Is Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin the ideal fit for a new Bulls head coach?

If new Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas decides to replace Jim Boylen, we know one name that will likely be on his list…an old teammate of his:

^ Seton Hall basketball 1993–94 Media Guide Arturas Karnisovas (#55, left) and Adrian Griffin (#4, right) pictured.

The Chicago Bulls made a big-time splash that will change the fortunes of their franchise for the better. At 12:01 AM, Adrian Wojnarowski announced that the Bulls are hiring former Denver Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas to be the executive vice president of basketball operations.

Karnisovas will be replacing John Paxson — he of 17 years intriguing years of service in the Bulls executive VP of basketball ops role — and igniting what will likely be a lengthy process of hiring (and firing?) as he forges his new-look Bulls. With Karnisovas firmly in place as the new man in charge, the two biggest roles to fill from this point on will be the general manager and head coach.

The NBA is a fraternity and Karnisovas has made numerous connections and positively influenced many throughout his career. Because of that, he will have a bevy of options to fill those two vacancies and while a GM is typically the person who makes the head coaching decision, Karnisovas’ reputation will allow him to negotiate in good faith with potential GM candidates if he already has a coaching candidate in mind. Of course, nothing has been reported on a Bulls coaching search yet as Karnisovas’ deal is still being finalized but that doesn’t mean dots can’t be connected and there is one very obvious choice to be the next head coach of the Chicago Bulls: Adrian Griffin.

Adrian Griffin is currently an assistant coach for the reigning champion Toronto Raptors. He joined the Raptors after leaving his assistant coaching role with the Oklahoma City Thunder following the 2017–18 season. The move to Toronto was a promotion to lead assistant coach and Griffin performed as well as one could imagine, helping Nick Nurse guide the Kawhi Leonard-led squad to an NBA title despite the unfamiliarity of the put-together-on-the-fly roster. A big part of the Raptor’s domination was their ridiculously efficient — and able to change at a moment’s notice — defensive system. While Nurse is the end-all-be-all with coaching decisions in Toronto, he utilized his assistants well, taking into account their ideas and willing to adjust his plan to what was unfolding rather than sticking to a predetermined course of action. Listening to Griffin’s input on defense was a big key and his track record shows it.

Adrian Griffin has been an assistant coach for five teams over 12 seasons. Four of those five teams had a top-10 defense at some point during Griffin’s tenure and two of them — the 2010–11 Bulls and 2009–10 Bucks — were the best team in the league in terms of defensive efficiency in one Griffin’s seasons with the team. On top of his defensive chops, Griffin is praised for his work on the defensive side of the floor and his ability to build relationships with players, two things the Bulls will need in bunches as the rebuild pivots.

But Griffin is the ideal hire because not only has he’s proven he can do it other places, he’s already proved that he can thrive in the Bulls organization when it comes to relating to players. Raptors Republic contributor Anthony Doyle touted this fact when Griffin was hired to the Raptors’ staff in 2018.

The fact that Griffin is a former player who actually played (three separate stints as a player in Chicago) and coached for Bulls already checks off a few of the boxes that we know were important during the GarPax regime — and thusly could still exist in some fashion with Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf and potentially Gar Foreman and John Paxson still around — but it is his relation to Karnisovas that intrigued us. Arturas Karnisovas and Adrian Griffin are both members of the Seton Hall Hall of Fame. Karnisovas inducted in 2008 and Griffin, two years later.

Karnisovas and Griffin were teammates on the 1993 and 1994 Seton Hall squads, both teams making the NCAA Tournament after going a combined 45–20 over the two seasons. The two don’t have any connections beyond their time together as teammates under PJ Carlesimo at Seton Hall but Karnisovas is savvy enough to understand hiring a first-time head coach like Griffin can pay huge dividends down the line, as Nick Nurse’s rise in Toronto showcased. And Karnisovas’ prior knowledge of Griffin would likely give him a head start in terms of negotiations and understanding his fit for the role here in Chicago.

The Arturas Karnisovas hiring is a good enough reason for Bulls Nation to rejoice after a long, long, long period of having the exact same front office regime with no change in site. But more change is coming in the future and this writer’s prediction is that the next head coach of the Chicago Bulls is going to be Adrian Griffin. Only time will tell.