As Bulls Continue to Confound, Their Future Rests On Buzelis and Essengue

Matas Buzelis (middle) welcomes the newest Bulls rookies, Noa Essengue (left) and Lachlon Oblrich (right) to Chicago. (Image courtesy of @chicagobulls Twitter)

Before he uttered a single word about the newest addition to the Chicago Bulls, their direction or the team from which they draw inspiration, Marc Eversley had to first offer a public service announcement.

“We don’t discuss contracts publicly,” Eversley said to kick off his post-draft media availability on Wednesday, his first on-the-record exchange with reporters in nearly a year. 

To be clear, he was speaking in reference to the news about Billy Donovan nearing a contract extension. But the organization’s code of secrecy applies to everyone not in uniform, including Artūras Karnišovas and Eversley, who, as The Bigs reported last week, have already been given more runway.

“That’s always been the case. It’s just something the team doesn’t comment on.”

Neither is the reasoning behind rewarding its executive vice president of basketball operations, general manager and head coach — who’ve amassed a 176-181 record since they put their foot on the gas with the acquisition of Nikola Vučević four years ago — with more time on task, apparently.

(Paging Michael Reinsdorf!)

With a little nudge, however, Eversley did drop a pin on what to expect moving forward. 

“It’s to continue to build on what we’ve built. We’re a team in transition. We’re all about bringing in young, dynamic, athletic players who can play the style of play we want to play. I think that at the end of the day, if we continue to do that, we’re gonna build a team that’s gonna compete on a nightly and yearly basis.”

In other words, it’ll be business as usual for Karnišovas and Eversley, who believe they’re already overseeing a competitive outfit when, in reality, the Bulls have merely been one of the two worst teams in the conference that’ve actually tried to win each of the past three seasons.

It feels like just yesterday when Karnišovas thought it delusional for teams within striking distance of the Play-In Tournament to shop at the trade deadline. Nowadays, he brings valuable assets to the bargaining table and, without any incentive to do so, walks away with distressed ones who promise little in the way of onward movement.

“I think for us,” Eversley said, “we need to remain diligent and pragmatic about how we build this.” 

Yet, he’s one half of a brain trust that sent a superstar role player to a champion in waiting in exchange for a then-soon-to-be sixth man with nine-figure dreams, gave a five-year, $90 million contract extension to its former fourth-overall pick as a motivational tool, hoarded two impending expiring contracts too many, and fired its esteemed shooting coach. 

To say nothing of its missteps prior to the last year. 

“We just need to continue with our internal development plan, Eversley said. “And at some point, you’re going to be able to turn that. I don’t know when that is or what that looks like.”

With apologies to Coby White and Josh Giddey, who Karnišovas and Eversley will soon bank on being for the Bulls what Tyrese Haliburton is for the Indiana Pacers, chances are it’ll look like one, or both, of Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue doing the heavy lifting.

Essengue, the 18-year-old, 6-foot-10 and 194-pound upside swing Karnišovas and Eversley took on Wednesday with the 12th overall pick, joins a growing line of Bulls whose path to team success runs through the very organization they call their own as much as anything else.

He’s as much of a symbol for how far Karnišovas and Eversley are from building something worthwhile as Isaac Okoro is of their incorrigible negotiating habits.

Of course, Essengue couldn’t care less about that or his new team having now gone a decade and counting without winning a playoff series.

“I maybe do not know the miracle Chicago Bulls,” Essengue said, “but everybody loved Michael Jordan’s story. That’s a legendary franchise with a lot of championships, a lot of rings. That’s a big background.” 

Or better yet, an oversized (false sense of) security blanket given the cover it's provided the organization that's been entangled in irrelevance for the better part of the last 27 years.

What media members don’t know about the way the Bulls do things won’t hurt.

Can’t say the same for Essengue, though.