Arturas Karnisovas was clearly given the green light by Michael Reinsdorf. It's his show and he is free to do whatever is necessary to get the Chicago Bulls pointed in the right direction. Barely a day removed from signing his new deal, the VP of Basketball Operations is already set to make two new additions to his front office. J.J. Polk will join the team from New Orleans as an assistant GM. Following close behind will be a familiar face from Denver.
Pat Connelly is a well-known name in NBA circles. He was director of player personnel in Washington from 2006 to 2013 and then became assistant GM for the Phoenix Suns from 2013 to 2018. Last season he arrived in Denver as a scout and director of pro personnel, working closely with Karnisovas. Now according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, he will be joining the Bulls in some sort of prominent capacity.
Connelly was with the Wizards when they drafted John Wall and Bradley Beal. Then he helped the Suns secure T.J. Warren and Devin Booker. So one can at least surmise he might have a decent eye for talent.
Chicago Bulls clearly looking to add more voices
Anybody with eyes can see the Bulls are aiming to expand their front office. They want to modernize the process by including more specialists and as many eyes for talent as they can possibly get. Not a bad decision given how global the game has become in the past 20 years. Connelly should be a big help in all facets of the process. He's no stranger to building teams from the ground up and helping them to become successful that way.
It will be interesting to see who else Karnisovas will bring in. Word is he's planning to conduct a significant search for a new GM and already has a list of names to explore. One can guess he plans not to waste any time.
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