As the majority of the NBA partakes in the most meaningful games of the season during the first round of the playoffs, our Chicago Bulls are going through a massive behind-the-scenes overhaul.
Chicago has made the playoffs exactly once since trading away Jimmy Butler way back in 2017, and happily the team is looking for replacements for longtime team president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. Six contenders to replace Karnisovas have been named explicitly, with another three thus-far-anonymous candidates alleged to be in the mix.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey is in the running.
Dating back to February 2022, Gansey has been essentially the lieutenant to Cleveland president Koby Altman. He had previously worked as the club’s assistant GM and had operated the Cavaliers NBAGL affiliate, the Cleveland Charge.
We’re examining all the top rumored Bulls front office candidates this week. Check out our prior looks at Detroit Pistons senior vice president Dennis Lindsey, Atlanta Hawks senior VP Bryson Graham, Minnesota Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd, and CAA agent Austin Brown.
Mike Gansey: The Hits and Misses
After failing to make the playoffs even as a No. 8 seed during that initial 2021-22 season, Cleveland has ascended into becoming a perpetual also-ran thus far throughout Gansey’s tenure under Altman.
In some respects, that does qualify the club as a success. The Cavaliers have returned to respectability post-LeBron James. Although they’re in jeopardy of becoming what the Brad Daugherty Cavs were to our Bulls in the ’80s and ’90s.
Hits
Ken Blaze-Imagn ImagesCleveland traded away Lauri Markkanen during the 2022 offseason — but the Cavs had a good reason. Much like AKME before them, the Cavaliers gave up on the sharpshooting big man before he could turn into an All-Star. The Cavaliers also offloaded (future Bulls) guard Collin Sexton, shooting guard Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps in exchange for superstar shooting guard Donovan Mitchell.
That blockbuster move instantly elevated Cleveland from being an exciting, frisky club sporting young then-future All-Star pieces Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen into a bona fide threat in the Eastern Conference. The team posted a 51-31 record that season under head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, although it fell in the first round of the playoffs.
Cleveland next brought in Ty Jerome and Max Strus to flesh out its perimeter needs over the summer. That next spring, Cleveland won its first playoff series since James, barely outlasting the Orlando Magic in seven games before falling to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
Last year, of course, the Cavs looked absolutely elite under Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson’s fresh stewardship, going 64-18 and locking up the No. 1 seed in the East, despite not making any significant offseason roster changes. Of course, Bickerstaff enacted his own revenge this season while guiding the Detroit Pistons to the East’s top seed.
Injuries to Mobley, Garland, Mitchell and De’Andre Hunter during the playoffs helped doom Cleveland to a five-game semifinal upset against the Indiana Pacers.
This season, Cleveland might be better than its 52-30 record suggests. The team flipped Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for still-potent former MVP James Harden, a win-now move that did instantly elevate Cleveland’s ceiling. Of course, Harden is 10 years Garland’s senior, so long-term this was a risky play.
The results have been encouraging. Cleveland leads the Toronto Raptors, 2-0, in its first-round series.
The Cavaliers have mostly drafted deep into the draft, by benefit of being pseudo-contenders. They have registered one serious hit thus far, in selecting emerging wing Jaylon Tyson with the No. 20 pick out of Cal. He enjoyed a breakout season this year, establishing himself as a solid bench piece for the future.
Peter Creveling-Imagn ImagesMisses
The Cavaliers obviously mismanaged Lauri Markkanen as an asset. He blossomed into a multi-faceted All-Star on the perennially tanking Utah Jazz. If the team knew what it had, Cleveland likely wouldn’t have surrendered nearly that level of draft equity in the Mitchell trade — although Mitchell remains, by far, the better player.
Cleveland took a flier on De’Andre Hunter, sacrificing good bench pieces Caris LeVert and George Niang for the talented forward and a trade exception. It didn’t work out, but they didn’t waste much.
Most stunningly, the Cavaliers somehow thought Lonzo Ball still had something left in the tank last summer. They flipped 3-and-D wing Isaac Okoro — who instantly became a useful perimeter player in Chicago — to our Bulls for Ball. They got disillusioned in a hurry and traded him to Utah. The Jazz promptly waived him.
What Could the Chicago Bulls Expect from Mike Gansey?
AKME was reticent to enact many trades at all. That shouldn’t be a problem with Mike Gansey, who has shown a willingness to take fairly big swings under Altman.
Chicago has offloaded draft picks for very little benefit lately. Gansey, at least, seems to generally appreciate the value of current players in deals. Even the Mitchell trade — exorbitant as it was — clearly paid off, as he’s been an All-Star staple in the intervening seasons.
Yes, he didn’t quite appreciate just how good Lauri Markkanen was in 2022, but we had the same problem the summer prior.
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