The Bulls have their man to run the front office as Arturas Karnisovas' replacement, and it's a bit of a curveball. Instead of bringing Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd back to the franchise as speculated, the Bulls decided to hire Hawks exec Bryson Graham to run the show. Graham, 39, spent 15 years with the Pelicans organization, starting as an intern and rising up to GM before leaving for the Hawks when Joe Dumars took over in NOLA.

Ricky and Jason give their immediate reactions to the hire, which is definitely a surprise but brings some excitement given the blank slate Graham will start with. While some fans may be upset with a young first-timer, especially after seeing the Mavericks hire Masai Ujiri earlier in the day, Graham should be given time to prove he's the right man for the job.

Of course, Graham is being thrown right into the fire with an important draft coming up with two first-round picks and around $60 million in cap space in free agency. He'll have his chance to put his stamp on the roster right away in addition to building out his front office, reportedly with full autonomy to do as he sees fit. Will the Reinsdorfs be an obstacle to anything Graham wants to do? It's understandable to be skeptical given their history, but hopefully Graham can advocate for himself and do what needs to be done to build the infrastructure needed for long-term success.

There's also the matter of hiring a coach, though there hasn't been a whole lot of buzz about candidates just yet. That will come in time, but the immediate focus now turns to Graham's introductory press conference on Wednesday and Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery.

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The Bulls' front office search is moving forward with a group of finalist candidates: Matt Lloyd, Dennis Lindsey, Bryson Graham and Dave Lewin. Jason and Ricky discuss this candidate list reported by The Stein Line, as well as the details that John Paxson is taking a key role in the search and the Bulls are talking "rebuild" in their interviews.

A new hire is expected before the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10, which will be a big day for the Bulls as they learn the fate of their first first-round pick. And as the Bulls move forward under a new regime, the NBA's anti-tanking reforms will have an impact on how they build. (NOTE: This episode was recorded before ESPN's latest report on the league's anti-tanking efforts, which involve different changes than the ones discussed.)

Before getting into Ricky's latest SB Nation mock draft, the guys make sure to give a shoutout to Ayo Dosunmu for his heroic 43-point effort for the Timberwolves against the Nuggets. But while it's awesome to see Ayo succeed in the playoffs, trading him still wasn't the wrong move.

As for Ricky's mock draft, he gives the Bulls a pair of college teammates at No. 9 and 15, but there are a number of enticing options with both picks.

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Billy Donovan finally made his decision on his future with the Bulls, and he's walking away after six seasons. While the Reinsdorfs wanted Donovan to stick around with a new front office, Donovan felt it was better to give them a clean slate and pursue other opportunities.

Ricky and Jason give their final thoughts on the Donovan era, which was mostly underwhelming, albeit not necessarily because of him. The bigger failure was above Donovan in the front office, which gave him substandard rosters he squeezed the most out of.

But while Donovan is a good coach, getting that clean slate is for the best. This allows the new lead exec to come in and pick his own coach and start a proper rebuild of the roster. A patient approach should be taken given the circumstances, with no reason to try to skip steps in a desperate attempt to get to contention.

But who will be running the show? ESPN's Shams Charania released a list of six names, with former Bulls exec Matt Lloyd a notable candidate. While Lloyd's Bulls ties make him seem like a good bet to get the job, perhaps there will be a surprise.

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A wild night of NBA Play-In Tournament basketball ended with a thrilling Blazers comeback win over the Suns, which resulted in the Bulls getting another first-round pick in the upcoming draft. It's a pick the Bulls have been waiting on since the Lauri Markkanen trade in 2021, and it gives the new front office another asset to play with to rebuild the roster.

In the early game of the night, Coby White played hero for the Hornets in a wild overtime victory over the Heat. After several years of play-in disappointment against the Heat, White got redemption with a third-quarter flurry and a circus game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime. White is in a perfect spot with the Hornets, and hopefully they're able to get to the playoffs.

But now that the Bulls do have another first-rounder, what should they do with these picks? Ricky breaks down his draft strategy depending on multiple scenarios and reviews a number of possible targets. The Bulls could also look to package these picks for a trade up (or for a proven player), but would that be worth it?

While the Bulls just finished up a miserable season, this added draft pick and the firing of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley bring some hope. Now everybody waits on Billy Donovan.

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The Bulls fired Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley before the end of the regular season, a pleasant surprise after years of calling for their heads. Jason and Ricky break down why their firings were warranted for so long.

