On Monday, the Chicago Bulls made just the second leadership change to their front office in the past 35 years. Arturas Karnisovas was hired from the Denver Nuggets to replace John Paxson as vice president of basketball operations. General manager Gar Forman was dismissed.
Paxson, who will remain with the team in an advisory role, had been in the lead job since 2003 after replacing longtime GM Jerry Krause. Forman had been with the team since 1998. To put the steep fall in context, Forman and Pat Riley tied for NBA Executive of the Year in 2011, the season Riley's Miami Heat signed LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.