How much time does AK have?

[Chi town]

One playoff birth.

Play In Losses.

Stuck at the top of the bottom and descending.


JR gave him thumbs up to rebuild at last deadline and he decided not to.

Does he get a rebuild? How many more years without results?

Does Billy stick around?

If I’m a betting man…
- Billy leaves in the offseason for a playoff team or back to college
- AK gets canned before the draft… because we won’t have a 1st:) Billy leaving would be the nail in the coffin.

[League Circles]

I would guess he has at least another 3 or 4 years.

[Dan Z]

According to this site Gar Forman was GM for 11 seasons:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/formaga99x.html

I know Paxson was still working with him, so I'm not sure who was deciding what.

This is AK fifth season and based on Gar that means 5 more years. Yikes!

I kid, but it's possible. JR is not known for firing his executives very often and tends to keep them longer than he should.

[HomoSapien]

Being in the Bulls front office is a pope job.

Jerry Krause - 18 years.
John Paxson - 17 years.
Gar Forman - 11 years (although 22 years with the Bulls total).

Karnisovas is in his 5th year with far less success than any of his predecessors. He was given a quiet, unpublicized extension in 2023. As far as I know, the length of that extension have never been revealed. Hopefully, it was just for 2-3 years.

Honestly, if we see more fan-sponsored billboards and some other notable whiffs, he might be out of here in a year or two. If that happens, I wouldn't be surprised to see Donvan take over.

[GoBlue72391]

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say they'll probably have to be on the job for at least a decade before the idea of replacing them is even considered. Possibly longer. They're in what, year 5? They have a lot of rope left, better get used to them and their ways.

The Reinsdorfs are loyal to a fault and do not make changes easily.

[Dan Z]

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say they'll probably have to be on the job for at least a decade before the idea of replacing them is even considered. Possibly longer. They're in what, year 5? They have a lot of rope left, better get used to them and their ways.

The Reinsdorfs are loyal to a fault and do not make changes easily.

One thing I don't understand is that if AK has so much time then why doesn't he make a long term plan? I know ownership is the reason, but he goes a long with it. Why don't they see teams like OKC and how they acquired picks and built up their team.

[Jcool0]

What playoff team would want Billy? Seems college's would want him but he didn't like the college grind.

[Guru]

You don't fire good people for mistakes if you think their overall skillset will eventually bring success. No matter what you believe ownership believes AKME was the right hire and will ultimately get back to success. That's not unlimited but they will get another chance to build a winner. There is likely a quick reset around lotto pick-Lavine-Buz coming. If that fails they are gone.

[Dez]

You don't fire good people for mistakes if you think their overall skillset will eventually bring success. No matter what you believe ownership believes AKME was the right hire and will ultimately get back to success. That's not unlimited but they will get another chance to build a winner. There is likely a quick reset around lotto pick-Lavine-Buz coming. If that fails they are gone.

You fire people who have done a horrendous job and burned assets for one dud playoff appearance.

The delusion in you is unmatched to the point where it has to be a joke.

[lostonbase]

I would guess he has at least another 3 or 4 years.

Sadly this! This team is happy with being mediocre.

[WesPeace]

AKME total disaster, big dissapointment..

They all should be gone in offseason, along with Billy and his son.

[Hangtime84]

You don't fire good people for mistakes if you think their overall skillset will eventually bring success. No matter what you believe ownership believes AKME was the right hire and will ultimately get back to success. That's not unlimited but they will get another chance to build a winner. There is likely a quick reset around lotto pick-Lavine-Buz coming. If that fails they are gone.

You fire people who have done a horrendous job and burned assets for one dud playoff appearance.

The delusion in you is unmatched to the point where it has to be a joke.

I will say this Huston took Chicagos play book and made it better. They went after established vets when their cap space and kept all their assets.

We should have probably followed the same plan but traded Zach. Letting go of Wendell was the correct choice while Gafford/Lauri front court would still not been very good. It would have allowed us to gather a few more good picks while trying to figure out what to do with the backcourt.

But that's hindsight, but you only go all in and start selling assets when you have a star player like Luka or Jokic. AK coming from denver he should have know better.

[Jeffster81]

Fans continue to go to games and keep the Bulls attendance numbers high, AKME is safe. Once those attendance numbers decline and rapidly then AKME will be fired.

[DASMACKDOWN]

As much ire as AKME gets, I dont think they are idiots.

The fact that they did let Demar walk is probably as big an indication that actually have a plan.

[LateNight]

If they luck into a star player in the draft at some point they could be here for a while. That’s what did it for Pax

[Hangtime84]

As much ire as AKME gets, I dont think they are idiots.

