Artūras Karnišovas
Chicago Bulls
PositionExecutive vice president of basketball operations
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1971-04-27) April 27, 1971
Klaipėda, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityLithuanian
Listed height2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight103 kg (227 lb)
Career information
CollegeSeton Hall (1990–1994)
NBA draft1994: undrafted
Playing career1987–2002
PositionSmall forward
Career history
1987–1990Statyba Vilnius
1994–1995Cholet
1995–1997FC Barcelona[lower-alpha 1]
1997–1998Olympiacos Piraeus
1998–2000Fortitudo Bologna[lower-alpha 2]
2000–2002FC Barcelona
Career highlights and awards
As player:
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Lithuania
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona National team
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Atlanta National team
EuroBasket
Silver medal – second place 1995 Greece National team

Artūras Karnišovas (born April 27, 1971) is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player.[1] He is the current executive vice president of basketball operations of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Early life and college career

Karnišovas was born in Klaipėda to Mykolas, a basketball player, and Irena. Karnišovas started his career in Lithuania, with Statyba Vilnius, while in high school, and played there until 1990. His father also played for Statyba and they are the only father-son duo to play for the team at some point in their careers.[2][3] Expressing an interest in playing and studying in the United States, Karnišovas earned an invitation to play college basketball at Seton Hall University following a recommendation of Šarūnas Marčiulionis to Seton Hall head coach P. J. Carlesimo during the 1990 FIBA World Championship. Karnišovas was the first player from the USSR to play in an American college, and arrived there without knowing a single word of English.[4] In four years playing for the Seton Hall Pirates, Karnišovas helped the team win two Big East tournaments and qualify for the NCAA tournament four straight times, being the only player to start for all squads.[5][6]

Professional playing career

After trying and failing to draw interest from a National Basketball Association (NBA) team, Karnišovas began playing overseas. His former college coach, P. J. Carlesimo, attributed his inability to play in North America to insufficient scouting and a more guaranteed financial return in Europe. Karnišovas is one of the few players to have played in Europe's four strongest national domestic league championships, Spain (for FC Barcelona), Italy (Fortitudo Bologna), Greece (Olympiacos Piraeus), and France (Cholet).[6][7] He reached the EuroLeague's EuroLeague Final Four three times, and led the 1998–99 EuroLeague season in free throw percentage (89.6%). He was chosen as FIBA's European Player of the Year in 1996, by FIBA Basket magazine.[6][8]

National team career

Karnišovas helped lead the senior men's Lithuanian national basketball team to consecutive bronze medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996. He also played at the 1998 FIBA World Championship. He also played at the EuroBasket 1995, where he won a silver medal, at the EuroBasket 1997, and at the EuroBasket 1999.[9][10]

Post-playing career

Karnišovas worked for the National Basketball Association's basketball operations office from 2003 to 2008, and afterwards became an international scout for the Houston Rockets for five years, while also directing the Adidas Eurocamp—a preparation tournament for European players picked in the NBA draft—in 2011 and 2012.[11]

On July 16, 2013, he became the assistant general manager of the Denver Nuggets.[6][12]

Karnišovas was considered one of the top candidates to be the new general manager for the Brooklyn Nets in 2016.[13][14] In 2017, Karnišovas emerged as one of the candidates for the general manager position for the Milwaukee Bucks.[15][16] On June 6, 2017, he remained as one of their three last original candidates, along with Wes Wilcox and Justin Zanik.[17] On June 13, 2017, it was announced that only Karnišovas and the Bucks' interim general manager Zanik remained as top candidates for the position.[18] Two days later, on June 15, 2017, the Nuggets made Karnišovas their new general manager, with Tim Connelly moving up to become the team's president of basketball operations.[19][20] The Bucks would eventually promote their director of basketball operations, Jon Horst, for their vacant general manager position instead. His first notable signing as a general manager was a multi-year contract with Paul Millsap on July 13, 2017.[21] On February 15, 2019, Karnišovas signed a multi-year contract extension with the Nuggets.[22][23]

On April 13, 2020, Karnišovas was named executive vice president of basketball operations by the Chicago Bulls.[24]

Personal life

Karnišovas is married to Gina, whom he met at Seton Hall, and they live in Chicago, with their three sons. The family previously resided in North Jersey and Englewood, Colorado.[5][6]

Awards and achievements

College

Professional

Lithuanian senior national team

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Team was known as FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (1994–1997) for sponsorship reasons.
  2. ↑ Team was known as Teamsystem Bologna (1995–1999) and Paf Wennington Bologna (1999–2001) for sponsorship reasons.

Sources

  1. ↑ "Arturas Karnisovas, king without a crown". Euroleague. November 16, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Mykolui Karnišovui – 70". www.lkvlyga.lt (in Lithuanian). December 3, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Mykolas Karnišovas: "Artūras sako, kad dauguma gandų – netiesa"". lrytas.lt (in Lithuanian). February 17, 2016. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  4. ↑ Mizell, Gina (June 2, 2018). "Denver Nuggets' general manager Arturas Karnisovas' worldwide career built on quiet production". The Denver Post. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Where Are They Now? Arturas Karnisovas". Seton Hall Pirates. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Arturas Karnisovas, former Seton Hall and Lithuania star, heads charge to rebrand Denver Nuggets". NJ.com. July 22, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Eurobasket - Arturas Karnishovas Player Profile basketball", Eurobasket.com, accessed August 25, 2007.
  8. ↑ "Arturas Karnisovas stats". Draft Express. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  9. ↑ Arturas KARNISOVAS (LTU) participated in 12 FIBA / FIBA Zones events.
  10. ↑ "Arturas Karnisovas stats". Basketball Reference. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Q & A with Arturas Karnisovas". Houston Rockets. August 25, 2008. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Denver Nuggets Name Arturas Karnisovas Assistant GM". Denver Nuggets. July 16, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Woj: Arturas Karnisovas, Sean Marks appear to be front-runners for Brooklyn Nets GM". Nets Daily. February 16, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  14. ↑ Lewis, Brian (February 18, 2016). "Nets hire Sean Marks to end GM saga". New York Post. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  15. ↑ Wojnarowski, Adrian (May 31, 2017). "Sources: Bucks granted permission to speak to front-office GM candidates". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  16. ↑ "NBA užkariaujančiam Artūrui Karnišovui – milžiniška karjeros galimybė". lrytas.lt (in Lithuanian). May 31, 2017. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  17. ↑ "A. Karnišovas kovoje dėl prestižinio posto turi du rimtus konkurentus". DELFI (in Lithuanian). June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  18. ↑ Carr, Kyle (June 12, 2017). "Milwaukee Bucks GM Update: Zanik and Karnisovas approaching the finish line". Brew Hoop. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Denver Nuggets Promote Tim Connelly and Arturas Karnisovas". NBA.com. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  20. ↑ Dempsey, Christopher (June 15, 2017). "Nuggets Keep Front Office Stability with Karnisovas, Connelly Promotions". NBA.com. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Denver Nuggets 2017 Team Transactions: Trades, Injured List, Free Agents and Signings - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Denver Nuggets Agree to Contract Extensions With Front Office". NBA.com. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Rezultatais patenkinti "Nuggets" pratęsė sutartis su Karnišovu, Balčėčiu ir Pociumi". DELFI (in Lithuanian). February 16, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  24. ↑ Smith, Sam (April 13, 2020). "Bulls name Arturas Karnisovas Executive VP - Basketball Operations". NBA.com. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
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