Thus far the Chicago Bulls have interviewed no less than five candidates for their vacant Vice President of Basketball Operations position. It started with Utah GM Justin Zanik. In the past 24 hours that list has grown to include former GMs Wes Wilcox, Danny Ferry, and Brian Colangelo. However, the name that apparently delivered is Denver Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to report that impressions coming out of the interview were that the 48-year absolutely crushed it. That has since been verified by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Bulls apparently are still having conversations with him and plans are in motion to meet again.
“Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas has made a strong impression on the Chicago Bulls and emerged as a focus of the franchise’s process to hire a new executive VP of basketball operations, sources tell ESPN.
Conversations with Karnisovas and Bulls officials are continuing today, sources said.”
While the situation remains fluid, it certainly appears like Karnisovas is in the driver seat. Word from Denver is he covets the Bulls job in a big way and has made in the Nuggets organization working hard to help him get it. Barring an unexpected shift in direction, it feels like he could be the man to usher in the next era of Bulls basketball.