(670 The Score) In a press conference reflecting on the Bulls’ disappointing 40-42 season that ended Friday without a playoff berth, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas on Saturday afternoon didn’t provide much clarity on how the roster might be reshaped this offseason.
Karnisovas hit to all fields in proclaiming the Bulls are “on the right path” after a strong finish to the regular season, expressing a desire to retain three of the team’s main free agents-to-be and also announcing that he’ll be “open to anything” when it comes to roster maneuvers that can improve the team for next season.
“My responsibility is to look at everything,” Karnisovas told reporters at the Advocate Center on Saturday, a day after the Bulls lost 102-91 to the Heat in the play-in game for the No. 8 seed in the East in the playoffs. “At the end of the day, to be a .500 team is not good enough. It’s not good enough for this organization. It’s not good enough for the fan base. They deserve better, so I’m going to have to look at everything. How I can help this group to do better? We have to move forward. But I’ll be open to anything.”
What that may entail remains to be seen. Center Nikola Vucevic is set to hit unrestricted free agency in July, while guard Coby White and guard Ayo Dosunmu are headed for restricted free agency. Karnisovas called Vucevic, who played all 82 games this season, an “ironman” while adding, “He’s been awesome for us.”
Vucevic indicated the Bulls are the current front-runner to sign him this summer but made clear he’ll also consider other options. Vucevic just finished the final season of what was a four-year, $100-million contract.
“For me, the Bulls will have priority,” Vucevic told reporters. “I would like to stay here. But that’s on the front office to decide and work with my agent on the contract part. And also, I’ll talk to them about their vision and plan and things like that. That’s as much as I can say. Obviously, I’ll be a free agent. I’ll see what else is out there and test the market. But I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years now. I like my time here and built good relationships with my teammates, coaches, front office, people in the organization and around the city. So a lot of positives here. But we’ll see what their plan is and what they decide to do.”
Vucevic, who will turn 33 at the start of next season, averaged 17.6 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 52.0% from the field and 34.9% from 3-point range this past season.
“It’s definitely not just I want the most money and I’ll do whatever or go wherever just for the most money,” Vucevic said. “It’s a mix of things, especially at this point of my career. I want a good fit for me as a player, a chance to win and a good fit for my family. My wife and I have a third kid coming in June. All of that goes into it. It’s not only fully my decision. I also talk to my family about it. It’s a mix of things. It’s definitely not just I want all the money and the rest doesn’t matter. That’s not who I am as a player.”
Karnisovas complimented the 23-year-old White for getting “better in every aspect of his game” and responded “absolutely” when asked if the Bulls hope to re-sign White, who averaged 9.7 points in 23.4 minutes per game this season. Karnisovas later acknowledged Dosunmu’s offensive woes in his second season but added he has a bright future and that the team wants to retain him.
One area where the Bulls specifically need to improve is from behind the arc, as they ranked last in the NBA in 3-points made and attempted.
“It will be a priority for us to kind of change our shooting profile, because it's very difficult for us to go into every game with such a deficit,” Karnisovas said. “We're last in rate, 3-point rate, we're last in 3-point field goals made. It's almost like we're going into every game with an eight-point deficit to make up for it.
“We're going to look at it. First is the shot creation and then obviously our personnel. So we're going to try to tweak that shooting profile for sure. That's one of the things we're going to look at.”
Karnisovas’ task of improving the roster will be a challenging one. The Bulls owe the Magic a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, though it’s top-four protected, and they also owe the Spurs a future first-round pick. Chicago already creeped up near the luxury tax this past season, and it doesn’t project to have salary cap space of significance even if it let Vucevic walk in free agency.
That might leave the trade market as the most logical route to improve, which means star forward DeMar DeRozan and star guard Zach LaVine could land in rumors again this offseason. On Saturday, Karnisovas wasn’t wading into that topic or tipping his hand. Instead, he straddled the fence of praising what the Bulls have while also sharing his intention to build a more cohesive roster.
“That's been thrown around all this season – ‘Blow up, rebuild’ – it's not on our minds,” Karnisovas said. “I think the moment we changed our minds in 2021 season (with the trade for Vucevic) to kind of focus on winning and try to build a sustainable program here, I think that's what we're focused right now on. How we can help this group and how we can improve from this year and that's what our offseason's goal is going to look like. We're going to consider everything and how we can compete with the top teams.
"The result is not what we wanted. And we look like a .500 team. But the way we finished the season, I think we’re on the right path. And we’re going to have this time in the postseason to sit down with the front office and coaching staff and figure out what needs improving moving forward."
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