he made trades, he got fleeced just about every time. Maybe the Jaden Ivey debacle was the final straw. Or maybe the Reinsdorfs realized what many people did years ago: This guy didn’t have a clue. Karnišovas rarely spoke to the media, and when he did, his explanations for his decisions often made him and the franchise look worse. He would wave away questions about his missteps and champion the team’s meaningless wins late in the season when half the league had laid down. In some ways, Karnišovas and Eversley had to shoulder the pain of past Bulls failures and the burden of ownership. If the fans had their druthers, the Reinsdorfs would have fired themselves Monday. While Jerry has a deal in place to sell the White Sox in the near future, the Bulls remain a cash cow, still filling the cavernous United Center despite years of subpar results, so don’t expect it to change hands anytime soon. So it’s up to Michael to lead a search that effects real change. His 90-year-old father, who hasn’t made a positive organizational decision in two sports in many years, still looms large over the franchise. Former Bulls executive Matt Lloyd should be a name to consider. Lloyd, currently the Timberwolves GM, was widely praised during his time in Chicago for having a keen eye for college talent, and the Bulls did very well in the draft during his tenure. If the Reinsdorfs wanted to take a big swing, what would it take to dislodge Mike Zarren from his hometown Boston Celtics? He’s one of the Sloan Sports Conference gurus, so maybe he wants a real challenge. That’s certainly what the Bulls have to offer. The Bulls do have salary cap space. On their roster, they have Matas Buzelis, who does look like one of Karnišovas’ best picks, and point guard Josh Giddey. And that’s really about it. Maybe injured rookie Noa Essengue turns into something, but he’s a giant question mark. The franchise’s best hope for a quick turnaround is getting lucky in this year’s draft. While Karnišovas didn’t get much in return in his recent fire sale, he did manage to cobble together a bad-enough roster to put the Bulls in position for next month’s draft lottery. If Chicago manages to hold onto the ninth-worst record in the league, it will have a 20.3 percent chance at a top-four pick. If Portland makes the postseason — it’s currently a Play-In team — the Bulls could also land its pick from the Lauri Markkanen trade. Of course, competent organizations make their own luck too. Maybe the Bulls just did? Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Jon Greenberg is a columnist for The Athletic based in Chicago. He was also the founding editor of The Athletic. Before that, he was a columnist for ESPN and the executive editor of Team Marketing Report. Follow Jon on Twitter @jon_greenberg