(670 The Score) At the heart of the decision-making process for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and the Bulls front office Thursday was a straightforward mindset.
"You don't get too many chances at All-Star-level players," Karnisovas said.
That's why the Bulls mortgaged a couple key future assets to land All-Star center Nikola Vucevic in a high-profile trade with the Magic, who also sent veteran forward Al-Farouq Aminu to Chicago. In return, the Bulls parted with center Wendell Carter Jr., forward Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round draft picks – in 2021 and 2023. Each draft pick comes lightly protected for selections 1-4, NBC Sports Chicago reported, meaning they'll likely convey on schedule if the Bulls come anywhere close to fulfilling their new ambitions.
And make no doubt about it – with Vucevic on board to form an All-Star duo with guard Zach LaVine, the Bulls have loftier goals and much more clarity in their direction. They want to reach the playoffs this season, and they're building around the 26-year-old LaVine's timeline. The Bulls' plan to ascend to championship contention doesn't revolve around getting fortunate in the NBA Draft lottery but rather establishing a foundation to make the organization "an attractive destination for free agents," to use Karnisovas' words. Beyond that, they'll be aggressive in the trade market.
"We're serious here about winning," said Karnisovas, who was hired last April to lead the Bulls. "We're serious about the culture of being very competitive and any opportunity we get to make this team better, we will."
The Bulls held a series of internal meetings about two weeks ago to determine their intentions leading up to the trade deadline, Karnisovas said. That lines up with the start of their second half, in which the Bulls have gone 3-6 in their first nine games out of the All-Star break. Early in that stretch, youngsters Carter and Coby White lost their starting jobs to veterans Thad Young and Tomas Satoransky, respectively, as the Bulls looked to prioritize winning.
The fact that success still didn't follow – the Bulls are 3-4 against a soft schedule since the starting lineup switch – only reinforced the front office's belief that change was needed. Vucevic will help on that front, and the Bulls believe a few other additions can as well. In a separate three-team, seven-player trade with the Celtics and Wizards, the Bulls acquired center Daniel Theis, guard Javonte Green and wing Troy Brown Jr. Theis projects to be a rotation player. He has played in 24 playoff games across the past two seasons and is a strong defender.
"We got better today ... we try to win games," Karnisovas said. "That's basically why we're in this business. And again, right from the beginning from the time we got here, we said that we're trying to get back to relevancy and today made it happen."
Karnisovas believes LaVine and Vucevic will fit together seamlessly in coach Billy Donovan's system. LaVine is averaging a career-best 28.1 points on 52.0% shooting, but the Bulls offense has too often stagnated when he's on the bench or has an off night. Vucevic will go a long way toward solving that problem, as he's averaging 24.5 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting 48.0%, including 40.6% from 3-point range. Vucevic is under contract through 2022-'23 and is owed $24 million and $22 million over the next two seasons. His addition means the Bulls won't be major players in free agency this summer unless they shed salary elsewhere, but they'll have move flexibility after 2021.
"It's easy to add Nikola to the way we play," Karnisovas said. "Because we put in an offense that is free-flowing and there's a lot of ball movement and decision-making. He can score. He can score low. He can score from three. He's a facilitator. I think one of the best things that he can do is he can facilitate shots for others as well besides the fact that he's a 25-and-12 player. So we were very excited. It's just kind of like, it's not eliminating a need for guards constantly facilitating for bigs. Here in this situation, the big can facilitate shots and create offense for others as well. He's going to make everybody's life much easier."
Entering play Thursday, the Bulls were 19-24 and sat in 10th place in the East, which represents the final slot to gain entry into the play-in tournament. The top six teams in each conference advance straight to the traditional eight-team bracket, while the next four seeds will battle for the final two playoff spots.
"I'm very excited and happy for our organization and Bulls fans," Karnisovas said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how this group works. We're not done. We're going to keep improving our quality of play and then keep adding pieces to what this team is going to look like in the future."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
