Michael Reinsdorf: It Hurts for Bulls to Be Portrayed as a 'Racist Organization'

The Chicago Bulls are in the process of reworking their front office with the 2019-20 season suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, and team president Michael Reinsdorf responded to suggestions they have not taken enough minority candidates into consideration during the process.

Reinsdorf told K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that two of the primary candidates he identified as the potential next head of basketball operations represented diversity, but both were either denied permission to interview or said no.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the Bulls ultimately selected Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas as the executive vice president of basketball operations.

Reinsdorf addressed further concerns with a longer statement to Johnson:

"To have the Chicago Bulls put in the light that we are a racist organization, it hurts. And what it means is people don't understand how we operate or the process we went through to hire our head of basketball operations. Diversity is incredibly important to me. It’s incredibly important to our organization. It's something that we pay attention to every day. Every time we go through a hiring process on the business side or the basketball side, we include diverse candidates. Every time.

"We do that because it's smart. The only way you can have diversity of thought is by having diverse people in our organization."

Johnson noted the Bulls have only had one black head coach in franchise history when Bill Cartwright held the position from the 2001-02 campaign until 2003-04 one but pointed out B.J. Armstrong and Randy Brown have held positions in the front office. What's more, assistant coaches Roy Rogers and Shawn Respert are black, and Karen Stack Umlauf, a woman, is on the coaching staff.

The team president's comments come after Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated reported Wednesday that some of the black executives around the league were frustrated with Chicago's search process.

"It's clear there is an underlying hypocrisy telling us the NBA is diverse, but when an opportunity comes, the process isn't," a black assistant general manager said. "All we want is a chance. As a black man, all we want is a fair opportunity to show we are just as qualified."

Since that story, Johnson reported Chicago will hire New Orleans Pelicans executive director of basketball administration J.J. (Jimmy) Polk, who is black, to a position in the front office.

Reinsdorf, who also hired Wendy Borlabi, who is black, as a performance coach and Ram Padmanabhan, who is of Indian descent, as vice president of financial and general counsel, talked about his visions for a more diverse future as well:

"We have a small front office basketball-wise. That's going to change about the Chicago Bulls. We are going to grow as an organization. And we are going to look at diverse candidates for all positions. That's what we always do. The people we hire in these positions will be hired because we believe they're the best people for that role."

Wojnarowski reported a number of assistant general managers around the league, including Calvin Booth of the Nuggets, Marc Eversley of the Philadelphia 76ers, Mark Hughes of the Los Angeles Clippers and Matt Lloyd of the Orlando Magic, are seen as candidates for the general manager position.

Wojnarowski also noted Nuggets scout Pat Connelly is "in serious talks" to join the front office.

Karnisovas will be in charge of leading the once-proud franchise back into contention after it clinched a third straight losing season in 2019-20.