When he became Bulls general manager back in May, Marc Eversley inherited a job he labeled a dream come true.
As the first Black general manager in the franchise’s 54-year history, that makes Eversley the highest-ranking Black front office executive in team history. That also makes him simultaneously a source of pride and a symbol of paltry progress.
The Bulls hired Eversley three weeks after vehement blowback from Black executives over not having any candidates for the open executive vice-president of basketball operations job. Former Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas got the top job, while Eversley was hired as the No. 2 man.
Behind the scenes, there’s still skepticism about the Bulls.
“I could just see people saying they hired him because they needed a Black face,” said one high-ranking African American team executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
That’s the catch-22 in such scenarios. Because critics…