But while AK and ME are out, Billy Donovan is still badly wanted by ownership, as evidenced by Michael Reinsdorf's media session where he said the new lead exec needs to be willing keep the head coach around if he wants to get hired . Should the Bulls go all in on Donovan and let him effectively run the show? Or should they go for a clean slate? Who are some of the options to replace Karnisovas as Donovan looms over everything?

Whatever happens with Donovan, there are also major questions about the roster. Should Josh Giddey be a trade candidate? Will the Bulls try to get in on the Giannis sweepstakes or try to make another big win-now move? Reinsdorf's no-tanking mandate, Donovan's philosophy and some of the reporting out there suggests the Bulls think they're a quick fix away from contention , which is short-sighted and off-base.

This year's draft is where the Bulls' roster changes will begin, and Ricky was at the Final Four to see some potential options up close and personal. And if the Bulls finally get the Blazers pick, two first-rounders will hopefully help the cause of rebuilding the roster.

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The Bulls' brutal season just got even worse with the Jaden Ivey situation going totally off the rails. While the Bulls were right to quickly move on from Ivey after his series of social media rants, Arturas Karnisovas comes out of this mess looking worse than ever. This is especially true given Karnisovas hasn't even made any kind of statement on the matter, failing to show immediate accountability and forcing Billy Donovan and his players to comment on it first.

It's yet another reason why Karnisovas should be fired, and there's very little reason to keep him around at this point. Nobody in the organization apparently has any faith in AK's plan, so will Michael Reinsdorf make the right decision? The public pressure after this Ivey mishap could prove to be too much to keep AK around.

With the Karnisovas decision hanging over ownership, Donovan's future is also in question. There's smoke billowing that Donovan is ready to resign after the season, especially if Karnisovas is retained. Is there a scenario where Karnisovas is fired but Donovan moves into the front office to run basketball operations?

There still is basketball happening on the court as the Bulls play out the string, with Leonard Miller one of the few bright spots. Matas Buzelis also continues to show flashes of being a potential star down the line, but there are still plenty of things for him to work on.

Finally, the Final Four is here and Ricky has plenty of thoughts on how the top NBA Draft prospects have fared in the NCAA Tournament. Has Cameron Boozer's stock dropped at all after a somewhat lackluster run? Who has improved their draft stock? What's the Bulls' draft situation looking like?

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The Bulls are 4-4 in March after going 0-11 in February, with Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis leading the way. Giddey has been the best version of himself in March throughout his career, and he's doing it again by being a triple-double machine and shooting the lights out from 3-point range. It's very similar to what happened last season, although a 15-5 finish likely isn't in the cards this time around.

Meanwhile, Buzelis has enjoyed some monster games of late, including a career-high 41 points in an overtime win over the Warriors. What has Buzelis been doing well and what still needs to improve next season for him to take another leap into star status?

With the Bulls winning games again and Billy Donovan pushing to keep winning, they look destined to finish in the No. 10 lottery slot. It's a battle between them and the Bucks for 9/10 in those lottery standings, but Milwaukee has been horrible and Giannis Antetokounmpo just got hurt again.

With the draft in mind, it's officially time for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Ricky goes through region by region and highlights draft prospects to watch along with potential juicy matchups. His deep dive looks not at just the star prospects who could be in the Bulls' first-round draft range but some deeper sleepers who could be selected in the second round.

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The Bulls have won a couple of crazy games since their 11-game losing streak, but they also just lost to the lowly Kings and look destined to finish in the No. 9 or 10 lottery slot. There's not a whole lot to write home about with the young players, with Matas Buzelis' growth stagnating a bit, Rob Dillingham looking rough and Leonard Miller going back to the bench against the Kings after some nice flashes in prior games when he got to play due to injuries. But, hey, at least Collin Sexton was enjoying a nice start to Mickey Mouse March before his leg injury in Sacramento.

With the Bulls essentially playing out the string and March Madness about to kick into high gear, it's time to really start diving into 2026 NBA Draft. Ricky breaks down some of the top prospects in Chicago's current draft range, including Illinois star freshman Keaton Wagler. Ricky then examines some of his favorite prospects, such as Duke center Patrick Ngongba.

And if the Bulls get lottery luck? Ricky looks at the much-hyped top of this draft, with Cameron Boozer sitting at No. 1 on his board and the Darryn Peterson saga adding a layer of intrigue to his draft stock.

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