Bulls Rumors: Dell Demps Candidate for GM Job Under Arturas Karnisovas

New Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is tasked with forming a new front office to help reconstruct a team that hasn't finished better than 42-40 since the 2014-15 season.

One of the pieces to the puzzle may be ex-New Orleans Pelicans general manager Dell Demps, per Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald:

Demps, 49, was the general manager of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans from 2010 to 2019.

His best work arguably came during the 2017-18 season, when the Pelicans went 48-34 and reached the Western Conference Semifinals despite losing DeMarcus Cousins to a season-ending torn Achilles in January.

A midseason trade for Nikola Mirotic helped fill the scoring void left behind by Cousins, enabling the team to upset the Portland Trail Blazers in a 4-0 first-round series sweep. Mirotic dominated Portland in that series, scoring 18.1 points on 57.3 percent shooting.

The future looked bright in New Orleans in 2018-19 after a successful run the year prior, but injuries took their toll on the team, with Elfrid Payton, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and Jrue Holiday all missing stretches of time.

Eventually, the Pels imploded midseason: Davis requested a trade but didn't get one before the deadline, and Demps was fired amid that fiasco.

The Pels under Demps made the playoffs three times in nine seasons.

Outside Demps, other candidates have emerged for front-office positions recently.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that a quartet of assistant GMs in the Denver Nuggets' Calvin Booth, the Philadelphia 76ers' Marc Eversley, the Los Angeles Clippers' Mark Hughes and the Orlando Magic's Matt Lloyd is in the mix.

K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago wrote that former NBA center Nazr Mohammed has spoken with the Bulls about a role, although it would not be for a GM position.