The fact that they did let Demar walk is probably as big an indication that actually have a plan.

Coming in swinging like it’s crazy M&A deal is not the way either. The suns owner is example of that type of guy.

[sco]

As much ire as AKME gets, I dont think they are idiots.

The fact that they did let Demar walk is probably as big an indication that actually have a plan.

Coming in swinging like it’s crazy M&A deal is not the way either. The suns owner is example of that type of guy.

IDK, I think the big 3 concept which we learned was actually the big 4 was not a terrible gamble, but gambles don't pay off every time. I know we lament the picks going to ORL but if Ball stayed healthy, those picks were crappy.

I think AK will make it another 2 season without a playoff game before being replaced. IMO, this next iteration with Giddey and Matas and whatever he can do with Zach, Coby, Ayo, Pat and cap space will get some chance.

I think it is hard to win in the NBA these days with even "near allstars". Beyond us, I look at rosters like TOR, NO and CHA, which I think are better than ours and it reinforces my point. There are just some really well designed teams out there like OKC, BOS, CLE and NYK that are really good, and just good teams like MIL, PHO, ORL, PHI and MEM that are on the rise after slow starts. The right strategy for the Bulls is to zig when others zag and get some picks.

[dougthonus]

I would guess he has at least another 3 or 4 years.

Sadly this! This team is happy with being mediocre.

I think this team probably would be happy being mediocre, but they aren't mediocre. Mediocre would be losing in the 1st round of the playoffs every year. More than half the teams in the league make the playoffs. Maybe missing a year here or there and making the 2nd round here or there. We have not been able to consistently get into the top 8 of the easy conference and would have had no hope at all if we were in the West.

We've made the playoffs once and were gentleman swept out of it. Presuming we don't turn it around and make it this year, from a playoff perspective, that will match the once in 5 year drought that got GarPax fired, and they had previously made 10/11 and were purposefully accumulating assets while missing the playoffs. Our situation is much more stark now.

Granted, this doesn't mean changes are coming, I have no idea, but I think we're below mediocre, and I doubt ownership is happy about it. I think people really over simplify what would make ownership happy. If we were a 1st round exit team like the baby Bulls with young talent that people were excited for or a team that had upside if only Rose were to get healthy and each year started with hope then it might be different.

It isn't just ticket sales, it's how many people show up, ticket prices, ratings, merch sales, all of that is pretty lousy right now. The Bulls care about profits absolutely, but what we are doing right now is absolutely horrible for profits.

[League Circles]

I would guess he has at least another 3 or 4 years.

Sadly this! This team is happy with being mediocre.

I think this team probably would be happy being mediocre, but they aren't mediocre. Mediocre would be losing in the 1st round of the playoffs every year. More than half the teams in the league make the playoffs. Maybe missing a year here or there and making the 2nd round here or there. We have not been able to consistently get into the top 8 of the easy conference and would have had no hope at all if we were in the West.

We've made the playoffs once and were gentleman swept out of it. Presuming we don't turn it around and make it this year, from a playoff perspective, that will match the once in 5 year drought that got GarPax fired, and they had previously made 10/11 and were purposefully accumulating assets while missing the playoffs. Our situation is much more stark now.

Granted, this doesn't mean changes are coming, I have no idea, but I think we're below mediocre, and I doubt ownership is happy about it. I think people really over simplify what would make ownership happy. If we were a 1st round exit team like the baby Bulls with young talent that people were excited for or a team that had upside if only Rose were to get healthy and each year started with hope then it might be different.

It isn't just ticket sales, it's how many people show up, ticket prices, ratings, merch sales, all of that is pretty lousy right now. The Bulls care about profits absolutely, but what we are doing right now is absolutely horrible for profits.

I feel like we're bin nearly the exact position we were in roughly 2005. Decent young pieces, no better than mediocre, etc.

[dougthonus]

I feel like we're bin nearly the exact position we were in roughly 2005. Decent young pieces, no better than mediocre, etc.

2004-2007 you had a young team that was making the playoffs through the efforts of lottery picks that had upside and might improve (though they largely did not)

2008-2014 or so you had legit hope we were on a championship path. We had the best record in the league two of those years, then had a few more where we hoped Derrick might finally get healthy.

2015-2019 this was a period of mediocrity, though for several of these years we looked to acquire assets rather than win, and you had the hope we might get a star via that process (though we didn't)

2020-2024 short term / win now moves made in an effort to get immediate results while emptying the cupboard, but failing to actually achieve any of the results

Of these four distinct periods, I'd rather be in any of them than the current one by a pretty good margin.