With Arturas Karnisovas hired as the Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President – Basketball Operations. He will be responsible for all decisions made in Chicago’s basketball operations department.
His first decision was the relieve General Manager, Gar Forman of his duties. Forman first joined the Bulls as a scout way back in 1998 along with head coach Tim Floyd. Forman worked his way up the ranks and was eventually named general manager in 2009. He won Executive of the Year with Pat Riley in 2011 after Chicago won 62 games.
Unfortunately, Forman’s tenure with the Bulls went down him from there. There was the rift with Tom Thibodeau and the Fred Hoiberg debacle. There were key draft whiffs and bad trades. Jimmy Butler and his trainer both spoke out against Forman after the 2017 blockbuster trade. There were reports that Forman was using former assistant general manager/coach Randy Brown as a “spy” for him in the organization. This past November, several former players were reportedly upset about Forman’s behavior toward them during a reunion to celebrate Luol Deng.
In an interview from NBC Sports Chicago, Karnisovas talked about his decision to relieve Forman of any GM duties. He said “Regarding Gar, I think after some consideration and conversation, it was apparent we had different philosophies that would prevent us from moving forward. I’m sure Gar gave his best to the Bulls organization, but those decisions are never easy. I was hired to effect change in the current situation, so that was the decision behind that.”
Bulls fan have taken to social media in the past using the hashtag “Fire Garpax”, which included former GM, Gar Forman and former Vice President of Basketball Operations, John Paxson. Karnisovas took over Paxson’s role, but still kept him around the team. For Forman, he is no longer part of the team or organization.
With “Garpax” being around since 1998, I think a change needed to happen in the Bulls front office. The Bulls have not been good for a while, and it stems from decisions that the GM and Basketball Operations team made.
I, along with so many other Bulls fans are excited to see where Karnisovas takes the team, and can finally start respecting the Bulls front office and organization.
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