Chicago Bulls fans didn’t get many answers at this trade deadline, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

Confronted with a seemingly confused group of local reporters on Thursday afternoon, Arturas Karnisovas was pressed about the organization’s philosophy. He fielded repeated questions about their failure to accumulate additional assets and the franchise’s sense of urgency to improve their lottery odds ahead of a wildly praised 2025 NBA Draft. The front office leader responded with incomplete answers and inconsistent messaging.

He would stress the importance of a high draft pick in one sentence before discussing the positives of a Play-In appearance in the next. He talked about player development being a priority yet bragged about how much experience his young players already have. The entire press conference only painted a hazier picture during a time when the sun should have finally started to peek through.

Things didn’t get a whole lot better when K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network got Karnisovas to sit down for a one-on-one interview. Regurgitating a lot of what we had already heard, Johnson asked Karnisovas how he would describe the Bulls’ current direction. More specifically, would he use the word that everyone else is using: “Rebuild?”

“I don’t like that word, me personally. I like transition for the organization. Transition,” Karnisovas repeated. “And I think a full rebuild is an overused word. I think in terms of construction of our team, we have so many young players but those young players have six, five, four years under their belt. They’re pretty experienced players. So I would stay away from that.”

Excuse me for a second.

*gets up, walks to closet, closes door, screams*

Are the Bulls Rebuilding or Not?

So I don’t pop a blood vessel, let me first give Karniosvas some grace. He isn’t the first executive to ignore the use of the word “rebuild.” Likewise, we shouldn’t lose sleep over semantics. There is a world where “transition” means the exact same thing as “rebuild” and allows Karniosvas to sleep a little better at night. That’s fine.

At the same time, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using the word rebuild! The term gives people a much better sense of direction if anything. Also, as I keep stressing, we have not been given any reason to give Karnisovas the benefit of the doubt. This could be about semantics as much as it could signal that the Bulls still are not prepared to genuinely start fresh.

The rest of his answer supports the latter concern. He has emphasized that the Bulls’ young talent is “experienced,” acting as if this can help them skip steps. Look, we all like some of the players on this roster, but the fact they are four or five years into their careers isn’t necessarily something for this organization to brag about. This just means we have a better understanding of their ceiling, and none have one high enough to be the foundation of a contending team.

Now, does that mean none of those players are worth keeping? Of course not. But it does mean they can’t be expected to lift this team out of the middle. More changes need to be made. Better talent needs to be found. How do you do that? Either via the draft, free agency, or trade. Unfortunately, the Bulls don’t have the assets to land a star in the trade market or the curb appeal to draw one in free agency (which has fewer and fewer stars these days, anyway). This leaves the draft or at least the steady accumulation of draft capital to make a big move.

In other words … A REBUILD!

Actions always speak louder than words, so the only way we will learn exactly what Karnisovas means is by continuing to watch this season and offseason unfold. How the Bulls approach these last 30 games, as well as how aggressive they are to take a step back this summer, will speak volumes.