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Andrew LopezESPN
The Chicago Bulls continued to revamp their front office Friday, hiring J.J. Polk away from the New Orleans Pelicans to serve as an assistant general manager, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.
Polk has spent the last 10 seasons working with the Pelicans, including the last seven as the executive director of basketball administration.
He was one of New Orleans’ salary-cap specialists, and on a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin lauded Polk and others for having the team prepared for what lies ahead with the NBA’s potentially fluid cap situation.
New Orleans has been the only home for Polk in his NBA career after starting with the organization in 2010-11. Before that, Polk practiced law for six years. He received his law degree from the University of Illinois.
Polk joins a new Chicago front office led by Arturas Karnisovas and is not expected to be the only assistant GM the organization hires. Sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that another candidate in serious talks to join the Bulls’ front office is Denver Nuggets scout Pat Connelly, who has a strong background in player personnel and was previously an assistant GM with the Phoenix Suns.
The news of the Bulls’ interest in Polk was first reported by NBC Sports Chicago.